What is Google Ads? Everything from Basics to Advanced

Basic Level

Topic 1: Introduction to Google Ads

• What is Google Ads?
• Why use Google Ads?
• How does Google Ads work?

Topic 2: Account Setup

• Creating a Google Ads account
• Understanding account structure
• Setting up billing information

Topic 3: Campaign Creation

• Creating a campaign
• Choosing a campaign type (Search, Display, Shopping, Video)
• Understanding campaign settings (Location, Language, Bidding, etc.)

Topic 4: Ad Creation

• Ad formats and requirements
• Writing effective ad copy
• Creating ad groups

Topic 5: Keyword Research

• Keyword research tools
• Choosing relevant keywords
• Understanding keyword match types

Topic 6: Bidding Strategies

• Types of bidding strategies (CPC, CPA, ROAS, etc.)
• Setting bids for keywords and ad groups
• Understanding bid modifiers

Intermediate Level

Topic 1: Search Ads

• Creating effective search ads
• Ad extensions (Sitelinks, Callouts, etc.)
• Ad scheduling

Topic 2: Display Ads

• Creating effective display ads
• Ad formats and requirements
• Targeting options (Audiences, Placements, Topics, etc.)

Topic 3: Remarketing

• Setting up remarketing campaigns
• Creating remarketing audiences
• Developing effective remarketing ads

Topic 4: Performance Tracking

• Understanding conversion tracking
• Setting up conversion tracking
• Analyzing campaign performance

Topic 5: Budgeting

• Understanding campaign budgets
• Setting daily and monthly budgets
• Budget optimization techniques

Topic 6: Ad Quality and Ad Rank

• Understanding Ad Quality and Ad Rank
• Improving ad quality scores
• Maximizing Ad Rank

Advanced Level

Topic 1: Advanced Bidding Strategies

• Enhanced CPC
• Target CPA
• Target ROAS
• Automated bidding strategies

Topic 2: Dynamic Search Ads

• Setting up Dynamic Search Ads campaigns
• Understanding Dynamic Search Ads targeting
• Creating effective Dynamic Search Ads

Topic 3: YouTube Advertising

• Creating effective YouTube ads
• Targeting options (Demographics, Interests, Affinity Audiences, etc.)
• YouTube ad formats and requirements

Topic 4: Google Shopping Ads

• Setting up Google Shopping campaigns
• Creating effective Google Shopping ads
• Product feed optimization

Topic 5: Display Advertising

• Understanding the Google Display Network
• Advanced targeting options (Custom Affinity Audiences, In-Market Audiences, etc.)
• Creating effective display ads

Topic 6: AdWords Scripts

• What are AdWords scripts?
• How to use AdWords scripts to automate tasks
• Examples of AdWords scripts

Key Highlights of Google Ads.

1. Google ads work on PPC ads concept. Where advertisers will pay to Google when visitors click on their ads. 
2. PPC is known as Pay per click
3. For search ads, advertisers will only pay for clicks and not for impressions.
4. For Display ads and video ads, we can pay for Impressions or video views also. 
5. We can control how we pay for performance by selecting bidding strategy. 
6. In Google Ads, you have options to choose your budget, duration, and location where you want to show your ads. 
7. You can also pause or resume your ads as per your requirements.
8. Google Ads are organized in Campaigns and Ad Groups. 
9. Before you run Google ads, you need to understand their terms and conditions, you need to first read all their terms and policies before running Google Ads.
10. You can promote all kinds of business using Google Ads, you are not allowed to promote some kinds of ads using the Google platform. 

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is an online advertising platform developed by Google. “Google ads” is used by advertisers to show search ads on Google search result page, display ads on various blogs and websites, video ads on YouTube, and other supported platforms.

Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google that allows businesses and individuals to create ads that appear on Google’s search engine results pages, as well as on other websites and apps that are part of the Google Display Network.

The platform uses a pay-per-click (PPC) model, where advertisers bid on specific keywords related to their products or services, and pay only when someone clicks on their ad. Advertisers can also set a daily budget and choose where their ads are displayed, as well as targeting specific locations, demographics, and devices.

Google Ads provides a variety of ad formats, including text ads, image ads, video ads, and shopping ads, and offers detailed reporting and analytics tools to help advertisers track the performance of their campaigns and optimize their ad spend.

How does Google Ads Work?

Google ads is one of the most complex advertising platforms. To understand how does Google Ads work, you must understand complete digital advertising basics, bidding and auction system and many other important terms.

