How To Build A Search Campaign on Google Ads

You need to set up your Google Ads account first before we get started on your search campaign.

Just follow these easy steps.

1. Go To ads.google.com

Once you're there, click on the Sign In button.

2. Switch To Expert Mode

When you sign up for an account, Google Ads assumes you're creating an ad campaign.

So, make sure to select Switch To Expert Mode to skip this.

3. Create An Account Without A Campaign

After being redirected to Expert Mode, you'll see different goals for your campaign. But if you're not yet going to create one, select Create an account without a campaign.

4. Fill In Your Business Information

Select your Billing Country, Time Zone, and Currency.

5. You're Done!

Once you're done, why not explore your account to slowly get the hang of it?

As you can see, there are different tools you can use for your campaigns.

There's Bid Strategies, where you can create a portfolio bid strategy. There's also a Negative Keyword List, where you can take note of your negative keywords.

You can also see a Planning Category, which includes Keyword Planner, Ad Preview, Performance Planner, and Reach Planner.

Just make sure to explore your account to make it easier for you to navigate.

After setting up your account, it's time for more research!

The keywords will play a massive role in your Google Ads search campaign.

That's why you really need to choose the right keywords to use, which your target market would use when they search what they're looking for.

So, here are the types of keywords.

Broad Match

Broad matches are search results related to your keywords. It's not limited to the exact keywords you used, but many variations will come up.

For example, let's say your broad keyword is white long dress.

Your ads will come up if someone searches for white party dress, white dress, long dress, white summer dress, or white dress outfit.

There are various factors that affect or trigger the ad. And this includes the search activities of the users.

Another keyword type is...

Phrase Match

Phrase match is a keyword where your ad can show if a user searches for phrases. It's not as limited as an exact match, but it's also not as extensive as a broad match.

Let's say your prospects search for nail salon.

Your ads might come up if they search for nail services, nail art salon, or nail spa.

The next one is...

Exact Match

As the term suggests, exact match shows your ads to prospects searching for your keywords or any close variants.

The close variants include misspellings, singular or plural forms, abbreviations, and stemming.

For example, your prospect searches for dumpling restaurants.

Your ad might come up when they type in dumpling restaurnats, dumpling restaurant, dumplings restaurent.

Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are words that you don't want your ad to be associated with.

Let's say you don't want your ads to show when someone searches with a "free" keyword. Then you have to add it to your negative keywords list.

And let me show you how:

Click on the Tools And Settings at the top, then select Shared Library and Negative keyword lists.

Click the + button to add the keywords, and...

Add your negative keywords! Make sure it's one keyword per line.

Since you already know the types of keyword matches, let's get to it!

One of the most effective ways to create your Google ads strategy is conducting a competitor analysis.

Why? You need to see how their search ads are performing and what they're doing to achieve great results.

But... how?

Congratulations!

Because after creating and strategizing a search ad (which we will talk about later), you will successfully drive your potential customers to your website.

And this is your time to shine!

What Is A Landing Page?

A landing page can be different from your overall website. It's usually a standalone page dedicated to a specific campaign.

For example, your campaign promotes clothes for summer. Then your landing page should be a page where all the summer clothes are located.

Since you already know what's a landing page, let's talk about...

Since almost everything is ready... it's time to create the search campaign.

And after creating your landing page, we need to strategize your Google ads campaign before you fire away!

The first thing you need to do is...

Set Goals For Your Google Ads

You have to determine what you want to achieve on your Google ads campaign.

And when goal setting, here are some things you need to remember:

• In which buying stages my target customers are?
• Am I setting a SMART goal?
• How can I achieve these goals with Google ads?

The answer to the third question is why you're reading this right now. You're strategizing to achieve your goals.

So, which goals can you set on Google ads?

The good thing about Google ads is you can set goals depending on the type of ad you want for your campaign.

Remember, there are different types of ads.

And since you're going to advertise through search campaigns, your goals could be driving sales, generating leads, or driving traffic.

Another example would be video campaigns. You can set goals like boosting sales, increasing web traffic, brand consideration, and improving brand awareness and reach.

And don't forget when you're setting goals, you need to choose the best type of campaign that suits your goals.

So, how to know if you're achieving your goals?

Set Your Key Performance Indicators

Key Performance Indicators or KPIs are going to be your basis if you're reaching your goals.

