What you’ll learn

• The procedure to optimize Google Search campaigns over time
• How to evaluate performance
• How to improve performance and save money
• How to use Search Terms to add keywords and negative keywords to your ad groups
• How to use segmentation to dive deeper into data

What is optimizing Google Ads?

Optimizing Google Ads is the process of selectively turning off or de-prioritizing things that don’t work (or don’t work as well as you’d like), and adding to (or prioritizing) things that do work.

This can be:

• Keywords
• Ads
• Assets (extensions)
• Demographics
• Locations
• Devices
• And more

For example: you may find that the keyword "design tool" for your UI design tool is triggering ads for clothing, building, and stage design tools, so you’d want to stop targeting clothing, building, and stage.

You may also find that people in Washington convert twice as well as people anywhere else in the country, so you may want to prioritize them.

Phase 1: Choose success metrics

Before optimizing, establish clear goals. Answer these questions in a document, notes app, or spreadsheet:

What conversion metric will you optimize for?

• Identify your primary conversion goal (e.g., sign-up, purchase, upgrade). This should match the conversion event tracked in Google Ads (set in your tracking setup).
• If your purchase conversion has a long lag (e.g., weeks or months due to a free trial or complex sales cycle), use an intermediary metric like “sign-up” or “lead form submission.” This provides Google with short-term data to optimize toward (50+ conversions per campaign in 30 days is ideal for Smart Bidding).
• Example: For a landscaping service, optimize for “Booking Confirmation” if purchases happen quickly, or “Quote Request” if the sales cycle is longer.

What’s your Target Cost Per Conversion/Acquisition (CPA) or Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)?

• Decide how much you’re willing to pay per conversion (e.g., $50 CPA for a lead) or what ROAS you expect (e.g., 300% ROAS, meaning $3 revenue per $1 spent).
• Are you okay with higher costs initially to gather data and optimize, or do you need profitability immediately? For startups, testing often requires a higher CPA upfront (e.g., $75–$100) to learn, then refine downward.

How much are you willing to spend to test Google Ads?

• Budget $2,000–$5,000 for initial testing to evaluate profitability across ad groups and keywords. This ensures you gather enough data (e.g., 50+ conversions) to assess performance confidently.
  • You should not expect to make money on this initial testing.
• If that's not feasible, then do a small budget (e.g., < $1,000/month), and focus on high-intent keywords and key locations to maximize impact.

If ads are profitable (or close to), what’s your monthly spend target?

• Base this on your payback period (e.g., how long it takes to recoup ad spend through revenue).
  • If you have an ecomm business and payback is instantaneous, you can scale quick.
  • If you have an expensive service or software business and it takes weeks to months, then scale more slowly.

Phase 2: Configure your columns for performance insights

To evaluate performance effectively, customize your Google Ads columns for quick, actionable insights.

• How to modify columns:
  • In Google Ads, go to Campaigns, Ad Groups, or Keywords (depending on your focus).
  • Click Columns > Modify Columns.
• Set up key metrics:
  • Configure columns to include the following (prioritize based on your goals):
    • Impressions: How often your ads are shown.
    • Clicks: User interactions with your ads.
    • CTR (Click-Through Rate): Engagement rate (clicks/impressions).
    • Conversions: Number of completed conversion actions (e.g., purchases, sign-ups).
    • Cost: Total spend.
    • Cost/Conv. (CPA): Cost per conversion—critical if optimizing for non-revenue conversions (e.g., sign-ups).
    • Conv. Value/Cost (ROAS): Return on ad spend—key if your conversions log revenue (e.g., $500/booked job).
    • Conversion Rate: Percentage of clicks that lead to conversions.
• Tailor to your goals:
  • If your primary conversion (e.g., “Purchase”) logs revenue, focus on Conv. Value/Cost and Conv. Value to maximize ROAS.
  • If your conversion (e.g., “Sign-Up”) lacks revenue, prioritize Cost/Conv. (CPA) and Conversions to minimize cost and maximize volume.
• Use segmentation for deeper analysis:
  • Click Segment > Conversions > Conversion Action to break down data by specific conversion types (e.g., “Purchase,” “Sign-Up”).
  • Segment by other dimensions (e.g., device, location, day of week) to uncover trends (e.g., mobile converts better on weekends).

