Relationship-Based Digital Marketing Agency

IMPRINT DIGITAL

Paid Advertising

How many Google ads should a business start out with? And really, how many keywords should you be targeting? This is a great follow-up question to our prior post on <a href="https://imprint-digital.tempurl.host/blog/paid-advertising/what-is-a-good-budget-for-google-ads/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">what a good google ad budget is</a>. How many ads you should run depends on a few key things, lets&#8217;s jump right in:



<ul>
<li>Keywords (user intention and searches) &#8211; are the keywords high volume, or low click volume? </li>



<li>Adgroups &#8211; words belong in &#8220;buckets&#8221; you would not market oranges to people searching for apples. What services or &#8220;buckets&#8221; do your business offerings fall into? (This helps us best segment the above keywords) </li>



<li>Ads per group &#8211; Google recommends one responsive search ad per ad group. There are custom approaches, but this is likely best practice if you do not have experience. I often have run 3-4 ads per ad group so that I can optimize for the best performance. This includes dynamic and responsive search ads</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why too many Google ads are a risk</h2>



If you have spread yourself too thin and your account has excessive ads in an ad group, Google runs into a few issues. Google accounts by default are not set to optimize for conversions. This leaves your account not serving the best performing and converting ads (assuming your conversion tracking is set up properly)



Your account may also not be set to showcase a rotating balance across all ads equally. This can lead to certain ads showing far more than others. I have seen this many times where ads with a low click-through rate (CTR) or with a higher cost per click (CPC) end up getting more visibility. 



What this means:



<ul>
<li>Your ad shows, but people are ignoring it (low CTR)</li>



<li>Google shows your most expensive ad (killing your budget faster)</li>
</ul>



What truly matters is ensuring your account balances the delivery of ads from the start so that you can gather balanced and accurate data that reflects the market. No advertising tool is perfect. But these are some mistakes you can be sure to avoid.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why too few Google ads are a risk factor</h2>



Not testing ad copy, and attempting to discover what is going to create the best result is a far too common instance in marketing.



We have audited hundreds of accounts that only have 1 ad for 20+ keywords.



This is a problem!



When targeting a keyword, you want a specific and intentional ad, which leads to a very specific and intentional landing page. This creates a great user experience and creates a higher chance of lead generation and conversion.



If you are only serving one ad, and that ad fails to connect and resonate with consumers quickly, you are now left serving the same, boring failed ad. By having multiple ads in each ad group, you now give Google the option to serve multiple different types of ads to test on your behalf.



I typically find that when A/B testing (serving multiple variations of ads to see what is best) one of the ads always tends to perform better than the others. You can then quickly pause the underperforming ads and iterate new ads that are getting the best engagement. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">High Level Take Away</h2>



Let&#8217;s break down the approach with a TLDR:



<ul>
<li>Create your campaign</li>



<li>Create ad groups that represent the diversity of your products and services that match search need</li>



<li>Place proper keywords within each ad group</li>



<li>Write 2-3 ads per ad group (and use one dynamic responsive ad)</li>



<li>Ensure to stop underperforming ads, and create more of the successful ads. We model after what is working.</li>
</ul>



There are many more details that are required to get great results with your paid ad strategy. Such as:



<ul>
<li>Device bidding (lower bids or increase bids based on performance)</li>



<li>Location bidding</li>



<li>Time of day bidding</li>



<li>demographic targeting</li>
</ul>



If you would like to remove the headache and high cost of ad management that is ineffective reach out to our team and we can help. Get an audit or simply chat with our ad specialists and see if we are a good fit for your needs. We look forward to the opportunity to serve you!

Subjective. Run 2 or 3 ads if your site isn't busy. Evaluate whether your website can support ads based on traffic. Maximum 3 ads.

How many Google Ads Should you run?

The age-old question 🙂 And there is incredible nuance to this one. How much is a good budget for Google Ads? What budget should someone start with?



I want to cover a few things so that we approach this with the right framework in mind.



Two key things. We don&#8217;t wait to wait weeks on end for leads, and we don&#8217;t want to blow or waste money!



Ok, let&#8217;s dive into three scenarios



<ol class="has-medium-font-size"><li>Low Budgets &#8211; Google says to start small with as little as <a href="https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2375454?hl=en#:~:text=days%20per%20month).-,Tip%3A%20Start%20small,-If%20you%27re%20a" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$10 a day</a>. One thing about small budgets is it can take a substantial amount of time to gather the right amount of data to make educated decisions. </li><li>Large Budget &#8211; With large budgets, you can quickly spend, and if not properly set up out of the gate, you can blow substantial cash faster, but you also get enough data to quickly make decisions to optimize faster. </li><li>Right in the middle &#8211; I prefer not to spend the max, or too low. Why? If you can project and find the right starting budget, you can get enough visibility and leads without having to wait weeks for consistent lead flow, while also not overspending and wasting thousands of dollars.</li></ol>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The problem with too little budget</h2>



With a low daily budget, you can get as few as only 1-2 clicks a day, sometimes none. It takes lots of patience with a small budget. Google recommends most businesses use their automated bidding to which has driven up costs for my business. (I have found that in 2021-2022) that with auto-bidding, I end up spending 30-50% more.



