PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER'S GUIDE

PAID SEARCH

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

This in-depth eBook will walk you through all the basics of understanding, setting up and

launching your rst paid search campaign.

First Things First: What is Paid Search?

Paid Search is a type of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) that can be used to increase your

business’ online presence. Ads are displayed on search engine result pages (SERPs),

placed on either the top or bottom of search query results for search engines such as

Google and Bing. Ads are labeled with a distinguishing “Ad” callout to separate them

from the rest of the organic results (more on organic vs. paid search below). Running

paid search ads help potential customers nd your business, whenever a user searches

a keyword or query related to the campaign you are running; your business has the

opportunity to be shown in the results.

What Will I Learn from this eBook?

This eBook will walk you through some fundamental and intermediate-level information

to teach you the basics of paid search, as well as provide plenty of practical, actionable

steps to set up an eective and successful paid search campaign. Some areas we’ll

cover include how pay per click bidding systems work, how to perform keyword research,

fundamental paid search key terms, optimization techniques for your campaign, and

integrating Google Analytics to better track performance of your account.

Paid search is an ongoing process. You can work your way through this eBook at your own

pace, but we suggest never to “set and forget” an ongoing campaign. You’ll need to keep

monitoring performance at regular intervals and keep coming back to the optimization

section for tips on what to look for and how to improve your campaigns.

To the Beginners Guide to Paid Search

WELCOME

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

CONTENTS

01 WHAT IS PAID SEARCH? 07

Oganic vs Paid Search 08

Paid search terms 09

02 HOW PPC WORKS 11

Understanding Ad Auctions 12

PPC Bidding 12

Quality Score 13

Keywords 14

Landing pages 14

Keyword Research 16

Learn your keywords 16

Keyword Suggestions 17

Explore 17

03 GOOGLE ADS ACCOUNT SET-UP 19

Option a: Use an existing google email account 20

Option b: Create a new google email account 21

Option c: Use An Existing Email Address 21

04 LAUNCH A GOOGLE ADS CAMPAIGN 23

Getting started 24

Create a text ad 26

Set your budget 27

Add Ad Extensions 27

Launch Your Campaign 29

05 OPTIMIZING YOUR GOOGLE ADS 31

Account Structure 32

Keyword Match Types 33

Negative Keywords 33

Ad Text 34

Landing Pages 35

06 CONNECT TO GOOGLE ANALYTICS 37

Benets of linking google ads to google analytics 38

How to link google analytics 39

FAQs 40

WHAT IS

PAID SEARCH?

A LESSON IN FUNDAMENTALS

ORGANIC VS. PAID SEARCH

The anatomy of a search engine results page.

Before diving into specics on paid search

campaigns, it’s important to understand the

fundamentals of a search engine results page, and

the very important dierence between paid and

organic search. While paid search allows business

to pay for increased search visibility, organic search

represents unpaid or natural rankings determined

by search engine algorithms. The natural, or

organic results, displayed on a search engine

results page are the outcome of the search engine

algorithm analyzing all the pages across the web

to determine those that contain the most relevant

information for the user’s search.

Organic search represents unpaid

trac to your website. Meanwhile, paid

search is a resource for businesses to

pay to ensure their website is included

in search results for specied keywords

and phrases.

Paying to ensure your website is displayed for

highly valuable keywords, increases the likelihood

of someone seeing and clicking your link, ultimately

sending trac to your website. It is also a great

way to outrank competitors and give your brand

awareness a boost. Google Ads and Bing Ads are

examples of paid search; they use keywords and

phrases to display sites in predetermined “paid

search” slots.

Paid search is a form of advertising where search engines such as Google and Bing

allow advertisers to show ads on their search engine results pages (SERPs).

Paid search works on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, meaning that until someone

clicks on your ad, you don’t pay. This makes it a measurable and controllable

marketing channel compared with more traditional forms of advertising.

WHAT IS PAID

SEARCH?

