Google Ads is a beast of a platform that can drive a lot of traffic, leads, and sales when used right.
But with automation on the rise, it’s getting harder for paid advertising users to have the control they used to.
To help you navigate this ever-changing landscape and get the most out of your Google Ads marketing campaign, we’ve put together 11 tips and tricks to help you optimise your account.
In this article, you will find the best digital marketing strategies that will help you boost your ROI, streamline your digital marketing campaign, and sharpen your targeting. Let’s get started!
1. Automatically Created Assets - Automatically Created Issues
Google’s automation may seem convenient, but it’s not always in your favour. Sorry Google…
When you let Google create responsive search ad headlines and descriptions for you based on your keywords, landing pages, and existing ads, you risk showing irrelevant ads.
This can significantly lower your CTR (click-through rate) and, ultimately, your conversions.
Why does this happen? Automated assets may not fully grasp the nuances of your brand or the specific messaging that resonates with your target audience.
The results are often generic, and worse, irrelevant ads that fail to capture attention.
The solution? Take control. Write your own headlines and descriptions that match your brand message and target audience. By doing so, you can optimise for relevance and engagement, driving more qualified traffic to your website.
This gives you the power to showcase a killer offer that you can control, track, and optimise.
Don’t Know How to Turn Off Automatically Created Assets?
Follow these steps to opt out of automatically created assets:
- In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon Campaigns icon.
- Click the Campaigns drop-down menu, then click Campaigns.
- Click the Settings tab on top, then select the campaigns that you want to edit.
- Click Edit, then select Change automatically created assets settings and turn it Off.
When you disable automatically created assets, they will be reported as ‘Removed’ and no longer serve.
2. Give an Offer They Can’t Refuse
Your ad copy is your chance to stand out from the competition. While it’s important to use relevant keywords, it’s even more crucial to highlight your unique value proposition points (UVPs).
Think about what makes your product or service irresistible. Is it a special discount, fast shipping, or perhaps an extended warranty? Whatever it is, make sure your offer is clear and compelling.
Here’s why this matters: Users have already found your ad through relevant keywords. Now, it’s your job to convince them to click.
Emphasise the benefits they’ll receive by choosing your product or service over others.
This not only increases the likelihood of clicks but also ensures that those clicks convert into sales or leads.
Actionable Tip: Always test different offers in your ad copy to see what resonates best with your audience. You might be surprised by what drives the most engagement!
3. Conversion Tracking is Key
Conversion tracking is the most important part of optimising your Google Ads account. Whether your goal is e-commerce sales or lead generation, accurate conversion tracking allows you to measure the true value of your digital marketing campaign.
For e-commerce businesses, this means ensuring that you’re tracking the correct values after a purchase is made.
For lead generation campaigns, it’s crucial to track form submissions and phone calls. Without accurate conversion tracking, it’s impossible to gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns or make informed decisions about budget allocation.
Here’s the bottom line: Once you have conversion tracking set up, pair it with the right bidding strategy to align with your overall goal. This combination is your formula for success in Google Ads.
Here’s How You Set Up a Conversion Action
- In your Google Ads account, navigate to the Goals icon.
- From the section menu, select the Conversions drop-down.
- Click on Summary.
In the Summary, click on + New conversion action. - Choose Website and then click Next.
- Enter your website domain and click Scan to:
- Detect if your website already has the Google tag (if not, you’ll be provided with the Google tag code to add to your website). You can set up a Google tag if you don’t have one yet.
- View a list of URLs that you can use to track customer actions.
What’s Next?
4. Choose the Right Bidding Strategy
Choosing the right bidding strategy is crucial for aligning your Google Ads campaigns with your business objectives.
Whether you’re aiming for high-value e-commerce sales or maximising lead generation, your strategy should match your goals.
For e-commerce focused on maximising revenue, Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is ideal—it optimises bids for higher conversion value.
If generating leads is your priority, go with Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) to maximise conversions at a set cost.
For new accounts, Maximise Clicks is a great way to drive website traffic and gather data and Impression Share lets you build brand awareness. Prefer more control? Manual CPC lets you set bids per keyword, while Enhanced CPC (ECPC) adjusts bids automatically when Google predicts a higher chance of conversion.
Tailoring your bidding strategy to your goals ensures your budget is used effectively.
5. Create a Killer Landing Page
A content marketing strategy is not only essential for SEO, but for paid advertising avenues too.
Your landing page is the final stop for your Google Ads traffic, and it’s crucial for converting clicks into customers.
To boost your Quality Score and lower your CPC (cost-per-click), ensure your landing pages are relevant, fast, and that your ad copy is aligned with your selected keywords.
Key Landing Page Essentials
- Relevance – Match the headline, content, and CTA with your ad’s promise.
- Speed – Optimise images, reduce redirects, and use browser caching.
- Focus – Avoid clutter and guide visitors toward a clear CTA.
- User Experience – Ensure your page meets user expectations and regularly test for improvements.
Keep in mind: Regularly review and test your landing pages to ensure they continue to meet user expectations and align with your campaign goals as even small adjustments can lead to significant improvements in performance.
