Google AdWords gives you tons of great ways to market your business on the internet. All you have to do is create a campaign, add some keywords and create some punchy ads. Sounds simple right? Well, sometimes there are some hiccups along the way. Seeing your carefully crafted ads show up on Google is exciting, and this is the moment of truth – will this AdWords thing work?
You pop a keyword in Google search and look for your ad… but then, it doesn’t show up. This is where frustration creeps in. Fear not! Before you throw your AdWords for Dummies guide against the wall, there are a few reasons why your ad may not be showing right away:
Reasons your Google ads may not show:
• The biggest reason: Your AdWords keywords were simply outbid by another person, with their ads showing instead of yours.
• Let’s say you have a cupcake shop. If you are searching a keyword that relates highly to your business like “cupcakes”, your site might just show up “organically”. In this case, Google would not show your ad – instead, they deliver your website as the search result.
• Google Ads do not show every time a search is performed. Only a few ads may show every third search. Even if ads do show, yours may not because someone else paid MORE for their ad to show with the keyword you used. This is where “Pay-Per-Click” bidding is important.
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• If you’re shown your ad a few times and don’t click on it, Google thinks you are not interested in the ad and will stop showing it to you. Maybe your ad did show and you just didn’t click it?
• Have you tried looking beyond the first Google search results page? Your ad may be showing on the second Google page, or even the third.
• Your personal IP address used to search the ad may be linked to your AdWords account. Google may not always show your ads to you because you are the creator of them. They want to show the ad to a real searcher who may interact with the ad organically. Use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool in AdWords to get information about your ad without racking up bad impressions and clicks.
• You may have reached your daily AdWords budget already at the time you searched.
So, What Can I Do?
• Add a Call to Action to each ad. Something like learn more here, people will respond.
• Add Ad Extensions, like a link to your contact page, so users only have one click to get there. This increases your ad’s Quality Score and may make it show up more often.
• Pause or remove poorly performing keywords and add new, more relevant ones using the AdWords Keyword Planner. Run all keyword match types for your most relevant keywords and include them in the headlines of your ads.
• Same goes for ads. Rewrite poor performing ads so they are higher quality.
• Use Google Analytics data to see when your customers are online and schedule ads to show at those times. Also, use Bid Adjustments in AdWords to automatically bid higher during peak times.
• Have your ads rotate evenly so that they all have a chance to show to gain a better understanding of which ones work and which do not.
• Bid higher on keywords. Even though Google says this is not necessary, it is a bidding war after all!
In the Google ultraverse, your ads will show if they are high quality, relevant, and you are the highest bid. A combination of these will win you that coveted spot at the top of a Google search results page, and we all like to be in first place sometimes.
Want more help with AdWords, SEO and online marketing? Contact us today! We are Google Certified Partners and ready to help you succeed at the AdWords game.