PAID SEARCH TERMS

Now that we covered the basics on paid search, let’s go over some

quick industry key terms that will help you better understand and

navigate the world of paid search. Be sure to bookmark this section

so you can refer back to these terms as you move through this paid

search guide.

Impressions:

The number of times your Ad shows up on a search page. Impressions count each

time your Ad appears on Google, Bing or the Google Search Network, whether or not

someone clicks it.

Click:

This is an actual click on your search ad. Clicks count even if the user hits the back

button right away and doesn’t reach your website. The act of clicking the link will

Conversion:

When a person interacts with your Ad and makes a pre-dened action on your website,

i.e. lling out a form, downloading an item, submitting a contact request, subscribing to

your newsletter, calling your business or others.

Click-Through Rate (CTR):

A percentage of how many people have interacted with your Ad (clicked) compared to

the number of people who have seen it (impressions). Calculated as: clicks/impressions

= CTR

Conversion Rate:

The percentage of users that have converted (completed a specied action on your

website), compared to the number of users that have clicked on your ad. The higher

your conversion rate, the more eective your campaign. Calculated as: conversions/

clicks = Conversion Rate

Cost Per Click (CPC):

The average amount you pay for a paid search click to your website. Calculated as:

spend/clicks = CPC

Cost Per Action (CPA):

The amount you spend on each conversion from your Ad. Calculated as: spend/

conversions = CPA

PPC AdsOrganic Local Pack

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

HOW PPC WORKS

BUILD AWARENESS, GENERATE LEADS & DRIVE CONVERSIONS

PPC, or pay per click, is a way of buying visits (clicks), to your website

with the goal of increasing business. When using PPC, it is important

to know that more investment doesn’t automatically equal more

visibility for your ads. Instead ads are subject to what’s called an ad

auction. An ad auction is an automated process that search engines

use to determine which ads are shown, where they are shown, and

how often they appear.

In this section, we’ll take you through a few of these key areas:

PPC Bidding, Keywords, Quality Score & Landing Pages

HOW PPC WORKS

UNDERSTANDING AD AUCTIONS

There are two main factors considered during an ad auction:

Bid

The amount you are willing to pay for a click.

Quality Score

A score from 1–10 that paid search platforms assign every keyword in your account,

10 being the highest. This is calculated based on three factors: ad relevance to your

keywords; landing page experience; and expected click-through rate.

These two factors are combined to give you an ‘ad rank’. The advertiser with the highest

ad rank in the auction will appear in the rst result. Read on for further information on

how to navigate the PPC process.

PPC BIDDING

When starting your PPC advertising campaign, you will be asked how much you’re

willing to pay every time someone clicks on your Ad. Search platforms will provide you

an recommendation on how much you should bid, but ultimately it’s up to you. If Google

recommends a bid of $2.50 and you only want to bid $2.00, that’s ne – it may just mean

your ads are shown lower on the page or less frequently. If you realize that your ad isn’t

being shown very often or as high as you like, you can go back to your original ad and

adjust the bid amount.

QUALITY SCORE

Quality Score refers to how relevant and useful your ad is for the end user. While the

actual formula for determining quality scores is a secret (this prevents users from

taking advantage of the system), there are three basic factors that we know play into the

equation:

Keyword Ad Relevance

How relevant is your ad to what the user is looking for?

Landing Page Experience

How relevant is the page you are sending trac to relative to the user’s search. This

also includes considerations such as, how easy the page is for people to use, mobile-

friendliness factors, navigation and others.

Expected Click-thru Rate

How likely your ad is to be clicked, estimated on historical performance data from your

own account, similar advertiser’s data and your ad features.

Quality Score is primarily a measure of the quality and relevance of your ad—it was

designed to stop an advertiser’s ability to pay the highest amount to appear at the top of

search terms, regardless of their relevance to the search query or landing page content.