6. Don’t Get Too Hung Up on Ad Strength
Ad strength is a metric provided by Google that measures the performance of your responsive search ads.
While it’s easy to aim for a “Perfect” ad strength score, it’s important to remember that this metric isn’t the be-all and end-all of your campaign’s success.
The temptation is to cram as many keywords into your ad copy as possible to boost your ad strength.
However, this approach can lead to clunky, unnatural messaging that doesn’t resonate with your audience.
Instead of focusing solely on ad strength, prioritise writing ads that speak directly to your target audience.
Don’t keyword stuff just to improve your ad strength. Craft a message that resonates, highlights your unique value proposition, and speaks to your audience’s needs.
The right balance between relevance and optimisation will get you higher CTRs and conversions.
Don’t stress too much about getting a “Perfect” ad strength—what matters is that your ads are effective and aligned with your goals.
7. Optimise Your Budget Slowly but Surely
There’s a myth in digital marketing that dramatically increasing your ad budget will lead to proportional increases in leads and sales.
Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Sudden budget increases can confuse Google’s machine learning algorithms, leading to inefficient ad spending.
The better approach? Scale your Google Ads account gradually. Don’t just raise your budget to the suggested amount by Google.
You’ll want to work out how much you are currently spending, and increase your budget by about 20% every 3-4 weeks.
This gives Google time to learn and adapt to the changes, ensuring that your additional budget is spent wisely. It’s like giving a chef more ingredients—they need time to plan and create a dish rather than just throwing everything into a pot at once.
Remember: A slow and steady approach helps maximise your return on ad spend (ROAS) over time.
This effective digital strategy allows Google’s system to optimise your marketing campaign for better results.
8. Set Themes in Your Search Ad Groups
Organisation is key to running successful Google Ads campaigns. By grouping your keywords into distinct themes within your ad groups, you can better understand what resonates with your audience.
This structure not only aids in campaign management but also makes it easier to add negative keywords where necessary, further refining your targeting.
Why does this matter? When your ad groups are well-organised, you can tailor your ads more effectively. Each ad group should address specific user intents, which leads to higher ad relevance and better campaign performance.
This also simplifies your ability to measure performance and make data-driven adjustments.
Pro Tip: Regularly review your ad groups to ensure they remain aligned with your campaign goals. As your business evolves, so should your ad group structure.
For more on organising your campaigns effectively, Google’s official keyword planner is a fantastic tool!
9. Kill Two Birds with One Stone With an Optimised Product Feed
Optimising your website’s products is crucial, not just for SEO, but for Google Merchant Centre too.
When your products are fully optimised—with titles, descriptions, images, and prices—you set yourself up for success across both organic and paid channels, because remember, eCommerce isn’t just for paid channels!
Here’s why it’s important: A well-maintained product feed ensures that when data is pulled into the Merchant Centre, minimal adjustments are needed.
This saves time and ensures that your products are presented in the best possible light, which enhances their appeal and performance in Shopping campaigns.
Tip: Regularly audit your product feed to ensure all data is accurate and up-to-date. This includes making sure your product titles and descriptions are compelling, your images are high-quality, and your prices are competitive.
A little extra attention to detail can go a long way in improving your Shopping campaign results.
10. What You’ve Been Looking For is Right in Front of You
Sometimes the most valuable insights are right in front of you. The Google Ads campaign overview is a treasure trove of information that can help you optimise your campaigns.
From demographic data to device trends, search action insights, and top bidding signals, everything you need to tweak your campaigns is there.
Don’t overlook this: Regularly reviewing your campaign overview can help you identify trends and make informed decisions that will improve your ad performance.
For instance, you might discover that certain demographics or devices are driving more conversions, allowing you to adjust your bids or targeting accordingly.
Pro Tip: Schedule a regular time to dive into your campaign overview and take notes on any trends or insights you notice.
Over time, these insights can guide your digital marketing efforts and lead to more effective campaigns.
11. Optimise Your Negative Keyword List
Don’t overlook this marketing tactic! Negative keywords are a powerful tool that can help you refine your targeting and prevent wasting budget on irrelevant clicks.
By carefully planning out your negative keyword lists and categorising them into groups, you can greatly improve your campaign’s efficiency and organisation.
Negative keywords help you filter out search queries that are not relevant to your business.
For example, if you sell premium products, you might want to exclude search terms like “cheap” or “free”.
This strategy ensures that your ads are shown only to a more relevant audience—one that is more likely to convert.
Pro Tip: Regularly review and update your negative keyword lists and ad group search terms to limit out the keywords you necessarily wouldn’t want to be found for to limit spend. As your campaigns evolve, so should your keyword strategy.
Optimise Your Google Ads for Success Today
Mastering Google Ads requires a balance of strategic planning, careful execution, and ongoing optimisation.
By taking control of your ads, refining your targeting, and continuously testing and tweaking your approach, you can turn Google Ads into a powerful engine for website traffic, leads, and sales.
Remember, the platform is dynamic, so staying proactive and adapting to changes will keep your campaigns ahead of the curve.
Ready to see real results? Implement these tips, and watch your Google Ads performance soar.
The key to success lies in the details—so keep optimising, stay informed, and let your campaigns thrive!
