Last Updated on September 3, 2019 by Santhosh Muralidhar

Across the Globe, many Advertisers rely upon Google Adwords to promote their Services/Products. For every Marketer, it is important to have a Proper knowledge about the basic terminologies in Adwords. Without Properly understanding the basic terminologies it would be very tough to Understand the Advanced features of Adwords.

In this article let us have an outlook into the various terminologies of Adwords.

1. Campaigns in Adwords

A Campaign Consists of Ad groups, Ads, Keywords etc. The different types of campaigns on Adwords are Search Network Campaign, Display Network Campaign, Shopping ads campaign, Universal App Campaign and Video Campaign.

2. Ad

In Adwords An Ad Consists of the following things:

• Headline
• Second Headline
• Ad Description
• Final URL & Display URL
• Ad Extensions
• CTA

Always ensure that the Ad description contains a Unique Selling Point and one of the relevant Keyword that matches the Ad. Also, ensure that the ad headline and description do not contain irrelevant stuff like Special characters, symbols and prohibited words.

The below-Attached Screenshot shows the various component of an Ad

Ad Extension:

It increases the relevance of an Ad. There are many Ad extensions in Adwords like Call extension, Location Extension etc.

3. Ad Group

Ad group should be created based on the themes. For example, A Flower shop owner should Create a Separate and Individual Ad group for Rose Flowers, Sunflower, Hibiscus etc.

In Another example, A digital marketing agency which provides SEO & SEM Service should create two Separate and individual Ad groups for Search engine optimization and Search Engine Marketing Service.

Each Ad group can have 3-4 relevant ads and relevant keywords.

The below-attached screenshot shows an illustration of an Ad group available on Adwords.

4.Keywords

Keywords are the words which trigger your ad for a users Specific Search term. one can use the keyword planner tool to add keywords to an ad group.

5.Keyword Match Types

There are 4 Types of Keyword Match types known as

Broad Match Modifier (+):

A Broad Match Modifier is represented by a Plus Symbol. It shows your ad only when the audience search query consists of a specific word. That Specific word has to be preceded by a Plus symbol in the Ad group.

Example Keyword: +Inbound and Content +Marketing. In this case, your ad will be shown  if an audience search query contains the words best Inbound Marketing blogs

Broad Match:

As implied by the name Broad Match Broadly Matches the Keyword. It is useful when you need a big reach or impression for your ad.

Example Keyword: best social media campaigns. In this case, your ad will be shown for Audience Searching for Twitter campaigns, Facebook Campaigns etc.

The below-attached screenshot shows an illustration of Broad Match and Broad Match Modifiers on Adwords.

Phrase Match (”  “):

Phrase Match is represented by the Symbol by a Double Inverted Comma. your ad will be shown only when the users search term contains the words enclosed inside the Double Inverted Comma (” “). But there could be “N” number of words before and after the Double Inverted Comma.

Example Keyword: “successful social media marketing strategies”. In this case, the ad could be being shown  when an audience search terms contain “successful social media marketing strategies” in 2018

Exact Match ([ ]):

As implied by the name exact match exactly matches the keyword with the search terms of the Audience. It is represented by Square braces.

Example Keyword: [Twitter Marketing]. In this case, the ad will be shown if the audience search term is something like Twitter marketing. but the ad may not show for a search term like Digital Ad Campaigns in this case.

Also, Exact Match Keywords results in Low traffic but High CTR.

The below-attached screenshot shows an illustration of Phrase Match and Exact Match on Adwords.

Also, It is better to use long tail keywords (keywords with more than one word) in Adwords rather than using Short tail keywords

Example Long tail keyword: “What is digital marketing”

Example Short tail keyword: “Hats”

Also, the exact match, Phrase Match, and Broad Match Modifiers Match types allow close variations and plurals.

Negative Keywords

Negative Keywords: In simple words, these are the keywords for which the ads should never be shown.

For example, If you are promoting a digital marketing guide you might want keywords like “Traditional Marketing” “PR Marketing” to be blocked.

The below-attached screenshot shows an example list of Negative Keywords for a Camapaign in Adwords.

6. Keyword Planner

So after reading all the above things you might be wondering how to add Relevant Keywords and Block Negative Keywords for your Ad Campaign. The Solution for this is to use Keyword Planner and Search terms report.

Step 1:

Go to tools in your Adwords Dashboard. Click on Keyword Planner.

Step 2:

Enter the relevant phrases or words related to your service or product.

In the below-illustrated example Screenshot words like Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Lead generation have been used to Get ideas to Promote a Digital Marketing Agency.

