Inside Google Ads podcast: Episode 36 - Campaign setup tips
Most of our time as Google Ads managers is spent, well, managing Google Ads accounts, which means there are certain issues or challenges that only arise during the initial setup process.
As a Google Ads coach, I actually go through this setup process quite often with clients, so I can tell you that I see the same problems and offer similar solutions again and again. That is always fertile ground for a podcast episode, so here we are.
I'm your host, Jyll Saskin Gales. I spent six years working for big brands at Google, and now I work for you.
This is Inside Google Ads, Episode: 36, Campaign Setup Tips.
Our first question comes from Bariatric Body on YouTube, and they ask, I don't see that option. No guidance is not available. Any thoughts? This is in response to a video I posted about how I always recommend setting up a new Google Ads campaign without guidance.
Now, when someone says something I recommended is not available, I’ll admit my first instinct is to just go, “Yes it is!” But then I’ll go double check to make sure my advice isn't outdated, because of course Google Ads is always changing and that can happen, so let's try it right now.
Create a new campaign in Google Ads. We hit the plus button and then this screen comes up: “What's your campaign objective?”
Yep, it's there. It's called “Create a Campaign Without a Goal's Guidance” and it has a gear icon on it. For short, I just call this “starting without guidance”.
Why do I recommend this? When you're creating a new Google Ads campaign, this first step is like choose your own adventure, and how you answer this question narrows down the options that will be available to you later in the campaign setup process.
It has no impact on actual campaign performance. As you know, your bid strategy is how you actually tell Google your campaign objective, not this “choose your objective” screen. So do yourself a favor, always choose “without guidance,” or rather, “Create a Campaign Without a Goal's Guidance,” to ensure you have all options available to you in the campaign setup process.
Inside Google Ads is exclusively sponsored by Optmyzr, one of the leading automation PPC management suites to help you run your Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and paid social ads.
Thanks to Optmyzr, I can continue to bring you this podcast for free every week so we can continue to answer your burning Google Ads questions. In preparation for the holiday season, Optmyzr is sharing new data to help you achieve the best results from your ads. For example, Optmyzr found that higher Ad Strength is not correlated with better performance, just like I told you in Episode 11, but higher Optimization Score is correlated with better performance. Really! Maybe you should take a look at those after all?
You can learn more insights like this on the Optmyzr blog at optmyzr.com/blog. That's Optmyzr, O-P-T-M-Y-Z-R dot com slash blog.
Our next question comes from Lauren Vetter on LinkedIn, and they ask, sometimes I find myself adding headlines that Google suggests, so my Ad Strength increases. Does this actually influence how well the ad performs? A lot of the time, Google suggestions just lead to basic messaging, probably so they get more clicks.
I will say this. Oh, how many times have I said this? You know what? You can't say this too much.
Ad Strength does not influence how well your ads perform. According to Google, “Ad Strength provides you with feedback to help you focus on providing the right messages to your customers.” And that's actually a great way to think about it. Ad Strength is about giving you feedback, not affecting the ad auction or campaign performance.
The way I explain it is the things you do to get better Ad Strength, like including keywords in your headlines or providing creative diversity in PMax, these are the kinds of things that usually yield better results.
But the Ad Strength score itself (poor, average, good, excellent), that score tells you how well you're following best practices. The score does not tell you how your ads will perform.
If you like Google's recommended headlines, descriptions or images, feel free to use them. In my experience, it's a good idea to aim for good or excellent Ad Strength to ensure you have your bases covered. But if you have what you think is a really great ad and your Ad Strength score is only average, just move on.
And for the record, Optmyzr, the company that sponsors this podcast, released a series of studies last month looking to answer questions just like this with data. Their data from thousands of ad accounts found that higher Ad Strength is not correlated with better campaign performance.
For example, pinning assets will decrease your Ad Strength. I spoke about this in Episode 11, which is actually a whole episode about Ad Strength in case you missed it.
Now, pinning itself is not bad, as long as you're pinning with a purpose. So if you need to pin for some reason, then go ahead and pin and don't worry about the Ad Strength hit.
If you're struggling to set up a Google Ads campaign, I'm here to help. You can book a one-hour call with me to plan, build, optimize, or simply have someone step-by-step hand-holding in your Google Ads account. You can learn more on my website at jyll.ca, that's j-y-l-l.ca, or simply follow the link in the episode description.
Our final question today comes from an anonymous user on TikTok, and they ask, what if I have one account containing all of our businesses that we own and I run ads separately for each one? Is this correct? Should I create a new Google Ads account for every business, even if we own all of those businesses?
I get asked versions of this question a lot. My business has multiple locations or I run multiple businesses, what should I do?
In Episode 3, I answered a similar question, what to do if your business has multiple locations. I advised that most multi-location businesses have one Google Ads account with separate campaigns for each location. I gave a lot more detail and caveats than that. You can check out Episode 3 for that situation.
But this question is a bit different. I own multiple businesses. Should I create a new Google Ads account for every business?
And the answer is probably yes.
Why? Billing is handled at the account level. If you have separate businesses, I'm assuming they each have their own P&Ls and that each business will need to pay for its own ads. So in order to keep that clean and clear, you'll want a separate Google Ads account for each business.
Having separate accounts means you could potentially be competing against yourself, or show multiple ads at the same time, if your businesses are in related fields. You can control that by setting up an MCC to link all the accounts together. That's something that franchise businesses, for example, will often do.
Or maybe you're intentionally setting up multiple businesses in related fields, and you want to own more of that search engine results page by having multiple businesses show up. In which case, you definitely don't want to link the accounts together, but you also want to ensure you're not running afoul of any Google Ads policies, as that's a really hard one to recover from.
So short answer: different businesses, different Google Ads accounts.
Setting up a Google Ads campaign can feel like walking through a minefield. There are so many hidden things that can explode in your face. But thankfully, Google Ads is significantly safer than walking through a minefield. The worst that happens is you waste some money. And hopefully, with the tips I've shared today, the likelihood of that happening is a little less.
Today's Insider Challenge is this. How many headlines do you typically like to include in a Responsive Search Ad? You can have up to 15, and you must have at least 3. What's your sweet spot?
You can participate by sending me your response to this challenge or any episode’s challenge. The beauty of the Insider Challenge is there's no right or wrong answer, just an opportunity to stretch your brain on real-life Google Ads problem solving.
Shoot me an email at thegooglepro@jyll.ca, that's J-Y-L-L dot C-A, or send me a voice note in my Instagram DMs. I'm @the_google_pro on Instagram.
Last episode's challenge was this. You've been running Google Ads successfully for some time, focused on Search and Standard Shopping campaigns. Separately, email marketing works well for your business. You get a lot of sales when you email your list, so you figure a remarketing strategy is long overdue. What kind of campaign do you launch for your first remarketing campaign? And what type of remarketing do you use?
My answer? I will always default to Customer Match first, which is Google's name for uploading a customer list. If email marketing works well, let's throw some ad dollars behind the same audience that we know is working for us.
But you may disagree. Maybe you'd see it as a waste of money to spend ad dollars there if we're already getting great results organically.
What campaign type would I use? Demand Gen, of course. I love Demand Gen campaigns. Have you tried them out yet? Would you solve this challenge differently?
I want to hear from you. Shoot me an email at thegooglepro@jyll.ca, that's J-Y-L-L dot C-A, or send me a voice note in my Instagram DMs. I'm @the_google_pro on Instagram.
I'm Jyll Saskin Gales and I'll see you next time Inside Google Ads.