Tag: ppc

  • Google Ads Campaign Types Breakdown

    Google Ads Campaign Types Breakdown

    Your Back to Basics Guide: Campaign Types

    Whether you’re new to Google Ads or just need a refresher on their updates, understanding campaign types is essential. Think of them as different tools in your advertising toolkit. Each campaign type is designed for specific goals and audiences. Let’s break down what each type of campaign does and how it works.

    Search Campaigns

    We like to think of search campaigns as the bread and butter of Google Ads. They’re the foundation most advertisers start with, and for good reason.

    What they are:  

    Search ads are the text ads that appear when you search in Google. You’ll usually see them before organic listings but they can also be seen lower on the search results page. Sponsored results have a designated label above their section with the option to hide sponsored ads at the bottom. 

    Search Results for the search term "personal trainer", showing two paid search ads and one organic result.

    How they work:

    Advertisers create text ads and then bid on keywords so they appear in the search results when people search for those terms (search terms).

    Let’s break that down:

    Advertisers create text ads called responsive search ads by providing Google with up to 15 short headlines and 4 descriptions. Google Ads then mixes and matches these by combining 3 headlines and 2 descriptions based on what it believes will perform best for each individual auction. This gives you flexibility while letting Google’s machine learning optimize performance.

    Next, advertisers designate keywords they want to “bid on”. When someone searches for those keywords (or variations of them), your ad enters an auction to potentially show up in the results. You’re essentially raising your hand and saying “I want to be visible for this search.” 

    The bells and whistles: Assets (formerly called extensions) are your secret weapon. They let you provide viewers with more information about who you are and what you can offer them. Assets are a useful tool that can link to other landing pages, highlight value propositions, or provide quick contact options like phone numbers or location details. There are multiple asset types, each with its own function, from sitelinks and callouts to structured snippets and lead forms. Learn more about Google Ads assets here.

    Need help optimizing your search campaigns? Check out our Google Ads services.

    Shopping Campaigns

    What they are:

    Shopping ads are for advertisers specifically promoting products. These ads also appear in the search results, but this time as “sponsored products” featuring an image, product headline, price, and store name. You’ll typically see them at the top of Google search results in a carousel format or in the Shopping tab.

    Search results for blue sneakers displaying shopping campaign sponsored product ads.

    How they work:

    Unlike search campaigns where you bid on keywords, Shopping campaigns pull product data directly from your Google Merchant Center feed. You upload your product catalog with details like titles, descriptions, images, and prices, and Google automatically matches your products to relevant searches.

    Here’s the process: You create a product feed in Google Merchant Center containing all your product information. Then in Google Ads, you create a Shopping campaign and connect it to your feed. Google uses the product data to determine when and where to show your ads, so no keyword lists are required.

    Advertisers can organize products into groups and set bids at the product level, giving you control over how much you’re willing to pay for clicks on specific items. It’s particularly powerful for e-commerce businesses with large inventories.

    Shopping campaigns work best when your product feed is optimized with detailed titles, high-quality images, and accurate information. The better your feed, the better Google can match your products to shopper intent. Looking to get started with Shopping ads? Our Google Shopping services can help.

    Display Campaigns

    What they are:

    Display ads are the banner ads you see across millions of websites, apps, and Google-owned properties like YouTube and Gmail. Unlike search ads that capture active intent, display ads build awareness and reach people as they browse the web.

    Two examples of display ads on a recipe blog.

    How they work:

    Display campaigns use targeting options to show your visual ads to specific audiences across the Google Display Network which is a collection of over 2 million websites and apps. You can target by demographics, interests, topics, placements, or even specific audiences like past website visitors.

    Here’s how it happens: You create visual ads by providing google with up to 15 photos of various formats, 5 logos, 5 headlines (30 characters), 1 long headline (90 characters), and 5 descriptions (90 characters). These are responsive display ads that adapt to available ad spaces based on what Google believes will perform best. Then you select your targeting criteria. Maybe you want to reach people interested in fitness, or people who’ve previously visited your site but didn’t convert.

    Google then serves your ads on relevant websites and apps where your target audience spends time. You pay per click or per thousand impressions (CPM), depending on your bidding strategy.

    Demand Gen Campaigns

    What they are:

    Demand Gen campaigns are Google’s newest visual campaign type, designed to reach people across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. Think of them as the evolution of Discovery campaigns, focused on creating demand and engaging audiences in immersive, visual-first environments.

    How they work:

    Demand Gen uses a combination of audience targeting and visually rich ads to capture attention and drive action across Google’s most engaging surfaces. These campaigns prioritize high-quality images and video content to tell your brand story.

    You create ads using images, videos, carousels, and product feeds (yes, you can showcase multiple products in a swipeable format). Google then uses its audience signals, things like customer lists, website visitors, or similar audiences, to find people most likely to be interested in what you offer.

    The magic is in the placement: your ads show up in YouTube feeds (including Shorts), the Discover feed on mobile devices, and Gmail’s social and promotions tabs. These are places where people are actively consuming content and open to discovering something new.

    Demand Gen campaigns work particularly well for driving consideration and engagement with lookalike audiences. You’re meeting potential customers where they’re already spending time, with content that fits naturally into their experience.

    Performance Max (PMAX) Campaigns

    What they are:

    Performance Max is Google’s fully automated, goal-based campaign type. It’s designed to give Google’s AI maximum control to deliver results across all of Google’s advertising channels. That’s right! Search, Display, Shopping, YouTube, Gmail, and Discover all in one to form a single campaign.

    How they work:

    PMAX is fundamentally different from other campaign types because you don’t choose where your ads appear. Instead, you provide Google with your goals, assets (headlines, descriptions, images, videos), and audience signals, then let the algorithm do the heavy lifting.

    Here’s the breakdown: You set up a campaign with conversion goals (what actions you want people to take).  You create asset groups containing all your creative materials including text, images, logos, videos. You provide Google with search themes which are similar to keywords except they are broader.  You can also add audience signals to guide the machine learning (think customer lists or interests), though Google will expand beyond these based on performance data.

    Google’s AI then tests combinations of your assets across all available inventory, automatically allocating budget to the placements and audiences that drive the best results for your goals. It’s like having multiple campaigns running simultaneously, all optimized in real-time.

    The trade-off? Less control and transparency. You won’t know exactly where ads appear or which combinations perform best. But for advertisers willing to trust the automation, PMAX can drive strong results—especially for e-commerce and lead generation.

    Here’s the thing about PMAX: data is the name of the game. If you aren’t able to provide clear conversion data as low in the funnel as you can go (purchases, qualified leads, appointments, not just page views), Google can’t optimize properly and you’re just going to burn through budget. Set up proper conversion tracking before launching PMAX, not after. Curious if PMAX is right for your business? Reach out to our team.

    Choosing the Right Campaign Type

    Each campaign type serves a specific purpose in your marketing strategy. Search captures high-intent customers actively looking for solutions. Shopping showcases products to ready-to-buy shoppers. Display builds awareness and remarketing audiences. Demand Gen creates interest in visually engaging environments. And PMAX automates everything for efficiency.

