Google Ads is the most popular PPC platform and businesses creating ads here benefit from it’s estimated daily active userbase of 9 billion people. One of the strengths of the platform is the feature it provides and the fact that Google is willing to continually introduce new ways to make ad creation a more streamlined process.
One such way is automation and, in this article, I want to explain the different aspects of Google Ads automation, how they work, and how they can benefit your business.
Remember, Google is a for-profit organisation that operates with the goal of making money, so it is really important to ensure that you understand the impact of all of Google’s automated tools before applying them to your campaigns, and test them in a controlled way to ensure that the marketing budget you are spending is right or your business goals and campaign objectives.
Ad Bidding Can be Automated
Previously, bidding in Google Ads was entirely manual and it was time consuming. However, Google introduced automated bidding strategies which streamlined the process and allowed you to create one of eight different automated bidding strategies based on your PPC aims.
You essentially select the automated bidding option and choose one of the types such as maximise clicks, viewable CPM, or enhanced cost per click. You do need to learn what the different automated options mean but once you have done this, the bidding process is largely taken care of without human interaction.
Using historical data in your account, the machine learning will enable Google to bid higher where it predicts the likelihood of your chosen target strategy taking place, for example, if you have a maximise conversion value bid strategy in place, the AI will ensure your ads are showing as often as possible to increase the conversion value of your online sales. Of course, this only works if you have accurate conversion tracking in place so having a full understanding of this is essential.
Automating the bidding process means you can concentrate on other important areas of your PPC and marketing such as creating ad copy, perfecting landing pages, and improving your paid search marketing instead of continually having to adjust bids and keep track of your expenditure.
Responsive Search Ads Allows for Streamlined Ad Creation
RSAs (Responsive Search Ads) are the only ad format currently for Google Search campaigns and Google introduced these to eliminate the issue of creating multiple iterations of ads for continuous AB testing, these allow you to generate multiple versions of your ads with minimum effort via automation.
The premise is simple. Initially, you give Google Ads a range of information to work with in the form of ad headlines and ad descriptions (you can provide a maximum of 15 headlines and 4 descriptions). Google Ads then uses automation and machine learning to find the best combination of your assets that should yield the best results using the info you provided.
Initially, the results may not be optimal, but this is because there is a learning period where Google optimises the ad copy. However, these automated ads can quickly eclipse your previous ad format efforts and many studies show that RSA ads can result in up to 4x the impressions compared to the old, expanded text ads as Google favours the new automated approach. This ultimately means more exposure for your adverts and your brand.
This is one of the most promising areas of Google Ads automation because you still have some control too when creating the initial headlines and descriptions for the machine learning to utilise. By pinning headlines and descriptions into specific positions within your advert you can maintain control of your branding and avoid messy adverts with duplicate content.
Google Ads Smart Campaigns Makes Managing PPC Campaigns Easier
Google Ads Smart Campaigns are an evolution of AdWords Express and offer businesses a quick way to largely automate the ad creation and management process. This is a great tool for beginners and smaller businesses who don’t have the time or insight to create in-depth campaigns, but it can lead to excess wasted ad spending on campaigns that aren’t as targeted as creating them manually.
Smart campaigns are shown on the Google Display and Google Search network so have a huge reach and they still follow the same pay per click pricing structure of standard Google Ads.
Initially, all you have to do is choose a campaign goal and enter some simple information – after that, Google automation and machine learning takes over and takes care of the rest. This includes generating the ad copy, adjusting and optimising bids, and A/B testing to find the best iteration of your ad.
You still have to add keywords and write some copy, but overall, the process is incredibly simple. The downside is that you lose much of the control, targeting, and advanced analytics that standard Google Ads creation offers, and ultimately the results are not likely going to be as good. This is where you may benefit from contacting a Google Ads agency to take control of your ads and help you take them one step further than what Smart Campaigns offers, helping you to improve click through rates to bring more visitors to your website, and increase conversion rates so the new visitors are completing the call to actions you set out on the site.
Third-Party Automation Tools Enhance the Google Ads Experience
While Google has introduced a range of automation tools, there is a staggering wealth of third-party automation tools and platforms too. Developers have created these to enhance businesses abilities on the PPC platform in areas such as analytics, ad creation, and bid management. Some examples of popular third-party automation tools include:
- RevealBot
- Morphio
- TapClicks
- Opteo
- Adzooma
For example, Adzooma uses machine learning and data analytics to provide your business with a range of additional features and metrics to further improve your Google Ads. Most of these platforms integrate with Google Ads and still use its features but build on the platform addition extra functionality and even customised dashboards.
Obviously, the downside of using third-party tools is that they are typically not free and if there is a free plan, the features are limited. I only recommend the use of third-party tools such as these for medium to large-sized businesses that have a larger marketing budget and are investing heavily in their Google Ads PPC marketing. Most Digital Marketing Agencies specialising in PPC will have partnerships with some selected Third-Party Automation Tools so it could be worth looking to outsource if you are struggling with this in house.
Automation is Here to Stay and Will Play a More Important Role Going Forward
In recent years it’s clear that Google has made a push towards automating processes and making Google Ads easier and more efficient for businesses to use. This is a trend not limited to PPC marketing but AI, machine learning, and automation are also being utilised in multiple marketing processes including SEO, PR, and content generation. But does this come at a cost to the advertisers?
Google are feeding their AI with more information than ever before, and this is a great for our machine learning to identify what will be effective, so it can be easier and more efficient to manage. But the key to this is truly understanding the data that you have and testing what works for your objectives in your campaigns, then feeding that information back into the system for improved results. Google likes to make lots of sweeping recommendations which state will ‘improve the performance of your campaigns’, but you need to know what metrics you want to improve and ensure that you understand the impact of any changes the automation can make on your outcomes.
Another way of looking at it is quantity over quality, your business will be much more effective in receiving and processing fewer high quality enquiries than several poor quality or spam calls. Unfortunately, if automation within Google Ads is not approached in the right way it can lead to more of the latter.
When looking at Google Ads automation, I urge businesses to look at the benefits and potential drawbacks and make sure that the tools you want to use are worthwhile. There is no point using automation just for the sake of it.
However, as you can see from the above, automation tools like automated ad bidding, responsive search ads, and smart campaigns can all be incredibly effective when used right. They can help streamline your ad creation and management process ultimately meaning your PPC efforts are cost-effective and your time is spent wisely.
If you need support with your Google Ads campaigns or a digital marketing strategy, Get in touch or call 0115 880 0211. Our experts are on hand and willing to help.
