How to create the ads that matter?

Hello everyone!

Once you've organized your campaign and decided on your campaign settings, the only thing you should be worried about are your ads or ad groups. Now as we've read in the previous lessons,

An account is subdivided into several campaigns
A campaign is subdivided into several ad groups
Each ad groups further contains several ads that are derived from the same theme

Hence in this lesson, the words "ad group" and "ads" would be used simultaneously and many times in place of each other since they both convey the same thing.

What applies for one apple will apply for a bunch of apples too right? In the same way "ad" and "ad group" will mean one and the same thing here and will be used interchangeably.

Coming back to the lesson, as a general best practice, you'll want to create a separate ad group for each theme or product that you offer.

Each ad group contains a set of keywords, ads and bids that you manage. For your Display Network campaigns, your ad groups can include other targeting methods, like demographics or remarketing lists.

Now, let's take a closer look at some of the main components of ad groups for campaigns that you'll run on the Search or Display Network.

Keywords

Building a good keyword list can help you show your ads to the customers you want. Below are some tips for creating your keyword list.

Choosing and organizing your keywords

Think like a customer: Think about the main categories of your business and the terms or phrases that would fit into each of those categories. Include terms or phrases that your customers would use to describe your product or service.
Align your keywords with your goals: If you want to get the most bang for your buck, you might want to select specific keywords that directly relate to your ad's theme. Or, if you'd prefer to reach as many people as possible, choose more general keywords. No matter how general or specific your keywords are, they should always be as relevant to your ads and website as possible. Also, keywords of two or three words (a phrase) tend to work most effectively.
Group similar keywords into themes: Follow the structure of your ad groups, and bundle similar keywords together in one ad group based on your products, services, or other categories. For your Display Network campaigns, you'll also want to make sure your keywords are related to the websites your customers visit.

Researching new keywords

Use the Keyword Planner or Display Planner: For your Search Network campaigns, you can use the Keyword Planner to get keyword ideas and related data, like the average number of times people searched for certain terms. For your Display Network campaigns, you can use the Display Planner to get keyword ideas and related data, like how many times ads could show for those ideas based on a week-long or month-long period.
Review your Search terms report: You can use the Search terms report to see what people were searching for when they saw your ad and clicked it. This information can help you identify new keywords and poorly performing ones that you'll want to remove from your keyword list.

Optimizing your keywords

Use keyword match types: Keyword match types are settings for each of your keywords that give you greater control over who sees your ad.
For example, you might use the phrase match type to show your ad for searches that include the exact phrase with additional words before or after. Or, you might use the exact match type to show your ad for searches that include the exact phrase without any additional words. Both the phrase match and exact match types expand to show your ad for close variations — including misspellings, singular and plural forms, and acronyms — of your keywords.
Include negative keywords: You can also use negative keywords, which prevent your ad from showing for terms that aren't relevant to your product or service. Adding negative keywords can help you reduce costs and make your ad appear only for the search terms you want. You can identify negative keywords with the Keyword Planner or Search terms report, using both to find terms that aren't relevant to what you offer.

Now that we have seen the options and strategies available to us for making our ads more targeted, let us take a look at the different ad types itself.

The text ads that appear alongside Google search results are just one of several ad formats you can create. Other ads format that you can use to promote your products or services include video ads, image ads, app or digital content ads, and more.

Depending on the type of campaign you create, different types of ads formats and ad extensions will be available for you to use.

Keep in mind that all ads go through an approval process — Google wants ads to be useful, varied, relevant and safe for users when serving them across the Google Network. They will review your active and paused ads, keywords, and website according to their advertising policies.

With this let us look at the different ad types available to us.

Format	Description	Main Benefits
Text	Words only. For Example Boston's Best Bonsais Ad www.example.com Florist And Indoor Plant Nursery. Spruce Up Your Desk Today!	Maintain ads quickly and easily. Reach customers when they search on Google.
Ad Extensions	Extends your ads with more information, such as additional links to your website, store address, or phone number. These formats usually appear only across the Search Network. However, location extensions and call extensions may also appear across the Google Display Network. For Example Amherst Ice Cream Parlour Ad www.example.com (413) 123-4567 Our specialty is pistachio. English majors, buy 1 get 1 free. 100 Dardanelles Rd, Amherst MA	Provide additional details and contact information that can make your ads more relevant to customers. You can opt to extend your ad for mobile devices differently than how you extend your ad for tablets and computers.
Image	Static or interactive graphics. Animated ads in .gif and Flash format can be used.	Showcase your product or service in a visual way. Reach customers on websites that partner with Google.
WAP mobile	Create text or image ads for WAP mobile devices. Note: Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a standard for accessing information over a wireless network for mobile devices.	Connect with customers on-the go, targeting your ads based on their location.
App promotion ads	Drive app downloads and engagement with app promotion ads.	Send your customers to download your app from an app store, or include a deep link directly into your app. Note: Ads will appear only on devices compatible with your content.
Video	Video ads that show online. Run standalone video ads or insert them in streaming video content.	Deliver a rich and engaing experience to customers. Reach customers on websites that partner with Google.
Product Listing Ads	Text ads that contain product features and pricing information. Goes to a product purchase page on your website.	Encourage your customers to learn about the products that you sell before they click to your website.
Call-only ads	For example Call:(555)555-555 Ad www.example.com Description Line 1 Description Line 2	Drive phone calls to your business with ads that include your phone number. People can click on these ads and then call your business directly. These ads will only appear on devices that can make phone calls, and any field in these ads can be hidden to fit on smaller screens.