    Most successful Google Ads strategies use a combination of campaign types, each playing to its strengths. Start with where your customers are in their journey and match the campaign type to that stage.

    Ready to build a comprehensive Google Ads strategy? Our PPC team specializes in creating campaigns that actually drive results, not just clicks.

  • What Is A Google Ads Quality Score and Why Does It Matter?

    What Is A Google Ads Quality Score and Why Does It Matter?

    What is a Google Ads Quality Score?

    First things first: what is a Google Ads Quality Score?

    In a search campaign, Google will assign a quality score at the keyword level between 1-10. This score is an indicator of how well your ad ranks compared to other advertisers. The more relevant google deems your ad and landing page to the keyword, the higher the quality score.

    How Quality Score Is Calculated:

    There are three main components to calculating the quality score

    1. Expected Click through rate: This is Google’s estimate of how likely they think someone will click on your ad. Google pulls this number from your ads past performance.
    2. Ad Relevance: How well your ad matches a user’s search intent. Does it match the question or need of the user? The more relevant your ad, the higher the quality score.
    3. Landing page experience: Once someone clicks on your ad, what kind of experience do they have on your website? Google evaluates how helpful, relevant, and user-friendly your landing page is. Pages that are clear, fast-loading, and directly related to the ad’s message will earn higher marks.

    Google assigns each component a status of “Above Average”, “average”, and “below average” to create a quality score. Your rankings are based on how your ads have performed compared to other advertisers using the same keywords over the past 90 days. In other words, it’s not just about how well you’re doing, it’s about how you stack up against the competition. 

    Why Quality Scores Matter

    Quality Score might seem like just another metric in the dashboard, but it’s much more than that. Every time your ad is eligible to be shown, it is put into an auction against other advertisers. Your quality score indicates how your ads perform in the Google ads auction and can make or break the efficiency and success of your advertising. Here are the top five ways a high quality score affects your ads:

    1. Lower Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
      • Google rewards high-quality ads with lower CPCs. A higher Quality Score means you pay less for each click while maintaining or improving your ad position.
    2. Better Position
      • Even if your competitors are bidding more, your ad can still outrank theirs if your Quality Score is better. Ads with higher Quality Scores are more likely to appear in top positions on the search results page, increasing visibility and click-through rates.
    3. Higher ROI
      • When you’re paying less per click and getting better placements, your return on investment should improve.  You’re getting more value for every dollar spent, which is the ultimate goal in any marketing campaign. That said, a better Quality Score isn’t a guarantee of improved ROI; other factors like landing page performance, seasonality, and audience targeting also play a significant role in ROI.
    4. Increased Click-Through Rate (CTR)
      • Quality Score is partially based on expected CTR, and better ad relevance often means more people click. A higher CTR feeds back into improving the Quality Score.
    5. Relevance to Searchers
      • High scores indicate that your ads are well-matched to what users are searching for, which often means higher engagement and better user experience. You want to make sure that both keyword and landing page are relevant to searchers to improve down stream metrics.

    How to Improve your Google Ads Quality Score:

    Since Google’s evaluation is done behind the scenes, your quality score can sometimes feel like a mystery, but have no fear, there are ways to improve it! We can break down our changes into three categories: improving keyword relevance, improving ad quality, and improving landing page experience. 

    Improving Keyword relevance 

    Improving keyword relevance can be a bit of a balancing act, especially now that Google is heavily promoting its AI tools and encouraging advertisers to adopt broad match keywords. If you’re currently running campaigns with phrase or exact match types, you’ve likely seen suggestions nudging you to switch to broad match.

    While Google’s AI-driven recommendations can be helpful, they’re not foolproof. It’s still up to advertisers to monitor their search terms and ensure ads are showing for relevant queries. Fortunately, enhancing keyword quality doesn’t have to be overwhelming—start with these three actionable steps:

    1. Adjust Match Types: If broad match is pulling in irrelevant traffic, consider switching to phrase or exact, or pausing underperforming keywords to improve CTR.
    2. Use Negative Keywords: Your search term report is a super useful tool. Advertisers can use it to monitor and block irrelevant searches to improve CTR and ad relevance.
    3. Group Keywords Smartly: Keep ad groups tightly themed so your ads and landing pages stay aligned with user intent. Again, this is a bit of a balancing act with google suggestions but use your best judgment based on your knowledge of your account! 

    Improving Ad Quality

    Boosting your ad quality is a key step in improving CTR and, in turn, your Quality Score. Google rewards ads that are closely aligned with user intent, so the more relevant, engaging, and clear your ads are, the better they’ll perform. 

    Here are three simple but effective ways to improve ad quality:

    1. Match your ad copy to your keywords: seems simple and it is! But this can be something that slips through the cracks, so it is important to audit your ads and make sure your headlines and descriptions use your keywords.
    2. Use all available ad extensions. Don’t forget the bells and whistles! Sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets add relevance and improve CTR.
    3. Test multiple ad variations. Run A/B tests to find the messaging that resonates most with your audience. Your findings might surprise you!

    Improving Landing Page Quality

    Landing page experience is one of the key factors of Google’s Quality Score and it’s one that often gets overlooked. Even if your ad and keywords are well-aligned, a poor landing page can drag down your score and your overall campaign performance. To improve landing page experience follow these helpful steps:

    1. Match the Message: Make sure the content on your landing page clearly reflects your ad and keywords. That might sound like a “no duh” moment, but it’s surprisingly common for advertisers to link to their homepage instead of directing users to a more relevant page. For example, if your ad promotes “Custom Office Desks,” the landing page should prominently feature that product, not just general office furniture.

    Depending on how built out your website is, this could be as simple as switching the destination URL or might require more effort to create new pages or update existing content to better align with your ad messaging.

    1. Optimize Your Landing Page: Google values landing pages that offer a smooth, user-friendly experience. Two key factors here are load speed and mobile usability.

    Slow-loading pages lead to higher bounce rates and a lower Quality Score. It is important to find and fix common issues like large images, unoptimized code, or slow server response times.

    Mobile-friendliness is equally important. Since most searches happen on mobile devices, your landing page should be responsive, easy to navigate, and quick to load on smaller screens. A clean, mobile-optimized design keeps users engaged and improves both ad performance and conversions.

    Final Quality Score Thoughts

    Quality Score isn’t just another metric, it directly impacts how much you pay and how often your ads show. A better score means lower CPCs, higher ad positions, and stronger performance overall.

    Focus on keyword relevance, ad quality, and landing page experience to move the needle. You don’t need a perfect 10, just consistent improvements that make your ads more useful to the people searching for what you offer.

  • 5 Common Mistakes in Google Ads

    5 Common Mistakes in Google Ads

    Maximize the Effectiveness of You Ad Spend

    Maximizing the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns starts with avoiding common pitfalls. From improper conversion tracking to overlooking vital ad assets, each step can significantly impact your campaign’s success. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore five critical mistakes to steer clear of and provide actionable tips to ensure your ads drive results. Let’s dive in and optimize your advertising strategy for maximum impact and ROI.

