Google Ads (formerly known as Google Adwords) have long been a vital advertising platform for numerous Australian businesses and the momentum is showing no signs of slowing down. With countless factors to consider when setting up and optimising a campaign, one of the most pivotal aspects, yet one which is often overlooked, is the budget.
With Google Ads, you can’t just throw money at the wall and hope some of it sticks. That’s where Google Ads campaign budget optimisation comes in. In this article, we’ll explore the importance of optimising campaign budgets, how to manage them effectively, and the best campaign budget practices to maximise your ROI as an Australian advertiser.
What is Campaign Budget Optimisation?
Campaign Budget Optimisation (CBO) is a Google Ads feature that automatically distributes your budget across ad sets to achieve optimal results. Instead of setting a budget for each ad set individually, Google Ads dynamically allocates your campaign’s budget to ad sets based on real-time performance data. This ensures that your money is funnelled into the most high-performing ads, maximising ROI.
How do I Optimise My Budget for Google Ads?
Optimising your budget for Google Ads requires careful planning, monitoring and having a strategy in place.
Define Clear Objectives
Start by setting specific and measurable goals for your Google Ads campaign. Whether it’s driving website traffic, generating leads, increasing sales, or raising brand awareness, having clear objectives will guide your budget optimisation efforts.
Conduct Keyword Research
Identify relevant keywords and search terms that your target audience is likely to use when searching for products or services like yours. Google’s Keyword Planner and other keyword research tools can help you discover high-potential keywords.
Organise Your Campaigns and Ad Groups
Structure your Google Ads account into well-organised campaigns and ad groups. Group keywords with similar themes together and create relevant ad copy for each ad group. This organisation will help improve the quality score of your ads, which can positively impact your budget performance.
Set Realistic Budget Limits
Determine a realistic budget based on your advertising goals and the cost of keywords in your industry. Start with a daily budget that you are comfortable spending and that aligns with your objectives.
Optimise Landing Pages
Ensure that the landing pages linked to your Google Ads are optimised for the specific keywords and ad copy you are using. The landing pages should offer a seamless and relevant user experience to increase conversion rates.
Use Ad Extensions
Take advantage of ad extensions like sitelinks, callouts, call extensions, and location extensions to enhance your ad’s visibility and relevance. Ad extensions can improve ad performance without increasing your budget significantly.
Monitor Performance
Regularly monitor the performance of your Google Ads campaign using Google Ads reporting tools. Keep track of key metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, cost per click (CPC), and return on ad spend (ROAS).
Analyse Data and Adjust
Use the data from your Google Ads reports to identify underperforming keywords, ad groups, or campaigns. Shift your budget towards the best-performing elements and consider pausing or optimising the poorly performing ones.
Set Bid Adjustments
Adjust your bids based on the performance of different keywords and devices. Allocate higher bids to keywords that convert well and lower bids to less effective ones.
Consider Ad Scheduling
Analyse the data to identify the most effective times and days for your ads to appear. Adjust your ad scheduling to focus on peak hours and days when your target audience is most active.
Use Targeting Options
Leverage Google Ads’ targeting options, including geographic targeting, demographic targeting, and device targeting, to reach the most relevant audience while reducing unnecessary spend.
A/B Testing
Continuously conduct A/B testing for your ad copy and landing pages to identify which variations perform better. This iterative process can lead to better-performing ads and improved ROI.
Monitor Competitor Activity
Keep an eye on your competitors’ ads and strategies to stay ahead in the game. While you don’t need to copy their tactics, understanding what works for them can provide valuable insights.
Experiment with Different Ad Formats
Explore various ad formats, such as text ads, display ads, video ads, and shopping ads. Different formats may resonate differently with your audience and impact your budget performance.
Optimise for Mobile
Given the increasing number of mobile users, ensure your ads and landing pages are mobile-friendly to capitalise on this growing segment effectively.
Test New Opportunities
Google Ads regularly introduces new features and opportunities. Keep yourself updated with the latest trends and experiment with new features that align with your goals.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Do I really have to do all of that just to optimise my budget effectively?” And the answer is a resounding YES – but fortunately, Google has several built-in tools to help you maximise the efficacy of your spending.
Should I Use Campaign Budget Optimisation?
