"Develop a Paid Search Strategy that Delivers Greater Roi." Presentation by Greg Jarboe at Ragan's Google for Communicators Virtual Bootcamp May 13, 2020

1. Develop a Paid Search Strategy
that Delivers Greater ROI
Greg Jarboe
President and co-founder of SEO-PR
Ragan’s Google for Communicators Virtual Bootcamp
May 13, 2020
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2. Some assembly required to develop a paid search
strategy for Google Ads that delivers greater ROI
• Develop a budget for Google Ads that
makes sense for your marketing goals.
• Follow a few easy steps to create and
adjust a successful Search campaign.
• Employ several simple tactics to
create an effective Display campaign.
• Try the free YouTube Video Builder to
launch a high-quality Video campaign.
• Use Optimize for A/B testing and
Performance Planner to maximize ROI.
• Learn from successes and mistakes.
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3. Tell Google your organization’s marketing goal and
you’ll get a tailored set of campaign types and tools
• Click on what you want to achieve and
an interactive Google tool will show
you what’s right for your business.
• Drive an increase in sales.
• Reach the right users to get qualified
leads.
• Get the right people to visit your website.
• Encourage people to explore what you
offer.
• Get your brand in front of new
customers.
• Promote your app across Google
properties.
Source: Google Ads, Explore Advanced Campaigns and Advertising Strategies 3

4. If brand awareness or consideration is your goal,
then a subset of campaigns and tools are suggested
• Best campaign types:
• Display campaigns capture attention with
compelling visual ads.
• Video campaigns bring your company’s
story to life with video.
• Useful tools:
• Keyword Planner offers suggested bid
estimates for each keyword.
• Reach Planner helps you target the
YouTube audiences that matter most.
• YouTube Video Builder animates static
assets – images, text, and logos – with
free music from YouTube’s library.
Source: Google Ads, Explore Advanced Campaigns and Advertising Strategies 4

5. If your goal is website traffic, leads, or sales, then
Google suggests using all campaign types and tools
• All campaign types can play a role:
• Search campaigns can reach people who
are interested in what you offer.
• Display campaigns can retarget the
people who’ve visited your site before.
• TrueView for action campaigns can add
prominent calls-to-action (CTAs),
headline text overlays, an end-screen,
and sitelinks to your video ads.
• Helpful tools:
• Keyword Planner offers suggested bid
estimates for each keyword.
• Reach Planner helps you target the
YouTube audiences that matter most.
Source: Google Ads, Explore Advanced Campaigns and Advertising Strategies 5

6. Google Surveys asks people why they visited your
site and if they successfully completed their goals
• Website satisfaction survey is free.
• Overall, how satisfied are you with this
website?
• What, if anything, do you find frustrating
or unappealing about this website?
• What is your main reason for visiting this
website today?
• Did you successfully complete your main
reason for visiting this website today?
• Custom website surveys are cheap.
• You can create additional surveys with
customized questions for 1¢ per response
or $5.00 for 500 responses.
Source: Google Surveys Help, Website Satisfaction 6

7. Get started with your first Search campaign by
taking a few basic and a couple of advanced steps
• Pick the right keywords.
• Choose relevant keywords for effective
targeting.
• Align your keywords with your overall
business goals.
• Write great text ads.
• Write ads that tell people what you offer.
• Enhance your ad with the right
extensions.
• Set your budget.
• Set a daily budget and cost per click.
• Use Smart Bidding to optimize for
conversions or conversion value.
Source: Google Ads, Get Started with Google Ads: Create a Campaign 7

8. Average cost-per-click (CPC) for Google Ads is $2.69
for search and $0.63 for display across 18 industries
• Average CPC for legal services is $6.75
for search and $0.72 for display.
• So, if a lawyer wanted 10 clicks a day,
then he or she would need to budget
about $67.50 a day ($2,025 a month) for
search ads and $7.20 a day ($216 a
month) for display ads.
• Average CPC for advocacy and
nonprofit groups is $1.43 for search
and $0.62 for display.
• So, if a nonprofit wanted 10 clicks a day,
then it would need to budget about
$14.30 a day ($429 a month) for search
ads and $6.20 a day ($186 a month) for
display ads.
Source: Mark Irvine, The WordStream Blog, “Google Ads Benchmarks for YOUR Industry,” Aug. 27, 2019 8

9. Create goals from a template in Google Analytics
and assign them a goal value or select Smart Goals
• Google Analytics has Goal templates
to help you set actionable goals for
standard organizational objectives.
• The four goal categories are: Revenue,
Acquisition, Inquiry, and Engagement.
• Assign a monetary value to each goal.
• This gives you a way to compare
conversions and measure changes and
improvements to your site.
• Or, set up Smart Goals.
• If you aren’t yet measuring conversions,
Smart Goals uses machine learning to
optimize your Google Ads performance.
Source: Google Analytics Help, Create, edit, and share goals 9