    1. Improper Conversion Tracking

    One of the most important things when first setting up Google ads is to make sure you have proper conversion tracking set up. Without conversions tracking a couple of things will happen. First, Google won’t know what to optimize. Secondly, the absence of accurate data hinders your ability to assess the effectiveness of your strategies.

    So, let’s jump into a few things to check when setting up conversion tracking:

    1. Primary Vs. secondary conversions. Google will automatically track and optimize to your primary conversion and only track your secondary conversions. So, if submitting a lead or a sale are the most important conversion actions for you, then make sure these are set as primary and not secondary conversions. 
    2. Don’t over clutter your conversion actions. We like to say “if everything is important then nothing is important”. We recommend choosing the most important conversion actions and tracking those. This might seem simple, however, sometimes Google will recommend many conversion events, including individual page views and link clicks which most likely are less valuable to you than a purchase, call or lead form submission.
    3. Tracking conversion value. Once a user has landed on your website and made a purchase or closed a deal, it’s important to send that purchase value back into google. This way you can track your return on investment instead of just the number of conversions.  

    2. Not Setting an Ad Schedule 

    Google allows you to set an ad schedule based on the day or the hour. You could hypothetically run ads at a different time every day, though we can think of many reasons you’d need to do that. 

    Creating an ad schedule that suits your company is key. This can be done right off the bat or once you have more data. 

    For instance if you are a B2B organization, running ads Mon-Fri is most likely the way to go. Why waste your money on the weekends when people aren’t at work. In the same vine you might run ads from 9am-5pm to coincide with the average work schedule. 

    When you are setting up your campaigns you might have no idea when your consumers are most active. No worries! You can always run your campaigns 24/7, and after a couple of weeks and enough data, you can assess when conversions are coming in, and cost/conversion then adjust accordingly. 

    Running ads on a schedule doesn’t have to be an all or nothing either! You might notice that for some reason on Wednesdays, your conversions and ROI are down but you still want ads to appear on Wednesdays. If you are setting manual bids you can adjust the maximum bid based on the time and day. So on Wednesdays you can set your max bid to 50% of what your normal max bid is to lower spend. 

    3. Blindly Accepting All of Google’s Recommendations

    Don’t get us wrong, Google can have great recommendations but sometimes they can be overzealous and it can lead you down a path you definitely don’t want to go down. For instance, Google will often make recommendations that include a budget increase, which you might not have. It’s okay to tell Google no even if your optimization score goes down a bit. 

    Another recommendation you should keep an eye on is the key word changes. Google will frequently recommend broad match keywords and we have noticed sometimes they aren’t afraid to add +150 broad match keywords to one ad group. For some, this may be okay, but for others this can lead to irrelevant search terms and messy keyword data. 

    Not all of Google’s Recommendations are bad, some can be very helpful but make sure to not blindly accept all of their suggestions without thinking about how it will affect your business. 

    4. Not setting up location targeting

    Don’t forget to set up Location targeting for your ads based on your company’s needs. Google allows advertisers to select what countries, states, or zip codes their ads appear in. Google also allows you to set areas that you don’t want to advertise in. 

    No one likes wasted ad spend and the quickest way to lose money is to advertise in areas where your business is less or not relevant. For instance, if you run a brick and mortar store you should set up location targeting based on the area around your store. No need to be advertising in Texas if your store front is in Chicago, IL. 

    Location targeting is relevant if you have an online store too. Let’s say your company sells snow blowers. Well, once again advertising in Texas might not be the biggest bang for your buck.

    Sure over 5 years I’m sure someone will buy a snowblower in Texas for some reason or another but you’d be better off concentrating your ad spend on places like Wisconsin, Michigan or New Hampshire. 

    5. Lack of Ad Assets

    Our final mistake we see advertisers make is not utilizing assets! Advertisers should use assets in Google Ads because they play a crucial role in creating compelling and effective advertisements that increase ad relevance and increase ad quality score. 

    When creating an ad it’s hard to miss the basics like headlines and descriptions because they are required, but don’t forget about the optional ones. You used to have to add the optional assets to an ad after the ad was created in the asset tab.

    Now Google has made it easier and gives advertisers the option of adding assets and extensions to the ad while making the ad itself. Some of these assets are:

    • Sitelink extensions
    • Call outs
    • Structured snippets
    • Photos
    • Location extension
    • Lead form extension
    • Call extension
    • Price extensions
    • Image extensions

    These different assets allow you to link to relevant  pages on your site, highlight important details about your company, and provide contact information up front. Overall assets can be used to provide more information and make your ad more attractive to potential customers. 

    That being said, not all assets are relevant to every business. For example, you might not take calls or you might sell products solely online and not have a location. That’s okay! Use all that pertains to your business to maximize ad quality score. 

    Wrapping Up 

    In conclusion, mastering Google Ads requires diligence and strategic planning to avoid common pitfalls that can hinder your campaign’s performance.

    By ensuring proper conversion tracking, setting up ad schedules tailored to your target audience’s behavior, critically evaluating Google’s recommendations, implementing precise location targeting, and leveraging ad assets effectively, you can maximize the effectiveness of your advertising strategy.

    With these insights and actionable tips, you’re equipped to optimize your campaigns for maximum impact and ROI. Here’s to your success in the dynamic world of digital advertising!

  • A Guide To Google Ads With Wix

    A Guide To Google Ads With Wix

    Using Wix to Set-up Google Ads

    Starting a business is no easy feat and includes a lot of steps. Two of which are making a website and getting said website in front of customers to promote your product or services.

    If you have ever thought about setting up a website before, we are sure most of you have heard of a little platform called Wix, an easy to use, code free website developer. However did you know that Wix also allows you to set up Google ads directly from their platform? 

    We know that when starting a business there is also a LOT of research that needs to be done. Scouring the internet, bouncing from page to page, trying to decide which path is best, and not everyone has time for that.

    Today we are going to keep it all in one place! Everything you need to know about using Google Ads through Wix and if it’s better than setting up a Google Ads account directly through Google. 

    How To Set Up Google Ads on Wix

    Before we go through the pros and cons of using Wix to set up Google Ads, let’s walk through the steps to set it up. Wix keeps things pretty simple so there are only 5 main steps we are going to touch on.

    1) Set up location targeting

    Advertisers are able to enter up to ten locations based on country, state, city, zip code, and region, or advertisers can enter a street address that they want to advertise near.

    2) Set Up Ad Schedule

    Choose if you want to run your ads all the time or at specific times. If you opt for specific times you can then choose which days and which hours your ads run.  

    3) Select Keyword Themes

    You can then select up to 10 keyword themes that you think are relevant to how people might be searching for products and services like yours. You can enter in your own keywords or pull from Wix’s suggestions. You only get 10, so choose your themes carefully to encompass everything that you want your campaign to target. 

    4) Assets

    Advertisers enter in 3 headlines and 2 descriptions about their company and landing page. This is what will appear when your ad shows to users.

    5) Set Budget

    For Wix, you must first purchase a monthly subscription starting as low as $150 a month. This will then pool as the ad credit acting as the money that your campaigns can then pull from when you set your daily spend on the campaign level. It’s important to keep in mind that your campaigns also have a minimum daily spend so if you have a second campaign you will need to purchase more ad credit via a one time purchase or an increase in the monthly subscription. 

