Google is the biggest internet search provider in most online markets and responsible for generating over 80% of desktop search traffic.
Businesses vie for Google rankings by optimizing their website for organic search so they can rank higher in the search results. But not everyone has the time or resources to do that, as it can take months for a website to climb up the search results organically.
The only way to dominate search results from the get-go is by running a Google ad campaign that shows your site right at the very top of the search results. You can also choose to display your ads on other websites in the Display Network and the AdSense program.
However, to run an effective ad campaign, you have to be quick and definitive in the way you approach it. Simply creating an account, bidding on ads, and then letting the campaign run on autopilot doesn’t help. You have to be vigilant in tracking your campaign progress and adjust according to the changing trends.
It is best to be on top of all the trending searches and keywords to truly take advantage of this platform. According to reports, the advertising revenue of Google sites amounted to US$123.83 billion in 2020, which highlights its importance and impact on businesses.
We’ll explore all the reasons why it is a good idea to update your google ad campaigns. But here’s the deal: all these reasons are dependent on the way these campaigns work.
Google ads are essentially an auction system, where your ad campaign’s success depends on the quality of your ad and the amount you bid. And this happens every time a user searches for a keyword that you want your ad to be associated with.
The following factors affect the quality score of your ad:
You can see that your ad’s quality, relevance, and appropriateness play a significant role in getting it a high-quality score. It is essential to achieve this metric because Google or search engines often lowers the cost per click for ad campaigns with a higher quality score and gives them higher-than-usual exposure.
Before we delve into the factors that affect the frequency with which you should update your campaigns, let’s look at the reasons why you need to do so in the first place.
In the recent past, Google has made several new feature additions to AdWords and revised its ad platform. This includes new extensions addition or altering the ad format, which helps businesses with their marketing strategies.
Naturally, if you don’t use these while the rest take advantage of them, you are bound to fall behind.
You might get complacent about your campaign’s success and believe it’s alright to let it run on autopilot, but your competitors think differently. They are always trying out new features, testing their search ads, and expanding their campaign budget. This can give them an edge over you if your campaigns aren’t evolving right alongside theirs.
While previously, people used their laptops and desktops to search for something, they now use their smartphones or Google devices. As a result, their phrases and also the way they search continuously change. If you want to keep up with this progress, it’s essential to update your Google ad campaign regularly.
Make every click on your ad count towards your overall marketing and lead generation goals. Take a more informed approach to running a campaign so you know that only targeted audiences click on your ad.
It is essential to go over the search terms and find ones that have the potential to trigger the ads you post. Sometimes specific phrases provide barely any value addition to businesses. You can label these as negative so that they don’t appear in the future keywords list.
It might be hard to believe, but even huge businesses aren’t immune to such issues. Brands spend tons of money on online promotions, so prospects are informed about them. However, when prospects get the coupon, they find out it has been expired.
For instance, a potential customer could click on a sale ad for your brand but find out it has long ended once it opens up.
Clicks on ads don’t necessarily depict a campaign’s success until you get the visitors to take action. It is essential to test your ads to see if they are working effectively or not.
When you improve your google ads ctr (click-through rates), you get more leads and improve your ads’ Quality Score, lowering the cost you entail per click.
The frequency with which you update your Google Ad campaigns depends on your budget and the industry you are in. Depending on these factors and how long you run your ad campaign, you can update your ad campaign weekly or stretch it out over more time.
Here are a few factors that affect the frequency of your Google Ad campaign update.
The amount of money you can spend on your Google Ads determines your activity. You are likely to dedicate more time and effort to your ads if you spend $70,000 monthly rather than $700.
Like any project you start, you need to put in extra effort at the beginning of an ad campaign, as it takes more work to establish it and ensure its success.
You get to decide on the target keywords you want to use which have the highest potential to convert. Additionally, you make new ads and update the landing page they are posted on. But even before doing any of that, you need to choose a bidding option for your ads.
Although Google stresses using an automated system, you shouldn’t start out this way because you need data to work effectively. As a beginner, you should start with manual bidding and then move to the automated one.
The number of leads you get to your business is an indication of the success of your campaign. If you have many leads, your campaign is already a success, and you don’t have to be highly active.
Having said that, you cannot leave your account, no matter the success rate of your campaign, because more success gives you the opportunity to build on it.
However, if your ad campaign isn’t performing well, you have to get involved in it to work on the issues and bring it to a place where you envision it. Consequently, you need to test your Google ads and keyword choices thoroughly.
