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Optimising Google Ads Spend for Maximum Impact – Part 1

Keeley Davies Paid Media Lead Door4In the competitive landscape of advertising, making every penny count is crucial for success. Whether you’re an experienced marketer or just beginning your career, understanding how to effectively allocate your Google Ads budget can significantly impact your business’s bottom line. We will take a look at how to explore proven strategies for optimising your Google Ads spend to drive conversions, boost brand awareness, and maximise website traffic, as well as learning how to tailor your budget to meet specific campaign goals and unlock the full potential of your advertising efforts.

Campaign budget vs Shared budgets

Aspect Shared Budgets Individual Budgets
Definition A single budget is shared across multiple campaigns. Separate budgets allocated for each individual campaign
Flexibility Pro: Allows for flexible allocation of funds across campaigns based on performance. Con: Budgets are fixed for each campaign and need manual adjustment.
Budget Utilisation Pro: Ensures that unspent budget from one campaign can be utilised by others. Con: Any unspent budget in one campaign cannot be reallocated to others automatically.
Ease of Management Pro: Simplifies budget management by consolidating into a single budget. Con: Requires managing multiple budgets, which can be time-consuming.
Control and Precision Con: Less control over how much each campaign spends, which might lead to uneven budget distribution Pro: Greater control over exact spending for each campaign.
Performance Optimisation Pro: Can optimise overall account performance by shifting spend to better-performing campaigns. Con: Difficult to optimise performance across campaigns without manual adjustments.
Risk of Overspending Con: Higher risk of overspending on lower-performing campaigns if not monitored properly. Pro: Reduced risk of overspending as each campaign has a strict budget limit.
Resource Allocation Pro: Dynamically allocates resources based on real-time campaign needs and performance. Con: Static allocation, which may not reflect real-time performance needs.
Complexity Pro: Simplifies overall budget planning and reporting. Con: More complex to manage, especially for large accounts with many campaigns.
Reporting Con: Less detailed reporting on budget spent per campaign. Pro: More detailed insights into budget utilisation on a per-campaign basis.
Scenario Suitability Pro: Ideal for businesses with fluctuating campaign performance or those seeking a more hands-off budget management approach. Pro: Best for businesses requiring strict control over spending for each campaign or those with fixed budget allocations.

Strategies to Optimise Google Ads Spending

1. Keyword Optimisation

Strategy: Continuously refine your keyword list to focus on high-performing and relevant keywords while eliminating low-performing or irrelevant ones.
Example: Regularly review the performance of your keywords using Google Ads reports. If “blue running shoes” has a high conversion rate but “sports shoes” does not, allocate more budget to “blue running shoes” and consider pausing or reducing spend on “sports shoes.”

2. Ad Scheduling (Dayparting)

Strategy: Adjust bids based on the time of day or day of the week when your target audience is most likely to convert.
Example: If your data shows that your ads perform best on weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM, increase your bids during these hours and reduce or pause ads during off-peak times like late nights or weekends.

3. Geographic Targeting

Strategy: Focus your budget on locations where your ads perform best and exclude areas with low performance.
Example: If your business sees more conversions from customers in urban areas, you can increase bids or budget allocation for cities while reducing or excluding rural areas where conversions are low.

4. Ad Copy and Creative Testing (A/B Testing)

Strategy: Continuously test different ad copies, headlines, and creatives to identify which versions drive the best performance.
Example: Create two variations of an ad with different headlines and measure which one gets more clicks and conversions. For instance, test “50% Off All Winter Jackets” against “Winter Jackets Sale – Limited Time Offer” and allocate more budget to the better-performing ad.

5. Use Negative Keywords

Strategy: Add negative keywords to prevent your ads from showing on irrelevant searches, saving budget for more relevant traffic.
Example: If you sell luxury watches, add “cheap” and “free” as negative keywords to avoid clicks from users looking for inexpensive or free watches, which are unlikely to convert.

6. Optimise Landing Pages

Strategy: Ensure that the landing pages where users are directed are highly relevant and optimised for conversions.
Example: If your ad promotes “women’s running shoes,” ensure the landing page specifically features women’s running shoes rather than a generic shoe page. This increases the likelihood of conversions and reduces bounce rates.

7. Bid Adjustments Based on Device Performance

Strategy: Adjust your bids based on the performance of different devices (mobile, desktop, tablet).
Example: If your data shows that mobile users have a higher conversion rate and lower cost per acquisition, increase bids for mobile devices and decrease bids for desktop and tablet.

8. Use of Ad Extensions

Strategy: Implement ad extensions to provide additional information and increase the visibility and click-through rate (CTR) of your ads.
Example: Use sitelink extensions to direct users to specific pages such as “New Arrivals,” “Best Sellers,” or “Contact Us,” enhancing the user experience and potentially increasing conversions.

9. Retargeting (Remarketing)

Strategy: Target users who have previously visited your site but did not convert, reminding them of your products or services.
Example: Set up a remarketing campaign to show ads to users who added items to their cart but did not complete the purchase, offering a discount or reminding them of the items left in their cart.

By implementing these strategies, you can more effectively manage and optimise your Google Ads spending to achieve better results and higher return on investment (ROI).

Next up, how do we measure success and which key metrics should we be looking at to review this? Find out by reading part 2. 

If this all seems overwhelming, why not let the experts handle it? We can help you connect with your target customers using a strategy that maximises the power of your data. Arrange a quick, no-obligation call to speak to our team today.

Author: Keeley Davies, Paid Media Lead. Door4

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