When I have to start small, I always manually control my bids or use another bid type. With 10+ years of personal experience managing paid ads, this consistently yields me the best results. 



This obviously requires a bit of additional work to manually control bids, but you get a lower cost, and more control over the outcomes if managed by an expert.



Rarely do I recommend starting with a budget as small as $10 a day, there are far more effective initial things a business can do that will make a larger and more material impact, but again there is nuance to the situation. 



Best practice when starting with a small Google Budget



Here are some great ideas if you are starting with a small <a href="https://imprint-digital.tempurl.host/google-ads-management/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google Ads</a> Budget:



<ul class="has-medium-font-size"><li>Radius &#8211; start with the top 4-5 zip codes around your business. If you have a Google Maps or Google Analytics set up you can get some simple data to help you decide which areas to start targeting. </li><li>Mobile Phone Calls &#8211; if you don&#8217;t have a large budget or a great website, maybe your sales team is stellar! Start with call-only ads or local service ads to get the most bang for your buck. </li><li>One Service/One Keyword &#8211; Focus on 1-2 top services/keywords to maximize visibility. Create content and landing pages tailored directly for this intention. </li><li>Remarketing &#8211; say you have a lot of traffic or do tons of word-of-mouth business, you can start by simply running remarketing/retargeting ads, or display ads </li><li>Creative Solution from your marketing manager &#8211; depending on your business&#8217;s unique situation, there are custom/craft solutions. If you think this is your business, <a href="https://imprint-digital.tempurl.host/contact/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">contact us</a> to discuss a strategy for your business.</li></ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Large Google Ad Spend Budgets</h2>



With larger Google daily spending you can gather data to start making better decisions very quickly. I highly recommend having many ad groups that have very clear user intentions and specific keywords that are all very aligned to ensure an easy optimization process.



Let&#8217;s go through a practical example



People tend to type out very specific keywords on google. So we want our ad campaigns to be tailored to users&#8217; very specific needs! Here are 3 example ad groups below we will use for our example.



We have 3 ad groups (which are the needs of the searcher): 



<ul class="has-medium-font-size"><li>Roof Repair</li><li>Roof Contractor</li><li>Roof Replacement</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Adgroup: Roof repair</td><td>Adgroup: Roof contractor</td><td>Adgroup: Roof Replacement</td></tr><tr><td>KW: roofing repair</td><td>KW: roofing contractor</td><td>KW: roof replacement company</td></tr><tr><td>KW: local roofing repair</td><td>KW: roofing contractor near me</td><td>KW: affordable roof replacement</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



Each ad group contains keywords that fall very specifically in line with the need of the user. I never want to mix up someone who wants light repairs with someone who wants replacement!



Repairs likely earn less revenue than a full replacement. We may be willing to spend $50 per repair lead, but $200 per replacement lead as the profit margins are very different.



How does this impact large budgets?



Imagine you have the capability to create 5-12 ad groups. This means 5-12 very specific sets of ads and keywords that relate to the insanely specific needs of your consumer. When a google ads manager gets this intentional, this specific and this detailed, it becomes MUCH easier to optimize.



Kill the failing ad groups and keep running the winners!



If you are detailed upfront when building your campaigns, you can quickly and easily see which ad groups and keywords are creating high-quality leads and giving your brand success.



This leads to faster optimization turnaround times (lowering cost per lead as fast as possible), and ultimately a better user experience for the person searching!



Keyword -&gt; Ad -&gt; Landing Page Relevancy



As Google ads campaign manager, it is important to slow down, take time to look at the keyword, think of the need of the user, reflect that in the ad, and make sure your landing page is specifically targeted for that need.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Right Google Ads Budget</h2>



Starting with a budget that is low can yield no results, starting with too much spending can put a business behind on cash flows and savings. I have found the sweet spot is right in the middle.



Set the right budget to achieve results in a timely manner so that you can begin creating better outcomes and making good optimization decisions.



A great <a href="https://imprint-digital.tempurl.host/google-ads-management/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google Ads</a> marketing manager will set clear expectations as to what you can expect, and will be capable to express why ads are doing well, and why they may be underperforming.



We would love the opportunity to help audit your account, address any questions you have, and craft a strategy that creates success for your business! Reach out below and let us know if we can help in any way.

Your budget depends on your product, goals, and market. $20-$30 a day to start a campaign. Start small and grow as needed.

Paid Advertising

How many Google Ads Should you run?

What is a good budget for Google Ads?