Remember, Google’s value proposition for users is that they deliver highly relevant results

for search queries, so they need to include some sort of quality control in their paid

search platform to ensure quality results are shown. This is where quality scores come in.

A low-quality score is mostly due to a disconnection between your Keywords, Ad Groups,

Ad Text and Landing Page content.

High Quality Scores come naturally when Ads contain organized

keywords in appropriate Keyword Groups, Ad Text that corresponds

with certain Ad Groups and Landing Pages that connect with the Ad

Text’s oer.

Optimizing your Quality Scores, sets your campaign up for a better return on investment.

High quality scores directly correlate with a lower Cost Per Conversion, meaning your

budget goes further and does more to achieve your goals. You can check the quality score

for your keywords or ads anytime in the Google campaign dashboard. This is an eective

tool to use to improve and optimize your campaign.

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

KEYWORDS

Keywords play a vital role in the eectiveness of your paid search campaign. If you want people

clicking your ads, you need to understand what kind of words and phrases people use when

searching for products or services related to your business. Since the ad auction is a bidding

system, advertisers decide on what terms they want to trigger their ads. These terms are referred to

as Keywords.

Since you’re paying for each click on your ad, it is important to only bid on

Keywords that are relevant to your business.

Use tools, such as the Google Keyword Planner, (more on this and keyword

research in section below) to help you nd the right keywords to increase

business.

LANDING PAGES

When a customer sees a list of search results, and ultimately clicks on a URL, that URL leads to

a landing page. It is important that your landing page is well designed and optimized to convert

visitors to customers. Some basic tips include:

1. Separate oers need separate pages

Make sure you have individual and unique landing pages for dierent oers;

2. Don’t overcomplicate content

Keep content focused on a single service or line of products to cut down on confusion for the

end user;

3. Use calls-to-action

Don’t forget to include a Call-to-Action (like a “Buy Now” or “Book Now” button) so

that the visitor has a clear sense of action;

4. Responsive web design

And always make sure that your Landing Page is mobile-friendly.

Also, make sure that your landing page delivers on any promises that your Ad

mentions. For example, if your ad talks about a discount, make sure that your landing

page features that discount.

Follow-through on web deals and oers – and make the

transaction a seamless experience – this will help you build a loyal

online following.

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

KEYWORD RESEARCH

Keywords play a vital role in the eectiveness of your paid search campaign. If you want people

clicking on your search ads, you need to understand what kind of words and phrases people use

when searching for products or services related to your business.

Google Keyword Planner is an eective tool to help you gure out what keywords best Represent

your company and how people can nd it. All you need to get started is a Google account. See

section below for details on creating an account if you don’t currently have one.

LEARN YOUR KEYWORDS

Once you log in to your business account, Google Keyword Planner gives you two options: “Find

Keywords” or “Get search volume and forecasts.”

1. Find Keywords

The rst option gives you an idea of new keywords that can help promote and gain interested

visitors in your products or services.

2. Get Search Volume Forecasts

With the second option, you can see volume and dierent metrics for your Keywords. It can

also predict which keywords might perform well in the future.

Both options will take you to the keyword plan. Depending on which option you choose, your page

will vary with content.

KEYWORD SUGGESTIONS

After you have chosen your option, Google will ask you to type in Keywords that you

believe relate to your business or that potential customers could be searching for. Google

will then provide keyword suggestions. You are not limited to just single-word terms,

you can also use phrases or a URL. If you already have a list of keywords, type those in

and click next to be taken to a forecasts page. This page will show how many clicks and

impressions you can expect should you decide to run ads with your keywords.

EXPLORE

Now you know the basics of Google’s keyword planner. This tool allows you to eectively

plan your keyword campaigns, view trends, search volume, explore suggested keywords

and phrases, and estimate trac and cost. Since we’ve covered the basics, the next

section will take you through setting up and launching a paid search campaign.

