Increase Google Ads conversions with these 48 tips!
Watch your conversions in Google Ads skyrocket with these helpful tips.
Clicks are great.
But clicks mean nothing if they donât lead to conversions in the end.
So how do you boost your conversions on your Google ad campaigns to get more leads and paying customers?
We've gathered 48 tips for you follow to get those sweet conversions.
But first consider this:
1. Does your product suck?
Let's take a step back.
You can have the best ad copy. You can have the best landing page.
But if you are fundamentally promoting a product that nobody wants, then you will not get conversions.
Think about your product first and whether there is a disconnect between your offer and your target audience.
Only then move on to the next tip.
2. Improve your landing page
Great Google ad campaigns are never going to convert if they take potential customers to a website that looks like it was built in the 1990s and still uses Adobe Flash to load.
What you need is a visually-appealing landing page with a focused call-to-action pointed at your target audience.
Free trial. Cancel anytime. No credit card required. This isn't going to cut it. Everyone offers this.
If you want to really boost conversions you need to go beyond these standard offers and give your visitors something they simply cannot not turn down.
Can't think of anything? Hubspot put together a solid list of landing pages you can scour through for inspiration.
3. Simplify your sign-up process
So you got your potential customer to your website.
Now all they need to do is fill out a form with their first name, last name, cell phone, work phone, emergency phone, home address and email.
Also just a quick 5-question survey about how they heard about you.
And while they are at it, how about a follow on Instagram and Twitter.
And don't forget to have them give their credit card. We won't charge you for the first month, probably.
See the issue here?
Most customers are going to be gone at anything beyond email.
So don't overcomplicate the sign-up process. Remove as much friction as possible.
Signing up for your service should not feel like filling out a tax form.
4. Align your Google Ad copy with your landing page
You want the language used in your ads to match the language you use on your landing page.
If the ad said 'lawncare service', then have the landing page say 'lawncare service.'
Don't have the searcher be taken to a page that then shows services for gardening, roof tiling, house moving and more.
It's confusing. Your customer might feel tricked. And they might not convert.
5. Use call-to-action heavy language in your ads
CTAs are not just for landing pages. They are equally as important in your ads.
Having the potential searcher do the exact action you want them to do when they see your ad is key to making them convert.
For example.
Columbus Ohio Tax Attorney
âCall now for an instant consultationâ
Here you have a clear call to action. You can include your number and then instantly get a potential customer on the phone talking to you.
6. Take advantage of the second headline
How do you implement CTAs well in your ads? You use the second headline.
The second headline provides you with the extra retail estate needed to describe the value of your business.
Adaylsis provides a good formula pictured below.
7. Ask questions
If you ask people questions, their natural instinct is to respond.
This is especially true if it is related to what they just searched for a moment ago.
The formula: âLooking for _____?â
For example your headline could be:
âLooking for running shoes?â
If someone had just searched for running shoes this could peak their interest and get them to click.
8. Use numbers and lists
Does your product help people increase productivity? Are there a bunch of reasons why? Great.
Put those reasons together in a list and use it in your ads.
For instance:
â50 ways to boost your productivity at workâ
There is a reason Buzzfeed became so popular. People love to click on and share simple, easy-to-ready lists.
9. Include irresistible sales and promotions
Everyone enjoys a good deal, so give the people what they want.
âSave 70% on our latest ____"_
_"Buy 2 __ and get 1 FREE"
An incredible offer is hard for even the most-determined Google searcher to resist.
Just make sure your business is still profitable after the sale.
10. Add a sense of urgency
Travel companies and airlines often create a false sense of urgency to encourage bookings on airline tickets or tours.
âOnly 2 spots left! Book todayâ
âLimited time offer! Expires in 24 hours.â
You can utilize this in your ad copy.
So instead of writing:
â10 ways you can boost your productivityâ
Try:
â10 ways you can boost your productivity TODAYâ
Implying a sense of urgency to your ad copy will entice users to click because they fear they will miss out on a good deal.