    Pros of Running Google Ads Through Wix:

    And just like that, in five easy steps, you have yourself a Google Ads campaign set up through Wix, which leads us to our first pro for using the Wix platform to run Google Ads.

    Pro 1) It’s Easy

    Wix uses a simplified version of Google Ads that allows you to run search ads, as opposed to the Google Ads platform which has a number of different ad types, complex targeting, and more nuanced ad set up.

    Though some people like the bells and whistles of Google Ads, not every company has the band-with to set up and manage complex campaigns.

    Wix’s easy to use pared down platform is efficient. Plus it comes with step by step tutorials to walk you through how to set up Google Ads in Wix.  

    Pro 2) Integration

    Using the same platform cuts down a lot of time. Right off the jump, you don’t need to create a Google Ads account, become a verified advertiser, or enter credit card information into a new platform.

    In fact, You don’t need to learn another platform at all, because it’s all right in Wix, so you are already familiar with their tools.

    Pro 3) Singular Platform (part one)

    The pro of a singular platform in terms of integration is great but there is a lot to be said for its simplicity of a singular platform in the long term.

    Let’s be honest, as a business owner there is a lot to manage and that includes the 101 tabs open on your computer that you need to check on.

    Well advertising through the Wix platform instead of the Google Ads platform cuts down on one extra tab that you have to remember to check.

    Instead of bouncing around between Wix and Google Ads you are able to view your advertising data alongside your organic data on one platform.

    Time is money and there is a lot of time being saved by having one less platform to pay attention to.

    Cons of running Google Ads Through Wix

    There are a lot of pros to using the Wix platform to run Google Ads but some of those very things that are pros can quickly become cons for advertisers.

    Con 1) Limited Data

    Having one platform is great when you don’t have time to learn or set up a Google Ads account, however it also means that Wix is not built to report the same way the Google Ads platform reports.

    Wix has very limited data compared to Google Ads.

    In Google Ads, advertisers have the ability to do detailed audience reports, gather data on individual keywords, and track many metrics such as impression share that Wix does not report.

    This lack of reporting prevents advertisers from gathering insights on their target market and limits ad optimization. 

    Con 2) Limited Ad Control

    Again another pro that can quickly become a con. Wix has a simplified ad set up, which makes ads easy to build, but easy doesn’t necessarily mean better. Here are a few ways Wix is limiting:

    The biggest drawbacks of ads on Wix is that you can only run search ads, so any display or video advertising is out of the question from the jump. 

    Wix also doesn’t allow for more than 3 headlines and 2 descriptions. In Google, Advertisers are able to enter up to 10 headlines and 4 descriptions that then get optimized based on performance.

    On Wix, advertisers can’t add extensions to their ads, meaning they are missing out on images, pricing, and call outs that can help an ad stand out, be competitive and attract users.

    Finally, Wix has advertisers pick out keyword themes and not specific keywords, meaning that the search terms your ads are showing up for are more broad and might not be relevant. Thus, there is also less data on the success of a keyword/keyword theme.

    Con 3) Campaign = Ad

    Right now every ad that is created in Wix is its own campaign. In Google Ads there are campaigns, ad groups and then ads.

    There can be more than one ad group in a campaign and more than one ad in an ad group, allowing advertisers to organize ad content and gather data on different markets in a concise manner. 

    Con 4) Google Ads and Wix Don’t Connect

    Though you are able to advertise with Google Ads through Wix they are separate platforms.

    This means, if you start advertising through Wix and then decide you want to switch to using the Google Ads platform for all the tools and data that Google provides, you aren’t able to retroactively pull your data from Wix into Google Ads.

    As far as Google Ads is concerned you have not been running ads through them. Thus you won’t have all your data in one place.

    Is Using Wix to run Google Ads Worth It

    Truthfully this is going to depend on your business.

    As an agency, we wouldn’t use Wix to advertise for our clients because it does not provide near enough data for us to work with and make intelligent observations on campaigns.

    However, advertising is our world and we have the time, means and knowledge, to quickly and effectively set up Google Ads campaigns.

     A small business owner looking for a way to easily advertise their business might benefit from having a simple platform that is in the same place as where their website is being hosted.

    In conclusion, if you have the time, Google Ads is more worthwhile, however if you don’t have the time or desire to learn Google Ads, then setting up ads through Wix is a good resource to get you started in advertising. 

    Want to take advantage of advertising on Google Ads directly, but need help? Contact us for affordable ads management services. After a short conversation where we align with your needs, we can provide you with a free PPC Ads Management quote. Contact is today!

  • How to Use Remarketing in PPC

    How to Use Remarketing in PPC

    The Role of Remarketing in PPC: Strategies for Targeting and Converting

    In the fast-paced world of online advertising, capturing and retaining the attention of potential customers is crucial for success. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is an effective way to reach targeted audiences, but what happens when those initial clicks don’t immediately lead to conversions? This is where remarketing comes into play. In this article, we’ll explore the pivotal role of remarketing in PPC campaigns and provide strategies for effectively targeting and converting prospects.

    Understanding Remarketing:

    Remarketing, also known as retargeting, is a digital marketing strategy that involves targeting users who have previously interacted with your website or mobile app but haven’t completed a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form. By tracking user behavior and displaying targeted ads to these individuals as they browse other websites or social media platforms, remarketing aims to re-engage them and encourage them to take the desired action.

    The Importance of Remarketing in PPC:

    Remarketing plays a crucial role in PPC campaigns for several reasons:

    • Re-Engagement: Remarketing allows advertisers to re-engage with users who have already shown interest in their products or services. By keeping your brand top-of-mind, remarketing helps nurture leads and encourages them to return to your website to complete a conversion.
    • Increased Conversions: Studies have shown that remarketing can significantly increase conversion rates by targeting users who are already familiar with your brand and are more likely to convert. By delivering personalized ads based on users’ previous interactions, remarketing helps create a more tailored and compelling user experience.
    • Enhanced ROI: Remarketing campaigns often yield higher returns on investment (ROI) compared to traditional display advertising. Since remarketing targets users who are further along the sales funnel, the likelihood of conversion is higher, resulting in a more efficient use of advertising budget.

    Strategies for Remarketing Success:

    When launching a remarketing strategy, it is important to not think of it as a one size fits all campaign. Not all people who have been to your site are the same. In fact they aren’t even all at the same place on the conversion path. The plus side of a remarketing campaign is that advertisers already have information on the users, so use it! Cater your ads to the segment.  

    Remarketing segmentations can get pretty niche depending on your previous campaigns and website, but today we are going to focus on two of the most common remarketing segmentations: landing pages and abandoned carts.

    Landing Page Remarketing

    Users who bounced off your landing page without taking action may still be in the early stages of the buying journey and may need more nurturing before they’re ready to convert. In this case, remarketing ads can focus on providing valuable content or showcasing other products or services that may be of interest to them.

    Abandoned Cart Remarketing

    For users who abandoned their carts, they have already expressed a strong intent to purchase, making them prime targets for remarketing efforts.