But in the nutshell,

Google Ads works on auction & bidding. When someone performs a search on Google, the auction takes place and ads with the right keywords are shown to users. When a user clicks on the ad, money is deducted from the advertiser’s budget.

To understand how does Google Ads work, let me give you one example.

If you want to show your ad about 1BHK flats, you would create an ad in Google ads. When someone will search for your target keywords, Google may show your ad to them and if someone clicks on our ad, money will be deducted from your budget.

This was an example of how Google Search Ads work.

You will learn more about how Google Ads actually works and how to use Google Ads when you will do the practical implementation of Google Ads.

How to start Google Ads?

To start running ads on Google, you will need a Google Ads account, a website or a landing page on the website, Google Analytics setup.

You can create Google Ads account for free. If you have a Gmail ID, you can use your existing Google account to create a Google ads account.

You may want to create a new Google Account or Gmail ID if you don’t want to mix Google ads with your personal email address.

It’s always recommended to create a new Google ID for your digital marketing activities.  You will learn this in our digital marketing best practices session of digital marketing course.

You can follow step by step process to create new Google Ads account as mentioned in this video

Once you are done with Google Ads account creation, you will need to set up a payment method.
this is known as payment setup in Google Ads

Different types of payment methods in Google Ads (Google AdWords)

Google Ads supports different types of payment methods, depending on counties. In India, you can make payments using two ways.

1. Automatic Method – This can be done by credit card. Google will charge your credit card every month or depending on your payment cycle.
2. Manual Method – In this method, you will first make a payment to Google and then your ads will start. Ads will not run until payment is made. You can use credit card, debit card, bank transfer and other supported methods to make payments to Google.

Setting up a Google Ads account

To get started with Google Ads, you’ll need to sign up for an account. Here’s how:

1. Go to the Google Ads website and click on the “Start Now” button.
2. Sign in with your Google account, or create a new one if you don’t already have one.
3. Choose your main advertising goal, such as “Get more website visits” or “Increase phone calls”, and click “Next”.
4. Enter your website URL and click “Next”.
5. Choose your target audience, including location, language, and demographics, and click “Next”.
6. Create your first ad, including the headline, description, and URL, and click “Submit”.
7. Enter your billing information and set your daily budget, and click “Submit”.

Once your account is set up, you can start creating your first campaign.

Creating a Google Ads campaign

To create a new campaign in Google Ads, follow these steps:

1. Log into your Google Ads account and click on the “Campaigns” tab.
2. Click on the blue “+” button to create a new campaign.
3. Choose your campaign type, including Search, Display, Video, Shopping, or App.
4. Choose your campaign goal, such as “Get more website visits” or “Increase phone calls”.
5. Choose your campaign name and set your budget and bidding strategy.
6. Choose your target location, language, and other campaign settings.
7. Create your ad groups and choose your targeting options.
8. Create your ads, including headlines, descriptions, and URLs.
9. Review your campaign settings and submit your campaign for review.

Once your campaign is live, you can track its performance using Google Ads reporting and analytics tools.

Google Ads features and benefits

Google Ads offers a wide range of features and benefits for advertisers, including:

1. Reach: With over 90% of global search traffic, Google Ads allows advertisers to reach a massive audience of potential customers.
2. Targeting: Google Ads offers a range of targeting options, including location, language, demographics, and devices, allowing advertisers to target their ads to the right audience.
3. Ad formats: Google Ads offers a variety of ad formats, including text ads, image ads, video ads, and shopping ads, allowing advertisers to choose the format that best suits their campaign goals.
4. Reporting and analytics: Google Ads provides detailed reporting and analytics tools, allowing advertisers to track the performance of their campaigns and optimize their ad spend.
5. Cost-effective: Google Ads uses a pay-per-click (PPC) model, meaning advertisers only pay when someone clicks on their ad, making it a cost-effective way to advertise online.

Google Ads Account Structure

The Google Ads account structure is the organization of campaigns, ad groups, and ads within a Google Ads account. It’s important to understand this structure in order to effectively create and manage campaigns in Google Ads.

Here is an overview of the Google Ads account structure:

1. Account: This is the highest level of the account structure and represents the overall Google Ads account.
2. Campaign: A campaign is a group of ad groups that share a budget, targeting, and other settings. Advertisers can create multiple campaigns within a single account, each with its own advertising goals and budget.
3. Ad group: An ad group is a collection of ads that target specific keywords or topics. Advertisers can create multiple ad groups within a campaign, each with its own set of keywords, ad copy, and targeting options.
4. Ads: Ads are the creative content that appears to potential customers. Advertisers can create multiple ads within an ad group, each with its own headline, description, and URL.

