Pay-per-click (PPC) is one of the most powerful advertising strategies in today’s hyper-digital world. The leading platform that marketers use for it is Google Ads (formerly called AdWords).
You pay for the ads, and Google advertises you to users who search for related products or services. But then, how does one business make more from its ad spend than the other?
This is where Google Ads Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) comes in. It is the practice of improving the percentage of users that convert. In digital marketing, Google Ads conversion strategies make all the difference for a business to get an edge.
According to WebFX, more than 80% of businesses use Google Ads for online advertising. With such increased competition, the need to stay ahead becomes evident. Your goal is not just to get more traffic but to convert more leads. Keeping your campaigns properly optimized and targeted is the only way to do it.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through the 10 best ways to use Google Ads for CRO, paired with expert advice. Let us help you get the most out of every click (and every dollar)!
Understanding CRO in the Context of Google Ads
Before we jump into the strategies, let’s understand CRO in the context of Google Ads first.
As we mentioned above, Conversion rate optimization is the practice of improving the percentage of users that convert.
In the context of Google Ads, CRO is the process of encouraging more users to click your ad and take an action. It can be making a purchase, signing up, or downloading any resource.
The average conversion rate for Google Ads ranges from 3.1% to 6%. If your ad is struggling to reach that, work on Google Ads optimization strategies that can help you raise your conversion rate.
One of the most important things for CRO in Google Ads is data. It is the crucial data, such as which keywords convert best, which device users are coming mostly from, or which call to action gets more clicks. Such informed, data-driven decisions can significantly improve conversions for Google Ads campaigns.
Since CRO directly impacts return on investment, it is important for every business to drive smart traffic and convert exponentially.
10 Best Ways to Achieve CRO Through Google Ads
Below are the most effective strategies for significantly improving Google Ads CRO for any kind of business.
1. Use Smarter Ad Targeting for Higher Conversion Rates
Every business knows its audience. Whether it is the middle-aged customers, Gen Z, or the teens. Your target is to put the advertisement in front of the users with a high chance of conversion.
Google ads are not just about visibility. Even if you are getting 10,000+ views, but not from your targeted audience, you are only wasting your ad budget. Relevance is important. So, the best practice is to target the correct audience for increased sales.
Here’s how you can segment your audience for smart ad targeting:
- Geographic filters: Geographic filters can help you focus on regions or locations where demand is high.
- Demographic details: Demographic targeting further narrows the audience to find your correct audience based on age.
- Interest-based: With smart targeting such as interest-based, you can pitch to people who are already interested in similar products or services.
- In-market audience: Finding out more users who actively search for products or services in your relevant market.
These audience segmenting options help you reach the right customers. Also, don’t forget to re-engage your past customers with remarketing tactics. Your goal is to increase your reach, capture all the prospects, and not let them forget you.
Takeaway advice: Keep improving your audience segment and look at what works best for you. Make sure your ad budget is rightfully spent on potential prospects.
2. Write an Ad Copy That Matches the Search Intent
When you think about conversion rate optimization, things can look complicated. But in reality, improving CRO is all about the smart tactics.
If you know your audience, you probably know how they search. That’s the user intent. You only need to write the ad messaging that cleverly includes the user's search query and requirements.
An advanced way of doing it is to utilize Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI). The feature automatically updates the ad text with the keyword that the user searches for on Google. This practice significantly improves click-through rates for your ad.
When the ad copy’s headline directly matches the search intent and the ad description answers the user’s query, the conversion rates naturally surge.
3. Optimize Your Landing Page for User Experience
Once your Google Ad starts driving traffic to your website, it is the landing page that makes or breaks the deal. The landing page experience has a significant impact on conversion rate since this is the step to secure the sale.
If the content of your landing page does not align with the ad messaging, it becomes a turn-off for customers. Some more website red flags are slow loading, not being mobile-optimized, or irrelevant messaging.
Thus, for a smooth user experience, make sure to keep the landing page optimized and great. The content should be personalized and align with what your ad promises, paired with a persuasive call to action.
And finally, keep regularly testing. Run A/B tests for different landing page elements to see which versions are driving higher conversions.
4. Keep Improving with A/B Testing
When it comes to CRO for Google Ads, you cannot guess what would give it a boost. That’s why one of the key Google Ads conversion strategies is A/B testing.
A/B testing is the process of experimenting with different versions of your ads to identify the best-performing elements. The process includes testing keywords, headlines, ad copy, CTAs, and landing page layouts.
As you keep A/B testing and analyzing different aspects, you find out the elements that work better. Remember, it's never a one-time task. You will have to continuously test different elements of your Google Ads campaigns to optimize performance over time.
