Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords) is a fantastic free platform provided by Google for advertisers who want to get their ads on one of the two Google networks: the Search Network and the Display Network.
Advertising on Google gives you a high degree of control over how you choose to display your ads, who you want to target, and how much money you want to put into it.
While creating an ad and publishing it is not complicated at all, it takes effort and know-how to make your ads work and actually bring you the conversions that Google Ads is praised for.
Speaking of conversions, you have surely heard of one of the most important metrics in the Google Ads reports: the conversion rate.
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What Does the Conversion Rate Measure?
In the world of digital marketers, getting users to do what you want them to do is called getting a conversion. It can mean a user subscribing to your newsletter, buying something from your eCommerce website, signing up for a free trial, filling in a form, and so on. It all depends on your business goal and what you wanted to achieve when you published your ad on Google.
Here are a few of the most common examples of conversions:
- Buying something
- Filling in a form
- Calling you
- Engaging with you on an online chat
- Creating an account on your website
- Downloading a file from your website
- Engaging with your website
The ads conversion rate is not the same thing as the click-through rate. The latter tells you how many times your ads have been clicked on, but this doesn’t mean that the user will go through with the desired action. They could bounce off your website if they don’t get what they were looking for, or just browse around without taking any action (if spending time on your website is what you wanted, then it’s a conversion).
How Is the Conversion Rate Calculated?
The equation that gives you the conversion itself is very simple. You divide the total number of visitors you had in a certain time period by the number of conversions you got in the same timeframe, and you multiply that result by 100.
You get a percentage of the users who have taken the desired action, from the total number of visitors. This seems like a really helpful metric, doesn’t it?
Well, it depends a lot on how well you define your conversions. Otherwise, you don’t get accurate data.
Setting Up Conversion Tracking
In order to correctly set conversion tracking on your website, you will need to generate some HTML codes with the help of the Google Ads platform, then write them in your website’s code, in the corresponding places.
For example, if a conversion means that one of your visitors registers on your website, you should include the code on the landing page that confirms their registration. When Google fetches back that code, it registers a conversion and includes it in your Google Ads reports.
Here are the basic steps you need to take to set up your conversions in Google Ads.
- Click on the Tools and Analysis tab in Google Ads;
- Select Conversions from the menu, which gets you on the All conversions page;
- Click on the Conversions tab, then add a new conversion by pressing +Conversion.
You will need to fill in the fields to set up your new conversion. Give it a name (make it relevant, for easier navigation later). Select the source of the conversion, like a landing page, an app download, online purchase, a call on your business phone number, and so on.
If someone else handles your web design and building, you can give them clear instructions on what code to put on the web page and how you want the landing page to look like.
Tracking Your Conversion Rate
Once your conversions are defined and the code is embedded on your website in the right places, you will start seeing your conversion reports. To navigate there in Google Ads, go to the Campaigns tab, click Columns, and then Conversions.
You will get various metrics related to your conversions:
- The number of conversions you get from a single ad click;
- Cost per conversion, a metric obtained by dividing the cost of your clicks by the number of conversions you got;
- Your conversion rate;
- View-through Conv., a metric that shows you when visitors have seen your ad, didn’t click through, but later became a conversion.
With Google Ads, advertisers with experience can do much more than the basic analysis. More advanced ways of tracking your conversions involve more complex coding, so if you lack experience it’s best to let your web developer or advertising agency do it.
They include reflecting the actual value of a user’s shopping cart instead of a static value or preventing a conversion from being counted both as a view-through and click-through conversions.
What Will Get You a High Conversion Rate
A high conversion rate is something relative. It varies from one industry to another, for instance. WordStream ran reports of their data to show how metrics like conversion rate or cost per click vary across industries, from real estate to medical or legal.
The value of the conversion rates also differs in the Google Search and Display Networks. The average conversion rate is 3.17% for search ads and 0.46% for display ads.
To get a higher conversion rate, there are several steps you can take.
- Compare your historical data to how you are doing now;
- Improve the Quality Scores of your ads by choosing your ad copy carefully, optimising your landing pages, and so on;
- Focus on creating a human connection;
- Don’t make your visitors guess where they need to go, make it obvious.
There are extensive guides on how to increase your conversion rate step-by-step, but it’s always important to remember the big picture: being relevant on a regular basis and making your brand known in its field, connecting with your audience, and keeping an eye on what’s happening in your market.
Need a Pro to Handle Your Google Ads?
Google Ads can be an excellent platform for growing your business but it can also drain your budget if you don’t set it correctly. We’ve seen a lot of small business owners who gave up on Google Ads simply because they weren’t able to understand how it works and make a few costly errors.
If you want your business to grow and your advertising budget to be put to good use, hire professionals to handle your Google Ads campaigns. We at Australian Internet Advertising have been using Google Ads for decades and we master its features and powers.
By setting up and managing your ad campaigns, we will get you a high conversion rate, which ultimately translates into visitors transforming into clients. Contact us and let’s start making you money with Google Ads!
