Effective Google Ads Tips for Small Budgets

Are you ready to get the most out of your Google Ads without breaking the bank? Whether you're a small business owner, an entrepreneur, or a marketing manager, harnessing the power of Google Ads can be a game-changer for reaching new customers. However, when your budget is tight, every dollar counts. Here are some practical tips to ensure your Google Ads campaign is as effective and efficient as possible.

Let us begin!

Budget

Controlling your budget is crucial when working with limited resources. One effective strategy is to set your campaign up with the Manual CPC (Cost Per Click) bidding strategy instead of any automated bidding strategies. This allows you to set the CPC on each of your keywords manually, giving you more granular control over your spending. Automated strategies might consume your budget faster than you expect, especially if you're not monitoring them closely.

Budget Size & Learning Periods

The size of your budget has an influence on the speed of your campaign's learning period. When I say learning period, I'm referring to the time it takes for Google to learn how to best use your ads after you make changes to your campaign. Usually it takes one week to a month, but with a smaller campaign it usually takes 3 weeks or longer.

Max. Conversions Bidding Strategy

Once your campaign is through its learning period and generating Conversions (sales, sign-ups, etc.), you may then consider switching your bidding type to the Max.  Conversions strategy. This strategy will use the data you've generated to target your ads to visitors most likely to convert as a customer. It is important to make sure you are tracking Conversions accurately for this bidding strategy to truly work, but that will be a discussion for another time.

Keywords

When choosing keywords for your Google Ads campaigns, there's more to it than just selecting for high monthly search volume. Here are the strategies I follow to avoid blowing limited budgets on keywords:

• Avoid direct competition on your keywords: Compete smartly by targeting long-tail keywords instead of broad, single-word keywords. Long-tail keywords are more specific and less competitive, helping you reach a niche audience actively searching for exactly what you offer. This strategy not only stretches your budget further but also often results in higher conversion rates because you're attracting more qualified leads.
• Set limits on number of targeted keywords: Trying to target too many keywords can dilute your efforts and budget. Focus your campaign on 15-20 well-researched keywords at any given time. This approach allows you to effectively manage and optimize your ads, maintaining quality over quantity.
• Use negative keyword lists: Utilizing negative keywords helps ensure your budget isn't wasted on irrelevant searches, thus enhancing the efficiency of your campaign.
• Use phrase match type keywords: Phrase Match type keywords allow your ads to show on searches that include the exact phrase or close variations of that phrase, while keeping words before or after the phrase relevant. Unlike broad match, which can trigger ads on a wide range of related searches and potentially irrelevant traffic, phrase match maintains some specificity without being as restrictive as exact match, which requires the search to match the keyword precisely.
• Set your CPC on each keyword manually: As mentioned previously, by setting your manual Cost-Per-Click on each of your keywords, you're telling Google how much you're willing to pay for a click for each keyword. My preferred sweet spot is anywhere under $2.00 per click, but if you have some wiggle room, you're allowed to be adventurous. Just make sure your ad's titles and descriptions are fully optimized for you're selected keywords for full effect.

Remember to regularly review and refine your keyword list based on performance data. This allows you to keep improving your ad reach and effectiveness as time goes on. Now let's get into how often you should refine your campaigns.

Quality Scores

Google Ads Quality Score is a critical factor in the success of your advertising campaigns. It is Google's rating of the quality and relevance of your keywords and ads, and it influences both your ad's position on the search engine results page (SERPs) and the CPC you're billed for. The score is determined by several factors, including the click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and the landing page experience.

Why is the Quality Score so important? A higher Quality Score can lead to lower costs and higher ad rankings. For businesses working with small budgets, optimizing your Quality Score can help maximize your advertising spend by ensuring you pay less per click. This enables you to stretch your budget further and achieve better placements, even if you’re in direct competition with larger entities with more money to spend.

Here's some tips for improving your Quality Score:

• Choose keywords wisely: Make sure your keywords are aligned with your products and services, as well as the search intent behind them.
• Focus on creating highly relevant ad copy: You do this by implementing your chosen keywords tactfully within your headlines and descriptions.
• Ensuring that your landing pages are well-optimized and provide a good user experience: Ways to do this are to optimize your landing pages for the keywords you used to build your ads. This assures Google that what you are selling is consistent with what you are advertising, which protects visitors to your pages from scams. Also, design the layout of your page to be easily navigational, with plenty of call-to-actions guiding visitors to take desired actions (sign ups, bookings, purchases, etc.).

Regularly reviewing and refining your campaigns based on Quality Score feedback can lead to more effective advertising efforts overall. Remember, you must do this on an ongoing basis. What worked yesterday may not work tomorrow, and you must make sure to continually update your ads.

Use Location Targeting

Location targeting is key to making sure your ads are seen by people most likely to visit your business. By focusing your ads on specific geographic areas, you avoid spending money on regions where your services are less relevant. This tactic also reduces competition with local businesses outside of your service area.

As with Negative Keywords lists, you are allowed to exclude targeting locations where you don't want your ads to show up. I always make sure to exclude towns, counties and provinces with names similar to the ones I am targeting.

Shut Off Google Search Partners

While Search Partners can expand your reach, they might not always provide the return on investment you need. With less control over ad placement, your budget could be wasted on low-quality leads on sites not relevant to your business. Just recently, I've delt with an issue of fake leads and spam by shutting off Search Partners. Disabling Google Search Partners from the onset could help you avoid this pitfall, ensuring your ads only appear on Google's primary search network where you have greater control.

Monitor Daily & Optimize Regularly

Creating and running your ads isn't a one-and-done process. Think of your campaign as a living, breathing pet that you need to take care of. Over time, your campaigns generate data, which you then use to develop them over time. Follow this process to regularly check in with your campaigns and continually develop them:

Optimize every two weeks: Optimization isn't a one-time task; it's an ongoing process. A Google Ads campaign's learning phase can take from a week to a month, depending on various factors like budget size and competition. At PCS, we recommend reviewing and optimizing your campaigns every two weeks. This involves pausing underperforming keywords, selecting new ones from the Search Terms tab, updating your ad copy to reflect these changes, and occasionally implementing Google's recommendations when suitable.

Check into your ads daily: Think of monitoring your ads daily as a small investment that can save you from costly issues. You can catch problems early, such as outdated payment information or disapproved ads, and take immediate action. Daily check-ins help you maintain control and ensure your ads are running smoothly.

In my experience, business owners hate having to deal with this kind of thing. Often, they find it tedious and a little confusing, with a learning curve that is always evolving with the times. This is why it is so common for businesses to hire digital marketers to manage their ad accounts for them. And honestly, I don't blame them.

Conclusion

Implementing these strategies can help you manage your Google Ads effectively, making every dollar count and driving better results. Remember, successful advertising is about more than just spending money—it's about spending it wisely.

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