You should however take note that text ads might look different on the Display Network.

Ad Extensions and Types

While your original text ad has been made to the best of your efforts, it still might lack the punch to convince your potential customer to have a click on it. For this Google AdWords has something called Ad Extensions.
Ad Extensions are extra bits of information that carry themselves with your ad and enhance either the usability of that ad or give that important relevant and related extra information to your customer that makes him/her click your ad.

While some ad extensions can be added manually, others are automated. Here's an overview of the different types of ad extensions that you can use:

Manual Extensions

App Extensions: Show a link below your ad text that sends people to the app store or begins downloading your app. See the image down below for an example.
Call Extensions: Let people click a button to give you a phone call. Give your ad a call button. See the image example below.
Location Extensions: Help people nearby find your nearest storefront or give you a call. Add a map pin, navigation assistance and a call option to your ad.
For Example

Amherst Ice Cream Parlour
Ad www.example.com (413) 123-4567
Our specialty is pistachio.
English majors, buy 1 get 1 free.
100 Dardanelles Rd, Amherst MA
Review Extensions: Showcase positive, third-party reviews from reputable sources. Start adding reviews.
For Example:

Mushroom Foraging Tours
Ad www.example.com
Find chanterelle, porcini, oyster mushrooms with a fungi guide!
"So impressed. Brought home a pound of ceps." - exampleblog.com
Sitelink Extensions: Add links to help people find what they're looking for. Choose your sitelinks.
For Example

Walter's Bakery for Dogs
Ad www.example.com
Artisanal Biscuits and Cakes. Doesn't your dog deserve it?
• Hours
• Specials
• Biscuits
• Special diets
Callout Extensions: Add descriptive text to your ad to help people learn more about what you have to offer. See how callout extensions work below.

Acme Electronics
Ad www.example.com
Shop ACME Electronics for laptops, smartphones, video games and more!
Free shipping
• 24-7 customer service
• Price matching

App Extensions

Call Extensions

Automated Extensions

Consumer Ratings: Show off what customers appreciate with high-quality survey data.
For Example

Example Brokerage
Ad www.example.com
Explore The Advantages of Our Brokerage Account
Ratings: Selection 9.5/10 - Sign Up 10/10 - Fees 9/10
Previous Visits: Show people if they've clicked through to your website from Google Search results before.
For Example

Aunt Lynn's Jewelry
Ad www.example.com
Dangly earrings, bangles, and rings. All handmade!
You've visited example.com 7 times. Last visit: today
Social Extensions: Show how many Google+ followers you have. Add social extensions.
For Example

Anna's Pet Supplies
Ad www.example.com
Variety of hamster wheels, personally chosen by Anna!
Anna's Pet Supplies has 136,864 followers on Google+
Seller Ratings: Show your online business ratings with your ad.
For Example

Sarah's Designer Shoe Store
Ad www.sarah-shoes.com
4.0 ★★★★★ rating for sarah-shoes.com
Free Shipping, Free Returns on Large Selection of Discount Shoes

Creating effective ads

As you can see, your ads are the face of your products and services. Ads that are more relevant and engaging to your customers are likely to get more clicks.

Best Practices for Creating Effective Ads

Connect Your Ads and Keywords: Include at least one of your keywords in your ad text to show potential customers that it's relevant to what they're looking for. You want make sure that your ad text is readable, however, so don't include too many keywords in your ad.
Highlight What Makes You Unique: Include the products, services, or offers that make your competitive, like discounts, promotions or exclusives. For example, if you offer free shipping, tell your customers that. You'll also want to consider including your brand or company name so your customers see a name they recognize.
Include a Call-to-Action: Whether you're selling a something or offering a service, tell people how they can buy your products or contact you. Call to actions like purchase, call today, order, or get a quote make clear what the next steps are.
Match your Ad to your Landing Page: Look at the page that you're linking to from your ad (the landing page), and make sure that the promotions or products in your ad are included in there. You can also look for call-to-action phrases on your landing page.
Tailor your ads for mobile: People looking at mobile ads are more likely to want to know where you're located, or to call you. Create mobile-preferred ads with mobile call-to-actions like "Find nearby stores" and send people to mobile optimized landing pages.
Use ad extensions: Show extra information about your business with ad extensions, like sitelinks, location, and call extensions. Ad extensions, which "extend" from your text ads, tend to improve your ad's visibility and can help improve the clickthrough rate (CTR) of your ads. Keep in mind that the expected CTR from ad extensions is one factor that AdWords uses to calculate your Ad Rank.
Experiment: Create three to four ads for each ad group, and use different messages for each to see which does the best. AdWords rotates ads automatically to show the best-performing ads more often.

And with this we can end our this lesson on creating meaningful and resourceful ads. Our next lesson will focus on two tools that'd help you during your campaign and ad creation, namely Keyword and Display Planner. Till then goodbye and take care! :)