In fact, with Google Ads, you can check the optimization scores for your campaign, courtesy of Google. In case you get a low score, you’ll know you have to work on it.
One of the most significant factors in determining the frequency with which you update your campaign is the number of keywords you target.
When you target many keywords at one time, it generally means you have several ad group and a significant quantity of ads. Additionally, more keywords translate into having more data for review.
Here are a few things you need to do with your monthly ad campaign regularly:
Initially, if you decide on manual bidding, you should monitor the positions of your keywords. Google no longer shows the average keyword position but gives the top search. This shows the frequency with which Google ads appear in the top spots over organic listings.
It is essential to be a part of this top ad group, if not the top spot.
It is essential to keep an eye out for new keywords that you can test, which is convenient to do so through Google’s plus sign option, which displays a list where you can pick new phrases from.
However, be aware of the fact that using new keywords through this method will get you irrelevant clicks because of the broad match.
Your ultimate campaign goal is to either create more brand awareness or get new leads. If it is to get more leads, then ensure accurate tracking of conversions. You need exact numbers, whether it is in the case of tracking calls or goals.
It is vital to choose the correct conversion attributes to get the type of leads you are looking for. If you don’t get the results you are looking for, it’s time to alter your campaign.
No matter how amazing your Average click-through rate (CTR) may seem, it can always be improved. You can have an ad groups consisting of a responsive ad and three expanded text ones.
Every month introduce a new ad and pause the ones that perform the least, which will actually help you beat your best ad, instead of the paused one.
It is always best to pause an ad with at least a hundred impressions. With a high-budget campaign that gets thousands of impressions daily, you can introduce a new ad in every group every few weeks.
Google’s recommendation about your campaign and score provision is an essential feature that you can review. You shouldn’t accept all of them, but it is beneficial to consider any new keywords it gives or features you didn’t know of.
Review your search term report regularly to find any new phrases to use and eliminate one’s that don’t do well.
Add such words as negative keywords to prevent them from recurring. Review this several times a week initially; then, you can space it out over months once you get the wasted spend.
If you’ve been inactive for a while, Google can take action for you.
New Google ads are usually suggested under recommendations. Depending on your landing page settings, these can be automatically added to your ad campaign. It might seem like a helpful technique, but it is common for these Google ads to be terrible. These Google ads generally use the company name as the first title and don’t fill in the other ad elements.
You might not know this, but Google also tests other recommendations addition, and you can find keywords that you haven’t added to your account.
Even if you choose automated bidding, there’s still a lot that needs to get done. This includes monitoring your search terms, reviewing recommendations, and developing new ads.
Furthermore, it would be best if you kept an eye on your monthly budget and conversion costs. You should get improved results over time; otherwise, you should review your automated bidding settings.
To run an effective marketing campaign, you have to monitor, review, and alter accordingly continuously. This includes simple actions like site audits or bigger ones like ad alterations.
Google Ads is a robust platform that gives businesses a chance to generate more leads, track their ad performance, develop strategies to stand out from their competitors, and eventually boost sales.
However, as straightforward as this approach may seem, you have to be active in how you use it. It is essential to constantly keep an eye on new trends, keywords, and searches and tweak your ad campaigns accordingly, especially if they aren’t running successfully.
You can never be complacent with your advertising techniques, and Improve your Google Ads ctr is one of the best ways to stay above your competition.
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Most marketers love Google Ads.
We're no exception.
But we totally understand that businesses in certain industries sometimes have a deep resentment of Google Ads and their restrictive policies.
Google's policies for advertising are generally intuitive and straightforward, but for certain regulated and sensitive categories, the standards are much higher and less clear. Pharmaceutical companies, gambling websites, political campaigns, and other industries often struggle to get their ads approved consistently.
In fact, if you don't know what you're getting into, trying to advertise as a business in one of these categories can be a recipe for disaster.
How are you supposed to use Google Ads effectively if you belong to one of these regulated or sensitive categories?
Sensitive and regulated categories in PPC advertising face a number of challenges, including:
· Stricter guidelines. Most PPC advertisers are familiar and comfortable with basic Google Ads guidelines. But if you belong to a regulated or sensitive category, you'll have far more guidelines and more nuanced guidelines to deal with.
· Higher scrutiny. Google pays much closer attention to ads in regulated and sensitive categories, meaning you face closer scrutiny when your ads start circulating. Reports will be investigated quicker and much more strictly, and even minor violations can work against you.