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

GOOGLE ADS

ACCOUNT

SET-UP

STARTING ON THE RIGHT FOOT

Creating a Google Ads account is the very rst step in preparing your paid

search campaign. A lot of the tools and resources we will be talking about

require a Google account to access. Don’t worry, simply having an account

does not mean you will be charged. You will have access to the research tools

for free and will not pay until you launch an actual campaign.

In this section, we’ll take you through a few of these key areas:

• Use an existing Google email account

• Create a new Google email account

• Use an existing email address you already own (non-Google account)

GOOGLE ADS ACCOUNT SET-UP

We are now ready to set-up and launch a paid search campaign. For illustration purposes, we

will be walking you through a paid search campaign using Google Ads. Remember that although

Google commands the majority of search trac on the internet, Bing is another search engine that

allows advertisers to show ads on their search engine results pages (SERPs). You should evaluate

your website trac, budget and goals to determine which platforms work best for your business.

To begin, you will need an email address and website for your business. Before signing in or

creating a Google Ads account, you need to decide if you want to manage the account through a.)

an existing Google email account b.) create a new Google email account for your business or c.)

use an existing email address you own (even if it’s not a Google product).

Option A: Use an existing Google email account

1. Go to the Google Ads account sign-in page.

2. You will be prompted to enter your email address to use an existing Google account.

3. Enter the email you want to use to sign into your new Google Ads account.

4. Enter the website address for the business you want to advertise.

5. Click “Continue,” and sign into your Google account.

Option B: Create a new Google email account

1. Go to the Google Ads account sign-in page.

2. You will be prompted to enter your email address to use an existing Google

account but can select the secondary option “Create account” at the bottom of the

sign-in page.

3. Select “Create account”

4. Choose “To manage my business”

5. The account creation page will ask for an existing email address but there is an

option directly underneath “Create a Gmail account instead.”

6. Select this option and choose an available Gmail handle.

7. Complete the remaining items for your business.

8. You will be auto directed into the Google Ads New Campaign Screen

Option C: Use an existing email address you already own (non-Google account)

1. Go to the Google Ads account sign-in page.

2. You will be prompted to enter your email address to use an existing Google

account but can select the secondary option “Create account” at the bottom of the

sign-in page.

3. Select “Create account”

4. Choose “To manage my business”

5. The account creation page will ask for an existing email address. Enter your

business or account email here.

6. Conrm password and select “next.”

7. Verify your email address with the code sent to your existing email.

8. Click Verify.

9. Go back to the Google Ads account sign-in page.

10. Enter your preferred email address.

11. Click “Continue,” and you will be directed to the Google Ads New Campaign

Screen.

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

LAUNCH A

GOOGLE ADS

CAMPAIGN

IT’S TIME TO MAKE IT REAL

Choose Location Settings

Where do you want your ad to appear? You can customize by radius, county, zip-code

or statewide targeting. Think of your customer base and what makes the most sense

based on your goals. The location you choose determines who will see your ad. People

searching within the specied area will be eligible to see your paid search ad and users

conducting searches outside of your specied geo will not be served your ad, no matter

the relevance to their search.

Select Keywords

Google will automatically suggest keywords based on a preliminary crawl of the content

on your site. It is worth considering the automated suggestions as they hold high authority

based on Google’s algorithm, which means they can ultimately provide a strong quality

score (lower CPCs for you).

However, remember that

Google does not know

your business as well as

you and you should use

the preliminary keyword

research conducted

in the earlier chapters

above. This is your best

guide to deliver optimal

results.

Once you are satised with your keyword

list, click “next.” Remember you can

always come back and edit, add or

remove keywords at any time during

the campaign. Skip to “create a text ad”

below for the next steps.

Path 2: Existing Users

If you have already been running Google

Ads, you can access the campaign set-up

screen by clicking “Ads & Extensions”

from the left column of the home page

on the Google Ads screen. Click the blue

plus button and select the “Text Ad”

option. If you are setting up a call-only ad

or digital display ad, you would select that

option instead. The example we are using

applies to text ads only.

