After your lawnmower breaks, you head to the Google search bar to look up “new lawnmower,” and straight away, your eyes are drawn to a lawnmower ad at the top of the search results.

The efficiency of Google paid search ads is demonstrated in the example above. Users typically don’t feel the need to scroll down farther when they see sponsored ads at the top of their Google searches, which is why Google search ads are the ideal advertising tactic for your company.

But what exactly are Google search advertising and how do they function? We’ll answer both of those questions further down, so keep reading to find out more. Then sign up for Revenue Weekly to get more digital marketing advice from our team of over 300 experts delivered right to your email!

What are Google search ads?

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads that display at the top of Google search results are known as Google search ads. You’ve probably seen paid advertising in Google searches before; they usually appear the same as organic results, except with a “Ad” label in the top corner.
Google PPC ads can help you reach your target audience online. Because adverts only appear for specified, relevant terms, this is the case. As a result, if someone searches for “wooden dresser,” they will most likely come across advertisements for wooden dressers.

Not all paid search ads look alike. While most appear like organic search results, some ads will display an image of a specific product, along with its price.

How do paid search ads work?

If you want to launch a paid search ad campaign, you can do it through Google Ads, Google’s PPC platform. You can also use Google Ads to set up display ad campaigns if you’re interested.

To get started on your search ads, come up with a list of keywords to target. Make sure your keywords are hyper-relevant to whatever you’re advertising — don’t target “accounting services” when what you’re advertising are accounting consultation services.

You can bid on keywords in Google Ads once you’ve decided the ones you want to target with your campaign. When a user clicks on your ad, your bids inform Google how much you’re willing to pay. Avoid overbidding, but bear in mind that your competitors will be bidding as well.

Whenever someone searches for a keyword, Google will display ads based on two factors:

• Bid amount
• Quality Score(Google’s assessment of your ads’ quality)

After you’ve selected your bids, you can start creating your advertising and landing pages. You may rapidly start contacting users through Google and improving conversions with an optimal bidding strategy and a high enough Quality Score.

The best part is that since Google Adwords are pay-per-click, you only have to pay for your ads when people click on them. That makes Google PPC a very cost-effective strategy when done well!

4 tips for optimizing your Google PPC ads

How can you obtain the best results from your campaigns now that you know the basics of how Google paid ads work? You have various alternatives for improving your advertisements, fortunately.

Here are four ways to boost your Google PPC ads’ performance!

1. Target branded keywords
When bidding on keywords in Google Ads, you want to make sure you’re targeting the most relevant audience possible. In many cases, this entails focusing on specific product or service names. The name of your organisation, however, may be the most relevant term.

That’s why you can benefit from targeting branded keywords. Branded keywords are keywords that include brand-specific terms like your business name or names of trademarked products you sell.

When you target your own branded keywords, it makes it easier for you to reach the best audience because anyone searching for your company name already has a vested interest in you. That makes them the most receptive audience to try to convert.

2. Harness RLSA
Keywords aren’t the only way you can hone your ads to a specific audience. Google has various audience targeting options, with remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) as one of the most prominent.

RLSA is a Google Ads feature that enables you to target your ads to users who visited your website in the past. Google can track traffic to specific pages and then direct ads to the people who visit those pages.

The reason RLSA is so useful is that, just like with branded keywords, anyone who visits your site has already indicated an interest in your business. That means they make some of the best targets because they’re some of the people who are most likely to convert.

3. Use ad extensions
Generally, paid search ads are composed of two primary elements: A title tag and a description. You can use those two elements to attract clicks, but your word count is not infinite. Fortunately, though, if you want to provide more information in your ad, you can use ad extensions.

Ad extensions are additional elements that you can tack onto the bottom of your ads. Some types of ad extensions include:

• Phone number
• Address
• Site links
• And more!

The reason you may want to use ad extensions is that they give you additional opportunities to attract users. Someone might not be interested in your title tag or description, but a link to a specific page on your website may intrigue them.

4. Monitor results
It’s easy to assume that once your ads are up and running, your campaign is finished— but that couldn’t be further from the truth. On the contrary, you’re only just getting started. If you don’t monitor your ads’ progress, they won’t benefit your business.

You can monitor metrics linked to the performance of your ads in Google Ads, such as click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate. Keep an eye on these statistics to see which ads are working and which aren’t.

You can either reoptimize or halt ads that aren’t functioning well. On the other hand, you should consider allocating a higher amount of your money to high-performing advertising.

Finsbury Media can help you get the most from your paid search ads
Could you use some help getting your Google paid search ads off the ground? Finsbury Media has your back! With over 20 years of London digital marketing agency experience, we’re the experts in Google search advertising.

With our PPC Agency London services, you’ll get help optimizing your campaigns for each of the tips listed above and more. You’ll also be assigned a personal account representative who will keep you up to date on everything we accomplish for you.Finsbury Media is there to assist you.Get in touch with us right away to get started!