Commonly Overlooked Google Ads Settings to Make Your Campaigns Perform Better

Google Ads is a powerful tool for driving traffic, generating leads, and boosting sales. However, to maximize its potential, it's crucial to fine-tune your campaigns beyond the basic setup. Many advertisers overlook several settings that can significantly impact their campaign performance. We'll explore some commonly overlooked Google Ads settings that can make your campaigns perform better and help you get the most out of your advertising budget.

1. Ad Rotation Settings

Default Setting: Optimize for clicks or conversions
Overlooked Adjustment: Rotate indefinitely

By default, Google Ads optimizes ad rotation to favor ads with higher click-through rates (CTR) or conversion rates. While this might seem beneficial, it can lead to prematurely favoring one ad over another, missing opportunities to test and refine different ad copies.

Recommendation: Set your ad rotation to "Rotate indefinitely" for a more balanced and fair ad testing environment. This allows you to gather more data on each ad's performance and make informed decisions based on a comprehensive dataset.

2. Ad Scheduling

Default Setting: All day
Overlooked Adjustment: Custom ad scheduling

Running your ads 24/7 might not always be the best strategy, especially if your business sees higher engagement at specific times of the day or days of the week.

Recommendation: Analyze your performance data to identify peak times for conversions or high-quality traffic. Use custom ad scheduling to allocate more budget during these peak times and reduce spending during off-peak hours. This approach can lead to a higher return on investment (ROI) and more efficient use of your budget.

3. Geographic Targeting

Default Setting: Target people in, or who show interest in, your targeted locations
Overlooked Adjustment: Target people in your targeted locations

The default geographic targeting setting can result in your ads being shown to people who have shown interest in your targeted locations but are not physically there. This can lead to irrelevant clicks and wasted spend.

Recommendation: Adjust your geographic targeting to "People in your targeted locations." This ensures your ads are only shown to users physically located in the areas you're targeting, increasing the relevance and effectiveness of your campaigns.

4. Negative Keywords

Default Setting: None (unless manually added)
Overlooked Adjustment: Regularly updated negative keyword list

Negative keywords prevent your ads from being shown for irrelevant searches. Many advertisers set negative keywords during campaign setup but fail to update them regularly.

Recommendation: Continuously review your search term reports to identify irrelevant queries that triggered your ads. Regularly update your negative keyword list to refine your targeting and avoid wasting budget on non-converting clicks.

5. Audience Exclusions

Default Setting: None (unless manually added)
Overlooked Adjustment: Excluding non-converting or irrelevant audiences

Not all audiences are created equal. Some segments may consistently underperform or be irrelevant to your business goals.

Recommendation: Use your performance data to identify underperforming audience segments. Add these segments to your exclusion list to prevent your ads from being shown to users who are unlikely to convert. This helps improve your overall campaign efficiency and effectiveness.

6. Ad Extensions

Default Setting: Basic extensions (if any)
Overlooked Adjustment: Full utilization of all relevant ad extensions

Ad extensions enhance your ads by providing additional information and increasing visibility. Many advertisers only use a few basic extensions, missing out on the full potential of this feature.

Recommendation: Utilize all relevant ad extensions, such as site links, callouts, structured snippets, and location extensions. These extensions can improve your ad's visibility, CTR, and overall performance by making your ads more informative and engaging.

7. Automated Rules

Default Setting: Manual adjustments
Overlooked Adjustment: Automated rules for bids, budgets, and ads

Manually adjusting bids, budgets, and ad settings can be time-consuming and prone to errors.

Recommendation: Set up automated rules to manage your bids, budgets, and ad statuses based on performance criteria. For example, you can create rules to increase bids for high-performing keywords or pause underperforming ads automatically. Automated rules help you maintain optimal campaign performance with minimal manual intervention.

8. Conversion Tracking

Default Setting: Basic conversion tracking
Overlooked Adjustment: Enhanced conversion tracking

Accurate conversion tracking is crucial for measuring the success of your campaigns. However, basic conversion tracking might not capture all valuable actions taken by users.

Recommendation: Implement enhanced conversion tracking, such as tracking phone calls, form submissions, and other significant user interactions. Use Google Tag Manager to set up more complex tracking scenarios. Enhanced tracking provides a more comprehensive view of your campaign performance and helps you make better-informed decisions.

9. Quality Score Improvement

Default Setting: Basic keyword quality score management
Overlooked Adjustment: Active quality score improvement efforts

Quality Score impacts your ad rankings and cost-per-click (CPC). Many advertisers overlook the importance of actively managing and improving their Quality Scores.

Recommendation: Regularly review and improve your Quality Scores by focusing on three main factors: ad relevance, expected CTR, and landing page experience. Optimize your ad copy to match user intent, create compelling calls-to-action, and ensure your landing pages are relevant, fast, and user-friendly.

10. Bid Adjustments

Default Setting: Static bids
Overlooked Adjustment: Dynamic bid adjustments

Static bids do not account for varying user behavior and performance across different devices, locations, and times.

Recommendation: Implement bid adjustments to dynamically modify your bids based on performance data. Increase bids for high-performing devices, locations, or times, and decrease bids for underperforming ones. This helps you allocate your budget more effectively and maximize your campaign ROI.

11. Search Terms Report

Default Setting: Infrequent review
Overlooked Adjustment: Regular analysis and action

The search terms report shows the actual queries that triggered your ads. Many advertisers do not review this report regularly, missing opportunities to refine their keyword list.

Recommendation: Conduct regular analysis of your search terms report. Identify high-performing search terms to add as new keywords and irrelevant terms to add as negative keywords. This ongoing optimization process helps you stay aligned with user intent and improve campaign performance.

12. Language Targeting

Default Setting: All languages or primary language only
Overlooked Adjustment: Specific language targeting based on audience

Language targeting ensures your ads reach users who understand your message. Using broad language settings can lead to inefficiencies.

Recommendation: Target specific languages based on your audience demographics and geographic locations. This ensures your ads are shown to users who are more likely to understand and engage with your content, improving your overall campaign effectiveness.

By paying attention to these commonly overlooked Google Ads settings, you can significantly enhance the performance of your campaigns. Regularly reviewing and adjusting these settings based on your campaign data will help you stay competitive, optimize your budget, and achieve your advertising goals. At Alula Moxie, we specialize in fine-tuning Google Ads campaigns to drive superior results. Contact us today to learn how we can help you make the most of your Google Ads investment.

Updated On:
June 26, 2024

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