Google ads for small business

Google ads is an online advertising platform where you can pay to have your website appear at the top of Googles search results page. It is like an auction where the highest bidder gets themselves onto the top of the page based on certain keywords. There is little to no wait time - you can literally appear on Google as soon as your ad is created and approved. Your ad can be text based and appear on the Google search network, image based and appear on websites, social media and apps or video based.

You can have Google Ads working for almost any advertising budget. You can set your monthly budget and Google will only charge you up to that limit, so you always know how much you are spending. And you can pause or adjust your budget at anytime.

There's no guarantee that Google ads will be profitable for your business and you need to be able to determine what the money you spend is doing for you. Ideally you need to set up a tracking or conversion target that you can assign a value to, and based on your Google Ads results, determine if you are making a profit or a loss.

Once you set up your Google Ads campaign the work doesn't stop. You need to constantly review your campaigns, see how your keywords are working, check your quality scores and see what you need to tweak, look at what ads are working and take advantage of any tips from Google.

Below is a summary of the steps involved in getting your ads set up. You need to choose a goal, select a campaign type, pick what bidding type best suits your campaign and then create a keyword list, write your ad copy and source your images.

Goals

Sales
Drives sales online, in app, by phone or in store.
Leads
Get leads and other conversions by encouraging customers to take action.
Website Traffic
Get the right people to visit your website.
Product & Brand Consideration
Encourage people to explore your products or services.
Brand Awareness & Reach
Reach a broad audience and build awareness.
App Promotion
Get more installs, interactions and pre-registrations for your app.
Local Store Visits & Promotion
Drive visits to local shops, including restaurants and dealerships.
Create a campaign without Google guidance
Use any available campaign type and construct a campaign step by step without a goal's recommendations.

Campaign Type

Search
Get more sales with text or call ads that show near search results of Google.com, on Google search partners sites and more.
Display
Get more sales by showing visually striking ads across the web (online, in-app, in-store), and optimise your campaign's performance with automated bidding, targeting and ad creation.
Shopping
Drive online and in-store sales with Shopping ads that show near the search results on Google Search, Google Images, Google Search partner sites, Google Display Network and more.
Video
Get more sales with video ad formats designed to encourage people to purchase your products or services.
Smart
Get website sales with automated ads that show on Google, Google Maps and across the web, and take advantage of minimal hands-on ads management.
Discovery
Get more sales with visually rich personalised ads that show across YouTube, Gmail, Discover and more.
App
Drive app promotion with an automated campaign showing ads on the Google Search Network, the Display Network, Google Play, within other apps and on YouTube.
Local
Drive store visits to local business locations with ads showing across Google's networks (such as Maps and Search) in an automated campaign designed for businesses with many locations.

Bidding Types

Before you select a bidding type you need to work out a way to track your conversions. This means setting up a target in Google Ads that will trigger when a conversion is made. It might be someone making a purchase on your site, someone completing an online form or someone phoning a number on your site. These events can all be tracked and then used by Google Ads to optimise your campaign to focus on aquiring conversions.
If you want customers to buy or complete a task directly on your web site and you have conversion tracking in place then its would be best to focus on conversions with smart bidding.
If you don't have a way to track conversions on your site then consider cost per click bidding which focuses on generating traffic with as many clicks as possible.
If you want to increase brand awareness then you can use cost-per-thousand viewable impressions (vCPM) bidding.

Smart Bidding (Conversions)
Target cost per action (CPA) aims to increase conversions while targeting a specific cost per action.
Maximise conversions (CPA) automatically sets bids for each auction to help get the most conversions for your campaign while spending your daily budget.
Target return on ad spend (ROAS) aims to increase conversion value while targeting a specific return on ad spend.
Enhanced cost-per-click (CPC) bidding, which is an option with manual CPC, automatically adjusts your bids to maximise conversions.
Ideally, you should have at least 30 conversions in the past 30 days before testing smart bidding. You also need to have conversion tracking in place.
Cost per Click (Clicks)
Maximise clicks sets your bids to help get as many clicks as possible within your budget.
Manual CPC bidding allows you to set your own maximum CPC for your ads.
Cost per Impression (Impressions)
Viewable cost per thousand impressions (CPM) focuses on impressions.