    By creating remarketing campaigns specifically targeted at cart abandoners, you can remind them of the items they left behind and provide additional incentives to encourage them to complete their purchase. This could include offering a discount or promotion, highlighting free shipping or returns, or emphasizing limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency.

    Wrapping Up

    By creating distinct remarketing segments, advertisers are able to tailor messaging, assets, and landing pages to their target audience to increase click through rate and ROI. By delivering relevant and personalized content that resonates with each segment, advertisers can optimize campaign performance and achieve better results from their remarketing efforts.

  • 5 Alternatives to Google Ads

    5 Alternatives to Google Ads

    Best Alternatives to Google Ads

    Google Ads has ruled the roost for years when it comes to paid advertising, and for good reason. They have a wide breadth of ad types, such as search ads, display ads, and shopping ads. Their expansive targeting and audience options also allows advertisers to successfully reach their desired consumer. Let’s not forget that Google Ads also has relatively reliable measuring tools and solid user experience. That being said, like all platforms, Google isn’t without its flaws. 

    Some advertisers prefer more control over where their ads are showing, who their ads are showing to, how the copy is displayed and even how assets are paired. As Google is growing and branching into more AI driven features, sometimes this control is getting more limited to the advertiser. 

    But don’t be afraid, because there is a wide range of platforms that advertisers have at their disposal. Some might even be more suited for your business than Google. I always say that every company is different and thus each company’s advertising needs are going to be different. It’s important to assess what is best for your business in order to have the most successful campaign growth. 

    Today we are going to dive into five other platforms that can boost your reach!

    1. Facebook/ instagram
    2. Geofencing
    3. Bing
    4. Yelp
    5. Linkedin

    1. Facebook and Instagram Ads

    Alright, I’m sure it comes as no surprise that this is on the list. If you are in the advertising game at all or even just on social media you know that Facebook and Instagram ads are extremely popular among advertisers and for good reason. Google and Facebook have a lot of similar features. For instance, Facebook allows for remarketing, targeting based on audiences and similar geographical targeting to Google, but what makes it stand out.

    For one, pretty obviously, the ads aren’t showing up on the side of a blog article or in a random app, they are showing up alongside organic content in social media feeds. What does this mean for advertisers? Well it’s an entirely different kind of engagement. Users are able to not only click on your site but they can like, comment and share creating opportunities for meaningful interactions with potential customers. Advertisers are granted useful insight into how consumers are feeling about the product or promotion in real time.

    We would argue that no platform is better than Meta for the visual appeal of ads. Instagram, in particular, is a highly visual platform, making it ideal for showcasing products and services through eye-catching images and videos. Facebook also supports visual content, ensuring your ads stand out. Luckily with Facebook and instagram you have almost complete control over what your ads look like and how they will appear to consumers.

    Facebook and Instagram are an ideal platform for businesses who value community engagement and greater artistic control over their ads.

    2. Geofencing

    Geofencing ads appear similar to how Google’s Display ads appear, as banner ads and as in app ads. So why would someone look for a geofencing platform over Google Ads? 

    Choosing a geofencing advertising platform over Google Ads can be a strategic decision for businesses looking to target their audience with precision and relevance. Geofencing has  hyper-local targeting by allowing  you to draw virtual boundaries around specific physical locations, such as stores, events, or competitors’ locations. This level of granularity ensures your ads are seen by the right people in the right place at the right time.

    These Geofencing platforms are also able to easily track foot traffic to your store. For instance if you are a restaurant targeting the office building next door to come in for happy hour, geofencing platforms can see who came from the office to your restaurant’s location. Instead of targeting a whole town or zip code, you can target a singular relevant location and track the success of the foot traffic along with the online metrics. This kind of precision may be key for your business.

    3. Bing

    The concept of bing ads is not that far off from Google Ads. The two are similar, so why might bing ads be better suited for you. Well it’s pretty common knowledge that google is more widely used then bing. In fact, according to impression digital “Google retains an 83.84% share of the global market” with bing only at 8.88%, but that 8.88% is still 1.1 billion users every month. Those bing users aren’t any less valuable than the google users, and surprise surprise, just like there are more people on google, there are more advertisers on google driving the competition up!

    Due to its smaller market share, Bing often has lower competition for keywords and ad placements. This can result in lower advertising costs and a better return on investment (ROI) for some businesses.

    Bing also attracts a different user demographic compared to Google. It tends to have a slightly older and more affluent user base, making it a valuable platform for reaching specific customer segments. Now if you are trying to target Gen Z this probably isn’t the platform for you, but if you are selling orthopedic shoes geared towards +55 community bing is worth considering!

    4. Yelp

    If you are a B2C company, Yelp can be a strong contender for you. There are thousands of businesses on yelp, but remember claiming your business on yelp and having a business page is different from running ads on yelp. When advertising on yelp ads can show in a few places. One of which is pretty standard, at the top of  someone’s search results. On Google sometimes the intention of a search is unclear. A consumer could be searching for a product or just simply asking a question. However when people are searching on yelp they are more likely than not looking for a relevant business, thus more active engagement.

    Another ad placement is on competitors’ pages! Yes that’s right, you can have your ad appear on a competitor’s profile while a consumer is researching your industry. Having your ad featured on a competitor’s Yelp profile can offer a strategic advantage in the competitive landscape. It provides an opportunity for targeted exposure to an audience actively exploring products or services within your industry. By positioning your ad alongside a competitor’s listing, you engage with potential customers who are already in the decision-making process. 

    5. LinkedIn

    Advertising on a LinkedIn profile can offer distinct advantages over Google Ads, particularly when targeting a professional and business-oriented audience. LinkedIn provides a platform where users showcase their career profiles and interests, making it an ideal space for B2B and professional services marketing. Unlike Google Ads, which primarily relies on keyword targeting, LinkedIn allows precise targeting based on job title, company size, industry, and more. This specificity ensures your ads reach decision-makers and professionals with a genuine interest in your products or services. 

    Moreover, LinkedIn’s context is professional, making it suitable for industries where trust, credibility, and networking are paramount. In contrast, Google Ads may cast a wider net and include unrelated or less qualified traffic. For businesses looking to connect with a niche B2B audience or establish themselves as industry leaders, LinkedIn advertising often offers a more focused and effective approach.

    Wrapping up

    In conclusion, Google Ads undoubtedly holds a prominent position in the digital advertising landscape, offering an expansive reach and diverse opportunities for businesses. However, it’s crucial to recognize that no single advertising platform is a one-size-fits-all solution. 

    Different businesses have unique goals, target audiences, and marketing needs. Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, geofencing, and Bing each bring their own strengths to the table, whether it’s precise audience targeting, local focus, professional networking, or competitive edge. Therefore, it is imperative for businesses to assess their specific requirements and objectives carefully. By evaluating the nature of their products or services, their audience’s preferences, and their budget constraints, businesses can strategically choose the advertising platforms that align most closely with their goals, ultimately maximizing their marketing efforts and ROI. 

    In today’s dynamic digital landscape, flexibility and adaptability in choosing the right platform can make all the difference in achieving advertising success.

