Create an Adwords campaign
Once we have created and confirmed our account, we will be inside the main Google Ads panel, where we can start designing our advertising campaigns
What are campaigns, ad groups and keywords?
Campaigns: Google Ads campaigns are the set of ad groups (ads, keywords and bids) that are grouped around the same budget, geographic targeting and other configuration options that the tool allows us. Campaigns are key and also serve to organize the categories of products or services offered by the company or brand that is being advertised.
In the campaigns we must also take into account several concepts:
You can publish one campaign or more than one in the same Google Ads account.
Each campaign can contain one ad group or more than one.
Each campaign has parameters that can be configured and they are: budget, language, location, distribution of the Google Network, etc.
Individual ad campaigns can be created, with different parameters, such as location or budget.
Ad groups:
An ad group is one that contains one or more ads that share one or more similar goals. In addition, each campaign is made up of one or more ad groups. This category of Google Ads is used to organize your ads based on one or more common parameters, for example, to separate the different types of products or services that are offered.
In addition, you can set the bid or price that will be used when keywords in an ad group trigger the delivery of an ad. This bid is known or referred to as CPC (cost per click bid), that is, each time an ad is clicked, what budget is consumed.
Keywords:
Keywords are words or phrases that are used to match the ads in Google Ads with the search terms that users perform.
A correct selection of keywords will be essential for the campaign to be effective, therefore, the keywords that are chosen must match the words or phrases that users make.
The cost or price of each keyword varies depending on its quality, that is, if it has a lot of competition or little or if it is close to a word or keywords that are highly sought after by the user.
Given this, it will be essential that the word or keywords are close to what the destination web shows, since if it has nothing to do or are terms far from the product itself, the user will abandon the navigation and think that the search that made is not correct.
Within the keywords, there are negative keywords, that is, terms that we can include in an ad or campaign, which we want to indicate to Google that they are not close to our product or service and, therefore, we do not want to appear if the user looking for them. This would be an exclusion of these keywords.
For a correct and optimal choice of keywords, the Google Ads tool itself offers us the option of searches and gives us data about them, depending on how many times it is usually searched by users, the cost of each of them , etc. This tool is known as the Keyword Planner.
This would be a graph of keywords chosen by which a brand or company decides that it wants to appear according to a campaign or group of ads of the Search Network typology.
The keyword tool gives us valuable data about each one of them, to guide us, to modify choices, to eliminate, for example, we can know how many times a specific keyword is searched, what bid it has, etc., which will make a campaign or ad is optimized and is more or less effective, hence it is essential to review the keywords periodically to check their effectiveness, scope, cost and all the factors to take into account.
The previous screenshot shows a list of "Negative keywords", which are those that we indicate to the Google Ads tool, for which we do not want to appear, that is, if a user searches for the keyword "lose weight" , tell Google Ads not to show our ad for said keyword or keywords.
This example of "losing weight" is one of those that, for example, Google Ads penalizes, since all the words related to the term "lose weight", "weight loss" or very similar are penalized and will cause our ad to show less, and even that Google decides not to show it, even being able to affect the SEO or organic positioning of our website. Hence, the study of negative keywords is essential, before, during and after the campaign.
Example of the Search Network Campaign
For this type of ad there is a specific campaign configuration, but before starting to carry it out, it would be convenient:
- Improve the website.
- Write accurate descriptions for the ads.
- Take mobile devices into account, essential.
- Making sure the website is accessible, as this is one of the SEO standards. from Google, which can also penalize the ads if it is not correct.
- Create campaigns in a single language.
Once we have this step by step assured, we proceed to the campaign configuration. To do this, a series of steps must be followed:
First, log into your Google Ads account. Then, in the menu that appears on the left side, we select the option "Campaigns".
Now, we click on the button that appears in blue with a plus sign and then “New Campaign”.
The next step will be to select "Search Network" and one or more objectives for the campaign. It must be taken into account that the objective that is selected will determine the type of campaign. Also, it is important to know that only one objective can be used per campaign, which must be representative of the ultimate goal that the company wants to achieve.
The objective options that will appear will be:
- Sales.
- Sales opportunities.
- Traffic to the website.
- Consideration of the brand and the product.
- Brand awareness and coverage.
- Application promotion.
- Create a campaign without recommendations to achieve a specific
Once the objective has been selected, we will proceed to choose the type of campaign.
The types of campaign that Google Ads offers us are:
- Search: Used to publish text ads in Google results and also, optionally, on the display network.
