The 5 Features of a Great Google Campaign

An effective Google campaign can be the beginning of big things for a business. Great Google campaigns bring more attention to your products, and your brand itself. They can be the difference maker in terms of the quantity of sales you make throughout a year. So what are the exact components of a great Google campaign? And what type of Google campaign would best suit your brand?

The main types of Google campaigns

There are two main types of campaigns that are currently used for advertising on Google. These are Google text ads, and Google Shopping ads. Both of these forms of Google campaigns have pros and cons, and their success depends largely on how you manage your campaigns, rather than what you spend. Here are some of the main components of both campaign types.

The components of a Google text ads campaign

Google text ads are the ads you see at the very top and bottom of the search engine results page. Text ads campaigns allow you to advertise your brand and products through a limited number of written characters. This amounts to three 30 character headlines, and two 90 character descriptions. However, it should be noted that these characters may not always be entirely visible, depending on the device you use.

Like Shopping ads, text ads also use keywords to ensure the ad is relevant to the search. However, the keyword placement within a title/description, and the landing page linked from the ad are also highly relevant. A high bounce rate for a search term could lead to Google dismissing your ad as irrelevant for that search term entirely.

Text ads should always include a call to action, a clear message of what you are offering, as well as the product/service itself. In addition to those components, they can also include ad extensions, such as:

• Your shop location
• Ratings
• Links to relevant sections of your website
• The option to download your app
• The ability to browse products in your ad

There are plenty of examples that show attention grabbing ads and it its recommended to familiarize yourself with them so you can create ads that resonate with the right target audience for your products.

The components of a Google Shopping campaign

Google Shopping campaigns ads are visible at the top of the Google Shopping carousel, on the standard SERP, and the images SERP. Google Shopping ads use text in a similar way to text ads. However, they also utilize images to advertise products. Shopping ads allow for up to 70 characters to be used within their titles, but like text ads, only a limited number of those characters will be visible. Even less on a mobile or tablet device.

Shopping ads are displayed when triggered by certain keywords, just like text ads. However, because of their visual nature, it is essential that the title and images are also relevant to the search.

Unlike text ads, Shopping ads are less reliant on general marketing and sales techniques, such as the call to action. Instead, they rely on information. The more information provided, the more accurate the ad will be. This is because it will show up to more relevant searchers.

The key components of a Shopping ad are the title, description, and product images. Other features of success Shopping ads include ratings, shipping, seller ratings, product types and sizes. It should also be noted that including features such as product color in a title can be a great way to get an edge over your competitors.

Which campaign type is the best?

Deciding which type of campaign suits your brand/products best is not necessarily an easy task. Both campaign types have pros and cons, and for that reason, neither type of campaign is really better than the other. In fact, many advertisers choose to use both types of campaign alongside one another, to maximize the effects.

Here is what you can expect from both types of campaign:

Google Text Ad campaigns

• Use calls to action with the description to persuade
• Create a sense of urgency with countdowns or statements of limited stock
• Highlight discounts
• Entirely focused on the written word
• Can focus on numerous products at once, or even the brand
• Offers ad extensions to add further details such as shop location or customer service

Google Shopping campaigns

• Uses the title and description to describe the product
• Highly visual, using various images to give perspective
• Use reviews to generate trust
• Focuses on a single product/variant per ad

5 features of a successful Google campaign

Whilst these campaigns types differ vastly in many areas, there are still features they share. Here are 5 features that make either type of Google campaign great.

1. Optimized titles and descriptions

Optimized titles and descriptions are vital elements of both types of Google campaigns. This is because keywords within titles and descriptions are how Google knows what ads are relevant to which search. In addition, they are the first thing potential buyers see. This means they need to be accurate for both types of ad campaign, whilst also needing to be persuasive in the case of text ads.

2. Plenty of keyword research

Keyword research is essential for an effective and successful campaign on Google. By conducting keyword research, you will be able to identify which search terms will draw your ideal demographic to your ads.

There are a number of keyword research tools available online, including paid and free options. To get a better understanding of the keywords you should use in your titles and descriptions, you should use some of these tools, as well as check your main competitors top ranking keywords, and related Google searches.

Once you have worked out your perfect set of keywords, you should try to place them at the forefront of your titles and descriptions. That way, they draw the attention of browsers.

3. Accuracy

It may seem obvious, but the accuracy of a campaign goes a long way to its success. This encompasses anything from a relevant landing page, to relevant keywords, and even accurate and clear shopping images for the products you want to advertise.

Should any of these factors not be accurate, it will be reflected in the success of your campaign. It will also be frowned upon by Google themselves, which will impact both your current and future campaigns negatively.

4. Persuasiveness

A successful campaign needs to be persuasive. In a Shopping campaign, this can be done through things such as a call to action, or creating a sense of urgency. Examples of this include ‘buy now’ and ‘only 10 left in stock’. You can also highlight the popularity of the product by stating ‘over X sold in the last 24 hours’.

With Shopping campaigns, being persuasive is not necessarily as straightforward. However, it can still be done, just less directly. You can persuade potential customers to buy your product in Shopping campaigns with the use of reviews, which highlight positives about the product. Alternatively, you can persuade customers to buy by focusing on products currently for sale or on promotion.

Should you only want to advertise products on sale, you can use a data feed service to narrow down your advertising feed.

5. An optimized feed

Behind all the best Google Text Ads, and Google Shopping campaigns lies an optimized data feed. Data feed tools allow you to refine which products you advertise on Shopping, whilst ensuring you appear in the perfect search for Text Ads to the right audience.

This can be managed in a variety of ways, from using your feed to focus on best sellers, seasonal products, and even excluding search terms that aren’t profitable with the use of negative keywords.

All of this helps to make your marketing budget go further, and your campaigns more profitable.

Final thoughts

A great Google campaign takes time and effort. As does deciding which campaign/campaigns to use for your product. Try to use a variety of techniques, and constantly measure your success with reporting software when advertising on Google. Only then will you find the most effective way to successfully advertise your brand and its products.