Advertising is a huge part of any marketing strategy and budget. As a business, you want your ads to perform well so you can see a high return on investment. However, there are some costly mistakes that can happen if you are not careful. And now that you’ve read our Breaking Down Google Display Ads blog, you’re probably wondering what you can do to improve your Google display campaigns.

At Higher Ranking, we want your business to succeed. Whether you utilise our marketing services or read our blogs, we always want to give you the best marketing advice. In this blog, we’re going to give you tips for Google display campaigns. These tips will give you a better understanding of the Google Display Network as well as provide insight into advertising for your business. Let’s get started!

Tip #1 – The Basics

When it comes to advertising, there are some important basics that you need to understand before you jump into the complex nature of ads. First, you need to set your display campaigns up for success. Data is such a huge part of advertising, and if your data tracking isn’t optimised, your data will be less valuable. When setting up your campaigns, make sure you are accurately tracking conversions from your website and app (if applicable).

You also need to keep your search campaigns and display campaigns separate from each other. These ad types reach consumers at different points of the customer journey. If you squish them together, it is possible you’ll send an incorrect message about your business. First impressions are vital when it comes to your online presence, so don’t give consumers the opportunity to think less of your business because of a silly advertising mistake. If you want to learn more, check out A Beginner’s Guide To Display Ads Vs Search Ads.

Tip #2 – Reaching the Correct Audience

People say there’s a time and place for everything. Well, this includes advertising, too! When you choose your audience, you need to make sure you are targeting the correct people. And when we say correct people, that doesn’t mean who you want to target. So, who do you need to target?

• Previous website visitors: Once someone has already visited your website, you will want to re-engage them! It is easier to convince a consumer after they have already entered the marketing funnel. On average, it takes six website visits before a consumer makes a decision. Re-engage them with a variety of ads to keep your business top of mind.
• Lookalike audiences: Using data from your current engaged audience can be helpful to target audiences that are similar. Another great way to target audiences is by creating buyer personas based on your current audience or an audience you want to reach. It’s always a safe bet to use lookalike audiences when you are trying to expand.
• Customers through keyword targeting: If you are struggling to gain new audiences through remarketing and lookalike lists, consider using keyword targeting! Keywords can help you reach a variety of new customers at a cost-effective rate. This is a great option if you are introducing a new product or service and are unsure who is your best target audience.

Tip #3 – Optimise for Better Performance

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again; optimisation is essential for your advertising! If you want your ads to increase in performance, you need to take time to optimise. One thing that many business owners do not think about is that you don’t have to include site categories and placements that underperform. There are so many content exclusions that you can consider, so be sure to check out this Google Ads help article to read all about the different options.

It is important to note that while exclusions can be helpful in certain situations, they do limit your ad reach. Instead of excluding an entire website,which can drastically reduce your reach, use a specific webpage that you want to avoid. When choosing pages to exclude, make sure you have looked at the data and make logical decisions based on what the data shows. When it comes to remarketing, it is best to avoid exclusions. If someone has shown interest in your business, it is best that you don’t add any constraints to your ads.

Bonus Tip: Focus on your products, services and web pages that see the best results. While wanting to reach other pages of your websites is fine, you want to use the best performing pages so you can increase conversions or meet your advertising goals. Promote those other pages on your social media channels or through email marketing. Remember, there is always a time and place for everything.

Tip #4 – Automate Your Bids

While there are plenty of reasons for businesses to use manual bidding for ads, automatic bidding will save you time and increase performance. Of course, it is still vital to monitor your ads, make optimisations and do A/B testing. There are millions of data pieces that you need to sift through when it comes to manual bidding. Automatic bidding can help you reach the right person at the right time without needing to take time out of your day to do so.

However, your business goals should always come first when it comes to your bidding strategy. Our team at Higher Ranking is always here to guide you toward success when it comes to advertising. We can help you determine your marketing goals, create campaigns and optimise your ads. We will give you expert advice based on industry best practices and our experience with other businesses in your industry. When you work with us, we’ll help you find marketing success!

