What is Google Ads and How Can You Get Started? Beginner’s Guide

Are you a part of the digital marketing industry and exploring different ways to generate revenue and sales? Then we’re certain ads have crossed your mind. And Google Ads for sure, because that’s one of the reasons why you’re here.

So, in this guide, we’re going to introduce Google Ads, the benefits it offers and how you can get started.

Although, if you’re interested in learning more about Google Ads with industry professionals and practitioners, here’s a highly recommended Online Google Ads Training you can check out.

Let’s get started with understanding this platform.

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is a free to use platform by world’s largest search engine, Google, for websites to run ads on their search engine and be able to reach maximum people with the highest intent.

To break it down, you can run ads on search terms that are most relevant to your business by bidding for those keywords and paying every time a user clicks on your ad. The more you’re willing to pay per click, the higher your ad will be displayed on Google’s SERP.

So, what are the benefits?

One of the greatest advantages of running your ads on Google is that you will be attracting audiences who have the highest intent.

Why? Because most of the people today turn towards Google to get answers to all their questions or to find the best places to purchase what they’re looking to buy.

Thus, when they come to Google and look for something, they’re most likely to purchase it. Now, if they bump into your ad at this point, find exactly what they’re looking for, you have now converted a user with least efforts and cost.

Hence, it’s one of the smartest ways to bring more sales through least investments. Also, it’s not just about targeting the right keywords but also the right people. You can target audiences based on their location for highest accuracy.

Customized ads for audiences based on their location can be run to appeal the most. To know more about how Google Ads can benefit you, we totally suggest signing up for the course mentioned above.

Moving on, if you’d like to understand how this works, here’s a quick step-by-step process on how to get started with Google Ads.

Bonus Read: Guide on BBA in Digital Marketing

Steps To Get Started With Google Ads

1. Set Up Your Business Account

Of course, the first step is to set up your Google Ads account for your business. There’s a detailed process to create an account with clear instructions given at each step. Once you have created your account, follow the steps below to create your first ever ad campaign.

2. Create Ad Campaign

The first thing you need to figure out is the campaign type. There are multiple options based on your requirements. But for first-timers, it is advised to go for the “Search Network only” option. Once you’ve selected that, name your campaign so that you can identify its purpose later on.

3. Choose Your Geographical Location

As mentioned  earlier, you have an option to choose the exact locations you want to target users from. It can be an area/city/country. So pick wisely based on if you’re a local, national or international business. Going for a larger area may result in reaching a lot more people but not highly relevant to your business. Thus, niche targeting is more sensible to begin with.

4. Set A Budget & Bid

This is one of the most crucial steps when working on Google Ads. As a beginner, you should aim at setting a daily budget to analyze how your ads are spending and what the results look like. At times, Google may spend more than what you have set and in such cases, you must keep a daily watch to understand the pattern.

Secondly, you also need to set up bids for each click. It is the amount you’re willing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad. Depending on your and your competitors’ bid, the position and visibility of your ad will be determined.

So what do you bid for? You bid for particular search terms. Read the next step to know more.

Note: They have a few payment options that you can choose based on your convenience.

5. Select Keywords

This is the crux of Google Ads. The keywords you want your ads to be displayed on is the ultimate decision you must make. Applying the same logic as the location above, do not try and add every keyword you know.

Irrelevant traffic and high spending will be the common consequence of doing that. Start with adding very specific keywords and the ones that have high intent. You can then fan out in the future and expand your list. You can also use their negative keywords feature which allows you to clearly specify the keywords you do not want to show up for.

6. Add Your Creatives

Time to create your ad. It is very important to curate ads keeping in mind that the user is going to be bombarded with many other competitor ads at the same time. Smartly place keywords in your headlines and focus on adding elements that make a user click.

Your ad description should largely focus on the benefits, features and USPs you offer. You can also run special discounts/offers for your such ads to get some conversions initially. Also, the destination URL of your ads should be a customized landing page so that they only see what they’re looking for.

Plus, they shouldn’t be able to navigate to other pages on your website because that could make them lose focus.

Note: Follow all instructions laid down by Google so that your ads don’t get rejected. You can also follow the suggestions given to make the ads more appealing.

7. Conversion Tracking

What is conversion for you when you run the ad? A click? A purchase? A form fill? It could be anything. Based on your needs, you need to specify the conversion parameters for that particular ad so that you can track it efficiently.

Lastly,

Google Analytics is a great tool for you to track certain important details about your search ads. If you’d like to take up a quick training on it, you can refer to this online google analytics course.

Also, while focusing on running ads on Google, you should also pay attention to ranking on Google organically for the long run. Read more about the role and importance of SEO here.

Author’s Bio

Karan Shah

Founder and CEO at IIDE

Karan Shah is an Edu-preneur, Tedx speaker, Harvard alumnus specializing in eCommerce, and the founder of IIDE – The Digital School.

He is a reputed author on the topics of education, digital marketing, and Ed-techs. Over the years he has penned a plethora of articles in leading news outlets such as Entrepreneur, BusinessWorld, Education Times, and Youth Magazine to name a few.