Using Google AdWords is an excellent way to attract the right audience willing to buy on the internet. Users are much more likely to be influenced by targeted digital ads, however it can be difficult to set up and maintain an effective campaign without following the best practises and making strategic updates.

It may be challenging for small business owners to make time to constantly review and refine your Google AdWords account as is recommended, especially whilst managing everyday business activities. To help you set up your campaign, AU Digital has chosen some common mistakes you should avoid to improve your AdWords performance.

 

Not Grouping Keywords Properly

With AdWords you can create and manage different types of campaigns so that ad groups containing similar keywords are categorized and separated. Some people fail to take full advantage of this tool and don’t use ad groups to cluster keywords. All keywords are therefore lumped together, meaning it becomes difficult to manage all ads and the website will not appear on the relevant search for the business.

The most effective way to get manage campaigns is to keep ad groups to no more than 20 keywords each so that search results are relevant to what the user is searching for. The more relevant the ad is to the search term used, the more likely they will click on it.

 

Not Using Negative Words

Negative keywords are unwanted search terms that do not match with the product or offering. For example, if your business sells women’s shoes, but you don’t have men’s shoes, you would add “men” as a negative word so your ad won’t appear for people looking for men’s shoes. People often forget to make a list of negative keywords, meaning their ads appear for irrelevant searches for disinterested leads. By doing this simple step you will be able to spend your budget on your targeted audience and improve the chances of campaign success.

 

Not Bidding on Your Own Brand

A common mistake made is assuming you don’t have to bid for keywords containing your brand name, since you are already likely to rank high for it. However, if you don’t bid for your business name, your competitors will. People who search for your specific brand name are more likely to be converted into a sale, so in many ways it makes sense to bid more on your own brand.

 

Pause Underperforming Keywords

The performance of ads should always be monitored in order to find keywords that are and are not working to result in a sale. The best way to optimise an AdWords account is to identify keywords that have a low conversion rate or cost per acquisition (CPA) and pausing them. Keywords should be tested regularly to make sure money is being spent on ones that are profitable and align with the campaign strategy.

 

Using Wrong Keywords Matches

A common mistake made when setting up an AdWords campaign is to only use the broad match option for keywords and not knowing how to utilise the other match types. In order to reach the correct audience and appear in results that closely match your product, phrase matches or exact matches should be used.

AU Digital can help you to set up your Google AdWords campaign, give us a call on 9907 3136.