5 ways to optimize your spending on Google Ads (AdWords)

As they say, money makes the world go ‘round. When you’re running a business, you’ll be privy to the fact that budgeting is integral to keeping things in order, growing and remaining successful. Of course, when it comes to devising an online marketing plan, you’ll need to take all facets into consideration.

Google Ads are a serious part of this plan, as they work to draw leads to your website. But how can you make the most of the money you’re spending on them?

This is especially true if you’re in charge of a small-scale business with a tight marketing budget. There are plenty of ways to consciously spend and we’re here to explain the best practices when it comes to Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords).

Here’s how to optimize spending on Google Ads (Google AdWords)

1- An excellent, customized landing page

When we’re taking Google Ads (AdWords), we’re talking PPC or pay-per-click. When well executed, a PPC campaign is an excellent avenue to increase conversion rates and revenue. On the contrary, a poorly managed campaign can be a waste of time, money and energy. The point of putting efforts into a PPC campaign is to make a customer or a sale.

One of the key points of working with Google Ads is to drive leads towards a landing page. The purpose of your landing page is to convert these leads into customers. Now, it would be a wasted effort to have a landing page that didn’t directly align with the messages of your AdWords campaign.

With this in mind, one of the first steps of making the most of your Google Ads budget is to optimize your landing page. It’s crucial to maintain consistency between your ad copy, whether that be in the keywords, the voice of your business and so forth. A consumer who finds themselves on your landing page through your ad is already interested in what you’re selling.

Therefore, your ad should mimic the sentiment of your landing page, driving them further into your business. Following this basic step will allow you to create compelling ads that should drive more customers to not only visit, but stay and return to your website.

2- Optimize for negative keywords

Optimizing for negative keywords will work to ensure the integrity of your Google Ads campaign. What does this mean exactly? Essentially, AdWords will allow you to specify what keywords do not fit with the products or services you’re offering and this will help your ads to avoid popping up in searches that have nothing to do with your business or services.

Focusing on what your business is not can help you to move towards customers who are actively looking for what your business is, and this, in turn, will work to save you money. Negative, unique keywords can be added to specific ad groups in order to further optimize your campaigns.

3- Unique and creative offers

Your Google Ads are advertisements nonetheless, but how can you get consumers to notice them without being put-off by forward or blatant marketing content? Use these ads to promote and boast about the perks of your business, without being too showy. Think about what sets you apart from your competitors.

Write a list of your unique benefits and create advertisements based around these incentives. However, make sure you follow through when it comes to the incentives you’re offering. There is no point in promoting features that you aren’t actually able to offer.

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4- Responding to user intent

To a great extent, pay-per-click campaigns rely on user intent. When a person types a query into Google, AdWords will show ads that are based on their relevance as per the auction system. In this way, one of the most important aspects of Google Ads is your keyword choices as well as the type of modifiers you use for the words themselves.

When further devising your campaign, you should consider the different types of modifiers you can apply to your keywords and how these will function in the whole of your campaign. These modifiers include: broad, broad match modified, phrase match, exact match. Each of these has a different role when it comes to reaching the consumer and will be a trade-off between impressions and relevancy. If you’re looking to make the most impressions, you should aim to use the Broad Match option.

Of the four, this will allow you to cast the second widest net while allowing you both control over which consumers see your add as well as how many will come across it. However, if you’re looking to have a higher relevancy in relation to what people are typing, we’d suggest choosing the exact match option. Your choice will come down to your personal needs as well as the type of ads you’re creating. But choose wisely, as this can have a huge impact on the budget of your Google Ads.

5- Ad extensions

Ad extensions offer a more user-friendly experience while also providing your advertisements with the little boost they’re likely looking for. Ad extensions serve many functions and can allow further content about your brand identity to potential customers. We’re going to look at some of the most significant ad extensions below.

Sitelinks Extensions: This extension allows you to link visitors to landing pages that have been uniquely created to serve different purposes.

Structured Snippets: This extension is great if you're looking to let visitors know a little bit more about specific features or special offers.

Review Extension: If you're an online marketer, then you definitely know the power of a positive customer review. This extension is an excellent way to boost engagement, so if that's what you're looking for, we'd suggest trying it out!

Remember, the more time and energy you invest into understanding how Google Ads can improve your online marketing campaign, the further your budget will carry you.