As a Small Business Owner, it might seem like there are a lot of strange words associated with Google AdWords: What’s a Negative Keywords? And what in the world do CTA, CTR and CPC stand for!? And, what the hell are Ad Groups? Don’t worry, we understand your frustration. After all, you just want to focus on running your Small Business without having to understand all this complicated Marketing lingo.
But while it can be daunting trying to understand what this all means, it is important to at least have a rough idea of what this terminology means. But don’t worry, we’re not going to suggest you spend hours poring over boring Marketing books to get your head around it. You don’t have time for that as a busy Small Business Owner.
So, let us break it down for you!
The list of terms goes on and on, but to help you on your journey to getting started and increasing your sales with Google AdWords, here’s a short glossary of the terms you need to know.
1. Campaign
This is the first thing you should know and probably the first thing you’ll set up! An Ad Campaign for Google AdWords is made up of everything from your Keywords to your budget. It compromises of everything and anything that you need to set up when your start Advertising on Google, such as your Ad Groups, Campaign type, language and location.
A Campaign helps organise and structure your paid efforts on Google. And if you have multiple Businesses, you can run more than one Campaign at a time from your Google Account.
2. Keywords
Much like the name suggests these are words or phrases that describe your products or services that you choose for your Google AdWords Campaign. These Keywords will help determine where and when your Ad will appear on Google. When someone searches on Google, your Ad could be eligible to appear based on the similarity of your selected Keywords to the person's search terms, as well as your Keyword match types.
So, when choosing your Keywords think like your customers. What are they most likely to search for when looking for product or services like yours? Choosing the best and most effective Keywords for your Campaign is both a science and an art, so it pays to have a professional do this for you if you really want to maximize your AdWords success.
3. Ad Groups
An Ad Group is a set of Keywords, Budgets and Targeting Methods (such as Target location). They are grouped together to achieve a particular objective and all fall within the same Campaign. You could have multiple Ad Groups, one for each different focus area of your Small Business that has their own individual Ads.
For example, if you sell shoes Online, you could set up an Ad Group each for Men’s Dress Shoes, Women’s High Heels and Summer sandals. In this way you can be highly specific with your Ads, allowing you to alter the times, locations and audience that you show them. This means you avoid wasting your budget on those who are unlikely to buy from you.
4. Impressions
This is sort of like a measurement of how many times your Ad is shown in Google. This isn’t the amount of times your Ad was clicked, but the amount of times your Ad was viewed by the searcher.
5. Click Through Rate (CTR)
Also known as CTR, the Click-Through-Rate is an important metric to your Campaign that carefully measures how many people are clicking on your Ad from the Google Search Results page.
This is one of the best ways to gauge the effectiveness of your Ads. If your CTR is low, you’ll either need to adjust your Keywords, or else re-write your Ad Copy to make it more appealing to your audience.
6. Landing Page
A Landing Page is a particular page on your Website where you’re driving customers to once they click on your Ad on Google.
This might be your homepage, services page or contact page. It’s wherever your customers are directed to when they click on your Google Ads.
7. Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
As the name suggests, the CPC essentially refers to the amount you pay every time a customer clicks on your Ad.
Throughout the bidding process, you set a maximum CPC amount, which determines the maximum dollar amount you’ll pay for someone to click on your Ad. The term ‘average CPC’ is likely to be mentioned when talking about Google AdWords. This simply means the average dollar figure you’re paying for customers to click on your Ads.
8. Broad Match Keywords
This is where Keywords get a bit more complicated. The term Broad Match means Ads will show when relevant variations of your Keywords and/or phrases are used, even if some of the terms aren’t in your Keywords list.
For example: If someone searches Low-Carb Dog Food, Ads that are targeted towards ‘Carb-Free Dog Food’ or ‘Low-Carb diets for dogs’ could show up if you are using the Broad Match Keyword option.
9. Exact Match Keywords
Exact Match Keywords means Ads will display when someone searches for the exact Keywords you’ve selected for your Campaign. It does however take into account some variants such as misspellings, abbreviations and acronyms, as well as reordering the matched words. But generally, if an additional word is added by the searcher that varies from the Exact Match Keyword selected, you Ad won’t show.
10. Phrase Match
Phrase Match allows your Ad to show when a searcher uses “Long Tail Keywords”. And what are “Long Tail Keywords”? They’re extended Keywords added to a search, such as phrases or questions.
For example: Let’s say your Keywords are ‘adopt a kitten’. If you select Phrase Match, close and extended variations of your Key Phrase like ‘how do I adopt a kitten’ or ‘adopt a kitten today’ will show up.
11. Negative Keywords
Negative Keywords are often overlooked but can be just as important as the Keywords you select for your Ads. A Negative Keyword is a word or phrase you select that will mean your Ad specifically does not show up for this chosen word.
For example, if you sell prescription glasses Online, you might select “wine” as a Negative Keyword. That way, when someone is searching “buy wine glasses Online” your Ad won’t show up.
In this way, Negative Keywords allow you to be even more specific about your Ads, meaning you won’t be wasting your precious budget on users who are unlikely to buy from you.
While these terms only scratch the surface of the Google AdWords lexicon, they are perhaps the most important to help you wrap your head around this incredibly powerful Marketing Tool.
As a Small Business Owner, you don’t have all the time in the world to be learning about Marketing, but these few will help you navigate your way through the World of Digital Marketing.
Rather than trying to tackle it all by yourself however, it’s always best to consider investing in a trusted Digital Marketing Expert, who will be able to craft a well-rounded and effective Campaign for your Business. Here at Sites n Stores, our fully Google certified specialists can help create the most effective Campaign to meet your Business objectives! Just give us a call today for more information.