11. Use facts
âScientists confirm: the earth really is flat!â
Okay, you donât have to go this far, but using facts in your headlines is a good way to get people to click on them.
For instance:
â10,000+ athletes use our supplements to increase muscle mass.â
"FDA-approved" "Amazon Best Seller" "Clinically-proven"
Facts establish trust with the searcher and add weight to your claims.
12. Optimize for location
Some businesses are inherently localized in nature.
Jobs like veterinarians, dentists, barbers, lawyers and so on.
The success formula for these businesses is timeless and universal:
âoccupationâ + âlocationâ
That's all there is to it.
What would you search for if your roof needs to be changed?
âRoofing company washington dcâ
If your apartment is infested with bed bugs?
âPest control new yorkâ
So just mirror this language in your ad copy.
13. Compare yourself
If you truly believe that your product is better than the competition then go out and say it.
This is especially true if your competitor is a well-known brand like Apple or Facebook.
"More reliable than (insert competitor)"
"Quicker than ____"
"Cheaper than __"
You get the picture.
14. Use click-worthy buzzwords with strong purchase intent
Verbs describe actions. So target the verbs people are likely to use when they want to purchase something.
Words such as:
Get
Buy
Subscribe
Sign up
Schedule
Try
Learn
Build
Also keywords with high purchase intent that aren't verbs include:
Discount
Deal
Coupon
Affordable
Alternatives
Cheapest
Best
Review
Top
Popular
Review
These words are often used by searchers looking to make a purchase. You can read through a list of 25 call-to-action words here.
15. Offer free shipping
Amazon has set the bar high for what it will deliver at no charge.
In such an age, free shipping seems to remove the last layer of doubt a potential customer may have toward clicking on an ad and converting.
16. Check your punctuation
All those grammar nazis had a point. Bad punctuation puts people off.
Not only that, it saves lives, as demonstrated by this sign.
Jokes aside, a misplaced comma in your ad copy will make your ads look unprofessional and scare away clicks.
17. Check for spelling mistakes.
Same story with spelling.
It's easy to mix up 'then' for 'than' or 'your' for 'you're' and so on.
Use spell check. Triple review your ad copy before sending it out.
18. Don't overuse DKI
Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) allows you to customize your ad to match the userâs search query, creating a nearly perfect match between a userâs search and your ad.
So if you have an ad group for a local bakery, you can include words like:
Cakes
Brownies
Homemade cookies
Etc.
If you use DKI, Google will customize your ads so that those customers who searched cakes will see cakes in your ad and those that searched for âhomemade cookiesâ would see homemade cookies.
The benefit is that it saves advertisers time, but the overall effectiveness of DKI is mixed when it comes to long-tail keywords as it runs risks of creating spammy looking ads.
19. Include your keyword in your ad
This would seem obvious, but all too often people forget to include keywords in their ads.
If your keyword is 'protein powder' your ad headline could be "Buy Protein Powder"
You want people to have a clear idea what your ad is about. Don't have them guess.
20. Be Funny
Humor is a great way to differentiate yourself from the competition.
Everyone is selling the same stuff and using the same generic ad copy.
Injecting a bit of humor in your ads is how you can set yourself apart.
Memes, Gifs, Vines. Reddit. Look here for inspiration.
21. Hop on the latest social fad
New fads and trends are constantly appearing on social media.
Just look at how popular a picture of an egg racked up 40 million likes on Instagram in a little over a week this January.
While not all trends are appropriate for ad copy, they can be used to find out what is popular with the people.
Use Google Trends to find the most popular searches by country. Use the What's Trending section on Twitter to find what people are tweeting about.
22. Add product reviews
How do you trust who you are buying from on Amazon? You look at their reviews.
A high rating and a high number of stars mean you most likely can believe that what they are selling works.
Hopefully your business has good reviews. If so, add them to your ad copy.
23. Add quotes
Got a lot of testimonials from loyal customers? Why not use them in your ads?
It's yet another way to social proof your product.
24. Rotate for conversions
For account managers, the default advice out there is to rotate for clicks. Increasing your CTR then leads to more conversions.