Select the campaign and desired ad

group for the ad you are creating.

Proceed to the next step below, “create a

text ad.”

Whether you are new to Google Ads or a returning user, this section includes

best practices all paid search advertisers should follow.

In this section, we’ll take you through a few of these key areas: Creating a Text Ad, Setting your

Budget & Adding Ad Extensions

Before creating your Ad Campaign, it is important to do a few things.

• Research and brainstorm

• Know your budget

• Use Keyword tools to check the demand for the Keywords that you want your

Ad to target

• Create a compelling and welcoming Landing Page

• Create a powerful and relevant Call-to-Action

• Focus on conversions

These preliminary steps were all reviewed in detail in the prior sections of this eBook. If you need

more detail on any particular item, you can nd the relevant section via the table of contents at the

beginning. Ensuring you have completed this pre-work will help streamline campaign set-up and

maximize your campaign performance and investment return.

LAUNCH A GOOGLE ADS CAMPAIGN

GETTING STARTED

There are two start paths outlined below for launching a new Google Ad campaign. Please choose

the path that is applicable to you:

1. New Users – Refers to rst time Google Ad accounts and is relevant for businesses that do not

have any previous campaigns running.

2. Existing Users – Refers to businesses or users that have pre-existing campaigns.

The navigation for campaign set-up varies based on your entry point, so please

choose accordingly.

Path 1: New Users

Sign into your Google Ads account. You will automatically be directed into the campaign ow set-up

process and asked to choose your campaign goal from three existing options:

1. Get more calls

2. Get more website sales or sign-ups

3. Get more visits to your physical location

Choose the option that best ts your campaign goals and select “next.” You will then be asked to

enter your business name and website URL.

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

CREATE A TEXT AD

This step includes the most important information. First, select your URL or landing page. Including a

landing page with pertinent information directly related to your ad is very important to the success of

your campaign.

For example, if your ad is referring to one specic product or service, include

a direct URL to that page of your site. Google analyzes your ads based on the

direct relation of your ad to your landing page or website. IE: If the landing page

does not relate to your ad, then your ad will likely not be shown as often or not at

all. See more on landing page tips in the section above.

Next, write your headlines. Headlines are the rst thing users will see, so it’s important to create

high-impact copy and be sure to include the most important information at the front.

Next, create a description for your ad. The description should relate to your main headline and

include more detail about your services and what action(s) you want potential customers to take.

Be sure your descriptions are detailed, error free and relate back to your Landing Page.

Google wants all your information to be related, from the Landing Page of your website to the

Keywords in your campaign, all the way down to the description of your Ad.

The more correlation you have between these segments, the better your

ad will perform.

SET YOUR BUDGET

Google will automatically recommend a budget based on your keywords and specied

geography but remember that it is ultimately up to you. There are no penalties for

bidding less or more, just remember bidding is one of the two factors that aect how

often your ad is shown or where on the page it’s displayed. As with any PPC campaign,

you are only charged once someone clicks your ad.

ADD AD EXTENSIONS

To maximize the performance of your text ads, we highly recommend adding

“extensions”. Extensions are additional information that can be added to your ad—

giving people more reasons to choose your business. They typically increase an ad’s

click-through-rate and can include items such as call buttons, location information, links

to specic parts of your website, additional text, and more.

Google selects which extensions to show in response to each

individual search so it’s a good idea to use all the extensions relevant

to your business goals.

Keep these best practices in mind as you choose and set up your extensions:

• Use every extension relevant to your business: Extensions are free to add and

they’ll only show if they’re predicted to improve your ad’s performance.

• Consider adding 4 or more extensions: For example, you could add sitelinks,

callouts, structured snippets, and one additional extension of your choice.

• Select your extensions based on your primary advertising goal.

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

The following are some examples of the dierent types of ad extensions you could use

based on business goals.