· More ad disapprovals. Similarly, ads are much more likely to get disapproved in these categories. You'll face an uphill battle as you try to get your ads circulating.
· The risk of suspensions. Businesses in these categories also face the risk of frequent, ongoing suspensions. This trend is also worsening; in fact, in 2023, Google Ads suspended more than 12.7 million advertiser accounts – doubling their actions over the previous year.
This makes it much more difficult to advertise effectively and secure a positive return on investment (ROI). Additionally, failing to adhere to Google’s advertising policies can hurt your company's reputation and compromise your long-term potential for success.
The most important thing you can do to improve your results in a regulated or sensitive category is to plan for a sustainable, long-term strategy. Every year, thousands of business owners in these categories attempt to fool Google, find clever ways around its policies, and devise techniques that allow them to cheat the system.
These approaches can usually work temporarily. You can cheat your way into the listings and generate some traffic to your landing page.
But inevitably, these techniques fail, and they can ultimately get you blacklisted.
You're much better off taking the slow, steady approach, following the rules even if it means compromising your advertising effectiveness in the short term. Think about the long-term consequences and possibilities of each decision you make.
There is some good news here.
Google isn’t shy about publishing its advertising policies.
If you're willing to do the reading and research, you can thoroughly understand what Google expects from regulated and sensitive categories like yours – and you can easily adhere to the guidelines.
Well, maybe not “easily,” but reliably.
Generally, Google splits content into two types:
· Restricted content. Restricted content is sensitive content that is subject to more regulations. You must precisely comply with requirements for copy, images, website content, and more if you want to remain in circulation.
· Prohibited content. Prohibited content is totally disallowed. You cannot include it without facing significant consequences.
Unfortunately, we can't give you a big list of all the rules you need to follow, as the rules are different for various industries. Some of the most popular industries and categories that face steeper restrictions include:
· Pharmaceuticals and healthcare products
· Weapons and explosives
· Financial services (including cryptocurrencies)
· Gambling/games of chance
· Alcohol, tobacco, and similar products
· Political ads
· Adult content and services
While there are certainly commonalities between regulations across these categories, each category has its own unique blend of restrictions and rules to learn. For example, pharmaceutical businesses require formal certification from Google and are only allowed in some countries. In the financial services industry, you'll likely need a specific license, and you'll need to provide adequate disclosures for your products and services.
The more intimately you know these rules and regulations and how they apply to your industry, the more likely you'll be able to advertise successfully. Don't advertise until you're sure you understand all applicable Google Ads policies.
One other important note here: you need to stay updated.
Google isn't stagnant, and its advertising policies are constantly in flux. Accordingly, you need to stay abreast of recent changes and update your ad approaches in line with them.
The easiest way to do this is to subscribe to Google Ads policy updates, but you should also regularly engage in Google Ads forums. If you're lucky enough to have a representative, maintain open and transparent communication with them and stay in touch regularly; they can be a massive benefit for businesses in regulated and sensitive categories.
The more research you do, the better. You need to thoroughly understand your advertising landscape before you try to thread this needle.
· Google Ads policies. Obviously, read and understand Google Ads policies as they relate to your industry. We mostly covered this in the previous section, but it's part of the research you need to do.
· Licensing and certification requirements. Even if it's not specifically required by Google, it's a good idea to get any appropriate licenses or certifications. It's a mark of authority and trustworthiness that might save you if any of your ads are reviewed for potential policy violations.
· Laws and regulations. Similarly, violating any laws and regulations in the country where you're advertising could be grounds for ad removal or account suspension, even if those violations aren't specifically listed in Google Ads policies. Always ensure legal compliance before advertising with Google.
· Competitor advertising. It's also a good idea to research your competitors. It's very likely that businesses similar to yours, in the same category, are already advertising successfully. Look at what they're doing. How are they phrasing things? Which disclosures are they including? Do you notice anything missing? You can learn a lot simply by studying previously successful ads.
· Market research. The success of your Google Ads largely depends on your ability to successfully target and appeal to your demographics. If you're properly informative and persuasive, with relevant messaging to the people you're reaching, you're much less likely to face reports, removals, and suspensions. Accordingly, you need to do a deep dive into market research so you better understand your target demographics and can appeal to them with relevant content. If you don't have buyer personas, develop them. If you don't know what your target audience is struggling with or what they want to, pause your ads until you figure it out. There are no shortcuts here, so do a deep dive into your market research if you want a reasonable chance to succeed.
When creating and preparing new ads, make sure everything is compliant, including your copy, your images, and any of your website content.