But really it isn't the clicks you want, it is the conversions.
So show the ads that are converting, not the ones that people are clicking on.
25. Rotate for clicks
But of course, there is a counter-argument against rotating for conversions.
Often times conversions are out of control of the account manager.
Clicks are a determination of how good the ad copy is, while conversions are a determination of how good the landing page or offer is. You could say these two things are completely seperate of each other.
People click because of the ad copy, but convert because of the landing page.
There are benefits to both, so if you can't choose why not let Google decide with automated bidding.
26. Use Automated bidding
Google has several automated bidding strategies that help take the grunt work off of bidding.
These include maximize clicks which increases site visits and target impression share which boosts visibility.
There are also smart bidding strategies specifically designed to enhance conversions. These include:
Target CPA
Target CPA is aimed at getting you as many conversions as possible at the target CPA you set.
Enhanced cost-per-click (ECPC)
ECPC adjusts your bids automatically while maintaining the same cost-per-conversion set by you.
Target RAOS
Target RAOS is designed to achieve maximum conversions at the target ad spend return.
Maximize Conversions
As the name suggests, maximize conversions is where Google spends your budget as it sees fit to get the biggest number of conversions.
27. Analyze your search terms page
Whether you go back one month or one year, there is invaluable data in your search terms report.
Sorting by the conversions column will give you the search terms with the highest conversions and a sizeable amount of clicks and impressions.
Make sure that you are targeting those search terms as actual keywords.
People often donât know what their search terms reports even look like. Without going through and auditing it on a regular basis, there may be an enormous amount of search terms they are missing out on they don't even know about.
28. Target high quality search traffic
Itâs all about the quality of the search traffic you are getting.
The best way to measure this is to put yourself in the mind of the searcher when they Google something.
It makes a massive difference what words they add before or after your keyword.
If they add the word âcheapâ before the search term, you donât want them. They are highly unlikely to convert.
29. Improve your quality score
Every google ad you create is given a quality score.
The higher quality score you have, the lower your overall cost per click will be.
An ad with a quality score of 10 will sometimes cost half as much as ads with lower quality scores.
That means you will waste less of your ad budget and have the opportunity to make more conversions.
30. Boost your CTR
This is a bit obvious, but the more people you get clicking on your ads the more chances those clicks will turn into conversions.
The average click-through-rate on Google Ads is 2%, but these vary across industries.
If you are lower than 2%, consider using the recommendations previously mentioned in your ad copy to boost clicks.
31. Capitalize all the words in your ad
One quick trick you could try is to simply capitalize all the words in your ad except for articles.
This can make your ads stand out and look larger in appearance.
32. Optimize for mobile
People use their phones when they are on the go.
So to optimize for mobile, you want to add extensions with information on location and a phone number.
The landing page these users are taken to should be the mobile version of your website.
Also, keep your text ads as short as possible, because the smaller screen size of mobile devices means some text could get cut off.
33. Optimize for voice
Voice assistants like Siri and Ok Google are becoming more and more popular.
People use them when its inconvenient for them to type.
To target this traffic, you want to use language that is more conversational in nature.
For example:
"bus ny dc" is perfectly okay as a text search.
But with voice it would be:
"Siri, what buses go from ny to dc this tuesday?"
Using long-tail keywords and more conversional language is how you optimize for voice.
34. Don't be afraid to experiment
Create three to four ads for each ad group, and use different messages for each to see which works the best.
Google Ads rotates ads automatically to show the best-performing ads more often. So don't be afraid to make multiple ads and experiment with different styles.
35. Target your competitors
Try targeting the branded keywords of your competitors.
Just because people search for a particular brand doesn't mean they are 100% set on buying that specific brand.
Sometimes they want to see alternatives to the brand they search for.
And that opens up opportunities for your business.
That's why a search for Spotify will pull up ads for Soundcloud, Pandora or Apple Music.
By using competitor targeting, you run your ads when people search for your competitors and snag some of their customers.
