How To Build A Search Campaign on Google Ads

Set Up Your Google Ads Account

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!

Research Your Keywords

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!

How To Search Your Keywords

You can use third-party websites if you want. But Google Ads has a Keyword Planner that shows the average monthly searches, three-month change, YoY change, competition, top-of-page bid, etc.

It's already here, so you don't have to go somewhere else unless you want to. 😉

So, here's how to use the Keyword Planner.

First, go to Tools and Settings. Then click Keyword Planner.

You can choose which one to use between Discover new keywords or Get search volume and forecasts.

Enter the keywords you wish to use, and voila!

You can already use these insights to plan for your keywords.

So easy, right? You can even see your competition!

Oh, and speaking of which...

Conduct A Competitor Analysis

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?

Search Your Keywords

Try searching the keywords you're using and see who's at the top results.

This is probably one of the easiest and cheapest ways to see how your competitors perform. But remember, it's not going to be as in-depth as using tools.

You'll only see in which keywords they're claiming the top spot.

Here's an example:

Shein was the first result that appeared when I searched for a white long dress. But again, some things trigger which ad to show, such as interests and previous engagements.

Another way to check on your competitors is...

Use Auction Insights

What are Auction Insights?

Auction Insights allows you to compare your performance against your competitors in the same auction.

You can find this report on your Google Ads account.

Here's how:

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. Select Campaigns, Ad Groups, or keywords. This depends on what information you'd like to see in your insights.
3. Click the specific campaign.
4. Select Auction Insights.

You can already see the other websites competing with similar keywords or campaigns. Here's a glimpse of what it looks like:

(Source)

So, what do these categories mean?

Impression Share

Impression share is how many impressions you received. It's divided by the estimated impressions you are eligible to obtain.

You're probably curious... what does 'eligible' mean?

Your eligibility depends on your targeting settings, approvals, bids, and quality scores.

The next one is...

Overlap Rate

An overlap rate is the number of impressions another advertiser's ad receives when yours does too. Their ad should also be in the same auction as yours.

Already feeling overwhelmed with these terms?

No worries, they're easy to understand. Here's another one...

Position Above Rate

What does this mean?

Position above rate refers to the frequency with which another advertiser's ad is displayed higher than yours when both of your ads are running simultaneously.  

Wondering what's the next one?

Top of Page Rate

The top of page rate is the average of how often your ad campaign was at the top of the page in the search engine results page.

It means you are higher than the organic search results.

Think that's all?

Absolute Top of Page Rate

Now, what's the difference between absolute top page rate and top of page rate?

Absolute top page rate means your ad is the VERY first ad in the search results. Not just above the organic results, but your ad should be the very first ad displayed when a user searches for something.

But wait, there's more!

Outranking Share

Outranking share indicates how often your ad scored higher in the auction than other advertisers. Basically, when your ad was showing when theirs was not.

So, already understood the statistics? 🧐

You can totally use these to snoop on how your competitors are performing and make sure to leverage these insights to strategize your ad campaigns.

But hear me out... there's still another way to conduct a competitor analysis!

Use Third-Party Tools

Yep, you can use third-party tools if you want to go in-depth.

Here are some of the tools that can help you.

1. SEMrush

SEMrush is an online marketing software that offers various services–– from keyword to competitor research.

You can conduct an in-depth analysis to see your competitors' spending changes in advertising in an entire year.

How will these help you? You can use these numbers as a benchmark so you can allocate your budget correctly, especially during peak season.

You can also see which search terms they're bidding on and which websites they're directing the traffic they're getting.

Pricing starts at $119.95/month.

2. Spyfu

Spyfu is another helpful tool that's super easy to use!

Just enter your competitor's website, and you'll see this:

This is just an overview, but you can select "Competitors" to see other websites or "Monthly Overview."

Competitor analysis shouldn't be a pain in the neck and pocket... that's why Spyfu's starting price is at $33/month.

3. Similarweb

Similarweb is another valuable tool for your competitor analysis.

It allows you to understand the performance of your competitors and identify the websites with the highest traffic.

This tool allows you to see opportunities by revealing what's working for your competitors' marketing strategies.

And the good news? You can try it for free! But you have access to limited data.

You see, competitive analysis takes time and resources. You need to deep dive into data to understand how they function.

And you can use your findings to step up your game on your next Google Ads search campaign! 😉

But here's another thing you need to do to ensure you have effective paid advertising...

Create A Landing Page

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...

Why Do You Need A Great Landing Page?

A great landing page has a lot of benefits. Of course, you need to redirect your paid traffic somewhere, right?

And I will give you three reasons why you need a landing page:

• For your customers to take any action. Having an optimized page might lead your website visitors to take action. It can be any interaction, like adding your products to their cart.
• To generate leads. If you want to capture your visitors' email, an optimized landing page can help you with that!
• To make sales. Now, this depends on the buyer journey of your customers. But if they're already willing to purchase upon coming across your ad, you're going to make a sale.

So, yep! A landing page is crucial in achieving your goals through Google ads.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering...

How To Create An Effective Landing Page?

The keyword here is "effective."

It means you're not just going to create a web page and redirect your paid traffic there. Because creating an effective landing page has a lot of factors to consider.

Here are some:

Create An Attractive Headline

Do you want your customers to take action? Then you need a headline that solves your target audience's problem.

A headline is usually placed at the top of your landing page. But wherever you put it, make sure it's noticeable, and you can capture your potential customer's attention.

Here's an example:

This is the landing page of one of TikTok For Business' ads.

