Google AdWords campaigns, known as Google Ads, have the potential to catapult businesses to the big time.  However, it is not a silver bullet. To maximize the benefits of Google Ads, it’s essential to stay current and ensure your campaign remains relevant. Google accounts for a staggering 73% of the paid search market, and over 60% of consumers have clicked on a Google ad. Compare running a campaign to running a car or an electrical appliance. Is it now easier to understand the importance of regular checks and ongoing maintenance? No error light will suddenly appear when something goes wrong with your strategy. It is essential for campaign managers and business owners to be aware of common flaws and to recognize signs that indicate an update is needed. 

4 signs you need to update your Google AdWords campaigns

You won’t be greeted with flashing lights, suspicious odors, or alarming noises when your Google Adwords campaign isn’t firing on all cylinders, but there are some tell-tale signs. Here are 4 indicators to look out for:

1. Your keyword list

The first step of troubleshooting should involve checking your keyword list. If you’re struggling to attract attention or generate high-quality leads, there are several common causes, including:

• Your keywords focus on broad match words: modify your list to target phrases and exact matches. If you use only broad match words, this reduces the quality of your ad and can lower your ranking, attract irrelevant attention, and negatively impact your ROI.
• You’re using broad match words without using negative keywords to streamline your campaign and eliminate keywords that are not relevant to your target buyer. Improved targeting will enhance the quality of your leads, thereby increasing your ROI. 
• Your keywords are grouped: Don’t group all of your keywords in a single Ad group. This impacts click-through rates and reduces the quality of the ad. Modifying your groups can help you ensure that your ads are relevant to the keywords within the specified Ad group.
  

2. Your ad content

The next step is to check the copy of your ads. The most common problems include:

• Single ads in a group: To enhance your campaign, it’s best to split-test a number of ads to determine which are most effective. 
• Missing out on ad extensions: Utilizing ad extensions whenever possible is beneficial. This will increase response rates and eliminate the risk of losing traction due to poor quality scores. 
• Irrelevant keywords: if you have groups that contain keywords that don’t match the Ad group, this can affect your score and lower click-through rates. Always ensure that the copy matches the keywords in the group.
  

3. Your landing pages

Landing pages can make or break your ability to attract customers and encourage them to progress through the sales funnel. Check your landing pages for the following issues:

• Homepages as landing pages: your landing page should not be your homepage. The most effective landing pages are targeted at specific products or services that are related to the ad keyword. Statistics suggest that over 75% of landing pages are homepages. 
• Using landing pages to cover more than one product or service: each landing page should be specific and relevant to the keyword. Avoid using a single page to promote a range of products or services. This will affect lead conversion, as the message becomes diluted and visitors will lose interest. Unique, targeted landing pages will boost results. 
• A lack of relevance and congruence: if your landing pages don’t match your ads, conversion rates will drop. The user must always be directed to a landing page relevant to the ad they clicked.

4. Tracking and monitoring

Finally, check your tracking and utilize tools and resources that enable you to monitor your progress. If you’re struggling, these issues could be to blame:

• Conversion tracking is not set up: If conversion tracking is not set up for webforms or shopping carts, you are missing valuable data that is used to optimize your bids, improve ROI, and increase lead conversions. Utilize these features to track when users fill in web forms and pass revenue data on to Google.
• You’re not using web call tracking: Web call tracking enables you to determine how many people are calling the business after spotting and clicking on your ad. Setting up this feature will help you optimize your bid to attract more calls. 
• Call extension tracking is not set up: Call extension tracking enables you to see how many people call after seeing your number in an ad. You can use this feature to improve your bid to generate more calls of this kind. 
• Offline sales conversion tracking is not currently in use: if you don’t have this tracking feature up and running, you’re missing out. It provides the ability to see how many visitors are converting to customers after clicking on the ad. This includes completing the web form, converting via phone, or face-to-face meetings.

To find out more about conversion tracking, watch this clip from Google:

To find out more about conversion tracking, watch this clip from Google:

Summary

Not getting results with your Google AdWords campaigns? Looking to improve results? It is always beneficial to closely monitor key metrics and conduct regular checks to identify and address potential obstacles.