Google Ads Types and When to Use Them - Search Ads

Google Ads Types; when to use them? 
Part 1

Google Ads shares many similarities with other paid digital advertising platforms. It operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis, which means you are only charged when someone visits your website. You can set flexible budgets (as low as $5), target audiences based on specific behaviors and demographics, and receive immediate, measurable feedback on campaign performance.

However, what distinguishes Google Ads is its ability to reach consumers in three distinct ways: search ads, display ads, and video ads. In this section, we'll go over the different types of campaigns you can run within these three categories.

Search Ads

Google Ads shares many similarities with other paid digital advertising platforms. It operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis, which means you are only charged when someone visits your website. You can set flexible budgets (as low as $5), target audiences based on specific behaviors and demographics, and receive immediate, measurable feedback on campaign performance.

However, what distinguishes Google Ads is its ability to reach consumers in three distinct ways: search ads, display ads, and video ads. In this section, we'll go over the different types of campaigns you can run within these three categories.

Let's look at the various types of search ads:

1. Branded Google search

Goal: Obtaining searchers who are actively looking for your brand by name.

Relevance to audience: High. (They're looking for you.)

Estimated cost per click: Low (25¢ to $3).

Recommended for: When there is search intent for their specific brand, all businesses, regardless of size or industry, will most likely make sales. If resources allow, prioritize this campaign.

Branded keywords are those that contain the exact name of a brand or product. Apple's branded keywords include phrases like "Apple phone" and "iPhone."

You may not think to bid on your brand name, especially if your site already appears at the top of search results organically, but doing so allows you to promote specific information (via Google's ad extensions) and specify the exact page where you want people to land. It also safeguards you against competitors who may bid on your name or other branded keywords.

Because your URL and ads will be highly relevant to users who search for you, CPCs for branded search will be lower than for any other search campaign. Simultaneously, be wary of your ad appearing for related but irrelevant keywords.

In the case of Apple advertising iPhones, you would exclude keywords like "apple picking" or "apple cider," as well as "how to update my Apple iPhone," and narrow your targeting using the appropriate keyword match types and negative keywords.

Because your branded search sales ceiling is determined by the number of people searching for you, branded search campaigns can supplement brand awareness campaigns. A pop-up shop or a viral Facebook video, for example, can lead to an increase in brand name searches.

Ease of implementation: If you are unfamiliar with search engine marketing, this type of campaign can be difficult to implement. Agency or in-house resources may be required. However, branded search isn't that difficult to manage, so prioritize it if possible.

2. Non-branded Google search ads (generic)

Goal: By advertising to people who might buy your products but aren't necessarily familiar with your brand, you can generate qualified intent-based traffic and possibly new customers.

Relevance to audience: Low to medium.

Estimated cost per click: Medium to high ($1 to $20).

Recommended for: Everyone, but don't put this method ahead of some of the more lucrative campaigns on this list. However, for brands looking to increase top-line revenue and new customer acquisition, generic non-branded search should be a top priority.

Non-branded search campaigns, as the name suggests, target keyword phrases that do not specifically mention your brand or products. As a result, your costs will most likely be higher because your relevance to users is lower, particularly for more generic keywords (for example, "buy pillow" vs. "organic goose feather pillow in downtown Toronto").

The goal of this campaign is to drive as many new visitors and customers to your website as possible. However, these campaigns can provide advertisers with a positive return on ad spend (ROAS) and a massive amount of potential scale.

Remember that a customer's true value is not their initial purchase, but their lifetime of purchases from your brand.

Ease of implementation: As with all search campaign types, this one can be difficult. These campaigns require a lot of human resources to manage and test your creative and landing pages, plus a lot of money to drive results. It’s best to hire help to ensure these campaigns are managed correctly.

3. Non-branded search (niche)

Goal: Getting new customers from niche audiences who are interested in your niche products.

Relevance to audience: Medium to high. (The more niche the audience and the better your product addresses that niche, the more relevant you will be to your audience.)

Estimated cost per click: Medium to high ($1 to $20, depending on the competition and value of customers/orders to other advertisers).

Recommended for: Brands that sell a niche product or target a niche market within a non-branded product category, for example, "vegan deodorant" or "used NFL game memorabilia."

Niche non-branded search campaigns typically face less competition than generic non-branded campaigns. This is because they are more specific, making you more relevant to the searcher's intent if your products match what they're looking for.

If your company and products are a good fit for niche marketing, this campaign type is worth investigating. Because it provides a specific audience that is easier to identify and focus on, niche marketing, even outside of the context of Google Ads, makes it much easier for brands to get traffic and, potentially, a positive ROAS.

Niche non-branded search is frequently confused with generic non-branded search. However, for the reasons stated above, it is preferable to separate this traffic into its campaign and discuss it separately.

You can also use this campaign type if you sell third-party products by bidding on the specific branded keywords associated with them. You can even use brand names in your ad creative when purchasing these keywords, as long as you link directly to a landing page with those products visible.

Ease of implementation: This campaign type, like other search campaigns, is difficult to implement and will necessitate adequate resources to set up and maintain.

 
4. Competitor search campaign

Goal: Obtaining new customers who are unfamiliar with your brand or product by placing your brand in front of shoppers looking for your competitors.

Relevance to audience: Low. (Users are searching for a specific competitor, not your brand.)

Estimated cost per click: Medium to high ($1 to $20).

