Hey there, Benjamin from Loves Data here!
In this video, I'm going to show you how to review the results of your Google Ads campaigns
so you can understand what's working and what's not working in your account.
You will learn how you can check the performance of your ads and your keywords, and I will
share tips you can use to begin optimizing your campaigns.
When it comes to viewing your results in Google Ads and optimizing your campaigns, there are
lots of different techniques and strategies you can apply.
So in this video, we're going to focus on the quickest, easiest things you can do to
check and improve performance.
I've also included links in the description so you can jump to the different topics we're
about to cover.
And please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.
Okay, let's head to Google Ads...
We're looking at my demo account.
And I previously created a campaign that is advertising my blog.
This is the 'Blog Search' campaign...
And if we open this campaign...
We can see there is an ad group that is advertising my Google Analytics Glossary.
This is the 'GA Glossary' ad group...
Now I want to quickly mention that in this video, I'm assuming that you've already created
a campaign in your Google Ads account.
So if you're starting from scratch, then I recommend taking some time to watch my Google
Ads Tutorial.
You can click the card to watch it, and I've also included a link in the description below
this video.
Okay, so let's start by selecting the ad group...
And now let's select 'Keywords'...
This lets us see all of the keywords we're bidding on in the ad group.
We can see there are a small number of keywords, which is good.
We could potentially split these into more ad groups so that we could write more targeted
ads for each keyword theme.
For example, 'google analytics terminology' and 'google analytics terms' could be in one
ad group, 'google analytics definitions' in another, and so on.
I'm going to leave them in one ad group for now, but this could be something you add to
your to-do list to improve the campaign.
Google Ads is telling us that the quality score for each keyword is high.
And that we're above average for the factors used to calculate the quality score.
So that's good.
And if you don't see any of the columns we're looking at, then you can click 'Columns' and
add any metrics or dimensions you would like to see included.
If you see low quality scores for any of your keywords, then you should begin to explore
why that might be happening.
For example, you might ask yourself how well the ads relate to the keywords, and how well
the landing page relates to the ads and the keywords.
Let's scroll to the right...
We can see the number of clicks and impressions for each keyword...
And we can see the 'CTR' or click-through rate which is the number of clicks divided
by the number of impressions.
So we can see that 'google analytics terminology' has the highest click-through rate.
And it also has the highest conversion rate.
Although the overall numbers are quite low.
We can also see that 'google analytics glossary' and 'google analytics dictionary' haven't
resulted in any conversions.
So this might mean we need to reconsider the inclusion of these keywords.
Or, more likely, it supports the need to split the keywords into more precise ad groups to
improve performance.
The next thing you should review is the search terms (or 'queries') that people have searched
for on Google to see your ads.
All of the keywords in my ad group are exact match, but it's still important to check.
And it's even more important if you're using phrase and broad match for your keywords.
To do this, let's select 'Search Terms'...
We can now see all of the search terms that triggered our ads.
Any search term that includes a green tick and says 'added' means we're already bidding
on that keyword in our campaign.
So you should focus on the ones that aren't added.
These are labelled 'none'...
As you review these keywords you should be asking yourself if they should be added to
one of your ad groups, or excluded.
So any keyword that aren't relevant to your offer should be added as negative keywords.
To do this, you can select the keyword...
And then click 'Add as negative keyword'...
As you review the search queries, you can also check the CTR, and conversion metrics
to help inform your decisions.
Now that we've reviewed important aspects of our keywords, it's time to review our ads.
So let's select 'Ads and extensions'...
We can see there are three ads in the ad group.
There's a responsive search ad...
An expanded text ad...
And another responsive search ad...
I need to highlight that starting in mid-2022, you won't be able to create expanded text
ads.
If you would like to learn more about this, then I've included a link to my dedicated
video in the description below.
Basically, this means we will only be able to use responsive search ads, so it's important
to familiarize yourself with this ad format.
We can see the responsive search ad at the top has a strong CTR, so that's good.
But the main issue I have with responsive search ads, is that you can't see the performance
of different headlines and descriptions.
This is because Google Ads automatically creates the final ad that someone sees as they're
searching.
So this is a limitation that we have to accept.
However, scrolling to the right, this ad has resulted in the highest number of conversions,
so that's good.