10. The average cost-per-action (CPA) is $48.96 for
search and $75.51 for display across 18 industries
• Average CPA for B2B companies is
$116.13 for search and $130.36 for
display.
• So, if a B2B company wanted 10 leads a
day, then it would need to budget about
$1,161.30 a day ($34,839 a month) for
search ads and $1,303.60 a day ($39,108
a month) for display ads.
• Average CPA for autos is $33.52 for
search and $23.68 for display.
• So, if a car dealer wanted 10 leads a day,
then he or she would need to budget
about $335.20 a day ($10,056 a month)
for search ads and $236,80 a day ($7,104
a month) for display ads.
Source: Mark Irvine, The WordStream Blog, “Google Ads Benchmarks for YOUR Industry,” Aug. 27, 2019 10

11. Employ several simple tactics to create an effective
Display campaign for the Google Display Network
• The Google Display Network reaches
90% of Internet users worldwide.
• It includes 2 million websites and apps.
• Get started with several simple tactics.
• Choose the right format: Select from
image or rich media ads, text-based
banner ads, or image ads in mobile apps.
• Reach the right people: Connect with
more potential customers with Google’s
targeting options like keywords,
demographics, location, and remarketing.
• Set your budget: Only pay for results, like
when people click your ad to visit your
website.
Source: Google Ads, Google Ads Tutorials: Building successful Display campaigns 11

12. Create Smart Display campaigns, which automate
and then optimize your targeting, bidding, and ads
• Powered by Google’s machine
learning, Smart Display campaigns
combine your headlines and images to
create responsive display ads.
• A Smart Display campaign can
automatically find new and existing
customers, set the right bids, and create
engaging ads that adapt to any screen or
ad space across the web and apps.
• On average, advertisers who’ve used
Smart Display campaigns have seen 20%
more conversions at the same cost per
action (CPA) compared to their other
display campaigns.
12Source: Google Ads, “Google Ads Tutorials: Creating a Smart Display campaign,” Dec. 3, 2018

13. If your marketing goal is lifting brand awareness or
consideration, then how do you measure results?
• Before a campaign, we used Google
Surveys to ask our target audience:
• Are you familiar with Rutgers University?
• How likely are you to recommend Rutgers
University to a friend or colleague?
• After the campaign, we asked our
target audience the same questions.
• Percentage of respondents who were
familiar with Rutgers increased from
13.8% pre-launch to 18.5% post-launch.
• Percentage of respondents who were
very likely to recommend Rutgers to a
friend or colleague increased from 16.7%
pre-launch to 19.0% post-launch.
Source: The Measurement Advisor, “Rutgers Master’s Launch Boosts Enrollment,” Sept. 30, 2019
0.00%
2.00%
4.00%
6.00%
8.00%
10.00%
12.00%
14.00%
16.00%
18.00%
20.00%
Familiar with Rutgers
University
Very likely to recommend
Rutgers University to a
friend or colleague
13.80%
16.70%
18.50% 19.0%
Google Surveys
Pre-launch Post-launch
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14. Display ads can generate traffic, leads, and sales as
well as boost brand awareness and consideration
• We also evaluated the new users and
leads generated by our ad campaigns.
• Our Search campaign generated 11% of
our new users, but 18% of the leads.
• Our Display campaign generated 81% of
our new users, but 37% of the leads.
• Both ad campaigns generated 21
applications for the new program,
worth up to $798,366 in tuition.
• So, if you focus too narrowly on just the
ad campaign that delivered the most
bang for your buck, then you may be
leaving a lot of money on the table.
Source: The Measurement Advisor, “Rutgers Master’s Launch Boosts Enrollment,” Sept. 30, 2019
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Search campaign Display campaign
11%
81%
18%
37%
Google Analytics
New users Leads
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15. Given the current environment, many businesses
are using videos to communicate with consumers
• Morning Consult is surveying
consumers on ads during the COVID-
19 pandemic to analyze how brands
can successfully communicate with
consumers during this difficult time.
• They survey over 500 adults per ad.
• As an ad plays, respondents rate their
reactions by moving a dial from
unfavorable to favorable on a scale of 100
(favorable) to -100 (unfavorable).
• DoorDash’s video, “Open for Delivery,”
has one of the highest shares of
“positive impressions,” with 84%.
Source: Morning Consult, DoorDash 15

16. Video creation is fast, easy, and free with YouTube
Video Builder, which was just launched on April 14
• For businesses who don’t have the
resources to create videos from
scratch, Video Builder can help.
• It’s a free beta tool that animates
static assets – images, text and
logos – with free music from
YouTube’s library.
• You can choose from a variety of
layouts based on your message
and goals, customize colors and
font and quickly generate a short
YouTube video that’s 6 seconds or
15 seconds long.
Source: How to use Video Builder 16

17. Video Builder was launched just a month ago, but
it’s already been used by a variety of businesses
• Different businesses have different
creative needs.
• Havenly, an online platform offering
interior design services, has used Video
Builder to enable their small team to spin
out high quality creative with increased
velocity while sheltering in place.
• Which Wich Superior Sandwiches, a fast
casual restaurant chain, has used Video
Builder to communicate changing hours
or promotions.
• Central Market, a gourmet grocery store
chain, has used Video Builder to highlight
new services like curbside pickup.
Source: Google Ads Blog, “Video creation is fast, easy and free with YouTube Video Builder,” April 14, 2020 17

