Photo by Rubaitul Azad on Unsplash
Google Ad’s promotes your businesses services on the keywords you are bidding for to potential clients. It drives and finds customers, using the algorithm and users data to target those who have interests in the same services you provide.
Google Ads is one of the most important ways of advertising nowadays. While it does cost money, it’s money well spent when you understand what to watch out for will lead to better results, making your time with running Google Ads a rewarding experience without wasting your time, money, and effort. PPC Management can help you save on your ads budget in the long run.
In Google Ads, Exact Match Keywords are bracketed []
Phrase match keywords are “”
Broad Match Keywords are without, they’re plain and naked.
1) Not Adding Negative Keywords
If you broad match negative “resumes” you can still show up for “resume”, so you have to negative both variants.
Negative keywords exclude and effectively block your ads from being triggered from popping up into the wrong audience.
You can’t negative keyword for a ton of broad match keywords. Use phrase match on delegate keywords so you don’t negate important keywords you are targeting.
For Example: If your competitor’s name is Green Valley Landscaping, you can phrase match negative “Green Valley”.
If you don’t utilize adding negative keywords, you risk wasting over 50% of your budget on traffic that won’t turn into leads, going against what you mean to actually do with Google Ads.
2) Not Having Conversion Tracking Set Up Correctly
Not having your conversion trackers set up properly can hinder your overall experience with Google Ads. Navigate to “Tools” then select “Conversions”, from here you can select what kind of conversion you’d like to track, from impressions to form submissions, then copy the tracking code, and paste onto the page you wish to track for conversions.
Utilizing Gtag or Google Tags, allows use of Google products, such as Google Analytics 4, making your website work effortlessly with Googles services. This creates a little web for Google to connect to itself, helping track your conversions.
A neat little trick is setting up a thank you page after a form submit, which helps track submissions as conversions.
3) Not Using All of Google Ads Assets
They used to go by ad extensions, but are now Assets, they are pieces of content that make up your ad and provide information about your business.
It ranges from:
- Headlines
- Descriptions
- Links to specific parts of your website
- Call buttons
- Location information
- Images
- Videos
- Business information
Use all of them, it helps encompass more real estate and gives more prominence. If you use the relevant assets, it typically increases clicks, meaning your ads value raises past its initial costs.
The more assets you have the more space your ad takes on the screen, giving your ad more chances to be clicked.
4) Not Correctly Setting up Your Ad Groups
Organizing your ad groups properly is essential for making your Google Ads campaigns successful. Each ad group should focus on a specific theme or service that your contractor business offers. For example, if you provide “Land Clearing” and “Excavation Services,” you should create separate ad groups for each one.
“Every ad group needs to have its own theme to keep your Google Ads account in check or you will have a fun time adding negative keywords all day” – Chrispien Mancino at Blue Sky Advertisement
Mixing keywords like “Land Clearing” into an “Excavation Services” ad group can confuse potential customers and reduce the relevance of your ads. This mismatch might lead to lower click-through rates (CTR) because people searching for a specific service may not find your ad helpful. It can also result in wasting your budget on clicks that are less likely to turn into actual business.
By keeping your ad groups focused on specific themes, you make sure that your ads closely match what people are searching for. This relevance not only improves the chances that someone will click on your ad but also can boost your Quality Score in Google Ads. A higher Quality Score can lead to lower costs per click and better positions for your ads.
Each ad group should link to a dedicated landing page that matches its specific theme. If someone clicks on an ad for “Land Clearing,” they should arrive at a page that provides detailed information about your land clearing services, not a general or unrelated page.
Having dedicated landing pages improves the user experience by giving visitors exactly what they’re looking for, which increases the likelihood they’ll contact you or request a quote.
5) Using Broad Match Keywords
Using broad match keywords compared to even phrase match keyword variants can and more than likely will lead to irrelevant impressions and clicks.
Broad match keywords can trigger your ads for unrelated searches, for example: bidding on ‘Excavation Services’ might show your ad for ‘Excavation equipment for Sale Near Me’
For Small or medium budgets, it’s safer to use phrase or exact keywords to maintain control on your ads exposure. That being said, Exact Match Keywords can show for close variants, so monitor your search terms consistently.
Broad match keywords can cause your budget to burn, or deplete swiftly without delivering any results, and will leave a sour taste in your mouth.
6) Targeting the Wrong Locations
Being precise with location makes certain that your ads reach your target service areas. You don’t want someone from Montana asking for Land Clearing Services when you’re located in Oklahoma.
Negative target every state or region to make sure your ad doesn’t spend itself in the wrong areas. Go to your campaign settings under location options and select “Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations”. Avoid “Presence or Interest”, as this includes people who show interest, but aren’t in your location.
Use the radius pin or zip codes to make sure your targeting is exact for the areas you operate in with your service.
7) Wrong Time for Your Ad Schedule
Align Ads with your business hours, if you can’t answer the phone because your ad was running at midnight and your business doesn’t operate that way, your potential client will move on to someone who will answer, a competitor. Increasing Bids during peak search times maximize visibility when customers are most likely to convert.
Timing is everything in advertising. Think of back when you’d stay up late, they wouldn’t run certain ads they had on television at nighttime during the day, when families would be watching.
8) Generic Ad Copy
Your ad copy should resonate with your target audience and stand out among the endless sea of ads. Don’t just stuff keywords in there, that’s manipulative and users typically see through it quite easily, instead be creative, even use humor to hook their attention. Craft engaging headlines and descriptions. Your goal is to get them to click on your site, not swear them off from every attempting to try your services.
Tailor each ad copy to each ad group. Unique ad copy for each group guarantees relevance and boosts CTR (Click-through rate). By typing {} you can access dynamic keyword and location insertion to make your ads more personalize, where they’ll think Google is reading their mind, but in actuality you’re just that good.
9) Not Using Single Page Landing Pages
These are your standalone web pages that customers ‘land’ on when they click through your ad.
It directs them to your business, so you can capture their attention and get that sweet conversion.
Having an offer will make people more inclined to choose you, because well, you already have their attention, why not grease those wheels for them.
Each page needs to be unique, direct and concise, sticks to your ad group theme, and hooks them with engagement. Litter CTA or call to actions throughout, in easy to see spots so they know where and how to contact you. Adding your phone number attached to a call button, hyperlink your email, and have a form that you can fill out are the common ways to urge or prompt them in your direction.
Avoid heavy sized images. These will bog down the speed your site loads. In today’s age, that will cause retention to rapidly drop, causing your potential client to lose interest quickly. With interest gone, they will more than likely ‘bounce’ from your page.
Add an About Us, show yourself and your crew who are willing to be a part of your photo. You should prove you’re you, and you are a human, not a robot or a scammer trying to siphon their goods. It helps engagement, because after all, we humans are social beings.
10) Not Using Audience Bidding Adjustments
Fine-tuning your audience targeting can lead to better ad spends and higher conversion rates.
Adjusting by age groups is ideal. Most service industries have a lower conversion rate with the age group of 18-24.
Lower your bids for this age group, and save on your budget.
If you offer high-ticket services, consider bidding high for the top 30% income bracket and much lower for others. Doing this helps focus your budget on those more likely to actually afford your services.
I myself have been on the lower end of income, and was targeted by ads far above my budget when I needed my house repaired.
I never did find the right person to fix my basement and ended up selling it to someone who could repair it.
Although it’s not always significant, women often make more service calls in certain industries. Take it into consideration and adjust your bids when the data supports that demographic.