4 benefits of outsourcing your Google Ad management
3 min read
Setting up Google Ads is easy, making it a success is not.
Jason McDonald uses the analogy. Google Ads is like alcohol and Google is the bartender. The bartender is incentivized to sell you the most expensive, profitable drink. You, in contrast, want the best drink for you. Remember that Google get paid by the click and you get paid by the conversion.
Google has made it very easy for small business to set up and run Google Ads. With propositions like “Set up your online ad in 15 minutes and let Google do the rest”. It’s easy to see why many small businesses try and fail in creating successful Google Ads accounts.
We’ve taken over many Google Ads accounts where in-house management has the same common issues – wasted spend and poor returns.
If you are managing a Google Ads account in-house and fall into any of these four categories below. Then it might be time to outsource management to a Google Ads Agency to reduce wasted spend and increase returns.
Lack of knowledge
One of the main reasons business quit using Google Ads because it is expensive and they don’t see the returns. Google Ads can be a very difficult program to optimize for and even understand at times. It is not a platform where the more money you throw at it the better the results.
Many then brush Google Ads off as not working for their business, but that’s probably not true. I would venture to say that your competitors are using it. It must be working for them at some level if they keep investing in it. So perhaps it’s not that Google Ads doesn’t work for your business — perhaps it’s because you aren’t using the tool correctly.
Most in-house Google ads accounts have the same or similar basic errors that show a lack of knowledge on configuring Google Ads productively & effectively
- They focus on the short-tail keywords when those often aren’t the most efficient nor profitable e.g. “shoes”
- They have poorly structured campaigns or a single ineffective campaign.
- Keywords are not grouped thematically e.g blue shoes grouped with pink shirts
- No use of negative keywords – a classic sign that your budget is being wasted
- Not fully tracking data – how can you know what is generating good returns if you do not measure?
Here are a few tips, from the Granite 5 team, to maximise the benefit of your foray into Google Ads Marketing
Lack of data
Digital marketing has been called ‘the most measurable ever’. The ability to measure and understand ROI is one of the great benefits of Google Ads, but as outlined above we take over many accounts that lack even rudimentary tracking.
One of the first things Disruptive Advertising noticed when they audited 2,000 Google Ads accounts, is just how few accounts have effective conversion tracking in place.
This is a worrying stat if you aren’t tracking conversions and don’t have Google Analytics and Google Ads linked it’s nearly impossible to effectively:
- Find out what’s working and what’s not?
- Optimize your Google Ads account and landing pages to improve performance?
- To save money and improve you’re ROI?
Lack of Time
No account should ever be left to simply ‘tick along’. As a result of the lack of account activity, virtually all aspects of Google Ads account will suffer. Wasting budget on irrelevant keywords, low-quality ads, resulting in low click-through rates. Which, in turn, will negatively impact quality scores, impression shares, cost per click and ultimately ROI.
In our experience, consistent account activity is the number one indicator of whether or not your Google Ads account succeeds. Advertisers that log in and work to optimize their campaigns at least once per month inevitably do better than those that ignore their accounts for long periods of time.
PPC can be a tough nut to crack for small businesses, but devoting just a little more time to managing a paid search campaign can be enough to put you ahead of the vast majority of advertisers.
Lack of structure
As outlined above Google ads optimization is not a one-time event. However, in-house accounts are often built on poor foundations where ongoing account activity isn’t going to turn your account into a success.
We outlined in point one that many accounts have similar basic mistakes. If your in-house account ticks any of the bullets points above. It would be beneficial to conduct a full audit and restructure as required to improve performance.
Accounts that invest the time to restructure often see improved results.
For example, a lead generating business after 3 months saw:
- Conversions increased by 10%
- Cost per lead decreased by 2%
- Conversion rate increased by 6%
Doing a complete audit and reviewing business objective from Google Ads takes time and knowledge and can be the greatest barriers with in-house management.
Conclusion
There are undoubtedly times where it makes more sense for a client to run their paid search efforts in-house. But, there are clear advantages to having an agency get behind the wheel of Google Ads management to take the returns to greater heights.
Ultimately if your account struggles from any of the issues listed above then it might be time to invest in professional help.
Granite 5 has a team of Google Ads experts that are on hand to review your account and offer suggestions on where improvements can be made.