Step 3:

Click Get Ideas

Step 4:

Choose the relevant keywords to your Ad group. Ensure that the keywords selected have a good search Volume and Low Competition. If that is not possible at least try to find a keyword that has a medium Search Volume and Medium Competition. Or if the Campaign has a very Significantly Massive & Huge amount of budget then one could take a chance by adding a relevant keyword that has High Search Volume and High Competition

But never pick a keyword that has low Search Volume and Low/High Competition

Step 5:

Click on Ad group ideas. Based on Google’s Machine learning Algorithm, The Ad group ideas suggest you a number of keywords that were used in similar campaigns of your competitors. Also, it suggests ‘s and includes potential keywords for which your Ad might trigger.

Step 6:

Analyse and pick a lot more relevant keywords from the Ad group ideas. Also, you can pick a Negative Keyword by analyzing the Ad group ideas.

Also, If you carefully analyze the ad group ideas and keywords you can find hundred’s of relevant keywords and negative keywords for your ad campaign.

For example,  in the below-attached screenshot the keyword “Generator for sale” found in ad group ideas can be added as a Negative keyword for an agency promoting Digital Marketing and Lead Generation Services on Adwords.

The below-attached screenshot shows an example of adding relevant keywords from the ad group ideas for an advertiser promoting a digital marketing agency.

7. Display Planner

By using the Display Planner an advertiser can choose the relevant Topics and Placement ideas for his campaign.

8. Search terms report

A Search terms report literally provides you a report of users search terms for which your Ad got triggered.

For example, If the Audience Google search for “digital marketing academy”. And if they click on an advertisers ad related to digital marketing academy then the search term “digital marketing academy” will be included in the Search terms report in that particular advertiser’s campaign.

Also, This would allow that advertiser to get to know that an audience who searched for a term “digital marketing academy” clicked on the ad. Hence the advertiser can think of adding the term “digital marketing course” as a Phrase match or broad match ( any match type depending on requirements) keyword into his ad group.

The below-attached screenshots show the Search Terms Report for a Campaign

8. Quality Score

The Ad Quality Score depends on the following

• CTR
• Ad Relevance
• Landing Page and its Relevance

9. Ad Rank

The Ad rank is a function of Max CPC and Quality Score

Ad Rank = f(Max CPC, Quality Score)

So, your ads will appear higher in the search results if your Maximum Cost per Click and Quality Score is high

10. Impression

It is the number of Views that an ad receives on the Google Search Network or Google Display Network

11. Click

A Click is a human interaction that happens on the ad/weblink in the Google Search Network or the Display Network.

12. CTR

In simple CTR is equal to the total number of impressions received by an ad divided by the total number of clicks received by an ad.

CTR  = Total Number of Impressions received by an ad / Total Number of Clicks received by an ad

13. Conversion

A Conversion is a goal that happens on the landing page.

Example of conversions can be Form Sign up, Product Purchase etc.

14. Ad Auction

every time when a Search Page Loads the related Ads enter into an Ad Auction.  The Ads will be shown on the basis of the Ad Rank. In the Ad Auction each and every Advertiser Pays the Minimum CPC Amount to Google that is necessary to rank their Ad Higher than their Competitor’s Ad. The Google Algorithm will do the Ad Auction on the basis of its Algorithm.

15. Budget

To run an Ad Live Advertisers need to set up a daily budget.

16. Bid Strategies

Bid Strategies help advertisers to set the Bid based on the Objectives. The following are the different types of  bid strategies.

Manual CPC:

It allows an advertiser to set their own Cost per Click Value for the ads

Enhanced CPC:

This bidding strategy increases the conversions  by automatically increasing or lowering the manual bids

Maximise Clicks:

It allows Advertisers to get Maximum possible Clicks within the Budget

Maximise Conversions:

It allows Advertisers to get Maximum Possible Conversions within the Budget

Target Outranking Share:

This type of bid strategy allows an advertiser to Outrank a Competitors Ad such that the Advertisers Ad will have a  higher rank than that of a Specific Competitors Ad.

Target Search Page Location:

This is an ideal Bid Strategy for an advertiser who wants to rank on the top of the Search Page.

Target CPA:

This Bid strategy Aims to provide a Maximum number of Conversion while Reaching the Average Cost Per Acquisition.

For example, If an Advertiser Sets  Target CPA = 50$ and his Total Budget is 500$. Then the Advertiser will get 10 Conversions. CPA = Total Cost/ Total Number of Acquisitions.

If the campaign has historical data then Adwords will reccomend a Target CPA bid value.

Target ROAS:

It is the Specific Percentage of Return that an Advertiser Aims to get after spending a budget on a campaign. This type of bid strategy aims to maximize value for Conversions while maintaining the Target ROAS goal.

For example, if Target ROAS = 300% then the Advertiser aims to get 300 Dollars for every 100 dollars he spends on the advertising.

Google However will charge Advertisers on a Cost Per Click basis only irrespective of the bid strategies applied.

Also, Many brands are investing a lot in Adwords. As Marketers, it is very much necessary to understand Adwords terminologies. After reading this article you should be in a position to understand all the basic features of Adwords. Hope you enjoyed reading this article. If you like this article Please do share it on Social Media Channels with your friends.

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