As Google continues to evolve – so do its digital marketing tools. One of the most popular and widely used tools available is Google Ads. Google Ads is a versatile but useful platform, which might understandably be overwhelming if you are new to the world of PPC marketing.
We’re going to list some of the tools available on the platform that can vastly improve your PPC performance. So, if you want to get started with Google Ads but you’re not sure where to begin – feel free to use this as a handy guide. We’ll start off with Ad Variations:
Ad Variations
As most PPC marketers will tell you, ad testing is one of most important practices to achieve the best possible performance. Thankfully, ad testing has become easier over time.
As you can imagine – creating multiple versions of an ad, pulling at reporting scale and getting insights is a time consuming process. Previously, users complained that Google would pick an ad too quickly – which could potentially be unreliable. However, ad types in search have definitely evolved since then – and we have access to useful tools that help us create the best variation of ads.
One of these tools is the Ad Variations tool. You can find the tool in the Drafts and Experiments area of Google Ads. It’s a really useful feature which allows brands to create variations on their ads in a short amount of time.
You have the option to run ad variations for an entire account, one specific campaign or even a custom scope. You will then be able to specify the part of the ad that you want to run the variant for.
The great thing about Ad Variations is the high level of control you have over your PPC ads. You can also decide the type of variation that you want to run. This could be things like changing the headline order, updating text or finding and replacing bits of text. Once the experiment launches, you can access results that will be monitored in the Ad Variations area.
Google Ads Editor
As a digital marketing agency, we believe Google Ads Editor is an essential tool. This is mainly because it allows us to make quick bulk changes to a PPC campaign. The tool has an advanced ‘search and replace’ functionality which means we can make big changes across an entire account in a matter of seconds. This saves a lot of time in comparison to when we’d have to spend hours making changes directly in our Google Ads account.
Google Ads Editor also simplifies the process of creating new campaigns and ad groups by simply copying and pasting existing ones. You can find out more here.
Explanations Feature
Unfortunately – sudden and unexpected changes in performance are quite common when running a PPC campaign. Luckily, Google Ads offers the Explanations Feature which can give us some quick insight into Search campaigns and why performance has either dropped or increased.
Data can be analysed for impressions, costs, clicks and conversions. This can look at anything up to a 90-day window of time. So, how does it actually work? The tool will simply compare one date range’s results to another – which should then reveal a percentage change between the two dates.
If there is an Explanation available, that difference becomes a hyperlink. Once you click into the link – it will bring up another small window, with the option to go into a larger Explanation. This means we no longer need to spend time looking in search history and trying to dig through search terms and data manually. Instead, Explanations Feature can help us!
Google Keyword Planner
You may have already read our blog post highlighting our top 7 keyword research tools? We spoke about the benefits of Google Keyword Planner when it comes to finding the ideal keywords for a campaign.
Keyword Planner is a great tool which is built into Google Ads – and the good news is, it’s completely free to use. In a nutshell, it provides users with suggestions for new keywords that will help place a PPC ad in front of the target audience. The tool also gathers information on things like search volume and estimated CPC (cost per click).
Google Trends
Google Trends is another great tool that we would recommend using during a PPC campaign. It’s a way of finding the search volume for any keyword and seeing how it varies over time.
For example, you’ll be able to understand whether there is a demand for a specific service or product at different times of the year. You can also see whether the maximum demand for a keyword has already passed. The data gathered through Google Trends will help you to optimise your Google Ads accordingly and reach your PPC goals faster.
Audience Observation
As with any digital marketing campaign – it is essential that you really understand your target audience. Before tools such as Audience Observation, it was difficult to segment your audience and find the most valuable user searches. Now, this is when Audience Observation comes in very handy.
With this tool, advertisers are able to add a host of Google-defined audiences and monitor performance throughout different audience types. This is a way of understanding what people are searching, who you should be targeting and why.
You can search based on things such as in-market buyers, affinity audiences and other demographic markers. The tool can also suggest new audiences that you might benefit from targeting.
Responsive Search Ads
Responsive Search Ads allow you to create a PPC ad that adapts to show more relevant messages to your target customers. It lets you enter multiple headlines and descriptions when creating a responsive search ad. Then, Google Ads will do the hard work for you! It will automatically test different combinations and find out which ones have the best performance. You can read all about the benefits of Responsive Search Ads here.
What Next?
Google Ads offers digital marketers like us a lot of helpful features when it comes to PPC. We’ve touched upon some of our favourite tools – but if we haven’t covered something you’re interested in, just get in touch. Our London based digital marketing team will be happy to help!