That's why after the goal-setting phase, it's time to figure out how you would know if you're achieving them.

Here are some of the Key Performance Indicators you can set to know if your Google ads are working successfully:

1. Conversion Rate. How many people did you convert into customers?
2. Lead Generation. How many leads did you capture through your ads?
3. Return On Ad Spend. How much revenue did you generate based on the total ad you spent?
4. Impression Share. How many impressions did your Google ad have?
5. Click-Through Rate. How many people clicked on your ads?
6. Cost Per Click. How much did it cost you per click?
7. Cost Per Acquisition. How much did you pay per acquisition?
8. Cost Per Mille. How much do you pay per thousand of ad impressions?
9. Quality Score. What's the quality of your ads?

You can usually find these on Google Analytics or your Google Ads dashboard. You can see the clicks, impressions, CTR, average CPC, etc.

But if you want to know how to compute them, here are some formulas that might help you.

ROAS or Return On Ad Spend

Revenue/Cost = ROAS

For example, you spent $10,000 on Google ads in December, and because of the high season, you generated $50,000 as revenue. Your ROAS is $5.

CPC or Cost Per Click

The total cost of your clicks/Number of clicks = CPC

For example, you acquired two clicks amounting to $0.10 and $0.20. Then your average cost per click is $0.30.

CPA or Cost Per Acquisition

The total cost of conversions/Total number of conversions = CPA

For example, you had converted 4 customers. Two of them cost $2.00 and the other two cost $3.00. The cost of conversion is $10, divided by 4. Your cost per acquisition is $2.5.

So, after setting your KPIs and learning how to read and compute your analytics... let's talk about bidding!

Bidding Strategies On Google Ads

Uhh, bidding?

Yep. Just like in traditional advertising, you can't place an ad anytime, anywhere. That's also how it works for Google ads.

And how does it work?

Every time there's an ad space available on search results, blogs, or other pages like a news site, there's an auction.

Once you place your bid, it will put you in the auction, and it will be decided whose ads will show.

You see, there are different types of bidding on Google Ads.

1. Enhanced cost per click (ECPC). Enhanced conversion rate optimization can help you increase conversions while reducing conversion costs.
2. Maximize Clicks. Maximize clicks sets your bids up so that you get the most clicks for the budget you have set
3. Maximize Conversions. Maximize conversion attempts to maximize your conversion value at any given budget.
4. Maximize Conversion Value. Maximize conversion value means it will give you the most conversion value for your budget.
5. Target Cost Per Action ( tCPA). Target CPA sets bids to generate the most conversions or customer actions for you.
6. Target Return on Ad Spend (tROAS). This means for every dollar you spend on ads, you should be expecting to get a certain amount of conversion value (like revenue).
7. Viewable Cost Per Mille (vCPM). Viewable CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) means you can only pay for viewable impressions. "Viewable" indicates that 50% of your display ad was shown on screen for at least one second and at least 2 seconds for your video ads.
8. Cost Per View (CPV). Cost Per View is a bidding method where you only pay for a view on your video ads. "View" means a viewer watched at least 30 seconds of your campaign or engaged with it.

These are the 8 types of bidding on Google ads.

Also, there's a bidding strategy called automated bidding.

Don't be confused! Automated bidding means it automatically sets the bids for your ads. This helps you set the right one for every auction.

You don't need to update your bids manually because Google ads will automatically update the bid according to how likely it will result in a click for your business.

And this is different from smart bidding.

Now, what is this?

Smart bidding is optimized for conversions. It sets the accurate bid to help you generate higher conversion volume.

You can use these strategies depending on the goal of your campaign and your budget.

For example, if you want to increase your conversion rate, you might need to focus on smart bidding. Or, if you want to increase your brand awareness, you can use the vCPM or cost per thousand viewable impressions bidding strategy.

Bonus tip: You can create a portfolio bid strategy to optimize your bids on several campaigns automatically.

Go to Tools and Settings > Shared Library > Bid strategies, then add Portfolio bid strategies.

Too much information in this guide, right?

Since you already know how to set a goal, develop your KPIs, and the bidding strategies for Google ads, I have a bonus tip for you.

I know you've been waiting for this!

Hooray!

After all that prepping and researching, it's time to play the game!

That's why I've compiled some quick tips to help you create an ad campaign that converts.

Can't wait?