Takeaway advice: To make sure the results are accurate, test one variable at a time. For example, start with testing the ad headline. Next, move to description, then CTAs, and so on.
5. Use Audience Signals to Enhance Smart Bidding
Google Ads is smart, but it works even smarter if you put in the right data. If you utilize audience signals that take into account factors like age, location, interests, and behavior, Google’s smart bidding algorithm will know which users are more likely to convert.
You can target users who have visited your site before, loyal customers, or people browsing similar products. You can also use audience signals like affinity audiences or in-market segments in your campaigns.
Such targeted campaigns can work wonders for your PPC CRO and return on investment. It also helps you with personalization since you can keep the content relevant to the audience.
Consistently review your audience and adjust your signals so Google’s smart bidding targets the most relevant and high-converting users for you.
6. Utilize Ad Extensions for Increased Engagement
If there is one way to increase your Google Ad’s click-through rate without getting charged extra, it is by using Ad Extensions. It is the extra information that you can add to your Google Ad.
There are several types of ad extensions, such as
- Sitelinks: Additional links to your website.
- Structured Snippets: Specific aspects of your product or service highlighted.
- Call Extension: A direct access to your phone number.
- Location Extension: Shows your business’s location or address.
These ad extensions prove beneficial by making your ad more noticeable, which results in better performance and higher CTRs. The increased visibility also impacts your quality score. With ad extensions, you give users more reasons to click, with no extra cost.
Takeaway advice: Use all available ad extensions by Google Ads. Test different combinations to find the best-performing setup for your campaigns.
7. Make Ads More Relevant with Dynamic Search Ads
If your website has many landing pages, a large inventory, or changing content, creating ads for every keyword can feel like a nightmare. Fortunately, Google Ads has a feature called Dynamic Search Ads (DSA).
It is a type of Google Ads that automatically generates headlines based on the content of your website and matches them to user queries.
Here’s how it works: First, it crawls through your website. When a user types in a query, Google matches it to the content of your website and automatically creates an ad with the most relevance to the user's intent.
Takeaway advice: To get the most out of DSAs, make sure to pair them with the right landing pages for better relevance and conversion optimization.
8. Boost Local Conversions with Geo-Targeting
If you are a local seller in a specific state, it is useless to waste your budget on targeting the whole country. Even if you are getting a good number of clicks, you will still struggle with local conversions.
Thus, geo-targeting is essential. It narrows down your audience and allows you to tailor the campaign specifically for the state. You can come up with localized deals since 80% of consumers love to get location-based offers and alerts.
With the help of geographic segmentation, identify high-performing areas and promote regional offers for them. Focus on local keywords and then set your bidding strategies accordingly.
Keep analyzing your performance by region so you can know where to focus your budget and where to pull back.
9. Create Urgency with Countdown Timers
Human psychology often leads to impulsive decisions when it senses that time is running out. Research shows that 85% of customers would buy the product on impulse if the sale ended soon.
This is what businesses take advantage of. The limited-time offers, countdown timers, sale events, and flash discounts are all such examples of it.
The good news is, you can implement the same strategy in Google Ads as well. A dynamic feature allows you to display a countdown timer within your ad until a special offer or promotion ends. It creates a sense of urgency that encourages users to take immediate action.
Takeaway advice: Set up countdown timers in Google Ads to automatically update based on the promotion’s end date.
10. Optimize Your Google Ads for Voice Search
About 71% of users prefer to use a voice search for queries instead of typing them. It shows how mobile users are more comfortable using a natural and conversational tone to search on Google.
If your Google Ad is not optimized for voice search, you can miss out on these potential prospects. To stay competitive, optimize your campaigns for voice search with long-tail keywords and conversational phrases that people use while talking.
For example: Instead of targeting “best running shoes,” try “what are the best running shoes for flat feet?”
It can help your ad understand the user’s query and respond to it. Make sure to keep refreshing and updating your keyword strategy with voice-friendly phrases to make your ads more relevant.
Closing Thoughts
Improving conversions with Google Ads is all about the right tactics, such as smarter ad targeting, landing page optimization, improved ad copy, audience signals, use of dynamic search ads, A/B testing, and much more.
If you experiment with these strategic practices, you can understand what works best when your Google Ads CRO takes a boost. Keep testing, adjusting, and refining because it is the only way to truly optimize your Google Ads campaigns and maximize your conversions.
Need help with your PPC CRO strategy? Let Relevic help you turn your clicks into conversions faster and smarter!
