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Google AdWords is an online advertising service, developed by Google, where advertisers pay to display brief advertising copy to web users. Google AdWords is an excellent way to drive traffic to your website. Since it can be expensive if not handled correctly, managing your campaigns will get you the highest return on investment. Here are 5 mistakes people make with Google Adwords:
- Not using ad groups effectively
Not using ad groups is one of the biggest mistakes people make. Instead of segmenting their ads into groups based around similar types of keywords, they lump all of their keywords into one ad group and show everyone the same ad. Not breaking up your keywords into different ad groups results in lumping everything underneath one ad copy. This doesn’t allow you to customize the ad to be a good fit for the term being searched for. Campaigns will be easier to monitor and optimise with more segregated ads and keywords..
- Not using negative keywords
Another mistake people make is not using negative keywords. AdWords allows you to use negative keywords to exclude keywords that are not a good match for your product. For example, if you own an online store that sells men’s shoes but not athletic shoes, then you won’t want your ads to show up on searches for “men’s running shoes” but do want them to show up on searches for “men’s shoes.” Thus, you can add “running” as a negative keyword, and your ads won’t be shown for any searches that include the word “running.”
- Not knowing your competition
Not knowing which ads your competitors are using can be a disadvantage. You need to know who you’re competing against, what keywords they’re using, and what their landing pages look like, or else another digital agency could have you covered. Specifically, you want to put yourself in your customers’ shoes and see which ad you’re most likely to click on. Then, once you do click, pay attention to their landing pages, and compare theirs with yours.
- Not Directing Visitors to the Appropriate Product or Category Page
A common mistake people make with AdWords is not directing customers to an appropriate product or category page. Instead, they direct everyone to their homepage.
Especially on e-commerce sites where you have category and product pages, it is better to take people to a landing page or a product or category page where people will see a direct match to the ad they clicked, rather than a generic landing homepage.
- Not managing your expectations
Manage your expectations when it comes to success with Adwords. A lot of people have a really small budget and expect to launch the next big business with budget. They want to get in front of a large audience but have only $100 to $200 to spend per month, which will not get them very far. If your budget is too small, you may not have enough to test your ads until they start performing well. It takes time to run and optimize your campaign to improve your return.