Goal: Get customers to buy from your business location.

• Location extensions - Encourage people to visit your business by showing your

location, a call button, and a link to your business details page—which can include

your hours, photos of your business, and directions to get there. If you want

customers to visit your business location and to call a centralized line (rather than

specic locations’ numbers), use call extensions with your location extensions.

• Callout extensions - Add additional text to your ad, like “free delivery” or “24/7

customer support.” Callouts can be used to encourage people to convert oine.

Goal: Get customers to contact you.

• Call extensions - Encourage people to call your business by adding a phone number

or call button to your ads.

• Message extensions - Encourage people to send you text messages from your ad.

Available globally at the campaign or ad group levels.

Goal Get customers to convert on your website.

• Sitelink extensions - Link people directly to specic pages of your website (like

“hours” and “order now”).

• Callout extensions - Add additional text to your ad, like “free delivery” or “24/7

customer support.”

LAUNCH YOUR CAMPAIGN

Now that you’ve selected your keywords, written ad copy, added extensions and set your

bids, you’re ready to launch your campaign! Save your work and set the campaign to live.

Typically ads will start showing within a few hours and you will be

able to see the results in your paid search account right away with the

ability to edit, pause or restart at any time.

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

OPTIMIZING YOUR

GOOGLE ADS

MAXIMIZE YOUR RETURN

Learn what key optimizations to look for in your account performance to drive

eciency and how to navigate expanding into additional campaigns without

straining your budget.

In this section, we’ll take you through a few of these key areas:

Account Structure, Ad Text, Keyword Match Types, Landing Pages, Negative Keywords

OPTIMIZING YOUR GOOGLE ADS

Congratulations! You’ve launched you’re rst campaign. Now that everything is up and running,

don’t forget the importance of monitoring your campaign performance and executing optimizations

regularly to ensure you maximize your budget. We suggest checking performance at least weekly

at the beginning of a campaign, and then monthly as you begin to netune the account.

A well-structured Google Ads account will:

• Ensure that valuable searches trigger your Ads to relevant users;

• Provide more results at lower prices due to better Quality Scores from Google;

• Allow you the ability to optimize your campaign in the future.

ACCOUNT STRUCTURE (AD GROUPS VS. CAMPAIGNS)

Before adding or creating new campaigns, it’s important to understand the structure of how they

are organized. Individual ad campaigns contain ad groups. Ad groups contain keywords, and those

keywords connect to your text ads and ultimately drive trac to your landing page. Campaign

details become more specic as you move from campaigns down to ad groups. Understanding the

relationship between these layers of your account will help you organize your ads, keywords, and

ad groups into eective campaigns that target the right audience. Below is a diagram depicting the

overall hierarchy of an account with two active campaigns. Remember that your budget is set at

the campaign level, so while there is no go-to recommended number of ad groups to have in each

campaign, you’ll nd that your budget will go further with less ad groups to stretch between.

KEYWORD MATCH TYPES

In paid search, there are three dierent keyword match types that impact when your ads

are shown.

Exact Match:

Refers to only serving ads for keywords that exactly match your keyword list or are close

variations to your selected keywords. This includes misspelled words, abbreviated

variations of the terms chosen, or grammatical errors. Exact match set-up is displayed

using keywords within brackets, ex. [roof repair].

Phrase Match:

Refers to only serving ads for specied relevant phrases. This would also include close

variations where users add words either before or after the specied phrase. Phrase

match set-up is displayed using quotation marks, ex. “roof replacement cost”.

Broad Match:

Is the default setting for keyword campaigns. This kind of match allows your ads to be

served to any search related to your keyword, including misspellings, synonyms, related

searches and other variations. For example, if your keyword is “roof repair” someone

searching “roong replacement,” or “leaky roof” may see your ad. Broad match allows

for the widest audience reach and higher clicks but requires more maintenance to

weed out irrelevant trac. It’s essential to check your Search Terms Report regularly to

identify irrelevant or poor performing keywords to remove from your campaign. This can

be achieved through negative keyword additions as outlined below.

