10 tips for your Google Ads strategy during the Corona crisis

Of course, it is important that your website or webshop gets visits through Ads. But a visit does not necessarily equal a conversion. That's why you shouldn't forget to set up tracking of purchases and leads, so you can keep an eye on whether your visitors convert into paying customers.

Because without tracking, you might see traffic coming to your website - but not who's actually adding value. Advertising on Google Ads and ignoring the need for tracking is a bit like throwing a bunch of money at a random bunch of people without knowing who is spending their money in your store.

Therefore, set up tracking of both micro and macro conversions. This will give you valuable insights into each search term and the performance of your ads.

A micro-conversion is an action that leads to a primary conversion target (a macro-conversion). Micro-conversions are, for example, actions like signing up for a newsletter, registering for an event or adding products to the shopping cart.

A macro conversion is the conversion goal itself - the action that you ultimately want the user to perform on your website. For the webshop owner, this will typically be a purchase, while for a service business it will be filling in the contact form, making a call or making some other kind of enquiry.

Know your target audience and their online behaviour, because this knowledge can save you money on wasted advertising.

Of course you know your core audience. But it pays to delve a little deeper into your target audience - what are they looking for, and how long do they take to convert to a lead or sale from their first click on the website? Because by knowing your audience and their behaviour, you avoid spending ad dollars on the wrong segment.

Once you know your target audience, you can then start to identify the keywords that they use - and which are relevant to your company's advertising. Google Keyword Planner is a brilliant tool for this.

However, when choosing a keyword, it is important to consider the competition for the given keyword - but also whether it is profitable to be visible at all.

For example, choosing a keyword such as "cross-country skiing for retired bridge enthusiasts" may seem valuable to you because competition is low. But since virtually no one will ever use that particular keyword, it is unlikely to be profitable. So it's about finding a balance between search volume and competition.

Finally, you can make good use of negative keywords. By using negative keywords, you ensure that your ads do not appear in irrelevant searches. This results in a low click-through rate, as the ads are exposed to users who may be looking for something else. And it results in low quality keywords and ads - and therefore a higher click-through rate.

Call to action is crucial if you want clicks on your ads and visitors to your website.

Call to action is, in short, text that tells your audience what to do to get their needs met. A good call to action encourages potential visitors to click on your ads.

That's why you need to write full ads that explicitly explain what the user can expect by clicking - ads that call to action. This increases the likelihood of clicks.

For example, if a user is looking for blue safety shoes in Goretex, your ad should explicitly explain that you sell blue safety shoes in Goretex.

The more information you can give your users before they actually click on the ad, the better. You need to roughly take the horse by the harness and lead it to the trough. Or to put it a bit nicer: show the user the easiest route to the next step.

It's a good idea to be visible and helpful at all stages - from start to finish. But if resources aren't available, prioritise. Read more about how to do a keyword analysis based on the customer journey here.

Call to action is crucial. But your call to action must also deliver what it promises. When your users click on an ad, they expect a need to be met. And don't break that expectation.

There must therefore be a match between what is promised in the ad and the landing page that the user lands on by clicking on your ad.

Of course, if a user clicks on an ad promoting blue safety shoes in Goretex, the user should see all blue safety shoes in Goretex in your range - and not red sandals with bows.

In other words, there must be consistency between the ad and the landing page. The keyword is relevance.

Consistency between ad and landing page also results in a higher quality score for your keyword, which means a cheaper click price and better competitiveness against your competitors.

In short, you create a win-win situation by creating relevant landing pages - both you and your users win.

Now that we are in biblical terminology, it is obvious to discourage the seven deadly sins. But within Google Ads it is actually okay to indulge in a little greed. Here I mean greed in the sense that you should just splurge on information in your ads.

And the best way to do that is with ad extensions. Ad extensions are pieces of information that expand your ads to make them more useful to users. They typically include phone numbers, page links from your website and reviews - for example from Google or Trustpilot.

Ad extensions also ensure that your ads take up more of the results page - they "steal more of the picture". And it's a great way to make your ads stand out from the competition.

When a customer visits your site without converting, you can advertise to them afterwards on Google partner websites. That means you get another chance to convert them into a sale.

In practice, remarketing is done by Google Ads storing a so-called cookie ID on the user's device. Each cookie then has a unique ID, which Google Ads automatically adds to a so-called remarketing list, which in short is a list of the visitors about whom you have collected data. When a user then meets the requirements you have set, they will see your advertising on selected platforms.

This is where micro-conversions are a good place to start. For example, if a user has added items to their basket without completing a purchase, you can then target them with a message such as "forgot your items in the basket?" on other websites.

This gives you another chance to convert passive users into paying customers.

The tenth and final offer for your Google Ads strategy is perhaps not so much an offer as a piece of advice. Here I am thinking about the importance of reporting.

With a daily, monthly, quarterly or annual Google Ads report, you get an overview of your advertising. For example, where should you focus more? Where do you need to optimise? What works?

With reporting, you ensure a continued strong foundation for your Google Ads advertising. For example, at the moment Corona can have an impact on your advertisers' performance and reporting can give you valuable insight into your advertising on Google Ads during the Corona crisis. For example, has your advertising been effective despite times of crisis?

Does keeping the 10 Commandments seem overwhelming? Don't worry, we won't judge you. We don't have a god complex at Webamp. But we'd love to help you keep the commandments, so your Google Ads strategy can succeed - even in times of crisis.

Please contact us at 70 60 50 28 or info@webamp.dk if you need
advice on your Google Ads strategy.