Remember that the rules and restrictions vary by industry, but these are some general rules that can help you get started:
· Stick to the facts. Don't exaggerate. Don't embellish. Certainly don't lie. It's important to stick to the facts as closely as possible, even if it makes your ad a bit stoic or “boring.” Purely factual advertising rarely gets removed.
· Avoid prohibited or sensitive terms. Review prohibited and sensitive terms that apply to your industry, and avoid those terms like the plague. Consider creating a list of alternatives that you can rely on instead.
· Be transparent. Be absolutely transparent with your target audience, even if you're forced to reveal things that weaken the appeal of your products and services. Offer disclosures when required, and potentially when not required if they can boost your credibility.
· Adopt a serious, professional tone. Don't play with fire. Your best course of action is to adopt a serious, professional tone across your ads. It's much less likely to be reported, and it will seem more authoritative and trustworthy.
· Eliminate sensationalism. In line with this, eliminate all forms of sensationalism. Graphic or revealing content, exaggerated claims, and other techniques designed to evoke strong emotions are probably going to work against you.
· Focus on using images for context. If you're going to include images, make sure they provide meaningful context. Advertisers sometimes select images based on how easily they grab attention or how exciting they are, but this is a surefire way to fail if you belong to a sensitive or restricted category.
· Include warnings if necessary. If there are any warnings that are relevant to your products and services, include them. More information is typically better in matters like these.
· Leverage the power of AB testing. The more relevant and effective your ads are, the more likely they are to succeed. Leverage the power of AB testing to learn more about what your audience wants to see and how to give it to them.
Don't forget about your landing pages.
These are important to Google as well.
If your landing pages deviate from Google Ads guidelines, or if they contradict what's in your ads, it could work against you.
These are some tips to get you started:
· Keep it relevant. Always make sure your landing page is completely relevant and in line with whatever is included in your ad. If users click your ad and find something unexpected, unpleasant, or otherwise jarring, Google might take action.
· Issue disclaimers and warnings. This is an opportunity to double down on disclaimers, warnings, and important disclosures. Err on the side of caution and make these prominent to show that you're in full compliance with both Google Ads policies and laws in your area.
· Make your business information accessible. Make your business information transparent and accessible. Offer your brand name and business location information, and give visitors some way to contact you, preferably via phone and email. It's a sign of trustworthiness and it can proactively resolve potential disputes.
· Be straightforward and transparent. Everything on your landing page needs to be straightforward and transparent. Follow the same rules you did for your ads, and avoid exaggerations and sensationalism.
· Double check Google Ads requirements. Always double-check Google Ads requirements when constructing your landing page. You should fulfill or comply with each item on your landing page to be safe.
You've already done significant market research, so make sure you apply it correctly. Target your audience very specifically so that your messages are only shown to people for whom they are relevant. If someone outside the scope of your target demographics sees your ads, they'll be much more likely to issue reports – and your ads will be much more likely to be removed. It's especially important to target people in the right geographic area.
There are some Black Hat techniques designed to circumvent Google Ads rules and regulations, or otherwise give you an unfair advantage in a sensitive or restricted category. These techniques typically violate Google policies and are largely considered unethical by the advertising community.
One of the most prominent examples is cloaking. Using one of several techniques, cloaking can allow you to advertise to audiences with content different from what you showed Google for approval. It's obvious why this is potentially beneficial, but it's also obvious why this is unethical.
As you might imagine, these techniques can work temporarily. They can give you a significant short-term advantage, allowing you a better strategic position and potentially more ad opportunities. However, if you use them, you could get your account suspended, or even permanently blacklisted. Even if you evade that, you could ruin your company's reputation and jeopardize your long-term results.
Do not follow these strategies. If a PPC agency recommends any such strategies to you, fire them.
They simply aren't worth it.
Navigating the world of Google Ads isn't easy.
In fact, it's stressful and incredibly difficult if your business happens to belong to one of these sensitive or restricted categories.
The good news is it's much easier to be successful when you work with a PPC advertising agency that has experience creating and managing ads for a business like yours. We're deeply acquainted with all the rules and restrictions you need to worry about, and we know how to make target demographics like yours convert.
If you’re ready to get started with a free consultation, contact us today!
When you want to use paid search marketing platforms, Google Ads often leads the list. Because of its versatility, simplicity, and popularity, it’s obvious why it’s a popular choice. But when you drop all of your PPC advertising money into one marketing strategy, you could lose some leads.
That’s why some businesses explore paid advertising marketing outside of Google, with many turning to Linkedin Ads.
