Ready to transform your Google Ads management? Let’s dive into battle tested strategies that can boost your ROI like never before.

Here’s a quick story that we’ll look at throughout this post. A couple of years ago, I was working with a small e-commerce business selling handmade jewelry.

The owner, Sarah, had tried PPC and was reluctant to do it again because it had burned through her budget with no results. We convinced her, ultimately, and in just three months, her Google Ads campaigns delivered a 300% ROI. How’d we do it?

What Is Pay-Per-Click Advertising?

PPC is an Internet marketing model where advertisers pay a fee every time one of their ads is clicked. Essentially, you could say it’s a way of buying visits to your site, rather than attempting to “earn” those visits organically.

Google Ads is the most popular PPC advertising system in the world, which allows businesses to place ads on top of Google’s search results pages.

The actual value of PPC is its extent of measurability and controllability. You can track every aspect of your campaign, from impressions and clicks to conversions and ROI. Plus, you control exactly who sees those ads, and how much you spend.

Like Sarah, many think PPC is way too costly to be worth it. However, according to WordStream, businesses make an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on Google Ads. That is — if it’s done right. So let’s do it right.

Set Up Your Google Ads Account

To start running ads, Here’s a quick step-by-step you can follow:

• Go to ads.google.com and click “Start Now”
• Set your account preferences (country, time zone, currency)
• Create your first campaign (we’ll dive deeper into campaign types later)
• Set your budget
• Create your first ad group and ads
• Add your billing information

INSIGHT: Link your Google Ads account with Google Analytics. This allows you to gain deeper insights into what happens after people click on your ads.

For Sarah’s jewelry business, we started with a simple search campaign targeting people looking for handmade jewelry. With a modest daily budget of $20 to start, we were able to test the waters without breaking the bank.

Keyword Research Determines PPC Ad Quality

One of the most crucial aspects of PPC: keyword research. This is basically the backbone or foundation of your PPC campaigns. Choosing correctly allows you to reach your customers at the moment they search for what you’re offering. Choosing the wrong ones can be a very costly mistake, because you’ll end up paying Google for irrelevant clicks that won’t convert.

Some tips for effective keyword research:

• Start with broad terms related to your business, then get specific
• Use keyword research tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs
• Look for long-tail keywords (they’re often less competitive and more targeted)
• Consider search intent (are people looking to buy, or just researching?)
• Don’t forget about negative keywords (words that shouldn’t trigger your ads)

For Sarah, we began with broad terms like “handmade jewelry” but quickly found that specific terms like “unique silver necklaces” or “handcrafted boho earrings” performed better. We also included negative keywords like “cheap” and “wholesale” to avoid attracting the wrong audience and wasting costly clicks.

Bullseye Ad Copy, Anyone?

You’ve got the right keywords, but not every ad will convince your target audience to click. Effective ad copy is imperative. Only then you have ads that people can’t wait to click.

• Include your main keyword in your headline
• Highlight what makes you unique (your USP)
• Use power words that trigger emotions or create urgency
• Include a clear call-to-action (CTA)
• Take advantage of ad extensions to provide more information
• Remember, you have limited space in a Google Ad, so make every word count!

This is what one of Sarah’s jewelry ads looked like:

Headline: Unique Handcrafted Jewelry | One-of-a-Kind Pieces Description: Discover beautiful, ethically made jewelry. Free shipping on orders over $50. Shop now!

We also used site link extensions to highlight different collections, and a promotion extension for a special offer.

Convert With Landing Page Optimization

Your ad has done its job — someone has clicked. Now it’s your landing page’s job to seal the deal. The most high-converting landing pages include these elements:

• Content on your landing page matches your ad (message match)
• A clear, compelling headline
• The benefits of your product or service
• Trust signals (testimonials, reviews, security badges)
• A clear, prominent call-to-action
• The page loads quickly and is mobile-friendly

For Sarah, we created multiple landing pages to match each ad group.

For example, the “boho earrings” ad led to a page showcasing her boho earring collection, with customer photos, reviews, and a clear “Shop Now” button.

Optimize Campaign Structure

To manage your ads effectively and hit the success jackpot, a well-organized campaign structure is crucial. Here’s a basic structure to follow:

• Campaign level: Set your budget and choose your target locations
• Ad group level: Group similar keywords together
• Keyword level: Choose your match types and bids
• Ad level: Create multiple ad variations to test

For Sarah’s jewelry business, we planned and launched separate campaigns for each major jewelry category (necklaces, earrings, bracelets).

Within each campaign, we had ad groups for different styles (boho, minimalist, statement).

This structure not only allowed us to create highly targeted ads, but also easily manage our budget across different product lines.

Bidding Strategies

It’s all about balancing cost with performance. Google Ads offer various bidding strategies to help you get the clicks you need. Here are some common ones:

• Manual CPC: You set the max CPC for each keyword
• Automated bidding: Google adjusts your bids to get the most clicks within your budget
• Target CPA: Google sets bids to get as many conversions as possible at your target cost per acquisition
• Target ROAS: Google sets bids to get the most conversion value at your target return on ad spend

For Sarah’s campaigns, we began with manual CPC to fully control costs. As we gathered data, we switched to Target ROAS, aiming for a 300% return on ad spend.