Recommended for: Merchants who are already running profitable campaigns and are looking to acquire new customers. Merchants with a high LTV or who are actively testing different customer acquisition campaigns are also eligible.

A competitor search campaign is essentially the inverse of a branded search campaign. You bid on searches for your competitors' branded keywords rather than your own brand's name and products.

Taking traffic from your biggest direct competitors' keywords sounds like a good idea, but it can also be a costly strategy because, in this case, you, a competing brand, aren't the most relevant thing searchers want to see.

This strategy is typically used by brands that can justify the higher costs of acquiring a new customer who has a higher average order value or lifetime value. Otherwise, you may not have much success with this strategy.

If a brand isn't buying its traffic or has low brand loyalty among its customers, and your product is an equal or better alternative, this could be a very profitable campaign for you.

(One of the reasons we strongly recommend purchasing your own branded terms is to avoid disruption from a competitor.)

Note: You shouldn't use dynamic keyword insertion in ads when buying your competitor's branded keywords, nor can you use their name in your ads if you don't sell their product on the page you drive traffic to.

Ease of implementation: This, like all search campaigns, is difficult and potentially costly. You would require resources to manage this.

 5. Google shopping ads (branded)

Goal: Using your branded keywords, capture searchers who are specifically looking for your products/product categories.

Relevance to audience: High. (They’re searching for you.)

Estimated cost per click: Low (25¢4 to $3).

Recommended for: Companies that sell physical products and have already invested in brand awareness, as well as those who are comfortable tinkering with Google Ads to set up this type of campaign.

Google Shopping campaigns provide a great user experience for shoppers in general: a user searches for a product and is shown images, prices, and reviews of items Google believes are relevant. When customers click on the ad, they are taken directly to the product page.

Users who search for your brand specifically are more likely to convert, so if you can set up branded Shopping as a separate campaign, you can maximize your traffic from this source and budget more effectively. Otherwise, by default, Shopping campaigns will include both branded and non-branded traffic.

Without a segmented campaign strategy, non-branded traffic will always outnumber branded traffic, and the majority of your budget will most likely be spent on non-branded terms that are less likely to convert. That is why, if you can (and have the traffic to support it), it is worthwhile to separate branded traffic into its Shopping campaign.

Ease of implementation: Shopping campaigns are generally easier to set up than search campaigns. You can either install the Google channel for Shopify or set things up manually in the Google merchant center to create a working product feed from which Google can pull data. To isolate branded search traffic, you'll need to create separate campaigns for branded and non-branded traffic, use negative keywords, and prioritize keywords to exclude your ads from appearing for specific queries.

 

6. Google shopping ads (non-branded)

Goal: Capturing searchers who are specifically looking for the types of products you sell but aren't necessarily looking for your branded products by name.

Relevance to audience: Low to medium. (They’re searching for your product categories, not necessarily your products.)

Estimated cost per click: Medium (25¢ to $20).

Recommended for: Most businesses that sell physical goods. However, unless you have specific new customer, growth, or top-line revenue goals, this type of campaign should not be prioritized over more profitable campaign types.

Similar to the branded Shopping campaign discussed above, you can create a separate campaign for non-branded Google Shopping.

Non-branded shopping campaigns function in the same way that non-branded search campaigns do. If you have the budget, it almost always makes sense for eCommerce businesses to try them. If you don't have any branded products, a regular shopping campaign is essentially a non-branded campaign.

Ease of implementation: Separating branded and non-branded traffic requires some setup, but once done, you can have separate non-branded Shopping campaigns with separate budgets.

 7. Google Performance Max

Goal: Profitable orders can be generated through Google Shopping, remarketing, and display placements using machine learning.

Relevance to audience: Varies, since it rolls multiple campaign types into one.

Estimated cost per click: Low to medium (25¢ to $5).

Recommended for: Shopify merchants who do not currently use retargeting or Google Shopping campaigns and want little involvement in managing them.

Machine learning is used in Google Performance Max campaigns to optimize a mix of retargeting, display, and Shopping ads on your behalf. This campaign type decides which products to promote, how much to bid, who to target, and which creative to display.

How many users search for your brand, products, product categories, or branded keywords will determine your performance here. The amount of retargeting and branded traffic you can drive with Shopping ads is also determined by the search volume for your branded keywords and the size of your retargeting audience (i.e., how many people have visited your site already).

Ease of implementation: Performance Max is a very simple way to get started with Google advertising, whether through Shopping or retargeting ads. If you have success, you may have a better chance of transitioning to a more segmented manual campaign strategy in the future.

 

8. Dynamic search ads

Goal: Orders are generated automatically from Google search keywords.

Relevance to audience: Low to high, depending on the keywords generated by Google's spider for your campaigns.

Estimated cost per click: Low to medium (25¢ to $5).

Recommended for: Anyone who does not have the expertise to run a search campaign and wants to get something started to see how it works before investing more money.

Dynamic search campaigns are campaigns for all of the different types of keywords that Google sees on your site: branded keywords, non-branded category keywords, product-specific keywords, keywords from your descriptions, and possibly even keywords from your About page or blog.

Because there is no out-of-the-box segmentation in this campaign, we recommend it as a starting point to eventually segment manually as you gather performance data, just like other campaigns that bundle together your traffic.

Ease of implementation: This is a great way to get a search campaign online quickly and easily. However, while it is simple to set up, there is a good chance that dynamic search campaigns will include irrelevant keywords that are on your site but that you would never buy manually to increase traffic.

Next Part 2, Display Ads