Google Ads and Linkedin Ads are highly efficient ways to market your products and services to businesses and consumers. But each marketing channel has its advantages and disadvantages. Whatever you choose, make sure you discuss the matter with your web development company.
Below is a closer look at each option.
We think it’s reasonable to conclude that Google reaches a vast audience worldwide – its ad reach is a stunning 4 billion people. Google search handles about 70% of desktop searches, and many companies report that they get about 90% of their organic traffic from the search engines. Also, up to 95% of the mobile search market comes from Google.
People use Google’s search a lot, and having the ability to target search terms with specific search ads is a massive benefit of Adwords. People tend to search for very specific things in Google, so if you can customize your Google advertising for your targeted audience, you’ll receive plenty of leads.
So, we can assume that most people’s targeted audience uses Google to some degree. That’s a massive advantage for companies when they want to target an audience.
However, businesses that want to narrow down their search may have issues getting their Google ads settings right with both Google Ads. And if you blunder when segmenting your audiences, your digital ad campaign could suffer.
LinkedIn features a narrower audience – 500 million users – namely businesses and business professionals. But this more limited audience makes it the perfect place for effective B2B marketing. LinkedIn lets marketers serve online ads to decision-makers and vital audience members in several ways.
Summary: For B2B firms that want to reach decision-makers, Linkedin is a terrific advertising platforms. If your B2C company intends to increase its reach, Google Ads could be the best fit.
When you target your audience with Google Ads, you have a few options: location, affinity, technology, buyer behavior, demographics, and interactions with your app or website.
No matter how much you know about your buyer, you may struggle to avoid clicks from worthless leads that cost too much.
In some cases on Google, people may not even know what they’re looking for. You can try to advertise to your desired targeted audience on Google Ads, but it can be challenging to get to the precise people who will most likely buy what you sell.
When people sign up for LinkedIn, they usually provide many details, such as their occupation, title/job title, experience, industry, education, interests, and more. All of this information can be leveraged for great advantage when you start your marketing campaigns.
Also, LinkedIn users can join many groups, start conversations, and obtain followers. The data is priceless when you want to target a specific audience and market to them. LinkedIn also has a Matched Audience that helps advertisers match their email marketing lists and website visitors with users on LinkedIn.
Many marketing experts think that LinkedIn Ads offer more value. LinkedIn has refined targeting, and you can make your product known to them so that you can tell them about something they didn’t know existed.
Summary: For B2B and B2C companies looking for a broad audience, Google Ads has enough targeting features. But for B2B firms that want to target specific groups, LinkedIn Ads has about 100 segmentation methods for micro targeting.
When you want lead generation, Google Ads has a broader reach and is the most effective. First, you can bring in a lot of prospects to your site without breaking the bank. The audience you’re after on Google visits the search giant with the idea to find the best product or service. This makes generating leads easier.
Getting leads from LinkedIn can be more challenging. Users of the platform may sign in to read industry news or talk to group members. No matter how perfect your ad is, viewers may not be in the mood to buy anything.
That said, Linkedin has a way to target ad leads through in-site messaging, which can generate plenty of leads.
When it comes down to dollars and cents, LinkedIn Ads usually are more pricey than Google Ads. As in Google, you can select cost-per-click or cost-per-impression.
LinkedIn also features a cost-per-send for InMail advertising. Typically, you’ll pay about $5 for each click, $6 for 1,000 impressions, and .80 for each send.
With Google Ads, the average CPC is $1. But to leverage that low cost, you need to work on your audience segmentation. If you don’t your ROI may be below what you want.
Summary: Advertising budgets for each platform depends on several factors. On average, Google Ads cost less than LinkedIn Ads. If your B2B company has a tight budget, you may want to focus on a limited variety of LinkedIn ads instead of a broad range of Google Ads.
So should you advertise with Google Ads vs LinkedIn Ads? Yes!
What we mean is, it depends. The correct choice depends on your budget, product or service offered, marketing goals, and target audience. You should not assume that when you need a digital marketing campaign, Google Analytics Adwords is the only choice.
It’s critical to evaluate the market, understand who your buyer is, and make a data-driven decision about the best marketing platform to reach your well-defined goals. One type of company might do better with Google Ads, and another may find LinkedIn Ads preferable.
The great news is you don’t need to choose between the two platforms. Many businesses use both, as well as Facebook, Instagram, and others. If you have the budget, it may pay off to diversify your paid search advertising to get the best ROI.
