In contrast to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEA (Search Engine Advertising) deals with non-organic search results. As there are various search engines, there are several options for creating ads. In this article, however, we will focus on the most commonly used search engine – Google.
Google offers Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) as a tool for creating advertisements. With this tool, it is possible to create and run various types of campaigns within the Google universe.
What can you achieve with SEA?
One of the biggest challenges in SEO is the long waiting time until a change in the page ranking occurs. However, speed is of the essence, especially for time-limited campaigns.
Thanks to SEA, it is now possible to direct relevant traffic to the website immediately. So instead of costly and long-term optimization, it is possible to generate valuable customers in a minimum of time with the help of SEA.
The campaign types
Selecting the correct campaign type has a significant influence on the success of your campaign. Once you have defined your target, you have the following options:
Probably the best-known type of ad. There is the option of a text ad, which is delivered to searchers via the Google search engine or its search network partners. Alternatively, there is the option of a call ad, which is displayed if a person uses a mobile device for the search.
In contrast to the search network ad, the display ad is based on images and video. This means that your ad is shown on the Google Display Network, on YouTube or in apps. Display ads are often used to increase the reach and brand awareness of a brand.
If your potential customers can be found on YouTube, you can reach and address them with the help of video ads.
To increase app downloads, Google offers its entire advertising network, including Google Play and other apps, as advertising space.
Google is trying to make it easier for small and medium-sized companies to create ads with the help of smart ads. With this type of campaign, machine learning simplifies the creation and management of campaigns.
Display options
Now that the type of campaign has been defined, the detailed work follows. Various parameters now need to be defined. Some of the most important are
1. the location
Does your offer relate to a specific region? This option should not be ignored, especially for local businesses. It is also possible to exclude individual regions.
2. the language of the customer
If you want to reach customers who speak Spanish, for example, you can specify this under this option. Of course, you can also use this option to limit yourself to one language and thus prevent unsuitable ads from being displayed.
3. the budget and bid
You must specify the budget for your ad as a daily budget. Please note, however, that the actual daily budget will vary. Google converts your daily budget to the month and will therefore fall below your budget on certain days and exceed it on others.
If there are other competitors for your specified keywords, Google will show the ad that has the higher CPC(cost per click) bid. This is helpful, for example, if there are few keywords in your area with a high conversion rate.
However, if you are primarily interested in clicks or impressions, there are also other bidding strategies.
4. the time of the advertising placement
With this option, you can specify on which days and during which periods your ad should be displayed to potential customers. This option is particularly useful for the call ads mentioned above, for example, because if your company is closed, a call from a customer would only go nowhere and cost you money unnecessarily.
5. display extensions
As you will see in the course of this article, you are limited in the length and size of your text ad. There are extensions that allow you to present necessary and helpful information to your customers alongside your ad text. For example, you can support your ad with your seller rating if you have already collected ratings from a Google Partner. This can convince a potential customer to trust your offer.
If you do not have any reviews, there is also the option of adding a call button or a message button directly to your ad so that potential customers can reach you directly. It is also possible to extend the price or link to additional pages that may also be relevant to the user.
The advertisement
Once you have defined your campaign type and the details of your ad, you can move on to the text of your ad. There are the following things to bear in mind:
As the image below shows, you have the option of defining three ad titles (the third title may not be displayed). Each of these ad titles can be a maximum of 30 characters long, so it is best to keep it precise and short.
A concrete procedure that can help you when creating the ad text is the following: Ask yourself what problem of your customer you can solve with the ad title.
In addition to the ad titles, there are also two lines of text (the second line of text may not be displayed). Each of these text lines allows you 90 characters. The aim here is to use the attention you have gained through your ad title. Explain why the customer should visit your website and what they will get out of it. This is the place for your CTA (call to action).
Outlook
Now that you have configured and created your ad, it’s time to wait. After a few days, you can start optimizing the campaign. In this phase, the aim is to determine which of your ads has the highest conversion rate and the highest click rate and which keywords lead to conversions. In addition, you should always try to keep an eye on the cost per click and add new keywords that are currently trending to your existing keywords.
Tips & Tricks
- Don’t forget to link Google Ads with Google Analytics to get important data.
- You know that you can define keywords, but did you also know that it is possible to define negative keywords that are excluded from the campaign? By using negative keywords such as “free”, you can prevent an ad from being displayed with this keyword.
- You can use square brackets to ensure that your ad is only shown to searchers who have an exact match with the search term.
- Quotation marks signal to Google Ads that the word group must be included in a search, but that other additional words may also appear in this search.
- The plus symbol indicates that all terms with a plus symbol in front of them must appear in a search, but they may appear in any order.
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