Setting up a new Google Ads campaign for your business, internally or via an agency? 

Be sure to do your due diligence. It can be tempting to cut corners in order to get the campaign live as soon as possible, but overlooking certain steps at the setup stage can have a direct impact on the number of leads generated, can cause the Google Ads algorithm not to work properly, and can limit opportunities for further analysis and performance optimisation. 

Check out some recommendations to help you get started!

1. Keyword Research

Do some keyword research using Google Keyword Planner (identifying the keywords your potential customers are likely to use when searching for your products or services).

2. Group Keywords into Clusters

Identify the main keywords – those with a high search volume and/or high relevance to your business – to include in your paid media campaign. See if you can group keywords into 5-10 groups so that you can use them within ad groups (you might want to use one ad group per keyword approach, too).

3. Landing Pages

Analyse the customer journey to see what calls to action you can use for the landing page. Come up with an idea to generate interest by including a promo, a free downloadable, or a time-limited sale.  Create a landing page for the top keyword (the most relevant keyword with the highest search volume).

4. Conversion Tracking

Create a dedicated thank you page(s) for the paid media campaign. Add a new conversion goal so that Google can track conversions and use its algorithms to generate more leads.

5. Ad Groups and Ad Copies

Create an ad group and ad copies for the top keyword. Important: make sure all 3 elements (keywords, ad copies and landing pages) are aligned and use your main keywords. Clone your master landing page and ad groups and customise them for the remaining keywords. Be sure to use the correct links for the landing pages in ad copies.

6. Test, Get Live & Monitor

Test everything. Configure the key settings (cost per acquisition, click, etc.) Get your campaign live, starting with a smaller budget and increasing it once you have more data. Monitor your conversions, and cost per conversion, and keep optimising your campaign. 

Need help? Please feel free to reach out to me!

Download Paid Media Campaign Setup Checklist (pdf)