Ad Setup

Targeting and Audiences
Targeting allows you to narrow the reach of your ads to only show to specific audiences. You can use location and language targeting or Google offers a range of audiences including who they are (demographics), what their interests and habits are (affinity), what they are researching and planning (in-market) and how they've interacted with your business (remarketing).
Determine your max CPC
Your Max CPC is determined by your conversion rate, profit per customer, and your profit margin. The average Google ads conversion rate is around 3% so use this as a guide until you get some actual figures from your ads. If your profit per customer is $200 and your profit margin is 50% your max cost per click would be 3% x $200 x (1-0.5) = $3
Keyword research
You need to set up a list of keywords that people use to search for your product or service. These are the words that Google will use to display your ads. They can be a single word but more than likely two, three or four word phrases that people will search on for your product or service. The Google Keyword Planner is a great place to start. You can access it through your Google Ads account. It will help you find relevant keywords, show you anticipated search volume, what the competition is and a guide to the value of top of page bids.
Match type
There are three different match types for your keywords. Broad is loose matching meaning that ads may be shown on all searches relating to your keyword. A phrase match is moderate matching meaning that ads may show on searches that include the meaning of your keyword. Exact match is tight matching meaning ads will show on searchs that are the same meaning to your keyword. Broad matching will send you more clicks but you may end up with traffic that does not convert. Keep an eye on the search terms people are using and load your negative keywords list with keywords that won't convert for you. Phrase matching offers more control over your clicks with a smaller number of clicks but less chance of irrelevant keywords. Exact match is the most restrictive match type with results showing only for your keyword or words containing synonyms, plurals, or other variations on your keyword.
Writing your ad copy
You will need to have a number of headlines and descriptions that Google can use to create your search ad. Headlines show at the top of the ad and can be up to 30 characters in length. Descriptions appear below the display URL and can be up to 90 characters in length.
Landing page
Ideally your landing page is set up with your Google ad in mind - your headings, descriptions and keywords from your ad are in your title, description, heading tags and content on your landing page and vice versa. This often means setting up a dedicated landing page for your ad, which will help you get a high quality score for the relevant keywords.
Quality score
Quality score is a tool that shows how your ad quality compares to other advertisers. It is based on how relevant your ad and landing page are to someone searching for a particular keyword. The quality score is rated from 1-10 and is assigned at the keyword level. It is calculated using your expected clickthrough, the relevance of your ad and how relevant your landing page is.
Logo and images
For display ads you will need to supply a number of images for Google to display. These include a square and rectagonal logo and square and rectagonal images to display.
Ad extensions
These are additions to your search ad and include sitelink extensions, callout extensions and call extensions. They are a good way to get more clicks on your ad.
Remarketing
Remarketing is a great next step for the average small business owner. Remarketing will allow you to show your ads to people who have previously shown interest in your products or services. Remarketing often has high conversion rates and is a great way for small business owners to target interested customers.

Check our Google Ads services page for setup options

Our advertising services

google search Ads

Google ads search campaign setup, keyword research, ad copy (1 responsive ad), sitelinks, demographics, weekly reporting. Setup cost from $299 plus Google ad spend. Ongoing costs from $199/month.
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google display Ads

Google ads display campaign setup, keyword research, creation of 4 image ads, logo, ad copy, demographics, weekly reporting. Setup cost from $299 plus Google ad spend. Ongoing costs from $199/month.
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facebook ads

If you are looking at a social media presence we can help. We can set up your business on Facebook and run advertising campaigns for you. Setup costs from $299 per ad including ad copy and image.
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