Today, we’ll discuss a few simple ways you can improve your advertising effectiveness in Google Ads.

There are many elements to consider when creating and managing Google Ads campaigns. Rather than discuss all of them here, we’ll highlight three ways you can get started in your own account: 1. Targeting the proper locations, 2. Using long-tail keywords, and 3. Writing self-aware ad copy.

This article will discuss each topic in brief. For a more in-depth look at each topic, find the links to our extended articles within each subsection.

Target the Right Locations

Are you targeting the right location for your business outreach? If you don’t tell Google Ads to reach specific geographical areas, you could miss your audience entirely.

Say you run a surf shop in Hawaii. You sell surf boards and similar equipment for surf enthusiasts.

What happens when you tell Google Ads to just run with your basic campaign titled “Hawaii Board Co. – Surf the Big Island!”? If your ad ends up displayed to a vacationer in California, but you only serve local surfers, the interested California buyer would have clicked your ad for no reason.

However, if you tell Google to target a specific geographical location – in this case, Hawaii – your ad will only make its way to Google searchers who have a presence in The Aloha State. This will make your business look professional, and it will save you from wasting money on ineffective clicks.

Use Long-Tail Keywords

A second way to improve your advertising effectiveness in Google is to define a list of keywords you want your ads to target. When Google searchers type in your keyword, such as “hawaii surf board sales,” your ads will enter bidding to be shown to that audience.

Continuing with the same example as above:

When you use long-tail keywords like “hawaii surf board sales” instead of just “surf board,” you set yourself up for success by looking for a specific audience.

You might think it’s necessary to target everyone in order to achieve engagement with your ads. What ends up happening when you use short-tail keywords like “surf board,” you do reach a much larger audience, but you also reach people who want “surf board repair,” “surf board collector items,” and “surf board spray painting.”

If you don’t offer services like repair, collection, or spray painting, then your ad with only that short-tail keyword will reach the wrong sets of eyes.

When you pick a specific audience – “hawaii surf board sales” – you tell Google that you know your business and you know your audience. You set your campaign to reach the people who will be most interested in your product.

Write Effective Ad Copy

You want to write ad copy that’s self-aware. By this, we mean that your ads should reflect knowledge of your business and your customers.

When you target the location of Hawaii for local surf board sales, you reveal a lot of information. You say that you know your local sales are relevant to a specific population that wants to buy your product.

Furthermore, when you write appropriate headlines and descriptions for your ads, you reveal that same information to the public.

How do you make your headlines appropriate? Reach into your keyword list and tailor a specific message to your customers.

For example, a headline for your Hawaii surf board sales company could read, “Hawaii Surf Board Sales – Personalized Service”. It could be paired with a description of “Foam, Composite, & Poly Boards Built to Last. Visit our Big Island Shop Today.”

Within those elements, you use your long-tail keyword, describe your goal to sell boards, and briefly mention your inventory before presenting a call to action. The actions you take here, by first knowing your business/audience and then addressing that specific group, are what improve your advertising effectiveness.

This example ad could work for a range of potential buyers. But don’t overestimate its scope. You could run similar ads for rentals or a specific type of board. Each one would, in turn, reach a specific subgroup (the buyer, renter, or professional) that’s part of the overall population made more effective by your geographical targeting and keyword choice.

Improve Your Advertising Effectiveness

When you combine the elements of geographical targeting, long-tail keyword use, and business knowledge, you begin to form the basis of highly effective ads.

These are, however, just the basics. There’s always room for improvement. You can experiment by targeting different narrow or broad areas. You can test multiple keywords with different audiences.

Try a number of combinations. Learn from your mistakes, and highlight your successes. And don’t hesitate to contact Atria for any help you need along the way.