How to Set up a Google AdWords Campaign for 2020

Note that “AdWords” is now “Google Ads“.

Are you ready to expand your current digital marketing efforts?

Google's search engine receives an average of 40,000 searches per second. This means that it processes over 3.5 billion searches daily!

Search engines like Google can be your key to a powerful and effective digital marketing strategy.

Both paid advertising and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help you take advantage of the online audiences out there and increase your digital reach.

Google AdWords, in particular, offers business owners a great means of paid online advertising. In fact, Google makes over $90 billion annually on ads alone!

If you're just starting out in the world of digital marketing, launching a Google AdWords campaign may seem a bit intimidating. However, you don't need a background in marketing to tackle AdWords.

In this post, we'll dive into how to set up a Google Adwords campaign successfully!

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1. Identify Your Advertising Goal

Before you get started on your AdWords campaign, it's important to have a strategy in mind. Most marketing strategies begin with identifying a goal or desired outcome.

Your goal at this stage in the game may be simple. Perhaps you're a startup seeking any kind of digital visibility.

Maybe you are exploring paid advertising for the first time after trying your hand at Search Engine Optimization.

This is all well and good.

However, do your best to choose concrete and achievable goals when developing a digital marketing strategy of any kind. This is particularly important when setting up an AdWords campaign.

A standard Google ad appears in prominent places in the search results pages. This may be at the very top of displays or in the right-hand margin. You've likely glimpsed AdWords campaigns of all kinds in prior Google searches.

These ads do not rely on images. In fact, they just contain a handful of words.

The words you incorporate into one of these ads are more likely to resonate with viewers if they are backed by an actionable goal!

Examples of actionable goals include elevating an existing conversion rate.

You may also want to generate more site traffic from individuals of a specific age group or income bracket. Perhaps you're keen to lower your bounce rate or boost visibility of a certain blog post.

The best part about these example goals is the fact that they are small. Smaller goals are often more reachable and manageable. Both of these qualities are ideal for any AdWords campaign.

2. Spend Some Time With Your Online Content

Ads are, by nature, designed to compel more clicks through to your online content. They may bring visitors to the homepage of your website.

Google ads can also direct users to a product information page, blog post, or social media profile.

When it comes to how to set up a Google AdWords campaign, spending some time honing your digital content before launching any ads is critical. A successful ad does more than capture initial interest, after all.

An effective digital ad should send users to a page that will continue to capture their interest and (hopefully) spur conversions.

Don't send users away with poor or uninspiring content!

Your website should be in tip-top shape before you initiate an AdWords campaign. Any Google AdWords tutorial will tell you this.

If your ads are designed to send visitors to your website–and most do–ensure that your site is responsively designed. This means its content will adapt to fit any screen size used to access it.

This is critical, as mobile optimization takes advantage of the over 4 billion mobile phone users out there.

Ensure that your website is easy to navigate and is free of any obvious content errors. All pages should be distinct and incorporate relevant information. Customers should, most importantly, be able to conveniently access contact information or your online store.

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3. Incorporate Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Note that “AdWords” is now “Google Ads“.

This portion of your Google AdWords tutorial is essential. You may be thinking, “We're already on step 3 and we haven't even started our Google ad?!”

In fact, the more “pre-work” you can do for your AdWords campaign, the more likely you are to find success. This applies to any digital marketing campaign.

What's more, Google ads require advertisers to select keywords they'd like their ad to be searchable for. If your content is already optimized for search engine use, you'll likely be savvier at selecting AdWords keywords.

If you've already implemented SEO, check out the integrity of your keywords here.

If you are new to SEO, use Google's Keyword Planner to brainstorm trending keywords. This tool also integrates neatly with any AdWords campaign.

Make sure to optimize individual pages on your website for different keywords. This is more likely to result in a higher Google ranking, which can leverage your AdWords campaign further.

You can always defer to professionals when it comes to website optimization. Hiring a Chicago SEO expert can ensure that your website is in prime condition for a powerful Google Adwords campaign.

4. Claim Your Google Listing

If you are a local business of any kind, it's essential to gather a few local citations prior to launching an AdWords campaign. This means claiming a Google listing so that you can appear on Google Maps and in local searches.

Register for your Google My Business account here.

It also means setting up accounts on local review portals, such as Yelp, Angie's List, Yellow Pages, and/or TripAdvisor. Ensure that your contact information is consistent on all of these platforms.

Establishing a powerful local presence online can increase your digital visibility and leverage a paid advertising campaign.

For step by step instructions on claiming or setting up your Google My Business account, take a look at Your Ultimate Google My Business Guide.

5. Craft Individual Campaigns

Now that your online content is in prime condition for digital marketing, it's time to learn more about how to set up a Google AdWords campaign itself.

In general, we recommend starting out with several different campaigns. For example, if you own an online clothing store, one of your campaigns may focus on advertising for “Women's Clothing.”