18. If you’re interested in trying out the YouTube Video
Builder beta, then you need to sign up for access
• You need “Owner” or “Manager”
access to your YouTube channel.
• If the channel is managed by someone
else, they need to give you permission.
• You should have the legal rights to use
all the images or logos in the video.
• These could be from your website,
display ad campaigns, social media
assets, or even photos you’ve taken
yourself.
• YouTube Video Builder is optimized for
Google Chrome.
• Use the latest version to avoid any issues.
Source: Google Ads Help, “Create a video using Video Builder (Beta)” 18

19. Google knows that this is a difficult time for people
everywhere, including small business owners here
• To help address some of these challenges, Google has committed $800+ million
to support small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and other organizations.
• This includes $340 million in Google Ads credits to all SMBs with active accounts over the
past year that can be used at any point until the end of 2020 across advertising platforms.
• It includes $250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO) and more
than 100 government agencies globally provide critical information on how to prevent the
spread of COVID-19.
• It includes a $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions
around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital.
• It includes a pool of $20 million in Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and
researchers to leverage our computing capabilities and infrastructure as they study potential
therapies and vaccines, track critical data, and identify new ways to combat COVID-19.
• It also includes direct financial support and expertise to help increase the production capacity
for personal protective equipment (PPE) and lifesaving medical devices.
19Source: Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, “A message from our CEO,” Mar 27, 2020

20. Google knows that this is a difficult time for people
everywhere, including small business owners here
• Google has committed $800+ million
to support small- and medium-sized
businesses (SMBs) and organizations.
• This includes $340 million in Google
Ads credits to all SMBs with active
accounts over the past year that can
be used at any point until the end of
2020 across advertising platforms.
• They’ve also launched a Rising Retail
Categories tool on Think with Google
that surfaces fast-growing, product-
related categories in Google Search.
20Source: Think with Google, “Rising Retail Categories,” Mar 27, 2020

21. So, keep your customers informed, adjust your
advertising, and adapt to new customer behavior
• You should update your Google Ads
to keep your current and potential
customers up to date.
• This includes changes to your offerings,
inventory, or hours.
• You may need to adjust your budget
or pause your Google Ads campaigns.
• Even Google is cutting about half of its
marketing budget for H2 2020.
• How is customer behavior changing
in your local market and industry?
• Google Trends has unexpected insights.
21Source: Google Trends, Coronavirus daily search insights

22. While you work remotely, you could learn how to
create a simple A/B test using Google Optimize
• An A/B test is a randomized
experiment using two or more
variants of the same web page.
• Variant A is the original and variant B
through n each contain at least one
element modified from the original.
• For your first A/B test, start small.
• Test a change to a Call To Action (CTA),
change the color of a button, or remove
an extraneous form field.
• Once you’re comfortable creating
variants and experiments, you can
expand the scope of your testing.
Source: Google Analytics, Create a new experiment in Optimize 22

23. While you stay at home, you should also see if you
can maximize your ROI with Performance Planner
• Performance Planner lets you create
plans for your advertising spend, and
see how changes to campaigns might
affect overall performance.
• The Performance Planner tool takes into
account billions of search queries, and is
usually updated every 24 hours.
• The accuracy of Performance Planner
forecasts are measured against actual
performance and machine learning is
used to fine-tune your forecasts.
• The Performance Planner tool forecasts
conversions based on the different types
in your Google Ads performance reports.
Source: Google Ads Tutorials: Maximize ROI with Performance Planner 23

24. Winning awards is nice, and we’ve won our share,
but generating results for your clients pays the rent
• In October 2019, our Rutgers case
study was shortlisted in two different
categories of the US Search Awards.
• Our case study demonstrated that Digital
PR, SEO, display advertising, and search
advertising can increase brand awareness
and generate leads at the same time.
• So, the distinction between above- and
below-the-line marketing is obsolete.
• But, even before we found out if we’d
won, our client wanted us to deliver
more bang for their bucks that fall.
• Awards don’t put butts in seats.
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25. The same week we won one of the two awards, I
had to report that we’d been victims of click fraud
• In early October, we started using
ClickCease, which detects and blocks
click fraud on Google Ads campaigns.
• We were surprised that Rutgers had
experienced a high amount of fraud in
the 6 out of 10 range.
• But, ClickCease click fraud protection
software had prevented bots and
competitors from clicking on our ads.
• So, it saved our Google Ads Search
campaign 156 clicks at a CPC of
$27.53, or $4,294.70 in just a week.
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26. Develop a paid search strategy that delivers greater
ROI by learning from mistakes as well as successes
• Develop a budget for Google Ads that
makes sense for your marketing goals.
• Follow a few easy steps to create and
adjust a successful Search campaign.
• Employ several simple tactics to
create an effective Display campaign.
• Try the free YouTube Video Builder to
launch a high-quality Video campaign.
• Use Optimize for A/B testing and
Performance Planner to maximize ROI.
• Learn from successes and mistakes.
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