Absolutely. CBO can be a game-changer, especially for advertisers who manage multiple ad sets. By trusting Google’s machine learning algorithms, you allow the platform to automatically funnel your budget where it’ll drive the best results. This is particularly useful when unsure about which ad sets will perform best. It’s a way to ensure that your google ads campaign budget works hardest for you.
How Do You Set Up Campaign Budget Optimisation?
Setting up CBO is easy and straightforward:
- Go to your Google Ads account.
- Choose the campaign you want to apply CBO to.
- In the campaign settings, find the ‘Budget’ section.
- Switch the budget type from ‘Daily’ to ‘Campaign Budget Optimisation’.
- Set your desired budget, and Google will distribute it across ad sets for optimal performance.
How to Analyse Your Google Campaign Budget?
It’s crucial to regularly analyse Google campaign budget to ensure you’re maximising the value you’re getting out of your spending. Here’s how to do it:
Use Google Ads’ Reporting Features: Navigate to the ‘Reports’ section of Google Ads to view various metrics related to your campaigns, including ROI.
Focus on ROI: Use the ‘campaign budgets for ROI’ metric to determine if your ad spend is translating into desired results, like conversions or leads.
Compare Performance Over Time: Look at campaign performance weekly, monthly, and yearly to identify trends.
Assess Ad Set Performance: With CBO, it’s essential to know which ad sets are getting more of the budget and why. This will help you understand the ‘why’ behind your campaign’s performance.
Advanced Strategies for Maximising Your Budget
Want to take your budget optimisation a step further? Follow these tips to make your money go even farther when advertising with Google Ads.
Implement Remarketing
Remarketing allows you to target users who have previously interacted with your website or ads. These audiences are more likely to convert, so using remarketing can help you optimise your budget by focusing on users with higher intent. Create tailored ad messaging for remarketing audiences to encourage them to return and complete their desired actions.
Utilise Audience Targeting
Take advantage of Google Ads’ audience targeting options, such as in-market audiences, affinity audiences, and custom intent audiences. By reaching users who have demonstrated specific interests or behaviours related to your products or services, you can improve the efficiency of your ad spend.
Negative Keywords
Regularly review search terms that trigger your ads and add negative keywords to exclude irrelevant searches. This ensures your ads are shown to the most relevant audience and prevents wasting budget on clicks that are unlikely to convert.
Geographic Optimisation
Analyse the performance of your ads in different locations and adjust your bidding accordingly. You can allocate a higher budget to areas with higher conversion rates and reduce spend in regions where your ads perform poorly.
Ad Schedule Bid Adjustments
Use ad schedule bid adjustments to modify your bids based on the time of day and day of the week. If certain hours or days show higher conversion rates or better performance, allocate more budget during those times.
Budget Share Across Campaigns
If you’re running multiple campaigns, analyse the performance of each and allocate budget based on their effectiveness. Shift more budget towards campaigns that are driving better results and consider pausing or reducing the budget for lower-performing campaigns.
Consider Smart Campaigns
If you have limited time and resources to manage your Google Ads campaigns, consider using Google’s Smart Campaigns. These campaigns use machine learning to optimise your budget automatically based on your goals.
Monitor Device Performance
Review the performance of your ads on different devices (desktop, mobile, tablet). If one device is generating significantly better results, adjust your bids accordingly to ensure you’re maximising conversions on that platform.
Budget Segmentation
Experiment with segmenting your budget to test different strategies. For example, you might allocate a portion of your budget to new keyword testing, another to remarketing, and the rest to high-converting campaigns.
Monitor Quality Score
Google’s Quality Score impacts your ad’s position and cost-per-click. Improve your Quality Score by creating highly relevant ad copy and landing pages to reduce the amount you need to bid to maintain ad placement.
What If I Still Need Help Setting Up and Analysing My Google Ads Campaign Budget?
It’s understandable to feel overwhelmed when it comes to setting up and managing your Google Ads budget and campaigns. Fortunately, we’ve created a variety of helpful guides to walk you through the process. From avoiding common mistakes to taking steps to maximise ROI our library is full of tips, guides and best practices when working with Google Ads.
Be sure to check out our Beginner’s Guide if all of this talk of budget optimisation and split testing feels like it’s going right over your head, or if you’re ready to launch, be sure you’re fully prepared with our thorough Campaign Checklist.
Contact us today to learn more about our comprehensive Google Ads management for Australian businesses!