- Display: The main function is to show attractive ads on websites with images, video or both. It allows automatic bids and segmentation in order to optimize the performance of the campaign.
- Shopping: The usefulness of this type of campaign is to promote the sale of products on Google Shopping and the search network.
- Video: For YouTube viewers, you interact with potential customers with attractive actions to try to get conversions.
Depending on the type of campaign that we select, we will have to configure certain additional options. For example, search campaigns can be configured to get phone calls, web visits, app downloads. Or in the display ones you will have to choose if we want a standard or gmail campaign subtype.
Later, we will have to assign a name to the campaign and determine the location, the language, the additional networks in which the ad will be displayed and the budget.
As for the name, it is important that it is descriptive in order to easily differentiate it from the rest. This will make our work easier and save us time. Customers are not shown the campaign name.
Regarding location, there is the possibility to choose one or more countries, cities, postal codes or regions in which the ads will be displayed. In addition, using advanced search, you can assign bulk locations or a custom radius of a specific address or coordinate.
When selecting the language, we must bear in mind that targeting users who do not have the same language can be inconvenient. Also, it is important to know that the interface language setting of google.com (default search engine in most cases) is English. So if you limit the language to Spanish, only the ads will appear in the search results of google.es
The next step will be to determine the budget for the campaign, indicating the average amount we want to invest per day. In addition, we can choose between standard or accelerated publication. The latter refers to the ads being shown without pause until the budget runs out. However, a standard publication will spread the ads evenly over a set period of time.
Once the name, location, language and budget have been established, if our intention is for Google to optimize the bids, we must choose an automatic bidding strategy.
The purpose of selecting a bidding strategy is to achieve clicks, impressions or conversions, therefore we must select the option that best suits us based on the objectives and the networks to which our ads are directed, adapting it to the various types of campaigns that exist.
Some of the alternatives we find are:
Maximize click: automatic bidding strategy in which a daily budget is established and it is Google Ads who manages the bids automatically in order to achieve the highest number of clicks possible.
Manual CPC: In this case, you can choose a maximum CPC bid amount. And also, you can set different bids for each ad group or for specific keywords.
VCPM (Cost per thousand viewable impressions): it does not generate traffic to the web but it does increase brand awareness.
CPM (Cost per thousand impressions): This case is used mainly when video ads are served and the goal is to increase their views or interaction.
CPV (Cost per View): The purpose is to improve the consideration of products or brands through video ads.
You can then select the start and end date of the campaign. If you do not specify an end date, the ads will continue to be published indefinitely.
Audiences can also be added to the campaign. There are two methods for this:
Users who regularly search for products or services like the one we offer (audiences with purchase interaction).
Users who have interacted with the web (remarketing audiences).
In addition, it is possible to add additional information to the advertisements about the company and thus be able to show more information about the company, improve visibility and attract a greater number of customers to our website. This option is not entirely safe since Google does not guarantee that these extensions will be shown in the ad even if they are activated.
The following extensions can be specified at the campaign level: Sitelinks, Callout, Callout, Site Extracts, App, SMS, Location, Promotion, and Pricing.
Also, another option that we can implement is ad rotation so that ad publications are alternated on search and display networks. With ad rotation, you can determine how often you want each ad to appear. Specifically, we can optimize or alternate indefinitely.
If we choose to optimize, Google Ads will show more frequently the ads that perform better or that are expected to perform better. If you decide to alternate indefinitely, the ads will be published uniformly in the ad auction over an indefinite period of time.
Next, to move to the dynamic search ads phase, we will have to open the additional settings, click on that option, check the box to "enable dynamic search ads for this campaign" and finally, save and continue.
As seen above, you can run ad campaigns or ad groups, and in this section we will cite the step by step for creating an ad group.
Here's how to create an ad group:
The first thing we must do is select the campaign to which we want to add an ad group. Then we click on "Ad groups" and on the "+ ad group" button to create it.
In type of ad group we will select "Dynamic" (default).
The next thing will be to assign a name to the ad group and define the default bid, which we can adjust based on each objective.
Now is the time to target your ads, and how? Using dynamic targeting:
Standard ad group landing pages: Refers to the web pages where there will be search ads.
Categories: sets of landing pages that are organized by topic, so we can decide which sets to target.
Page feed: A spreadsheet of URLs is used to be able to carry out a specific segmentation.
The next step will be to use automatic bids or if we do not use them, we must adjust them taking into account the value of each objective.
These settings allow us to have more control of where and when the ad is displayed.
Finally we click on "Save".
