If you’ve been managing search marketing for your accounts, you may be checking out the recommendations from Google Ads. Google advice alerts you to new features and suggests ways to optimize results for your accounts. Does that advice lead to better paid search management?

Brad Geddes, writing for SearchEngineLand​.com, believes some of this advice can help your accounts. Other tips? Not so much.

And Dennis Moons, at storegrowers​.com, breaks down Google advice into specific categories. In doing so, he makes the task of optimizing a site manageable.

As you discuss the power of Google Ads with accounts, be prepared to address the following topics:

• How Important is the Repairs Category of Suggested Changes?
• What Are the Most Useful Google Ads Recommendations?
• What Advice Can You Safely Ignore?
• How Can Your Client Stay Current with Their Competitors?

How Important is the Repairs Category of Suggested Changes?

Dennis Moons calls this category “the most valuable of …Google’s recommendations.” Your accounts are paying for advertising and expect results. But if part of their site is broken, their ROI will be seriously impacted. Common examples of suggested repairs include:

• Addressing low CPA targets: Moons encourages you to pay attention to this message. That’s because the target cost-​per-​acquisition (CPA) has been set too low. As a result, your account won’t see sufficient conversions.
• Incomplete advertiser verification: Accounts that do not complete this section won’t get access to the features they need. Ensure verification happens for your accounts.

What Are the Most Useful Google Ads Recommendations?

Brad Geddes agrees that the Repairs Category of recommendations is often the most useful for advertisers. Here are a couple of the categories he says are most important.

Missing Ads and Keywords

He suggests using the table view in Google to quickly locate ad and keyword problems. In the table view, you’ll easily spot ad groups with no ads and no keywords.

Repairs

Running an effective paid search ad campaign means paying attention to little details. Multiple people at a client site may be accessing the Google account to make changes. You can stay on top of trouble by constantly monitoring the messages in Repairs.

Negative Keywords

In a paid search campaign, negative keywords can be effective. If you don’t want ads to show in specific search cases, negative keywords do the work. Problems arise when you don’t monitor negative keywords.

A negative keyword that was necessary several years ago may no longer be effective now. And you might have a situation where negative keywords conflict with each other. The outcome in that case is that your clients’ ads don’t appear in search results.

Better paid search management means paying attention to any Google Ads messages about negative keywords.

Headlines

Geddes points out that it can pay to review recommendations about ad headlines. Sometimes, you’ll find that a headline has keywords that may cover more than one topic. He suggests, “In this case, consider splitting your ad group into smaller ones.”

That strategy allows each ad to more effectively target a specific audience.

What Advice Can You Safely Ignore?

Many search experts remain cautious about Google Ads advice that pertains to increasing an account’s budget. Like every other business, Google wants to increase revenue. Their recommendations regarding increased search spend will improve their bottom line. But spending more may not improve outcomes for your clients.

Do the math on multiple scenarios and outcomes before you commit to increasing the budget. Sometimes, better paid search management means spending less money.

How Can Your Client Stay Current with Their Competitors?

While Google can provide plenty of advice about an account’s search campaigns, using an impartial tool can help. The Digital Audit tool, available with an AdMall subscription, delivers a real time snapshot of your account’s digital marketing presence.

This report shows the top 10 Google AdWords purchased by the business and its top organic competitors. The report also shows search volume and clicks per month.

You can also see the Google AdWords purchased by the business in terms of highest search volume along with cost per click. A chart indicates which months see the highest paid search expenditure by the client.

Beyond that, Digital Audit gives you an opportunity to review your account’s digital marketing activity and a chance to sell more of your services. While paid search delivers great results, accounts should be using more than one format.

Paid search management requires monitoring inputs from multiple sources. You can increase your effectiveness by taking action on Google Ads advice. Outside tools such as the Digital Audit from AdMall can also give you a competitive edge. You should take these steps to ensure better paid search management.

Photo by Andres Ayrton on Pexels.