The second ad, so the expanded text ad has a lower CTR due to the lower number of clicks.
And the third ad isn't being displayed very often because this is a responsive search
ad with a limited number of headlines and descriptions.
Okay, so in terms of reviewing performance of the responsive search ads, we can click
the 'View Assets Details' link...
This shows us all of the headlines and descriptions for the ad.
And on the very right, we can see the number of impressions for each asset...
I recommend making a note of any that have a low number of impressions.
These can then be removed and replaced with new headlines or descriptions in the ad.
The other thing to check is the combinations that Google Ads used.
To do this, select the 'Combinations' tab...
And take some time to review the top combinations to ensure they're readable, make sense, and
relate to your offering.
Let's close this...
For this ad group, we can see that the first responsive ad appears to be the top performing
ad.
Ideally, we would have more impressions and clicks before we make a decision about optimizing
the ads.
As a general guide, a minimum of one thousand impressions and one hundred clicks for each
ad is a good starting point.
But for this ad group, we can see the number of clicks and impressions is lower than this
guide.
So the best option is to wait until we've collected more data.
If you wanted to, you could remove one ad, so you only have two ads in the ad group.
This could help speed up the amount of time you need to wait until you see results.
And since the responsive ad at the bottom is limited and has poor ad strength, we might
want to edit this ad.
Let's click the edit icon for this ad...
This ad is based on my recommendation for making a responsive search ad that mimics
an expanded text ad.
So we can see there are three headlines that have been pinned...
And there are two description lines that have been pinned...
Since Google Ads isn't liking this, what we could test is adding additional headlines
and descriptions, but leave one or two headlines pinned.
And leave one of the descriptions pinned.
I'm going to add additional headlines to the ad...
Adjust the pins...
And I'm going to add additional descriptions to the ad...
And adjust the pins...
And now I'm going to save the ad...
For additional ways you can test your ads, check out my dedicated video.
I've included a link in the description below.
There are more things you can review in your campaign, including ad extensions, audiences,
and more, but the last thing I want to focus on in this video is the landing pages you're
using with your ads.
To view the landing pages you're sending people to on your website, you can click on the headlines
of your ads.
This will open your landing page in a new tab.
Or the other option is to select 'Landing Pages'...
This will show you all of the landing pages you've used in your ads, along with important
metrics.
I recommend you add conversion metrics to this view.
To do this, select 'Columns'...
And then select 'Conversions'...
And enable the metrics you would like to see.
I'm going to include conversions and conversion rate...
And let's click 'Apply'...
For my ad group, I'm only using a single landing page for all of the ads.
So we can see the overall number of conversions and conversion rate.
But what we should really be doing is testing different landing pages to see what works
best for our campaign.
I can't emphasize this enough.
Your landing pages are critical.
They can make or break the performance of your campaign.
If your keywords seem to be okay.
And your ads look like they're working, but you're still not happy with your results,
you need to take a hard look at your landing pages.
Chances are they're going to be the biggest barrier to conversion for people who click
your ads.
So make sure you're testing different landing pages.
If you're spending money on ads, then you should also be investing in your landing pages.
This might mean taking the time to create another page on your website.
Or it might mean running an experiment with Google Optimize.
Just make sure you're testing your landing pages.
Let's say you've created a new landing page on your website.
You can then create what's called an 'Ad Variation' in Google Ads to test this out.
To do this, let's navigate back to 'Ads and extensions'... Click the plus sign...
And choose 'Ad variation'...
You can then travel through the steps...
And use the 'Find and replace' option to find your original landing page URL and change
it to the new landing page you've created.
Once you've travelled through the steps you will be testing your landing pages in Google
Ads.
Again, this is just one option.
Instead, you might use Google Optimize, or you might use a dedicated landing page builder.
It's up to you.
Just make sure you're experimenting to see what works and what doesn't work.
So they're some different techniques you can use to check your results in Google Ads and
improve the performance of your campaigns.
If you'd like to learn more about Google Ads, then please take a moment to check out my
other videos, and my courses covering Google Ads.
You can find links in the description below.
How are your Google Ads campaigns performing?
Do you have any tips you'd like to add?
I'd love to hear from you.
Let me know in the comments below.
And if you found this video helpful, please like it so I know to make more videos like
this one.
I'll see you in the next video!