Many companies find it hard to attract truly interested leads. Here’s how many companies today use Google Ads:
- Using broad match types in Google Ads, resulting in thousands of irrelevant searches.
- Focusing on getting the cheapest leads, not necessarily the best ones.
- Using gated content and specific keywords to earn emails, even though buying intent might be mixed.
- Designing landing pages that don’t let visitors easily explore the rest of the site.
This way of using Google Ads can make it look like the ads are working because of all the traffic and emails collected. But it doesn’t do a great job at bringing in the kind of people who are ready to become customers.
The real challenge is not just to get a lot of leads but to get the right kind of leads – ones that are truly interested and more likely to buy what you’re offering.
Let’s now look at different ways to improve the quality of leads you get from Google ads.
Turn off Broad Match keywords
Broad match keywords in Google ads can be problematic because they’re often too general.
For example, if you use a broad match keyword like “shoes,” your ad might show up for searches that aren’t relevant to your specific offering, such as “children’s shoes,” “shoe repair,” or “hiking shoes,” even if you only sell formal footwear.
This leads to lower quality leads because the people seeing your ads aren’t necessarily looking for what you’re offering.
Switching to more specific keywords can significantly improve this. Using ‘Exact Match’ and ‘Phrase Match’ keywords, like “men’s formal shoes” or “women’s evening shoes,” ensures your ads match more closely with what people are actually searching for.
Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner can help you find these more targeted keywords. The goal is to find a sweet spot where your keywords are specific enough to attract the right audience, but not so specific that they limit your ad’s visibility.
Also, creating strong negative keyword lists can help you exclude terms that are irrelevant to your business, ensuring your ads are seen by a more appropriate audience.
Bid on high-intent search terms for more qualified leads
High-intent search terms are keywords that indicate a user is more likely to be interested in purchasing your product or service.
For example, someone searching for “buy accounting software” shows a clearer intent to purchase than someone just searching for “accounting.”
By targeting these high-intent terms, you’re more likely to attract visitors who are further along in the buying process and are seriously considering a purchase.
This strategy might be more expensive, but it often leads to higher quality leads and better conversion rates.
Direct traffic to informative and open web pages
The destination of your ads matters just as much as the ads themselves. Directing traffic to pages that allow potential buyers to freely explore your website can significantly improve lead quality.
These pages should provide comprehensive information about your products or services, including pricing details, how the product works, case studies, and other relevant content.
By offering visitors the freedom to browse and learn at their own pace, you’re more likely to engage prospects who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.
This approach helps educate potential customers and build trust, which is crucial for converting leads into sales.
Optimize ad placements
Suppose you run a business specializing in professional career coaching services. You decide to use Google Ads to increase your visibility.
However, if you opt into the Google Display Network without careful consideration, your ads might end up on a wide array of websites and apps, including those that are not relevant to your target audience.
For example, your ad could appear on a gaming app or a hobbyist blog, which are unlikely to be frequented by your ideal clientele, who are professionals seeking career advancement.
This mismatch can lead to your ads receiving clicks from users who have little to no interest in professional coaching, resulting in low-quality traffic and a waste of your advertising budget.
To prevent this, you might choose to remove the Google Display Network from your ad placements, focusing instead on sites and platforms where your target audience is more likely to be found.
By doing so, you can ensure that your ads are displayed in contexts more aligned with your services, like professional development blogs, career advice websites, or even LinkedIn.
This targeted approach in ad placements not only improves the quality of your leads but also enhances the overall effectiveness of your ad spend.
Employ geotargeting for better leads
This approach is particularly vital for businesses where physical location is key. Imagine you own a local bakery in Boston. You decide to use Google Ads to attract more customers.
However, if your geotargeting settings are too broad, you might end up reaching people who are simply interested in Boston or bakeries in general, but not necessarily located in or planning to visit Boston.
This means your ads could be seen by someone in Los Angeles who has no way of actually visiting your bakery, leading to inefficient ad spending and less relevant leads.
To refine your approach, you would use geotargeting with a ‘presence only’ setting. This means your ads are shown strictly to people who are physically in Boston.
So, when someone in Boston searches for “freshly baked bread near me” or “best bakery in Boston,” your ad appears.
This targeted strategy ensures that your ads reach potential customers who are in the area and can actually visit your bakery.
Use Google ads to see how your ads are doing in different places. Click on ‘Campaigns’, then ‘Insights and reports’, and check ‘When and where ads showed.’
Check which areas give you good leads and which don’t. You might find that some specific areas or pincodes always give poor results.
Keep checking and changing where you show your ads to make sure you’re always reaching the best audience for your business.
Tweak your landing page
The way you set up your landing page can help filter out people who aren’t likely to become customers. For instance, if you’re selling solar panels, ask questions on your landing page that someone interested in solar panels can easily answer.
Questions like “What’s your average electricity bill?” or “Do you own your home?” are relevant to your product. These kinds of questions might seem odd to someone looking for a job, which means they’re less likely to fill out your form, leaving more room for genuine leads.
You can also add a small link somewhere before the form titled ‘Looking for a job?’ which takes job-seekers somewhere else on your site and away from your lead form.
Use ad scheduling
Ad scheduling is a powerful tool in Google ads that lets you choose when your ads appear. Not all times of day are equally effective for every business.
By restricting your ad hours, you can target times when your potential customers are most active and engaged, and when your sales team is most able to respond.
For instance, if you know your target audience is more likely to search for your products or services from 8 am to 6 pm, schedule your ads to run only during these times. This improves the quality of leads and helps with budget management.
Use CRM and offline conversions for smarter keyword insights
Let’s say you run an online furniture store. You’re using Google Ads and you notice you’re getting a lot of clicks, but these aren’t always turning into sales.
Here’s where your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and offline conversion tracking come into play.
By integrating your CRM data with Google Ads, you can track which keywords are actually leading to sales, not just website visits.
For instance, you might find that the keyword “luxury leather sofas” leads to more actual purchases than the keyword “cheap sofas,” despite both getting a similar number of clicks.
This is a valuable insight because it tells you that customers searching for “luxury leather sofas” are more likely to buy from your store.
Using this information, you can adjust your Google Ads strategy to focus more on keywords that are proven to drive sales, in this case, “luxury leather sofas.”
This way, you’re not just attracting traffic, but traffic that is more likely to convert into paying customers.
This targeted approach, informed by real sales data, helps in allocating your ad budget more effectively, ensuring a better return on investment.
Warn your team before making these changes
When making these changes, it’s good to let your leaders know what to expect. At first, the number of people visiting your website might go down.
This is because you’re getting rid of search terms and keywords that don’t bring in the right kind of visitors, and focusing on the ones that do.
Because of this, the amount of leads you get might also decrease since you’re cutting out the ones that aren’t a good fit for your business.
The cost for each lead might go up too. This happens because the more specific, high-intent keywords that are more likely to lead to sales can cost more than general, just-looking-around types of searches.
But this isn’t a bad thing. By aiming for better quality leads, the chances of these leads turning into actual sales go up.
This means, in the long run, your business is more likely to see an increase in real sales opportunities and more income, which is really important for your business’s growth.
Wrap up
In sum, the goal is to connect with real potential customers, not just anyone. By focusing on quality and using data to guide your choices, your Google Ads can bring in more valuable leads and help your business grow.
Learn more about my Google Ads management service today.