Break these individual campaigns into ad groups themselves, which may include “Women's tops,” “Women's professional attire,” and “Women's pants.” These ad groups will then be broken down into itemized ads.

This form of campaign outlining is relatively straightforward if you are advertising a variety of products. However, it is also applicable to businesses offering intangibles, such as services.

A consulting business, for example, may choose a campaign for “Digital Marketing Consulting.” Ad groups for this campaign might include “SEO Consulting,” “Content Strategy,” and “Social Media Campaigns.”

When you set up your AdWords account, you'll be able to organize your campaigns in this way.

6. Decide on a Budget

Note that “AdWords” is now “Google Ads“.

Google AdWords is a paid form of online advertising, so you will have to account for finances when setting up a campaign. Most marketers designate a daily advertising budget and a bid amount.

We recommend choosing a specific budget per campaign, particularly if you want to boost the visibility of a certain product over another. When making this decision, do keep a long term vision of your advertising budget in mind.

Whenever someone clicks on your Google ad, you will have to pay a “bid” price for that click. Thus, when setting up your AdWords campaigns, you will have to select a bid price for each campaign. This is the maximum amount you wish to pay per click.

The bid you select will obviously be determined by your overall budget. But do keep in mind that bids can also determine your ad ranking.

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7. Choose Your Keywords

Now comes the fun part of your Google AdWords tutorial–choosing your keywords! Just like your online content, Google ads are discoverable via popular keyword searches.

As a result, any AdWords campaign requires a careful selection of keywords.

If you've already implemented SEO or are familiar with SEO best practices, this step may be straightforward. If not, it's still worth using Google's free Keyword Planner to identify keyword competitiveness and bid prices.

In general, the more competitive a keyword is, the higher its bid price is likely to be. In this sense, your keyword selection may be guided primarily by your daily budget.

If you are having trouble selecting keywords, a Chicago SEO expert can help. Reach out to us today to learn more about honing your AdWords campaign!

Once you do select your keywords, you have further options for boosting your ad's visibility. You can select different match types, for example, that can help you hone your target audience further.

A broad match keyword will enable your ad to appear for any searches that contain parts of the keyword in any order. Exact matches, on the other hand, are exactly what they sound like: your ad will appear only when the exact keyword is searched.

AdWords will automatically set your keywords to a “broad match” setting.

8. Select the Landing Page

Every ad that you launch through Google acts as a traffic channel. It's important to decide where you want to send users once they actually click on your Google ad.

This is called your landing page. A lot of marketers will send users to the homepage of their websites, if applicable.

Others send clicks to more tailored content, such as a product information page or blog post. In general, it's important to send users to the most relevant page given your ad's content. In most cases, this is a page with more specific content than a homepage.

After all, your goal is to maximize user retention in addition to getting valuable clicks.

9. Write Your Ad Content

Note that “AdWords” is now “Google Ads“.

At this point in the game, you're ready to write the content for your ad itself! This may be a bit intimidating, especially if you are new to the world of digital ads.

Keep your keywords and landing page information at hand as you craft your ad content. Don't forget about your campaign goals, either.

Solid keywords can help make the writing of your ad content easier. In general, successful ads are concise, free of grammatical or spelling errors, and somewhat urgent.

The best ads will have some sort of call for action in them. A call to action (CTA) can be as simple as a “learn more!” or “shop sale items today.” Such injunctions can compel a click easily.

If you are struggling to generate compelling ad content, perform a few organic Google searches of your own to check out some examples. Note the ads that draw your attention the most. Also, note the ones that seem a bit lackluster.

This type of research can give you a sense of the type of content your ads should include in order to generate a response.

10. Keep Tabs on Performance

A successful digital marketing campaign is a living digital marketing campaign. Any marketing effort that involves Google is particularly fluid, considering the fact that search engine marketing depends on keyword popularity.

After all, keyword popularity is at the mercy of Google's preferences and consumers' needs.

Make sure that your Google AdWords account is linked to Google Analytics, a free tool that enables you to track your advertising performance through valuable metrics.

These metrics can help you hone your campaign further to generate the results you need. They may help you modify your keyword selection or give you insight into the type of ad content you need to write.

Metrics can also help you make the right financial decisions within the scope of your marketing budget.

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How to Set Up A Google AdWords Campaign

Google should be a powerful component of every business's digital marketing scheme. If you've already taken advantage of SEO, it's time to harness the potential of Google AdWords.

Set yourself up for success by identifying your Google advertising goals from the beginning. Ensure that your landing pages are in a prime condition prior to launching any marketing campaign. This includes website optimization.

When you do set up your AdWords account, craft individual, distinct campaigns. Make bid selections based off of budget constrictions and keyword popularity. Generate rich and compelling ad content likely to generate a click.

All in all, you can figure out how to set up a Google AdWords campaign that is effective with the help of professionals.

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