Tip #5 – Use Multiple Ad Formats

Historically, we know that visual ads tend to perform better than strictly text-based ads. While we do encourage you to use ads with images, those should not be the only formats you are using. Depending on the website that displays your ad, it is possible that they don’t accept every format or may only accept one format. This means that you need to make sure you have ads in all formats that you can use.

Yes, it will take more time to create the different ads, but it gives you a one-up on the competition. If your competitors are not putting this tip to good use, your ads will have an increased chance of appearing. Not only does this give you more exposure, but it lowers the cost because you aren’t head-to-head with other ads. When in doubt, use multiple ad formats.

Tip #6 – Allocate Money for Testing

We mentioned during the optimisation step that you need to do A/B testing as part of your optimisation process. Well, we think testing is so important that you get an entire tip to follow! The Google Display Network is massive and there are almost endless possibilities when it comes to advertising. We recommend that you allocate some budget strictly for testing your ads and discovering what all the Google Display Network has to offer.

As a small business, it might seem difficult to set aside money for testing, but it does not have to be. Once you hit your goal, consider pausing your ads and using the rest of that money toward testing new features or new ad formats. Google is constantly making updates and adding new features, and if you are not taking advantage of this, you are likely missing out on new customers.

Keep in mind that you don’t need to allocate a ton of budget toward testing. You still need to run your ads as normal. Utilising 10 to 20 percent of your budget for testing is the ideal range. If you never experiment with the options Google has to offer, your campaigns won’t always see improvement. Using the data from your previous campaigns will also help when it comes to testing.

While you are doing your testing, make sure you do an ad audit as well! If you are not sure where to begin, check out our blog 6 Helpful Steps For Your Next Google Ad Audit. We cover everything you need to know about auditing your ad accounts.

Tip #7 – Reconsider Advertising on Mobile Games

Everyone has at least one game on their phone. Parents of toddlers likely have multiple games to keep the kiddos entertained. While advertising on the app store or within mobile games can be beneficial depending on your business products or services, sometimes it can hurt more than help. Think about it – you are spending your precious budget advertising on certain games while a child may be the one actually playing the game.

Not only are they viewing your ads, but they are likely clicking on them – accidentally. Yes, you are receiving clicks, but they are not valuable clicks. Some of the biggest culprits also include flashlight apps, photo editing apps and doodling apps. If your business is in a high-competition industry, you could be wasting a ton of money on toddlers.

Don’t worry, you can still advertise on games and within the app store, you just have to be smart about it. Check out this Google Ads help article to learn how to exclude specific webpages and video placements for your ads.

Tip #8 – Don’t Use Multiple Targeting Types

We know that businesses want to reach audiences of all types and at every stage of the customer journey. However, you shouldn’t use multiple targeting types within the same campaign. Commonly called over-layering, this is when an advertiser uses different targeting methods together. Examples include keywords, interests, placements, etc. Ultimately, what advertisers believe will happen is that unqualified impressions and clicks will be reduced.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. When you over-layer, you actually can reduce reach and not be able to pinpoint what method is working. Over-layering will negatively affect your advertising campaigns and cause you more problems in the long run. If you want to use different targeting types in your ads, we recommend that you create separate campaigns to test which type works best for your business. And remember, if you need help, our team at Higher Ranking always has you covered.

Is It Time to Start Advertising for Your Business?

There are a lot of components that go into online advertising for businesses. From finding the correct audience, choosing the proper ad types and analysing the results, we know not every business owner has their advertising handled. However, when you follow our helpful tips for Google display campaigns, you can be one step closer to success!

If you aren’t ready to tackle advertising on your own, head over to our services page to learn more about what we can offer your business. When you are ready to get started, click here to send us a message or give us a call at (03) 9399 1469. We look forward to hearing from you soon!