Match types can have a major impact on your account’s performance: they’re the

control you use to determine exactly which search queries you’re bidding on. Be sure to

evaluate options and consider testing dierent set-ups to determine what works best for

your business.

NEGATIVE KEYWORDS

Negative keywords can be used with broad match and phrase match set-ups. Adding

negative keywords to your campaigns will help improve your targeting and decrease

irrelevant clicks to your website. Negative keywords tell Google when to exclude your

ad from a specic search. Any searches on Google that contain your specied negative

keyword, will not be eligible to serve your paid search ad.

For example, you could specify “job” as a negative keyword for our

“roong” campaign example. This means your ad would not be

triggered for the following searches:

• Roong repair job

• Best jobs for roof repair

Adding negative keywords to your ad campaign will result in higher

click-thru rates, lower costs per action,and improved overall quality

scores.

AD GROUP 1A

AD GROUP 1B

AD GROUP 2A

AD GROUP 2B

Keyword

ACCOUNT

CAMPAIGN 2

CAMPAIGN 1

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

AD TEXT

Ad text is crucial for driving the performance and click-thru rate of your ads. Well-written,

compelling ad copy results in more clicks, improved quality scores and a better ad rank from

Google. Any given ad group should contain at least two to three ad variations to send users to the

same Landing Page. Use A/B testing to see what type of copy and headlines resonate best with

your customers.

Strong ad copy should contain three main features:

Highlight

What makes your product or service unique or dierent.

Benet

What’s in it for the user? What is your value proposition?

Action

What you want the user to do (call, download, watch, etc.)

LANDING PAGES

We talk in-depth about landing pages above, however it is worth noting again as it’s a

common area to look to for campaign optimizations. You should be very strategic with

your landing page selections for paid search campaigns, ensuring that each ad directs

users to relevant pages that reect both the keywords you’ve bid on AND the text in your

ad campaign. Things to evaluate include:

1. Is your landing page focused and concise?

Don’t include too many products or oers on a single landing page. It’s better to

create multiple pages focused on individual services. This keeps pages relevant to

specic keywords and ad groups which increases quality scores.

2. Is your landing page well-designed and engaging?

Content is important but don’t underestimate the impact of a good presentation.

Use updated design practices and quality images to highlight your oerings. If your

landing page looks nice, users will be more engaged and stay longer on your site.

3. Are benets clearly listed?

Make it easy for users to see why they should choose your product or service. Call-

out benets and highlights on the landing page and ensure they match back to

what you write in your text ad.

4. Is your page mobile responsive?

This is a big one and can lose you a lot of trac, and conversions, right away. Pull

up your website on your smartphone and ensure text is legible, you can easily

navigate and buttons all function properly.

5. How quickly is your page loading?

Average attention span for a website to load is three seconds. If your landing

page is taking longer than three seconds to load on a person’s device, more than

likely they’ve already hit the back button. Be sure to use an “incognito” search or

clear your cookies before you review your page load time. Cached images on your

browser may make it appear that your site loads faster than it actually does for rst-

time visitors.

These are a few key areas to review for campaign optimization, but remember

optimizing isn’t something you ONLY do at the outset of a search marketing campaign.

Ongoing optimization is necessary to keep your campaign performing

at it’s maximum potential.

Optimizations will change as competitors enter and leave the paid search market,

as you uncover new keywords, and test ad copy and landing page experiences. By

regularly performing analysis and reviewing your performance, your site trac, leads

and sales will continue to grow.

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

CONNECT

TO GOOGLE

ANALYTICS

THE MORE YOU KNOW, THE MORE YOU GROW

Connecting your Google Ads account to Analytics oers a vast

amount of insight on your campaign performance. The detailed

information can shed insight on audience behavior, optimization

opportunities, and return on investment. Analytics help you track

down where trafﬁc is coming from, what users do when they get to

your site, and how you can maximize your eorts.