As you can see in this example, only the Signup event is recording in Conversions, and all others are being recorded under All conv.

All conv will also include the number of View-through conversions (people who converted after seeing your ad, even if they didn’t click on it).

Conversions doesn’t include view-throughs. View-throughs are only relevant for Display and YouTube ads. In the example above, even though we’re considering the Signup conversion to be the most important (because of a long time delay between ad click and Purchase conversion), we’re still interested in seeing how many people are completing each step. It lets us see if there’s a big drop off in the funnel, and whether people engage with a specific campaign or keyword.

Phase 3: Evaluate performance (think small and data-driven)

When reviewing performance, focus on granular data before making broad changes. Don’t panic if a campaign spends $500 with no conversions—drill down to keywords, ad groups, or segments.

1. Start at the Keyword Level
   • Check the Keywords tab for each ad group. Look at spend, conversions, CPA, and ROAS for individual keywords.
   • Example: If “design tool” spends $50 with no conversions but triggers irrelevant clicks (e.g., clothing or stage design), add negative keywords like “clothing” or “stage.”
2. Analyze Ad Groups:
   • Review performance across ad groups (e.g., “Landscaping Services,” “Landscaper Near Me”). Pause or adjust underperforming ad groups (e.g., CPA > $100, 0 conversions after $200 spent).
   • Do this sparingly. Only do this if every keyword in the ad group is underperforming.
3. Segment Data for Insights:
   • Use segmentation (e.g., Segment > Device, Location, Demographics) to identify trends:
     • But be careful as it's generally best to let Google's algorithm figure it out, but if you reach significant spend and trends emerge, it may be worth manually adjusting bids.
     • Example: If after lots of spend, California consistently drives conversions at a $40 CPA while other states average $80 increase bids or focus budget on California.
4. Check Search Terms:
   • Go to Keywords > Search Terms to see what users actually searched for when triggering your ads.
   • Note that Search Terms doesn't show all searches, just some of them, due to privacy concerns.
   • Add high-performing search terms as new keywords (e.g., “local lawn care” if it converts well).
   • Add negative keywords for irrelevant terms (e.g., “free landscaping” if it doesn’t align with your paid service).
5. Pause Underperformers: Pause keywords, ads, or ad groups with:
   • CPA > target (e.g., >$150 if your target is $50).
   • 0 conversions after spending 2–3x your target CPA (e.g., $150 spent with no conversions).
   • Low CTR (<1%) after 1,000+ impressions.
6. Scale Winners:
   • If an ad group is outperforming others, consider moving it its own campaign so you can increase its budget relative to everything else.
   • Test variations (e.g., new headlines, similar keywords) to expand reach while maintaining profitability.

Phase 4: Use automation for long-term success

Google’s machine learning is more effective than manual optimization over time.

Follow these steps:

1. Stick with Smart Bidding:
   • Use Target CPA or Target ROAS for campaigns, letting Google adjust bids dynamically across all segments (keywords, audiences, devices, locations).
   • Remove manual bid adjustments—they’re ignored or counterproductive with automated strategies.
2. Monitor Performance Regularly:
   • Review performance weekly or biweekly, focusing on conversions, CPA, and ROAS.
     • Increase the frequency the more you spend.
   • Use the Recommendations tab in Google Ads for automated suggestions (e.g., add negative keywords, optimize bids).
3. Expand with Performance Max:
   • Once Search campaigns prove profitable, test Performance Max campaigns to scale across Search, Display, YouTube, and Discover, using audience lists and automation for broader reach.

Tips for startups

• Start small: With a budget of $2,000–$5,000, focus on 1–2 campaigns with 3–5 ad groups targeting high-intent keywords (e.g., “landscaping services,” “landscaper near me”).
• Leverage automation: Use Smart Bidding from day one—don’t rely on manual strategies like Manual CPC or Enhanced CPC, which are outdated for most accounts.
• Wait for data: Allow 30–60 days (or 50+ conversions per campaign) before making major changes. Google needs time to learn and optimize.
• Prioritize high-intent segments: Focus on locations, devices, and audiences driving conversions, avoiding low-intent or irrelevant traffic.

Yeehaw!