  • Google Ads: Automatically Created Assets

    Google Ads: Automatically Created Assets

    Google Ads: Automatically Created Assets

    As Google Ads grows and expands its capabilities one of their big focuses has been to create automatic systems so that advertisers don’t have to spend as much time making decisions and monitoring. We have seen automatic bidding and smart campaigns, now comes automatic asset creation. 

    What are Automatically Created Assets?

    These new automatically created assets are headlines and descriptions developed by Google’s AI for advertisers’ responsive search ads. 

     According to Google, “These new assets are generated based on your ad’s unique context, which includes your landing page, existing ads, and keywords in your ad group.” 

    This is an opt-in feature that many advertisers have a lot of thoughts on. Though not all of the thoughts are positive, let’s start with the pro’s of Google’s automatically created Assets. 

    Pros of Google’s Automatically Created Assets

    Google believes that it will cut back the manual labor for advertisers, increase performance of responsive search ads by running more copy, and create a cohesive user experience across campaigns and landing pages. 

    Ads perform best when they have keywords in their headlines and descriptions. When setting up ad groups and ads, ideally the keywords will correspond with each other within an ad group allowing advertisers to add those keywords into the headlines. However, sometimes keywords can be contradictory, preventing advertisers from adding that keyword to a headline. 

    Let’s take a look at a simple example. Sally sets up an ad group to sell t-shirts. She adds keywords, “pink t-shirt” and “blue-tshirt”, but she is hesitant to add these keywords as headlines because she doesnt want someone searching for a blue t-shirt to be fed an ad with the headline “Pink T-shirts for Sale”. 

    When using automatically created assets, if an ad is triggered by the keyword “blue t-shirt” then a headline using that keyword like “Best Blue T-Shirt Deal”  can appear. Google will use your provided headlines, descriptions, and keywords to create the best assets for the searchers so you don’t have to.

    Furthermore, as campaigns evolve and keywords and landing pages change, Google’s automatically created assets will adjust to match the new content. This will cut back the time advertisers spend adjusting their creative as campaigns take on new life. 

    As the campaigns optimize, google will automatically show the best performing assets and remove underperforming assets so you don’t have to. 

    All that being said, not everyone views google’s automatically created assets as sunshine and rainbow. Some advertisers are even strongly against it.  

    Cons of Google’s Automatically Created Assets

    Right off the bat, when using Google’s automatically created assets, advertisers have less control over what creative is being shown and when. 

    One of the arguments for using automatically created assets is that it cuts back on the time advertisers have to spend on optimizing their campaign. Ironically, unless you are someone who wholeheartedly trusts Google, (we are not), the time that is saved upfront in creating assets is then lost when you have to monitor the creative that Google is showing. Advertisers are able to remove individual assets that are created but this process can take time.

    In that same vein, how frequently are you going to be removing assets? How accurate are the assets that google is creating?

    Some advertisers have gone so far as to say the assets created are nonsensical and the tool has a long way to go before it becomes reliable. 

    Thus it is important for any account manager to add “go through automatically created assets” to their weekly checklist. 

    If you are thinking about running automatically created assets, some questions to ask yourself include:

    • Am I okay with having headlines and descriptions run that I don’t fully approve of, even if it’s for a short period of time?
    • Do I have the bandwidth to add “go through automatically created assets” to my weekly checklist?

    Even if you are confident in Google’s AI capabilities it is always a good idea to run a couple of tests to make sure that this feature works for you and your campaigns. Best to use a test budget instead of your full campaign budget, incase the results aren’t everything that you are hoping for. 

    Summary

    Google’s automatically created assets are headlines and descriptions generated based off of a campaigns landing pages, keywords and already created copy. These assets are meant to optimize themselves, provide relevant content for searchers, and reduce the amount of time advertisers spend on an account.

    However, Google’s AI capabilities don’t quite reach many advertisers standards, thus requiring involved maintenance and upkeep of the assets. Many Advertisers have instead decided to not opt-in to automatically created assets all together. 

    If these new tools worked flawlessly we would be all on board, but it seems there are still hiccups that google needs to work through. That being said, it is up to each advertiser to test it out for themselves and decide if it is a good fit for their company!

  • 5 Ways to Prevent Budget Waste in Google Ads

    5 Ways to Prevent Budget Waste in Google Ads

    Conserving Your Ads Budget

    Google ads can be a great tool to drive traffic and awareness for your brand. However it is important to ensure that your ads aren’t just appearing in front of people but appearing in front of potential customers. We have laid out 5 key ways advertisers can make sure they aren’t wasting budget on impressions and clicks that aren’t valuable.

    Limit Broad Match Keywords

    Managing keywords effectively in Google Ads is crucial for maximizing your advertising budget and driving relevant traffic to your campaigns. Keywords play a pivotal role in determining when and where your ads will appear on the search engine results page.

    While broad match keywords might seem like a quick way to capture a wide range of search queries, they can also lead to wastage of your budget if not managed carefully. Google tends to really push broad match keywords. If you haven’t noticed already, changing your keywords to broad match will likely come up repeatedly as a Google Ads recommendation. It’s okay to reject this recommendation because, while this can expand your reach, it can also bring in clicks from users who aren’t truly interested in your offerings.

    Right off the bat some may be drawn to the broad match keywords because they tend to have a lower Cost Per Click (CPC). Clicks are great and clicks with a low cost are great, but if you are paying for clicks that are bouncing then the click has no value.

    We recommend using Broad match keywords sparingly. For instance ​​Using broad match keywords at the start of a campaign can be a valuable strategy to gain insights into the diverse array of search terms that potential customers are using to discover your business. However if you think you have a good handle on what potential customers are searching for, then jumping straight to exact match and phrase match keywords is the way to go!

    Use Negative Keywords and Negative Keyword Lists

    When managing a google ads campaign one of the most crucial things you can do to make sure you aren’t wasting money is to regularly review search term reports to identify new negative keyword opportunities. By analyzing the actual search terms that trigger your ads, you can spot terms that are consistently leading to irrelevant clicks or impressions. These terms can then be added to your negative keyword list, further refining your campaign’s targeting and preventing future wastage of budget on unproductive clicks.

    The first method of negative keyword management is to add negative keywords directly to the campaign or add group. The second method is to add negative keywords to a negative keyword list that can be applied to multiple campaigns.

    For example if you are running ads for your local restaurant and don’t want to appear when people search for competitor restaurants, we recommend creating a competitor negative keyword list. This way when you add a negative keyword to the list it will automatically apply to all campaigns that the negative keyword list is assigned to.

    Same goes for when you start a new campaign. Instead of doing more work and adding negative keywords individually to that campaign, you merely add the negative keyword list! Boom, no money wasted on unwanted search terms!

    Leveraging Ad Schedules

    When starting off with google ads keywords and search terms are going to come in to play right from the jump but now let’s dive into more specifics.
    Google ads allows users to control when their ads are displayed throughout the day and week.
    Leveraging ad scheduling strategically can significantly contribute to preventing a waste of budget on clicks that don’t deliver value. By tailoring your ad schedule to align with your target audience’s most active and relevant periods, you can ensure that your ads are shown to users when they are more likely to convert.

