What is this ‘Google AdWords’ all about?

You may have heard of Google AdWords before or this may be an entirely new topic. Either way Google Ad Words is something you ought to consider if you’re serious about upgrading your website and taking your business to the next level.

1. OK, so what is Google AdWords?

When you search for something on Google have you ever noticed that sometimes the very first search results you get may have a little symbol under the top line with a green box that says Ad. This is essentially Google Ad Words in its simplest form. That business has paid to try and rank for the keywords you just typed into Google Search, in the hope that by ranking at the very top you are more likely to click and buy from their business. This is the Google Search Network and AdWords in its simplest form, it can be fantastic when set up correctly.

The other basic part of Google Ads is the Display Network. When you’re browsing websites do you ever see Ads from sites you’ve been too before? These ads are more visual and form part of Google’s other Ad display type. These are a little more specialised and won’t work for every business type. Clothing/shoes, essentially product based business’ websites will benefit more from this kind of advertising, but it’s still very specialised and worth having someone who knows Google Ads set up for you.

2. Getting started

First of all you need to create a Google AdWords account and begin setting up your campaign. Initially you’d be wise to start with simple Text Ads for the search network. These basic ads are the type that show when you search for something. To start with you need to give Google an idea of the types of searches you’d like your website to appear for, but this is where being specific can really help. For example if you’re a personal trainer, making personal trainer one of your search terms isn’t necessarily going to be that smart, because appearing to someone who searches personal trainer in say Scotland when you’re based in the south of England is unlikely to gain you new business. However, making the keyword search ‘Personal Trainer Guildford’ means you increase the chance of your website appearing to relevant searches. This is the most basic explanation of how keywords works.

3. Ads Ads Ads

Now you need to create the Ads that will show when someone types those keyword combinations into Google search. This is where you need to create several combinations to test out what customers respond to best. Creating 4 or 5 minimum test Ads and letting them run for a couple of weeks is the best way of gathering crucial data to see whether you’re Ads are effective. You’ll be able to review how many clicks each add has gained you and at what cost. (Based on the budget Google will have asked you to set when setting up your campaign.)

4. Refining

In theory you can now select which Ads have performed well and focus on those. You can also add to your keyword list as well as a negative word list (irrelevant searches that your ads appeared for). You can do so much more than what I’ve explained above, but that’s a very basic crash course in Google Ads. Here at Delivered Social we can help to set up your campaigns, review and refine them to help your business grow. Contact us to get started.