36. Give remarketing a try
Getting people to your site is no guarantee they will convert. In fact, approximately 90% of people will leave your website without performing your CTA.
Does that mean that visitor is gone forever? No.
They were interested enough to visit your website.
But they might be gone forever if you don't remind them of your business.
This is where remarketing steps in.
Remarketing allows you to target them again on the internet with display ads.
They may not convert the first time, but they may come around on the second, third or fourth time.
37. Add a video to your landing page
Aside from looking great, adding a video to your landing page can be an effective way to explain a complex product and entertain your prospective customer.
If handled correctly, video landing pages have been shown to increase conversions to as much as 56%.
Take a look at some examples of videos in landing pages here to give you inspiration.
38. Set up conversion tracking
Conversion tracking allows you to track different actions taken on your website, such as phone calls, contact form submissions, scheduling requests and more.
But Google does not set this up by default, so make sure you have it set up beforehand.
That's the only way to track conversions and lower your cost-per-click.
39. Get rid of bad keywords
Low-performing keywords that get little traffic and a low quality score can drag down your entire account, so make sure you get rid of them.
You can do this by going to the 'search terms' button and pulling up irrelevant search terms. Add these to your negative keyword list so that your ads no longer appear for those terms.
Do this on a regular basis and you'll keep your account healthy and focused on just the top-performing keywords.
40. Structure your campaign correctly
Make sure your campaigns are structured logically. If your business offers different services, then create seperate campaigns for each service you offer.
Take advantage of geo-location and ad scheduling to target specific areas at certain times during the day.
But don't stick to the same campaign structure forever. As the months go by, you will notice certain keywords performing better in your campaigns. Takes those keywords and then create a seperate campaigns centered around them.
41. Ditch the landing page
The normal conversion funnel goes something like this:
A user sees an ad, clicks on the ad, visits your landing page, converts on the landing page.
But why do you need a landing page to get a conversion? How about getting your customers to convert directly on your ad?
42. Try click-to-call extensions
One way you can get users to convert on just your ad is to use call-only campaigns.
With click-to-call extensions, users see an ad, call the business and you automatically capture the lead. No landing page required.
You don't even need to add your website URL to the ad. Just have a phone number.
No need to waste money on clicks that go to your website and then no longer convert.
43. A/B Test your Google ads
A/B testing your landing page is something most people are familiar with.
The same approach should be taken toward your Google Ads.
High click-through rates lead to a better quality score and then lower costs.
This means less of your ad budget will be eaten up when your ads are shown and therefore your ad will be seen by more people and more conversions.
A/B testing your ads and optimizing your ad copy is key to help bring this about.
44. Think carefully about your budget
If you are not careful, Google Ads can burn through your ad spend real quick.
If your business is B2B where you average one new client a quarter who brings in $100,000, then being aggressive with your bids makes sense.
But if you are B2C selling a $10 product, and you are paying $100 advertising costs per sale, then you have to go back and do some math.
To avoid this, make sure to set daily or monthly limits that are in line with your financials for the product you are selling.
45. Use Google Search Console to analyze search traffic
The Google Search Console gives you the keyword traffic data that is key to driving the right type of traffic to your website.
You can use it to find what search queries your site ranks well for, including the number of impressions and clicks your site gets for each keyword. You can also find the average position and CTR here.
46. Try shopping ads
If you are a retailer, Google offers shopping ads that are better designed to promote your product and inventory.
Instead of just text, shopping adds include a photo of the product and other relevant information such as price, store location and more.
47. Target similar audiences
You can use similar audiences on Google's display network to find new visitors that are similar to your existing users.
According to Google, Similar Audiences can produce 41% more conversions when combined with display remarketing.
48. Adopt a 100% mindset
Last but not least, set the bar high for your ads.
Aim to achieve a 100% conversion rate.
Will you ever get that? No.
But the mindset should be to get an insanely high conversation rate.
The average across every industry taken together is 3% conversation rate.
Your goal shouldn't be to go above average, but to go significantly above average, perhaps in the double digits.
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