1. Strato MarketingRadar metrics
Now that your Ads campaign is running you need to keep an eye on it to make sure it is performing well and make adjustments in time, if necessary. To help you monitor the performance of your Google Ads campaign, Strato MarketingRadar gives you a Google Ads Insights tab as your reporting tool to track key metrics.
The first thing to keep in mind is knowing which metrics you are focused on and what is important for your business. If your goal is to increase your brand awareness, for example, you should pay attention to the number of views. If it is to drive more traffic to your website, then you should monitor the number of clicks you get and your CTR.
2. What does the number of views mean?
The first important element to look at is the total number of views. This gives you an idea of the reach of your Ads. The number of views you get also depends on the budget you have chosen and on the keywords you have selected.
The higher your daily budget is, the more your Ads will be displayed in the search results. Moreover, your Ads are only being displayed when users are entering queries that match your Ads. This means that targeted keywords are likely to lead to fewer views than very broad keywords simply because they are used less. If you feel like you are not getting enough views, try to choose other keywords or increase your daily budget. However, remember that you have to pay for each click and you need to make sure your Ads reach the right audience, so only choose keywords that actually represent what you have to offer to customers.
3. What is click-through rate (CTR)?
Next to the number of views, you also have to take into account the total number of clicks. It gives you a good idea of how well your ads are working and how much traffic they are driving to your website. The number of clicks can be hard to analyze as such, therefore there is another metric you can use to see whether your Ads are performing as they should.
It is called the click-through rate (CTR). The CTR is used to measure customer engagement and gives you in percentage the proportion of users who have seen your Ads that have actually clicked on them.
To calculate the CTR, simply divide the number of clicks by the number of views and multiply the total by 100. If, for example, you have 35 clicks and 2000 views, you have a click-through rate of 1.75% (35 ÷ 2000 x 100).
4. How to read CTR results?
A high CTR is a sign of a well-performing campaign. The average CTR for Google Ads campaigns is around 2%. However, please note that the average CTR can vary greatly from one industry to another as some sectors are more competitive than others. Therefore, try to find benchmarks specific to your industry.
If your CTR is low you can try some of the tips below.
A low CTR score usually indicates that the text in your Ads is not relevant or does not appeal to customers. Try to rework your headline and descriptions to make them more up-to-date, and engage with the customer.
Have a look at your keywords and make sure they are targeted enough. If people are not clicking on your Ads, it is maybe because you are not offering what they are looking for or your keywords do not reflect your service.
Add extensions to your Ads, people will be more likely to click on them. Click on “Google Ads” in the left-hand side menu of your dashboard and then click on the “Extensions” tab to set it up.
Include calls to action in your Ad texts to prompt users to click on your Ads.
5. Optimize your Ads keywords
If you really want to make the most out of your Ads, you have to go further than that and analyze the performance of each and every one of your keywords, as it is the only way to get better insights into what really needs to be changed.
To find out which of the keywords work for you and bring clicks, scroll down to your keyword list in the Ads insights tab. Please note that only keywords which have generated clicks and views will be displayed in this section.
You can delete the keywords which are not giving views or clicks as well as the ones with the lowest CTR, as it is clear you are not getting any results with it.
If you notice that you are getting a lot of clicks and traffic from your Ads but you have the feeling they are not converting, it might mean your campaign is not targeting the right audience and you might need to adjust some of your settings.
6. Google Ads and Google Analytics
Google Analytics insights can tell you a lot about your Ads campaign performance. After activating your Ads, check your bounce rate. If your CTR is good but you notice a big jump in your bounce rate, you might have to make some adjustments to your Ads.
This might be the sign that even though your keywords and your Ads are attracting potential customers, users cannot find what they are looking for. The problem might come from the fact that your Ads do not properly mirror what you have to offer with the content of the page or that you are not redirecting users to the right page on your website.If you are advertising a special product, you should link to this special product page in your Ads as it is what potential customers will want to find.
Please also note that Google also takes into account the quality of your content to determine when and where to display your ads, so don’t forget to work on the optimization of your website.
Now you have all the tools you need to measure and understand how your campaign is performing. Don’t forget that for such an analysis to be relevant, it has to be done over some period of time. Don’t take any decisions after just one or two days, wait for at least a week.