U.S. digital ad spending is expected to reach nearly $240 billion in 2022. Google is predicted to represent nearly 30% of that spend, making it second only to Amazon.
In other words, you need a strong Google Ads strategy to succeed in 2022.
A strong Google Ads strategy involves three essential components: regular audits, robust reporting, and staying on top of Google updates.
Let’s review these in more detail.
Sections
1. Audit your Google Ads account
Think of an audit like a spring cleaning for your Google Ads account. It’s an opportunity to discover inefficiencies in your campaigns, like low-performing keywords or areas of wasted spend, and determine how to fix them. It’s a valuable exercise that’s worth doing regularly, and why not at the start of a new year?
In your Google Ads audit, review the following:
- Account structure: From product lines to personas, you can slice and dice your account however it makes sense to you. The important thing is that you use a consistent structure that enables you to manage it effectively. Can you easily compare campaigns? The answer should be yes.
- Account settings: Review your top-level settings. Are you targeting the right locations and devices? What are your budget settings? Which bid strategy are you using?
- Ad groups: Identify your top- and low-performing ad groups. Does it make sense to move the budget around to give your top-performers a boost? For low-performing ad groups, what is contributing to their poor performance?
- Keywords: Comb through your keywords, campaign by campaign (this will help you stay focused). Are you using negative keywords? Are all of your keywords relevant to the campaign? Do you have any duplicates in the same campaign, causing your ads to compete against each other? Are you using the right keyword match? Do any have a mismatch of metrics, i.e. high impressions or spend but no conversions?
- Landing pages: Your landing pages are a part of your ad. Are they optimized for conversions with a compelling headline and clear CTA? Do your forms work? Do the accompanying ads have good quality scores? Do you need to create new landing pages?
- Ads: If any of your ads have poor quality scores, fix them first. Then consider whether you are using the most effective ad types for your goals. Are you leveraging ad extensions like promotion extensions, where applicable? What improvements can you make to your ads in terms of headline, copy, and imagery (you can steal ideas from your top-performers).
2. Set up your Google Ads reporting strategy
PPC audits can be grueling, so it’s natural to want to set it and forget it. Resist that urge. You can make your life easier the next-go-round by setting up a strong reporting structure. Custom reporting enables you to catch mistakes and opportunities closer to real-time, rather than waiting until the next year. It also reduces analysis paralysis, so you can take action quickly to improve your campaigns and reach your goals.
Reporting drives real results. When we revamped a client’s reporting structure and SEM strategy, it nearly doubled their conversion rate, and led to an 84% increase in conversion.
Interested in custom reporting and alerts? Contact us now.
3. Stay on top of Google updates
Google Ads regularly releases updates and new features throughout the year. For example, this past August, Google announced that it’s sunsetting expanded text ads in June 2022, so responsive search ads will be the only available ad type for standard Search campaigns.
They also announced the launch of new attributes for Google Shopping ads ahead of the holiday season. These include shipping and returns information as well as veteran- and women-owned attributes:
To ensure you stay in the loop, subscribe to the Google Ads Best Practices newsletter or bookmark their New Features & Announcements page.
You can also follow our blog here at Your Marketing People. We report on the latest announcements and frequently share PPC advice from our Google Ads experts.
Google Ads success in 2022
Keep up with regular audits, strong reporting, and Google’s updates, and you’ll enjoy advertising success in 2022. If you need help, we’re here. Contact us today.