As you can see, its headline says, "Not seeing great results on other ad platforms? Try TikTok Ads Manager."

Why is this a great one? Because it acknowledges the problem of the target market, who tried different ad platforms but did not achieve the results they wanted.

Another thing you need on your landing page is...

Include Your Value Proposition

Hmm... what is a value proposition?

A value proposition indicates how you can benefit your target customers. It's called "value" because you have to tell them how you're going to change their lives.

It should be about your customers.

Show your target market how your products will benefit them to purchase from your ecommerce store.

The next one is...

Don't Overwhelm Them With The Design

Your landing page should help you achieve your goals. That's why it's essential to keep the focus on your customers.

And an overwhelming design can't help you with that.

Make your landing page's design straightforward. It will help make navigation easy because visitors wouldn't have to go elsewhere.

Here's an example from Salesforce:

The landing page is straightforward.

Since they want to capture leads or increase the signups, they placed a form beside the description of their product.

Not only that, but the design itself is not overwhelming. There are only a few fonts and colors, making it easy for the eye.

Now, another thing you need to check on your landing page is...

Fast-Loading Speed

Yep, you NEED a fast-loading landing page.

If not, don't expect your paid traffic to stay on your website and wait for it to load fully. So, how can you avoid a slow landing page?

1. Remove unnecessary elements. This means don't use too many designs, images, or plugins that are not relevant to your campaign. If there's no need for photos, stick with what looks and feels suitable for your visitors.
2. Choose a fast-loading theme or template. Well, isn't this the easiest way? You just have to customize it based on your brand identity. Use a fast-loading landing page template or themes to make your life easier.
3. Always test your website. The key to ensuring a consistent fast-loading speed is by testing it regularly. So it's not working smoothly, you can optimize it.

Remember, some customers are impatient! Make sure your website loads quickly before they go to your competitors.

Bonus tip: Debutify is a fast-loading AND mobile-friendly theme. If you want to create a wonderful website, just head on to Debutify's website and try for FREE.

The next thing you need to have is...

Optimize The Buttons And Call-To-Actions

An excellent landing page has optimized buttons and call-to-actions.

Again, if you want your potential customers to take your desired action... make it easier for them. 😉

Want to see an example? Here's one from Odoo.

Their landing page is minimally-designed, with their brand colors and a few fonts. You can also see the two buttons, which are easy to spot.

The call-to-actions are also direct. Users don't have to browse the website to start and meet an expert because the buttons are just there.

Such a fantastic example, right?

But I have a bonus tip for you...

Show Social Proof

What's social proof? Well, it comes in different forms. It can be through reviews, ratings, or anything that shows what others say about your product or website.

This is to encourage your website visitors to purchase your services or products.

Let's look at mooSocial...

Besides the View Demo and Buy Now options, you can see that they gave their potential customers an option to see what other people say about them.

There's also a bubble at the bottom right saying they've had good experiences with the software.

If you want the same for your landing page, keep your eyes peeled because something great is coming! 👀

So, what now?

After creating your landing page, let's strategize your Google ads campaign!

Strategize Your Google Ads Campaign

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!

How To Craft A Google Search Ad That Converts

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?

Learn The Elements Of A Google Search Ad

To build a Google campaign that converts, you need to know its part.

So, a search campaign consists of headline text, display URL, and description text.

Here's an example:

Canva's search ad says it's an all-in-1 content planner. The description also says you can design and schedule posts in one app. So convenient, right?

And here are some tips on how to create an effective search campaign:

1. Don't use a misleading headline.
2. Write a compelling description text.
3. Include exciting offers or deals.

If you're planning to run a search campaign, make sure to keep these quick tips in mind.

Segment Your Audience

Don't target everyone on the internet.

When creating an ad, whatever type it is, make sure to conduct an audience segmentation to control who can see your ads across different Google products, like Youtube, Google Search, Google Display Network, etc.

You can reach prospects based on their habits and interests.

And here are some tips to get you started in audience segmentation:

1. Determine the goal of your campaign. Remember, prospects have different buying stages.
2. Target specific audiences to increase your chances of being seen.
3. Always test and see which segment performs better.

I'm sure you want to convert your paid traffic into paying customers. And audience segmentation can help you with that because you're reaching the right people. 😉

Create An Informational And Enticing Ad Campaign

Whether you're creating a search, display, video, or shopping ad, it's crucial to make it informational.

You need to create an ad that your audience can't say no to. 🙅🏼‍♀️

How, you ask?

1. Get creative! Don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone and have fun creating your ads.
2. Keep the customers in mind. Don't just promote your products. Think of what they might actually like and click on it.
3. Experiment with your ads. You can't build successful Google ads overnight. It takes a few trials and errors before creating the best one and getting massive results.

Before I forget, you also need to learn...

How To Make A Campaign On Google Ads

1. Go to the Overview page of your Google Ads, then select New campaign.

2. Select the goal for your campaign.

Google Ads also tells you which types of goals are best for specific campaigns.

Since this is a search ad, it means that prospects are now aware of the kinds of product you're selling. So, the goal of your campaign should be sales, leads, and website traffic.

But if your goal is brand awareness and reach, display might be the one.

3. Select a campaign type.

This is where you'll choose which type of ad you want for your ads. Click on "Search."

4. Select how you want to reach your goals.

5. Complete the process, review, and select Publish.

If you want to deep dive into building a display, shopping, or video ad campaign... you have to check out Debutify's video:

Are you ready to put these to work?