    Understanding your audience’s behavior and preferences is key to effective ad scheduling. If your business offers products or services that are more in demand during specific hours or days, adjusting your ad schedule to match those patterns can be highly beneficial.

    For instance, a restaurant might want to increase ad visibility during lunch and dinner hours, while an online retailer might focus more on evenings and weekends when users have more time to browse and make purchases. Another example would be only running ads during business hours if your company primarily provides B2B services.

    If you don’t know when your customers are most active don’t fret! You can always run your campaigns with no ad schedule and then after a few weeks assess the data and build out an ad schedule based on click through and conversion rates.

    In the ads scheduling You are also able to make bid adjustments. Let’s say you don’t want to be bidding your full bid during off hours but you also don’t want to go completely dark. This would be the perfect case to decrease your bid by 50% or whatever feels comfortable for you.

    Use Big Modifiers

    Speaking of bid modifying, there is so much more than time based bid modifying that can be done in a campaign.

    Utilizing bid modifiers in Google Ads can significantly enhance targeting precision, leading to more effective campaigns. Bid modifiers empower advertisers to adjust their bids based on specific criteria, allowing them to tailor their ad delivery to audiences that are more likely to convert. This approach maximizes the impact of your budget by focusing on high-potential segments while minimizing exposure to less valuable traffic.

    Geographic bid modifiers, for instance, enable you to increase or decrease bids for users in specific locations. If your business has higher value in certain geographic regions, you can allocate more budget to those areas, ensuring that your ads are prominently displayed to audiences with stronger conversion potential.

    Similarly, device bid modifiers help cater to users’ preferred devices. If your data shows that conversions are more likely to occur on mobile devices compared to desktops, adjusting your bids accordingly can optimize your ad delivery for higher-converting platforms. By prioritizing the devices that align with your audience’s behaviors, you channel your budget more effectively and reduce the risk of wasting it on less productive channels.

    Separate Your Search and Display Campaigns

    Alright folks this one is so simple but so tricky many veteran advertisers fall trap to it. All you have to do for this tip is Opt out of the google display network when setting up a search campaign.

    Google is great when it comes to guiding advertisers through setting up a campaign. They have that step by step process down pat. Google asks you questions and most of the time you as the advertiser have to input information, ie budget, keywords, copy.

    However when setting up a search campaign you will eventually hit the “Network” section. Google will automatically have the display network checked meaning that in your search campaign “ads can also appear on relevant sites, videos and apps across google”. This would essentially make your search campaign, not just a search campaign.

    On the surface, this might seem advantageous – an automatic expansion of your reach! However, our strong suggestion is to consistently split your search and display campaigns, providing you with greater authority over:

    Budget Allocation:
    Dividing your campaigns allows for more precise budget management. You can allocate funds to each network according to their individual performance and importance.

    Ad Placement Control:
    With separate campaigns, you can have a say in where your ads appear. You can target specific placements on the Display network and maintain precision in your search placements.

    Bid Adjustments for Search and Display:
    Individual campaigns let you fine-tune your bidding strategies based on the differing user behaviors on the search and display networks. An actively engaged searcher has distinct conversion potential compared to someone casually browsing content.

    It’s vital to distinguish between individuals actively seeking your offerings on Google searches and those who see your ad by chance on a blog post. By keeping these visitor categories apart, you ensure more effective targeting and a better return on your advertising investment, thus not wasting money.

    Wrapping Up

    Google ads has a plethora of features at advertisers disposal. So many features in fact, that it can be overwhelming for new advertisers when first starting out. But no worries! Leverage Google ad’s tools by following our key steps to best optimize your campaigns and budget. Remember that every campaign and company is different so what works for one might not work for the next! Take our tips as a jumping off point and see if they are the best fit for your business or decide if optimizing your campaigns looks different.

  • Geo Targeting Vs Geo Fencing

    Geo Targeting Vs Geo Fencing

    Geotargeting and Geofencing Compared

    The line between geotargeting and geofencing can get blurred pretty quickly in the marketing world, and depending on who you talk to the two are used interchangeably. 

    For instance Google ads offers geotargeting but not geofencing. When looking closely at google’s site you’ll notice that never once does it mention geofencing. Instead it uses words like “Google Ads location targeting”, yet if you search “Google ads Geofencing” you will get article after article on all of Google ad’s geofencing capabilities. Yikes! 

    So why do these terms get used interchangeably and what is the difference between google ads location targeting and geofencing platforms.

    BREAKING DOWN THE TERMS

    Let’s start by outlining what geotargeting and geofencing are.

    Geotargeting uses IP addresses, GPS coordinates, user interest, and proximity marketing to target consumers in an advertiser’s desired geographic location. 

    Geofencing Uses GPS or RFID signals to set a customizable virtual boundary that will trigger ads when a person enters the location.

    Okay we know, we know. These still sound very similar, so we are going to break down Google ads geotargeting capabilities and other platforms’ geofencing capabilities to hopefully create a bigger more defined picture of the differences between geotargeting and geofencing. 

    In general, I like to think of Google ads location targeting, as being a wider net then geofencing. It’s important to keep in mind that a wider net has both its pros and cons, so let’s look closer.

    GOOGLE ADS’ TARGETING METHODS

    Google ads has two forms of targeting, location and radius. First, location based, allows you to target the following areas:

    • Countries
    • Cities
    • Regions
    • Postal codes

    For one campaign, multiple locations can be selected at a time, i.e. a campaign can target California, Florida, and North Carolina at the same time. You could even target 1,000 zip codes if you wanted to.

    That being said, no one wants to spend the better part of an afternoon entering 1,000 zip codes manually! Luckily the google ads platform allows you to upload a list in bulk for an easier experience or enter locations manually if you just have a few. 

    On the flip side, Google Ads also allows you to exclude locations in the same fashion that you would target. This would be helpful if you are promoting a product in the United States but aren’t able to ship to Alaska or Hawaii. Instead of entering in the 48 states that you can ship to, you would instead target the United States and exclude Alaska and Hawaii.

    The second kind of targeting is radius targeting. This can be found under advanced search options in the locations setting. In Google ads radius targeting allows an advertiser to enter their business profile location or an address. From there a radius size of your choosing will appear around that location. The radius around that location can be anywhere between 1 and 500 miles. 

    A one mile radius is the closest you can get to your location. In Google ads if you want to target Grand Central Station the most precise targeting would be Grand Central Station plus a 1 mile radius. Some advertisers may want to hone in on the station itself and not the surrounding area. That would be a task for Geofencing, but more on that later.

    GOOGLE LOCATION VS INTEREST TARGETING

    Something else to keep an eye on when setting up location targeting for Google ads is their question on presence or interest. You will have the option to target not only people who are physically in your designated location but also people who show interest in your designated area. 

    For example, let’s say you want to run ads for your tour bus company in Chicago. You don’t want to only target those who live in the city because that might not be your sole target demographic. Instead you want to reach tourists who are interested in and planning a trip to Chicago but don’t live there. This is a scenario when using presence and interest is your best option.

