Slack AMA - Google Ads with Jyll Saskin Gales

We recently hosted the brilliant Jyll Saskin Gales in our #digital-paid channel on the WTS Community Slack for an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Google Ads!

Jyll is an experienced Google Ads Coach and former Googler focused on making marketing simple for entrepreneurs.

For our AMA format, members dropped questions in the channel and Jyll came in for an hour to get them all answered and have a bit of back and forth.

Below, we'll recap some of the highlights of the chats.

Want to join our next AMA or check out what else the WTS Community Slack has to offer? Head over here for more info.

Now let's dive into the AMA...

How can I help support our PPC team as a content / SEO person?

Because you're asking this, you already know that it's better when we all work together!

I created this SEO + PPC guide for WTS last month, so definitely check it out if you haven't seen it yet.

One of the best ways for SEO/Content teams and PPC teams to collaborate is on MESSAGING.

We PPCers sometimes lack as copywriters and the ad creative and landing page copy/design has become so much more important to PPC success today than it ways just 5 years ago.

Whereas you brilliant SEO & Content folks are often very good at that!

From a data perspective, Search Console & Google Ads data play very nicely together.

For example, are there keywords you're trying to rank for organically that just aren't there yet? Run ads until organic catches up.

If you'd like to learn more about Google Ads, not to be a practitioner yourself but so you can "speak the language" or your PPC colleagues, I recommend my course Google Ads for Beginners. Just 3 hours, and you'll understand how Google Ads works, and the language you need to more effectively communicate and collaborate with PPC peers: https://learn.jyll.ca/wts

As a small business, how do I know when it's time to start using Google Ads?

You are not alone in this challenge!

When you haven't run ads before, they can feel like the perfect shortcut to getting traffic fast vs the patience usually required for SEO to bear fruit.

But that shortcut is a pricey shortcut, especially for small businesses who often fall victim to many of the common Google Ads mistakes: don't know how to set up campaigns properly, website/landing page conversion rate is poor, conversion tracking is incorrectly set up or not set up at all, don't have strong messaging, don't really understand their target audience well, etc.

I have something I came up with called the "Rule of 2" to help you determine if you're ready to run ads - your conversion rate times your average order value should equal at least 2 before you even think about running ads.

I would say 2/3rds of the small business owners I initially meet with fail this test, and therefore I advise them not to run ads.

If you are ready to test ads, you're going to want to have enough budget for at least 3 months, and you should be prepared to potentially see no ROI in the first month.

If that's not going to be palatable, then just don't run ads.

I'm not trying to be overly negative, I've seen Google Ads become the money printing machine time and time again for small and large businesses alike But there's technical know-how required, creative know-how required, budget + PATIENCE needed, and many small businesses have none of the above, therefore would be better off focusing on other kinds of marketing instead - like SEO :)

How can a small business earning ROI on paid social mimic that success in Google Ads as well?

I can't guarantee you'll get ROI quickly but there are two strategies I recommend testing first:

1. Demand Gen campaigns

This is a campaign type designed to mimic the Meta Ads buying process, but on Google.

I actually just did a podcast episode about Demand Gen last week https://jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/32, and I have brand new tutorials on how to set up & optimize Demand Gen in my course, Inside Google Ads https://learn.jyll.ca/wts.

2. High-intent keywords in Search campaigns

Social and Search are very different, and Search is of course the bread & butter in Google Ads, and can add something new to an existing paid social strategy.

Advertising on brand keywords is the fastest way to ROI (for example, Lululemon advertising on the keyword "Lululemon"), some folks love doing this and others question the incrementality.

As always, it depends. Even if it's not brand keywords, starting Search ads on high-intent, longer tail keywords like "women's high rise yoga pants" or "women's running shoe for exercise size 8" can be a great way to get your feet wet in Google Ads, as CPCs are generally cheaper for longer tail keywords

Is there a minimum amount I should spend on Google Ads?