The Google Ads account structure allows advertisers to create and manage multiple campaigns, ad groups, and ads within a single account, making it easy to organize and track the performance of their advertising efforts.

By organizing campaigns into smaller, targeted ad groups, advertisers can better control the targeting and messaging of their ads, which can lead to higher click-through rates, better quality scores, and ultimately, better return on investment (ROI).

Google Ads Campaign Types

Google Ads offers several campaign types, each with its own unique features and objectives. Here’s a breakdown of each campaign type and its objectives:

1. Search Campaigns

Search campaigns are the most common type of Google Ads campaign. They display text ads on Google search results pages when users search for specific keywords.

Campaign Objective:

The main objective of a search campaign is to drive clicks and conversions for specific keywords.

Features:

• Keyword targeting: Advertisers can choose specific keywords related to their products or services to trigger their ads.
• Ad placement: Ads appear at the top or bottom of search results pages on Google.com.
• Ad extensions: Advertisers can add additional information to their ads, such as phone numbers and site links.

Output:

Search campaigns can drive high-quality traffic to a website, resulting in increased leads, sales, and conversions.

2. Display Campaigns

Display campaigns show ads on websites and apps that are part of the Google Display Network. This includes over two million websites and mobile apps.

Campaign Objective:

The main objective of a display campaign is to increase brand awareness and reach a larger audience.

Features:

• Audience targeting: Advertisers can target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
• Ad formats: Display campaigns support a variety of ad formats, including image ads, video ads, and interactive ads.
• Placement targeting: Advertisers can choose specific websites or mobile apps to display their ads.

Output:

Display campaigns can help increase brand awareness and reach a larger audience, as well as drive traffic to a website or landing page.

3. Video Campaigns

Video campaigns show video ads on YouTube and other Google partner sites. Advertisers can target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.

Campaign Objective:

The main objective of a video campaign is to increase brand awareness and engagement with a target audience.

Features:

• Ad formats: Video campaigns support a variety of ad formats, including in-stream ads, video discovery ads, and bumper ads.
• Audience targeting: Advertisers can target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
• Placement targeting: Advertisers can choose specific YouTube channels, videos, or partner sites to display their ads.

Output:

Video campaigns can help increase brand awareness, drive engagement, and reach a larger audience on YouTube and other partner sites.

4. Shopping Campaigns

Shopping campaigns are used by retailers to promote their products on Google and Google Shopping. They display product information and images to users who are searching for products online.

Campaign Objective:

The main objective of a shopping campaign is to promote products and drive sales.

Features:

• Product targeting: Advertisers can create product groups based on specific attributes, such as brand, category, or price.
• Merchant Center: Advertisers must set up a Merchant Center account to create and manage shopping campaigns.
• Ad formats: Shopping campaigns display product images, titles, prices, and other information.

Output:

Shopping campaigns can help increase online sales and promote products to a larger audience on Google and Google Shopping.

Google Ads Performance Metrics

Google Ads provides a wide range of key metrics that advertisers can use to measure the performance of their campaigns. Here are some of the most important metrics to track:

1. Impressions: The number of times your ad was shown to users.
2. Clicks: The number of clicks your ad received.
3. Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of impressions that resulted in clicks.
4. Conversions: The number of times users completed a desired action on your website, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.
5. Conversion rate: The percentage of clicks that resulted in a conversion.
6. Cost per click (CPC): The average amount you pay each time a user clicks on your ad.
7. Cost per conversion (CPA): The average amount you pay for each conversion.
8. Ad position: The average position of your ad on the search results page.
9. Quality Score: A score assigned by Google based on the relevance and quality of your ad and landing page.
10. Return on investment (ROI): The revenue generated by your campaign compared to the amount spent on advertising.

By monitoring these key metrics, advertisers can gain insights into the performance of their campaigns, identify areas for improvement, and optimize their ad spend to achieve their marketing goals.

It’s important to note that the metrics that matter most will depend on your specific campaign objectives. For example, if your goal is to drive website traffic, you may prioritize clicks and CTR. If your goal is to increase sales, you may prioritize conversions and CPA.

Overall, understanding and tracking these key metrics can help advertisers make data-driven decisions and achieve better results from their Google Ads campaigns.