In this section, we’ll take you through a few of these key areas:

• Benets of Linking Google Ads to Google Analytics

• How to link Google Ads to Google Analytics

CONNECT TO GOOGLE

ANALYTICS

BENEFITS OF LINKING GOOGLE ADS TO GOOGLE ANALYTICS:

By using both Google Ads and Google Analytics together, you can see the whole picture.

Here are the main benets:

1. How people are interacting with your site.

Google analytics shows you what visitors do on your site once they get there. Having

this information helps you better understand the paths visitors are taking to nd your

site, what pages they are navigating to most, and what they are doing when they get

there.

2. Increased performance data.

When you link the two, you get data that can help optimize your campaigns. This will

empower your business decisions. Some of the tools that make this possible include

access to engagement metrics such as Average Visit Duration, Bounce Rate and

Pages per Visit. These metrics help identify what needs to be improved, and if you’re

getting the right trac to your website.

3. Tracking conversions.

Tracking conversions is important because it can help you understand what

channels are working best. Linking Google Ads and Google Analytics will help

you uncover hidden issues for driving conversions, as well as how your dierent

marketing channels work together to drive conversions.

HOW TO LINK GOOGLE ADS TO GOOGLE ANALYTICS:

To link Google Ads to Google Analytics, follow these 7 easy steps!

1. First, open your Google Analytics account.

2. Once open, nd the “Admin” button and click on it. It will ask you to choose the

property and account you want to manage (g. 1).

3. Following this step, you will be dropped in your property settings.

4. Navigate to the Property column > Product Linking > and click on Google Ads

Linking (g. 2).

5. You will then see a red button that says, “+New Link Group.” Click on this button to

select the accounts you want to link (g. 3).

6. After you have done this, it will ask you to enter a title for your link group.

7. Last, you will click “link accounts.”

Congratulations! You have now successfully linked Google Ads to

Google Analytics!

FIG. 2

FIG. 3

FIG. 1

PAID SEARCH A BEGINNER’S GUIDE

FAQS

Here are some frequently asked questions and answers about Google Ads.

How much does it cost to run a Google Ad?

With Google Ads, you have the power to determine how much you spend. Google Ads will only

charge you when someone clicks your Ad.

What is Cost Per Click (CPC)?

Cost Per Click means you are only charged when someone clicks on your ad. This term can also be

referred to as Pay Per Click. (PPC)

What is Cost Per Impression?

Cost Per Impression means you are charged based on how many impressions your ad received.

This is how many times your ad is shown. (This does not include whether it is clicked on or not.)

What is Cost Per Engagement?

Cost Per Engagement means you are charged when an individual successfully completes a pre-

dened action for your campaign. An example would be a user submitted a contact form on your

website.

Are there dierent campaign types available?

Yes! There are three common campaigns for Google Ads:

1. Search Campaigns: Shows ads on search engine result pages based on keyword campaigns

set up by the advertiser.

2. Display Campaigns: This is a visual ad, usually including an image. Unlike search ads, display

ads aren’t limited to one place but can be displayed across dierent websites that users are

browsing across the web.

3. Video Campaigns: A video ad is about 10-15 seconds in length and shown before or during

a video on streaming sites or embedded video pages for publishers that have enabled

advertising.

Will Google Ads still work for me if I don’t have a lot of time?

Google Ads is formatted to be easy and low maintenance. However, spending 30 minutes

a week adjusting your ad results can help dramatically improve online advertising for your

business.

Will my Ad be an overnight success?

Most likely not. However don’t let this discourage you. It typically takes time to see which ads work

best for your business. Usually within a month, you’ll have a better insight on the direction to take

with your Google Ads.

I want to start advertising on Google. How do I begin?

First, you will need to sign up on Google Ads. See section in this book on creating a

Google account.

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THANK YOU