The ad groups can be modified, for this we simply have to click on the status icon or on the bid in the column "Default maximum CPC". Also, changes can be made in several ad groups at the same time, by enabling the edit button and thus the status, name and bids can be changed.
For best results, you should focus all your ads and ad targeting on a specific product or service. In addition, it is advisable that at least 3 ads are created for each group and that these are related to the topic of the keywords.
Each ad is made up of a final URL, a visible URL, two titles, and a description.
Final URL: It is the address of the web page that users will access after clicking on the ad. They cannot be multi-domain redirect.
Display URL: For the creation of this URL, Google Ads combines the domain of the final URL with the path text. This URL gives users an idea about the landing page of the ad.
Titles: They appear separated by a hyphen, the maximum number of characters they must contain is 30.
Description: This appears just below the display URL and the maximum character limit is 80. The objective of the description is to expand the information offered by the title of the ad, even so the message must be clear and relevant.
Bids and budgets
The bids and budgets, mentioned in the previous sections, are another of the essential elements in any type of campaign.
Bids help you better control when and where your ad is displayed. In addition, the Google Ads tool allows us to set adjustments to increase or decrease bids, and also gives the option of automatic bids, that is, this would allow the tool itself to establish the bids.
Normally, when advertising a certain product in Google Ads, the advertiser usually has a clear objective of what he wants to achieve with that advertisement.
For example, for a company that is dedicated to the sale of teas, the purpose of its ad may be to attract more traffic to its website. Having a clear objective will help you know how to bid.
Google Ads offers different ways to bid on your ads based on what is most relevant to your business. The bid that the advertiser chooses will allow them to participate in the auction that Ads carries out each time an advertising space is available on a blog, on a website, in a search result, among others.
Taking into account the objective of the ad, when bidding the advertiser can prioritize for example: clicks, impressions, conversions, views or interactions.
Prioritizing clicks can be a good option if the main purpose is for users to visit the website. In this case, you should use cost-per-click (CPC) bids in which you pay for each click that a user makes on the ad.
Prioritizing impressions is a good choice if your main goal is to increase brand visibility. In this case, you should apply the Target Impression Share bid strategy, in which Google Ads automatically sets bids to help you do this.
If the intention is to prioritize conversions, you can define the cost per acquisition (CPA) in Google Ads, that is, the amount you are willing to pay for each conversion. To be able to use CPA bidding, it is necessary to have the conversion tracking function activated.
In case of carrying out a video ad and you want to know what the level of involvement that users show with this type of ads is, you can prioritize the views through cost per view (CPV) bids, paying for each video view and other interactions such as clicks on cards or banners.
Next, we will delve into some of the main bidding strategies that are available in Google Ads, arguing the functionality, advantages and disadvantages of each of them.
Manual CPC:
It is considered the simplest strategy. It consists of placing a bid for each keyword, defining the budget that we are willing to pay as a maximum for each click.
The main advantage of this bidding strategy is that the advertiser has control over their spending. However, it also has disadvantages such as that you have to continuously monitor the account so that more time is invested and also, being manual, the number of conversions may be lower if you do not control the bids well.
When deciding the CPC bid amount to be established, we can use some tools that Google offers us, such as:
Bid simulator: Raise what-ifs such as How many impressions would I have gotten if my bid had been € 0.15 higher?
Keyword Planner: you can check the frequency with which certain keywords are searched as well as estimate their cost.
First page bid estimates: let you know how much a bid can appear on the first pages of Google results.
Improved CPC:
Enhanced cost per click works like manual CPC with the difference that in this case Google Ads has permission to increase or decrease the bid if it detects conversion opportunities.
Among the advantages we can highlight that the probability of obtaining conversions is higher than in manual CPC and that it significantly improves the ROI of the campaigns. As a disadvantage we can mention that a periodic review of the bids must be made in order to adjust them.
Maximize clicks:
The purpose, as we have mentioned in previous sections, is to get as many clicks as possible. This gives us visits in a faster way and there is also the possibility of combining this strategy with the audiences and thus attract a specific audience. But also, it must be taken into account that the traffic can be of poor quality.
Maximize conversions:
A budget is allocated in order to achieve a large number of conversions. The main downside is that Google automates the entire campaign and the campaign owner will lose all control over bidding.
Target ROAS:
The main objective is to indicate the advertising return that we want to achieve with a certain investment. Therefore, Google will adjust the bids in order to achieve the figure that we have determined.
The main drawback that we can find is that the results may not meet the expectations set. However, it is a very good option to control the return of the campaign.
