Google Ads is one of the most effective digital marketing programs to drive conversions and sales. With Google Ads, you can only pay advertising dollars when a user clicks on your ad that appears after the user searches for a search term that you bid for on Google search results. This helps you gain traffic only from qualified prospects searching for your products or services.

To assure that you bring in quality traffic and convert these website visitors into paying customers, there are a few Google Ads optimization methods you can use to improve your Google Ads campaigns’ efficiencies.

Here are five tips you can use to optimize your Google Ads campaigns:

1. Increase the Relevancy of Your Landing Page

   Creating a relevant landing page is one of the most important aspects of achieving a successful campaign. The landing page should be HIGHLY related to your ad copy. For example, if your Google Ads is promoting the 2022 Toyota Corolla, the landing page should be a product page about the 2022 Toyota Corolla. If the landing page for a 2022 Toyota Corolla ad is of a blog post about the 2022 Toyota Corolla or a product category page that lists out different Toyota models, in addition to the 2022 Toyota Corolla, the landing page isn’t highly relevant to the the ad and will cause confusion for online users.

   The landing page should have concise and clear content that explains product description to the user and should have high quality of the product or service. Moreover, there should be a prominent call-to-action that guides users to the next step of the purchase process.

2. Include Negative Keywords

   Negative keywords prevent your Google Ads from appearing on search results when a user performs a search query that includes one of the negative keywords. For example, if you’re a SEO agency that offers SEO services such as Toronto SEO audit or Vancouver SEO services and you want to prevent your search ads from appearing on search results for search queries related to SEO services that include the keyword “cheap”, you can add “cheap” to your negative keyword list. In this case, your ad won’t appear on search results when users search for “cheap SEO services”. Optimizing your negative keyword list assures that your ad appears only to your target audience so your ad budget is used efficiently.

3. Use the Suitable Keyword Match-Types

   Google Ads has this feature called keyword match types that allows you to show your Google ads only when a user enters search keywords in a certain sequence or contains keywords in their search queries. For example, you can use the match type feature to assure that your Google ad appears on search results only when “2022 Toyota Corolla” is entered in the search query. Doing this lets you show ads to the suitable audience.

   There are four types of keyword matches, meaning four possible ways you can “tell” Google to handle the keywords you bid on.

   • Broad: This is the widest net you can cast and will match searches with any words in any order (including synonyms) that include the target keyword.
   • Broad Match Modified: This match type is the second widest net you can cast. Unlike Broad Match, which can allow your ad to show for any keyword in the phrase you’re bidding on, Broad Match Modified tells Google “it must have all of these terms in the search query, in any order or placement.”
   • Phrase Match: This modifier will show your ad only when searchers use the exact phrase you specify. The query must contain all the keywords you note, in the exact order you input them.
   • Exact Match: This keyword modifier is similar to phrase match; traditionally your ads will only show with the exact search query you input, but Google relaxed this somewhat by showing your ad for things like misspellings, plural versions of a word, or inferring interchangeable keywords to what you have specified.

   I personally use phrases and exact matches mostly because I can show ads more precisely to the right audience based on the audience’s search queries.

4. Use Relevant Ad Extensions

   Extensions expand your ad with additional information, giving people more reasons to choose your business. You can use ad extensions to show your business location, phone number, or services. This content is valuable to display more information about your business and why customers should buy from you. The information also helps find your business faster.

   There are several ad extensions to choose from, but here are the ones that are most often used:

   • Sitelinks Extensions: These are additional links your customers might find valuable that direct to unique landing pages on your website.
   • Callout Extensions: Use these to build trust with readers by including entries like “Fast Professional Service” or “Peace of Mind Guarantee.”
   • Structured Snippets: Include these to provide more information about features offered. These are based on specific categories, so be sure to choose a relevant category as you build out your ad extensions.
   • Call Extensions: This will allow you to pull your business phone number right into the listing.

   • Location Extensions: If you are a brick-and-mortar operation, you can link your Google My Business account to your Google Ads account. Enabling this extension will pull in your address and phone number to your ads for potential customers to easily understand your location.

5. Adjust Bids for Geotargeting

   You can adjust your Google Ads campaign based on geography to focus your marketing dollars on geographic areas that generate better return on investment.

   For example, you can show ads 10KM around a specific area, in a postal area, or in a city. This feature is particularly useful if your business is proximity-based such as an auto body or automotive dealership.

Google Ads is one of the most powerful and effective digital marketing campaigns available today. You can use Google Ads to show ads on Google search results for highly specific search queries performed by users in particular areas and generating website traffic from these searches. Garnering traffic from these quality website visitors is the first step of improving your online presence and increasing sales!