If you are running a Google Ads campaign, you understand that when someone clicks on your ad, you pay Google for that click. How much you pay for that click depends on many factors, but it is an auction. You bid against other campaigns for a position on the page. With that said, how much you spend on that click determines how quickly you go through your budget. There’s always an effort with advertisers to lower their Google Ads cost per click and make their budget go further. As someone who manages Google campaigns, I often hear complaints about how much is spent on a click. 

There are some techniques you can use to lower your cost per click. The only way to lower your cost per click is to bid in different auctions. That doesn’t mean that you will be left out. It just means that some obvious keywords will not be included in your campaign. You can still get results and get them at a lower cost.

Get Rid of the “Bully Keywords”

What are bully keywords, you ask? Bully keywords are usually single-word search terms like plumber, chiropractor, or remodeler. Variations are those search terms with “near me” added to those keywords. These single-word search terms are highly competitive and very expensive per click. 

The temptation is to use these search terms in your campaign because they get clicks and drive traffic to your website. I agree; they will do that and spend most of your budget. However, if your goal is to lower your Google Ads cost per click, a different technique needs to be used.

Start Thinking About Search Phrases

There is a search engine optimization technique called “long-tail keywords” that can be very effective. The idea behind long-tail keywords is that rather than using one or two keywords, you create a phrase that matches the user’s search query. Doing that makes you more likely to appear at the top of the search results because you are optimizing your page for that search. That technique has been around for years. I found that the same technique can be applied to Google Ads. The best part is that the cost per click can be much less than the single keyword and just as effective.

Putting Together a Google Ads Campaign with Search Phrases

Here’s the truth: it is hard to predict human behavior. It would be easy for me to say, use phrases people are searching for and add them as search terms, and you’re done. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. If you don’t have a campaign running, you will have to spend some money before you can start saving money. If you do, you are already ahead of the game because you have some data to work with. Here’s how it works.

When running a Google Ads campaign, you will appear not only for the search terms you provide but also for terms that are variants of those terms. This is particularly true if you use broad match for your keywords. Those search terms can be found under Insights and Reports, and then click on Search terms. Once you go to that page, ensure that the campaign and ad group are correct at the top and that no filters are applied. Once you do that, you can see all the terms on which your ad appeared. 

You will notice that the search terms are often three or four words, and some may even be questions. The next thing you need to do is decide if any are relevant to your business. If they are, select the keyword, and at the top in the blue bar, click “Add as keyword.” The other thing you will see is that in many of these terms, the cost per click is lower than some related keywords, and you may have even received a conversion from them. One note is that I would look at the search terms over a 30-days or more. This will give you more options to choose from.

Don’t Forget to Update Your Landing Page

Once you add these additional search terms to your campaign, you will need to decide to add or replace some of the more expensive keywords. More importantly, you will also need to look at your landing page to ensure that the search terms you added align with the content on the page. This is true whether you drive traffic to your website or a dedicated landing page.

Google uses a combination of factors to determine which ads to show, and one of those factors is the quality of your landing pages. Google will decide if the landing page and the search query are a good match. They call this the “Quality score.” The quality score is determined by factors like expected click-through rate, landing page experience, and ad quality, to name a few. You can view your quality score by looking under your campaign’s “Search keywords” section. You may have to add those columns to the table on that page by clicking on the column icon at the top right and customizing the table by adding the additional columns under “Quality Score.” 

One Last Thing: It’s “Average Cost per Click”

Sometimes, I have to talk a client down from the ledge. They looked at what they were spending per click and were concerned that they were paying a crazy amount of money per click. I have to remind them, and I am reminding you as well; it’s an average.

One thing Google does, mainly if you are using automated bidding, is adjust the bid amount to get you a click. You can log in one day and see that you spent $100 on a click and the next day $10. Google uses machine learning to determine whether the search is worth the money. You can limit how much you spend, but sometimes, that can do more harm than good. Ultimately, the amount you budgeted will be the amount you spend plus or minus a few dollars. I would do it over time when you look at your campaign. I recommend weekly. 

Running a Google Ads Campaign Will Never Be Cheap

It is nearly impossible to run a proper campaign on a small budget. Google has raised the pricing on all campaigns. What $1000 per month was one year ago doesn’t go as far now. Unfortunately, that will always be the case.

However, some techniques can make your campaign budget go further. Eliminating single-word search keywords is just one way to do it. It can give you the same, or sometimes better, conversion rates and a better return on your investment. Not all campaigns can benefit from this. That is why it is essential to look at the search terms in your campaign and determine if you can benefit from this technique. If you can, you can make your budget dollars go further.