10 Advanced Ways to Optimize Your Google Ads Account

Here are 10 successful tips to boost optimization that can help your Google Ads campaigns achieve big results.

Google Ads remains one of the most important platforms for businesses of all sizes. But with constant updates, increased automation and the loss of many "traditional" control mechanisms, finding the right balance between investment and return can be extremely difficult.

Here are 10 advanced strategies that help achieve big results with Google Ads campaigns.

1. The Best Optimization Tool is Data - So Help the Machine Learn.

Providing machines with the best possible data is extremely important. Here are four useful tools from Google to ensure you get the best data:

Transformation Action Kit

This underutilized option allows you to group conversions for a similar stage in the funnel and have different goals. So you really optimize the campaign towards a relevant set of goals without other data coming in and confusing it.

Advanced Conversion

Since it allows you to connect any CRM (Customer List) directly to Google Ads and set the primary optimization activities, using advanced conversion for each customer will be highly efficient.

This means that you are actually giving the machines the data they need to make smarter offers and smarter decisions, so you get less and less junk leads. To be honest, one of the biggest ways to avoid unnecessary leads is to only use advanced conversions (Customer Lists). Within 45 days of implementing a primary conversion action, there is a 75% reduction in junk leads.

Smart Business Data

Digital marketers can export their business data to Google Analytics and, by extension, Google Ads.

I strongly recommend you to do this. The more data you give to the machines, the better they can optimize.

Offline Conversion Import

Advanced conversion is the first step in this process, followed by conversion adjustment. This allows you to rephrase the conversion value so that you can adjust it up or down.

You can remove imperfect data:

For example, if someone accidentally makes two purchases, you can withdraw one. Any data you give to Google will continue to be processed as inaccurate data unless you tell it otherwise. So if there is a discrepancy between what you initially told Google and what actually happened, use conversion adjustments to change this.

2.Use Data to Focus Search Engines on What Matters to You

This is a powerful approach for both B2B and B2C businesses because it allows digital marketers to make smaller adjustments to how algorithms bid based on their business' unique data.

Every business has different value structures. Firstly, being able to understand what these are and secondly, being able to translate them into the right conversion rules allows you to get a lot more out of your Google Ads campaign.
When we look at Google Ads accounts, I would say that less than 10% are using the right conversions. They are very powerful and very underutilized.

3. Layer Audience and Business Information on a Data-Centric Foundation

Give Google the data it needs to optimize your content better and faster; ultimately, this will enable digital marketers to get better results from their campaigns.

The best way to do this is to layer your category information on how customers buy your products, such as product type, price, buyer type, etc.

The key is to combine data about your business with data about your target audience to give the machine a structure to work within. When you layer information about how customers buy your products and how you monetize your products, AI will work better.

4. Actively Use CPA or ROAS in Your Campaign

Too many advertisers are using automation and automated bidding strategies in the wrong way. You need to use low target CPA or high target ROAS by evaluating the campaigns that your company is achieving the most success with.

Your highest priority campaigns should get the highest target CPA or the lowest target ROAS because it lowers their threshold to serve to the lowest level you can tolerate based on your business data and the unique cost structures and value structure of your business. The only way for this structure to really work profitably is if you know your business numbers and can trust them.

When you start thinking about how to set those CPAs or ROAS targets, Google's Budget Simulator really comes in handy. But remember, anything beyond optimal spending leads to inefficiency and loss. You start giving back what you've earned. That's why it's so important to get the right target CPA. Use the budget simulator to understand where that is.

5. Don't Let CPCs Eat Up Your Ad Budget

Get the most out of your campaigns by preventing unnecessary CPCs that can blow up your ad account, although not in a good way.

You can do this by setting a minimum and maximum bid for any automated strategy in your portfolio.

If you use this feature, it will act as an insurance policy and won't eat up your advertising budget in an instant.

6. Use an Accurate and Modern Structure to Minimize Learning Time

The more you fragment your data, the harder it is for machines to learn from it. That's why digital marketers need to focus on minimizing fragmentation and segmentation where necessary, and deliver a real marginal return that justifies it.

7. Always Add Audience

You need to remember that you are targeting people instead of keywords and therefore it is important to use audience tools more effectively. One way to do this is to go into GA4 and use predictive audiences.

GA4 can tell you which audiences are likely to engage with your marketing activities and which users are unlikely to return to your website in the next seven days.

It can also create custom segments based on what specific audiences search for on Google. Alternatively, they can identify which audiences browse certain websites or use certain types of apps.

8. What you exclude is more important than what you include (Negative Keywords)

As machines get larger and larger, as match types continue to change, negatives become very, very important.

Think more about what to exclude. AI is very good at figuring out what to include, but it's up to us to look for what to exclude.

9. Test Your Responsive Search Ads

Testing and optimizing the creatives of your responsive search ads is really important for campaign health. Don't forget to compare ad titles, images, descriptions and other elements that you can test for performance.

10. Make Sure You Test Ad Groups

For advertisers, especially those working in smaller accounts, it is very important to have Responsive search testing structures. The best way to do this is to look for patterns in your titles and descriptions and test all creatives against them.

This will give you statistical significance faster and allow you to take what you learn and apply it across your account.

Finally, if you follow these steps, you can realize significant savings and create a sustainable campaign model.