How to Boost Your Quality Score 

This is the key to lower cost and better ad placement. Quality Score is Google’s rating of the quality and relevance of your keywords and PPC ads. It determines your cost per click (CPC). Multiplied by your maximum bid, it determines your ad rank in the ad auction process.

How do you improve your Quality Score? You can do this by:

• Improving your click-through rate (CTR)
• Writing relevant and targeted ad copy
• Creating messaged matched, high-quality landing pages
• Using ad extensions

For Sarah, we improved Quality Score by continually refining our ad copy and landing pages. Over time, our average Quality Score increased from 5 to 8, resulting in lower CPCs and more prime ad positions.

The Superpower of Ad Extensions 

Ad extensions are additional pieces of information that can be added to your ads, making them more informative and engaging. Some popular extensions include:

• Sitelink extensions: Additional links to specific pages on your site
• Callout extensions: Extra text to highlight specific offers or benefits
• Structured snippet extensions: Lists of products or services
• Call extensions: Your phone number
• Location extensions: Your business address

We used a combination of these for Sarah’s ads. Sitelinks to different collections, callouts highlighting free shipping and handcrafted quality, and structured snippets listing types of jewelry — all helped improve our click-through rates.

Track, Measure, Decide

We can’t stop talking about the biggest advantages of PPC — measurability. Here are some key metrics to track:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of people who click your ad after seeing it
• Conversion Rate: The percentage of clicks that result in a desired action (like a purchase)
• Cost Per Click (CPC): How much you’re paying for each click
• Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): How much you’re paying for each conversion
• Return On Ad Spend (ROAS): The revenue generated for every dollar spent on ads

For Sarah, we set up conversion tracking to measure not just clicks, but actual sales. This data was used to refine our campaigns, focusing more budget on the keywords and ads that drove the most revenue.

Test, Optimize, Improve 

Ultimate PPC success isn’t an overnight feat. One requires constant testing and optimization to ensure you’re allocating your budget to the right ads. Otherwise, you’ll blow through your budget and have nothing to show for it.

Here are some things you should be regularly testing:

• Ad copy: Try different headlines, descriptions, and CTAs
• Landing pages: Test different layouts, images, and copy
• Bid strategies: Compare manual vs. automated bidding
• Targeting: Test different locations, times, or devices
• Ad schedules: See if certain times of day, or days of the week, perform better

Testing constantly for Sarah’s campaigns,, we discovered that ads highlighting the story behind each jewelry piece performed better than those focusing on price. We also discovered that her ads performed best in the evenings and on weekends, so we adjusted our ad schedule accordingly.

Retarget To Bring Back Visitors 

Not everyone who clicks your ad will convert on their first visit — and that’s where retargeting comes in. Retargeting allows you to show ads to people who have previously visited your website. You know they’re interested, and they need another nudge. Give it to them.

To set up retargeting:

• Add the Google Ads retargeting tag to your website
• Create a retargeting list in Google Ads
• Create a new campaign or ad group targeting this list
• Create ads specifically for these previous visitors

For Sarah’s business, our retargeting ads showcased the same products people had viewed, along with a special offer for first-time buyers. These retargeting campaigns ended up having a 20% higher conversion rate than our regular campaigns.

Leverage Audience Data

Reach the right audience. Google Ads offers various audience targeting options to help you reach the right people. Some options include:

• Demographic targeting: Age, gender, parental status, etc.
• Affinity audiences: People with specific interests
• In-market audiences: People actively researching or planning to purchase
• Custom intent audiences: Create your own audiences based on keywords and URLs

For Sarah’s campaigns, we used in-market audiences for jewelry and gifts, as well as affinity audiences interested in fashion and accessories. Basically, we were able to reach people who were more likely to be interested in her products.

Don’t Forget Smartphone Users

Mobile optimization is important. More people than ever before are conducting Google searches on their mobile devices. Needless to say, unless you’re optimizing your PPC campaigns for mobile, you’re losing out. Here are some tips:

• Create mobile-preferred ads
• Ensure your landing pages are mobile-friendly
• Use mobile bid adjustments to bid more (or less) for mobile traffic
• Take advantage of mobile-specific ad extensions like click-to-call

For Sarah’s campaigns, we had separate mobile ads with shorter, punchier copy. After noticing that mobile visitors had a higher conversion rate, we increased our bids for mobile traffic.

Time To Maximize ROI

You’ve now learned the basics of PPC, and what you need to know about advanced strategies like retargeting and audience targeting. Remember that mastering Google Ads is a journey. Commit to continuous learning and optimization, and get ready to convert!

But here’s the thing, to maximize your ROI on Google Ads, you need to monitor, test, optimize. Now, repeat. It’s hard work, but it works.