    HOW DOES GOOGLE DECIDE WHO TO SHOW ADS TO

    Ideally when you set a target location, you will be sending ads to that location specifically, but with Google that isn’t always the case. Google uses GPS signals, IP Addresses and interests to target people and therefore will sometimes hit people outside of your set location. 

    For example, people use IP addresses that don’t match their actual location. We are seeing a rise in VPN usage, whether it be for watching Netflix shows in a different country or for protecting data online. Nevertheless, Google will still target IP addresses that are set for your location even if that person is not physically there.  

    GEOFENCING PLATFORMS

    Before we dive into Geofencing, let’s clear something up. In the first section we talked about Google ads’ geotargeting because people will likely interact with google ads at some point in their Marketing career. When it comes to Geofencing there are many platforms with geofencing capabilities. Today we are going to go over some of the main components frequently seen on geofencing platforms. It’s important to note that not all platforms are created equal and some have more capabilities than others. 

    So, Let’s jump into geofencing and what makes it different from Google ads location targeting.

    GEOFENCING TARGETING METHODS

    Unlike google ads, Geofencing allows you to get super specific with where you are targeting. How specific, you may ask. Well not only can you target a single building but you can separate that building from its parking lot. You can even select the front part of the building if you know that the back of the building is all storage and your target group of people isn’t there. 

    This is done by setting up “fences”. You provide the geofencing platform with locations you want to target, and they will set up a virtual fence around the area. Then, using GPS signals when someone enters that location they will be eligible for your ads. Frequently these locations can be edited to fit exactly what you need. You can also target more than one place at a time.

  • Google Ads Phrase Match Types Compared in 2023

    Google Ads Phrase Match Types Compared in 2023

    Should You Switch to Broad Match Keyword?

    We have all been there. Going through our campaign recommendations and being told once again to change all our phrase and exact match keywords to broad match. Moving people to Broad Match Keywords seems to be one of google’s biggest goals as of late.

    Don’t worry, you are not the only one receiving this recommendation again and again. In fact, we manage a number of accounts and about 90% of them receive this recommendation repeatedly. 

    But is changing your keywords to broad match always the best move?

    Our short answer is no, switching all your keywords to broad match without analyzing them is not the best move, and here is why.

    Match Types Looking Different Nowadays

    If you’ve not managed the day-to-day of a campaign in a few years you may be out of the game and may have missed the memo that keyword match types are not what they were five years ago. In fact they are not even what they were a year ago.

    Google still has the core match types: broad match, phrase match, and exact match. However, their definitions have changed in the past few years and google completely went away with broad match modifiers in July 2021. We would argue that the new definitions for the match types have actually blurred the lines between them. 

    Let’s take a look at the new definitions for each match type and what that means for the search terms google pulls. 

    KEYWORD MATCH TYPE DEFINITIONS

    This is how google now defines each term: 

    Broad Match Keywords: The search term has to be related to the keyword but does not need to have the same meaning.

    Phrase Match Keywords: The Search Term has to include the same meaning as the keyword.

    Exact Match Keywords: The search term has to have the same meaning as the keyword.

    SOME EXAMPLES

    Keyword: Auto Shop
    Broad MatchPhrase MatchExact Match
    Car Towing company Purchase a FordCustom Auto Shopauto shop labor rates by stateAuto Shop 

    These rules make sense and are pretty straight forward, but here is where the waters get really muddied. Google has also introduced “close variants”. What does close variant mean? Well, it means that exact match keywords are no longer just exact match and phrase match Keywords are no longer just phrase match. Close variants are not a setting like phrase or exact match, rather if you set a keyword to exact match google might show search terms that are exact match “close variant”. Same goes for phrase match. Here are some examples of close variants for the same keyword “Auto Shop”.

    Keyword: Auto Shop
    Phrase Match “close variant”Exact Match “close variant”
    car accessory shop exhaust shop near me bmw performance shopauto store car shops auto places

    As you can see some of the phrase match “close variant” examples start to look similar to the broad match search terms. We have even seen the same search term appear as both a phrase match “close variant” and an exact match “close variant” for the same keyword. 

    Right about now is when you might be asking the same question that we were asking: Can you turn close variant matches off? Nope. Truly there is no off switch. There have been a handful of articles written about stopping google ads from showing close variants, but these articles all include tips on negative matching and account organization. Sadly none of them include a magic answer about where a hidden off switch button is. That being said, if you are interested in these other tactics Browser Media goes into detail on close variants and ways to prevent them.

    What Keyword Match Type Is Best For You?

    Now that we have looked at the match type definitions, let’s get into what this looks like in practice and assess if changing your exact match keywords to broad or phrase match is the best fit for your company. 

    Our biggest observation that companies need to look out for is the difference in search terms when using exact match vs phrase match for general industry keywords, like “automotive shop” or “Restaurants in Chicago”. The difference being that exact match will get you search terms with the same meaning as your keywords but phrase match will get you names of other companies.

    Let’s use “Restaurants in Chicago” as our example. Some exact match search terms would be “best chicago restaurants”, “chicago restaurant” and “must try restaurants in chicago”. Whereas, Phrase match search terms that include competitor names would include “portillos in chicago” and “cooper hawks Chicago”. 

     If your company doesn’t want to bid on competitor search terms, you will need to monitor the search terms closely and frequently negative match when using phrase match. If you don’t have the bandwidth for negative matching, then using more specific keywords or sticking to exact match keywords is the way to go.

    Don’t get us wrong, phrase match keywords will bring in non-competitor search terms as well which may in fact be helpful for your company, but you will need to be thorough in your negative keyword build-out. 

    So those are observations on the actual search terms that appear but what about numbers? How do the match types perform compared to one another? 

    Our campaigns, that span across industries, show consistently that exact match keywords out perform broad match and phrase match keywords in terms of CTR and Conversion rate. However exact match keywords also have a higher Cost Per Click. 

    Thus if your goal is number of ad impressions and brand awareness, broad match is the way to go. However, most of the time companies value conversions over impressions in which case the exact match keywords are your friend. 

    Our Recommendation

    Our biggest recommendation is to not switch all your keywords to broad match at once without doing your research and being prepared that your metrics might take a turn. Understand that making the switch from exact match to phrase match or phrase match to broad match is going to bring in search terms that your campaigns haven’t seen yet. 

    One option we recommend is to take it slow and try a few keywords at a time to see if you like the results of broad match keywords. From there, you can make the call if your other keywords should follow suit. 

    That being said, here are some questions to ask yourself before making the switch:

    Do I have the time to sort through search terms and build out negative keyword lists?

    What are my KPIs? Do I value conversion rates or impressions?

    Do I want to bid on competitor terms?

    Do I have the time to do deep dives into individual keyword performances?

    Final Take Away

    Don’t be pressured by Google recommendations to change all your keywords to broad match without understanding what that is going to do to your campaigns.  Remember, you know your account. You know your keywords and your metrics. You can make the best decision for your campaigns, whether it is taking Google’s recommendation or once again hitting that pesky dismiss button and keeping your exact match keywords.