Search advertising: how to show yourself to the masses

One of the greatest things about digital marketing is learning why some campaigns succeed while others fail. The question is how can you achieve good results and what lead generation strategies actually work in Google Ads. 

We have selected the TOP 3 such solutions for you. With these proven lead generation tips, you can get started quickly, even on a small budget—and generate leads on the first try.

These leads will be more qualified and ready to buy compared to other paid advertising channels. So here are three simple AdWords strategies you'll need to get the most leads and conversions.

• Use Money Phrases

We all know how important proper keyword targeting is for advertising. However, for lead generation you need to use not just popular keywords, but so-called “money phrases”, that is, “keys” that are highly likely to lead to a purchase.

“Money phrases,” or transactional keywords as they are also called, often include the term “service” or “buy.” It is assumed that the customer is looking for a service or product in order to receive advice or make a purchasing decision.

Examples of such key phrases are “buy sneakers”, “husband’s service for an hour”, “how much does it cost to paint the walls” and the like. If location matters, you can add location identifiers to money phrases. An example would be “buy umbrellas at a discount Moscow”. 

It is important to note the difference between transactional keywords and other types of "keys" - informational, navigational and commercial.

Informational keywords, as the name suggests, generate leads that may not yet be ready to buy. As part of such requests, they are looking for answers to questions like “How”, “Why”, life hacks and ideas.

Navigation keywords focus on learning more about a company or product—for example, getting instructions—and use the name of the service, brand, or product in queries. 

The closest commercial keywords to “money phrases” are searching for reviews, comparing products and services. These may include terms such as "review", "select" or "best". 

To summarize: a transactional keyword is a type of keyword that can lead to a commercial transaction.

• How to Search for Money Phrases for Your Business

Now that you know what transactional keywords are, the question is how to use them correctly. Here are the 2 steps you need to go through. 

• Identify relevant keywords 

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, AdWords Campaign Keyword Finder, and Google Trends to find out which keywords are popular. Combine them with typical representative queries for each type of keyword from our chart. You can also select a relevant semantic core using other services - you can read more about the intricacies and recommended programs in our separate material.

• Link your landing pages correctly

Now is the time to link your keywords to your landing pages—just don't use only transactional words in your ads. This step works best if you "close" landing pages across the board based on funnel levels.

For example, informational pages should be at the top of the funnel. They reach potential customers looking for information about your products or services. 

The next stage is navigation, that is, pages leading to related articles about a product or service.

Next are your sales pages, which begin to drive sales. 

Finally, you need transaction pages with service features, a registration form, pricing information, and a checkout form.

Duplicate “keys” on the landing page with keywords in the ad

To increase your lead generation, it's important to promote the same message in both your landing page copy and your ad copy. The phrase should not be made completely identical, but the user’s intention should be the same, that is, planning a consultation, action or making a purchase. Add keywords to your landing page tags to drive more traffic to your landing page. 

For example, Optimizely conducted an experiment to better align its ad copy with its landing page. The company sometimes referred to its services as a split testing tool and sometimes as an A/B testing tool. They thought they could attract more potential customers if they chose one term or another. 

For the final decision, the company should conduct an A/B test on which option performs better: Option A with similar keywords in the ad and landing page or Option B with different keywords.

The result was logical: only 12.21% of users became leads as a result of using different “keys”. Identity brought in many more leads key queries - as much as 39.1%. 

• Do A/B Testing Correctly

By switching to the advanced settings in Google Ads, you can A/B test two or more CTAs, as well as a large number of texts and headlines.

But if you're starting with a limited advertising budget, you shouldn't A/B test more than three ad variations at a time. Why?

With such a limited budget, you probably won't get many daily impressions. You want to determine the most effective ad in a short period of time. If there are too many options spread across too many ads, it will be harder to tell which one performs best statistically.

You just need enough data to determine the success of your A/B test. This is known as statistical relevance. As a rule, for an adequate assessment, you need at least 300 conversions or clicks to know which ad copy will perform best.

For example, marketing agency clickTRUE conducted A/B testing in Google Ads to determine which landing page version generated the most sales and leads.

But it was only after clickTRUE selected two of the landing pages they tested that their click-through rates increased. The campaign's CTR was now around 3%, up from the previous 0.8%. 

• Use ad extensions

Think of Google Ads extensions as a marketing assistant. By adding links, promotions, prices or contact information, you will make your ad more visible and a real lead magnet. You can also attract more traffic with these extensions.

In this case, users can also find out more about your company, contact you for a consultation, or even fill out a form.

For example, Accor Hotels regularly uses extensions to increase footfall. The hotel brand has been around for decades, since 1967, but they have admittedly struggled to gain traction as technology has taken over hotel booking entirely.

To reach users directly, Accor uses Google extensions, improving its CTR and traffic. Using Google extensions, Accor's latest ad campaign had more conversions +14%, a higher click-through rate thanks to structured snippet extensions +19% and social app links +16%, and a better click-through rate thanks to sitelinks +24% .

• Consider the user experience

Your website acts as a funnel and Google Ads works to fill it. If your funnel leaks like a sieve, you'll be wasting that traffic. Google Ads traffic with low conversion rates quickly becomes expensive, and negative ROAS is not something any advertiser can tolerate for long.

If your site is getting traffic but not getting leads, you have a user experience problem, not a Google Ads problem. Why is user experience important for conversions and leads?

The Internet has given consumers more options than ever before. You can compare products and services on dozens of different sites almost any time. You no longer need to travel from store to store to find what you are looking for. E-commerce has revolutionized the way we shop. There was a time when we waited days, weeks or months to get what we wanted. Now users find it difficult to wait at all. 

To build the right strategy, ask yourself 2 questions:

How many times have you clicked on a link to go to a website and then quickly left when it took more than a few seconds to load?

1. How often do you try to find the information you need on a website and then give up and move on to another resource?
2. Your answers build a successful user experience strategy for lead generation.
   
   The main 5 factors for it are the following:

• the site loads quickly and is configured so that the user can find exactly what he is looking for with minimal effort;
• there is no need to look for additional information before making a purchasing decision, because the site on which the user is located has direct links to it;
• reviews from others who have already purchased the product the user is reviewing are right in front of him
• All the necessary specifications are presented and there are enough high-quality photographs from different angles to properly examine the product.
• There is a chatbot or live chat feature through which the user can get immediate answers to questions from a customer service representative.

Source: romi.center 

Every visitor to your site should receive high speed, easy-to-use navigation, a fast and easy ordering process, and all the information possible. In short: Find out what exactly your best prospects want, and then try to help them get it. But this can be done not only using your own website, but also using the special advertising format Google Ads