Target CPA:
It is one of the most used strategies and it is fully automated. It consists of paying a cost for each conversion. This option offers us the possibility of obtaining a large increase in conversions, but to be able to use it you must have a very good conversion history of the campaign.
Location targeting on search page:
This type of strategy allows the advertiser to have their ads appear on the first page of Google results or at the top of the search results. This will help us to significantly improve brand visibility but campaign costs can be greatly increased.
Target top ranking share:
The goal is for your ads to appear above a specific competitor domain in search campaigns. To carry out this bid we must indicate the name of the domain that we want to exceed, the percentage of times we want to appear above such competitors and the maximum limit of bid established.
The main advantage is that we gain visibility over the competition but it also has certain disadvantages such as that by focusing solely on beating a domain, conversions are not taken into account.
Target impression share:
The advertiser sets a target impression percentage, that is, how often they want their ads to appear in search when users search for keywords. You can set the place where you prefer the ad to appear, for this three options are displayed:
- Absolute top of the page.
- Top of results page
- Anywhere on the page.
The main advantage is that you can keep track of the appearance of the ads on the page. However, one aspect to keep in mind that can prove to be a drawback is that as in the previous strategy, it does not focus on conversions.
If you have established a certain bidding strategy and now your final goal with respect to the ad changes, you can modify it without problem. And how? Following the steps detailed below:
Select the campaigns tab.
- Click on the campaign in which we want to change the bidding strategy.
- Click on "Settings" -> "Bid strategy" -> "Change" and "Change bid strategy".
- We choose the new bid strategy and save.
Regarding budgets, clarify that they can be established with the amount you want, there is no minimum and all this can be done manually by the person in charge of the campaign or ad group.
Below are a series of objectives that different advertisers have and indicate which bidding strategy would be the most effective:
"I want my ads to always appear in the first search results" -> Solution: Location targeting strategy on the search page.
"I want to position myself above my competition" -> Solution: Higher Ranking Strategy.
"I want to get the maximum possible amount of clicks within the daily budget that I have established of € 100" -> Solution: Strategy to maximize clicks.
"I want to achieve an advertising return of 500%, for every € 100 invested I want to obtain € 500 in sales" -> Solution: ROAS Objective.
"I want to set a maximum CPC of € 0.25 for each click that the user makes on my ad" -> Solution: bid cost per click.
Statement: Suppose you set a max CPC bid. from € 0.30 and your ad is seen by 600 users of which 320 click on it. How much will you have to pay?
Solution: Although the ad has been seen by 600 people, they only pay for clicks, in this case they would not pay more than 320 x 0.30 = € 96.
The best way to ensure that a campaign or ad group is working correctly is by periodically performing measurements and monitoring, which the Google Ads tool allows us at all times, that is, the campaign can be measured and monitored from the moment in which it begins to be in operation.
One of the signs that can tell us that the campaign or ad group is not working properly is that it shows that there is no traffic on the web, or an increase in that which already existed previously. To do this, the Google Ads configuration tool itself will allow you to configure the different campaign options at any time: budget, audience, location, keywords, negative keywords, etc.
Next, we will see some of the indicators that can help us analyze the performance of the campaign and know what aspects should be optimized.
Traffic: Traffic is a good indicator to measure whether the campaign is attracting a significant number of users to the website. The number of visits will also give us an insight into the effectiveness of SEO.
Impressions: Impressions show how many people view the ad per day, week, or month. If the number of impressions is low, it means that there are other advertisers who are bidding higher for the keywords and it may be that our ad is not appearing in the search results.
CTR: Measures how often people click on the ad when it is shown to them. Therefore, a high CTR reflects that a campaign is performing well.
It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of times the ad is displayed.
Conversions and Conversion Rate: Conversions are one of the most important metrics to consider. This shows the number or percentage of people (in the case of conversion rate) who click on the ad and then convert to customers. The higher the conversion rate, the more profitable the Google Ads campaign is.
Cost per conversion: It is the cost of each conversion. It is calculated by dividing the amount invested in the campaign by the total number of conversions. If the result is low it will mean that the campaign is being very profitable.
Cost per click: We can calculate the cost per click by dividing the total cost of click that an ad has had by the total number of clicks. If we compare this metric with conversions we can know if the cost per click is being high and therefore not profitable.
Average Position: Shows a ranking of the ad with respect to the competitor's ads. This way we can know if we are appearing in a good position or if, on the contrary, our ad is at the bottom of the search results page.
Keyword Quality Score: An estimate of the relevance of your ads, landing pages, and keywords to the users who see them. A high level improves the position of your ads and reduces costs.
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