When trying to decide how much to spend when running ads for the first time, I have three guidelines for you.

1. Don't spend more than you can afford. You have to be prepared to potentially see no ROI.
2. You want to spend enough to get at least 10 clicks per day, per campaign. Keyword Planner can help you determine (for free) how much clicks might cost.
3. You want to spend a bare minimum of $20/day per campaign, for at least 1 full month.

For more on budgeting, I actually have 2 short blog posts on this topic: https://learn.jyll.ca/blog/how-much-do-i-need-to-spend-on-google-ads and https://learn.jyll.ca/blog/how-much-should-you-spend-on-google-ads

What are common mistakes folks new to Google Ads make when setting up their campaigns?

Setting up Google Ads for the first time can feel like a minefield.

I would say the fiddly campaign settings are a big pitfall, like ensuring that you uncheck the "Display network" box from Search campaign settings, and choosing Location targeting by "Presence," not "Presence or Interest."

This video/article I wrote for WTS also has some good tips on things to do / things to avoid.

How do you choose the best bid startegy on a campaign level?

I actually think (potentially controversial opinion) that your bid strategy is the most important part of your Google Ads campaign, more important than your targeting, and even more important than your creative.

Your bid strategy is how you tell Google what you want it to do with your money!

There is no "one size fits all" answer for which bid strategy is best, but I will usually pick one of the 4 Smart Bidding strategies (Max Conversions, Max Conversion Value, Target CPA or Target ROAS) and the first episode of my Inside Google Ads podcast goes into my thoughts on this topic in greater detail: https://jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/1

When is a good time to use broad match keywords?

Broad Match keywords get a bad rap, but there's a time and a place for everything.

For those who don't know, Broad Match keywords are the default in Google Ads (other options are Phrase Match and Exact Match), and they are the most "loose" kind of keyword targeting you can do.

I would suggest testing Broad Match keywords with Smart Bidding only, accurate conversion tracking (full funnel, I see you lead gen folks...), and when you have first-party audience data to help guide the automation.

Finally, if you do use them with the above guardrails, give them time to learn!! Monitor your search terms report closely , add negatives as needed.

I wrote more about this topic on my blog: https://learn.jyll.ca/blog/should-you-use-broad-match-keywords-in-google-ads

Better data equals better performance, but what about small accounts that don't have that luxury?

Poor data or no first-party data is one of the top disadvantages small businesses face with Google Ads. There is not a good solution, either.

Third-party data brokers are questionable, in my opinion, and also not usually a good fit for small businesses. Advances in privacy degrade in-platform audience quality, which disproportionately hurts small businesses.

Still, my advice for small business owners is to do whatever you can to collect first party data, I.e. an email address or phone number. Even if you don't meet the thresholds to advertise to your customer list (called Customer Match) in Google Ads, simply having that list in your account is still beneficial as it will inform the algorithm for your campaigns that use Smart Bidding.

And, you OWN your customer list. Ads can get shut off with no warning, social media profiles can get suspended, but no matter what, you can take that list with you and use it to your business' benefit.

What are some of the benefits and pitfalls you've encountered with enhanced conversion tracking?

I am not the right expert for this question, but I can point you to the right expert.

I recently had Ameet Khabra as a guest on my Inside Google Ads podcast, and she shared a ton of value about what you need to do with your conversion tracking, and she spoke specifically about the benefits of Enhanced Conversions: https://jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/29

What is the best place for a small SaaS company to get started with Google Ads?

SaaS businesses know your metrics really well: Churn, LTV, CAC, etc.

This will inform what kind of bidding you'll use, how much you'll bid, etc. and it's good to sort out those number and projections BEFORE you start running ads.

The key trap most small businesses make is not thinking about whether your target audience is already solution-aware, or still just problem-aware.

For example, this is a non-B2B example, but I once coached an agency working with a client who sells nipple shields. Yeah, I didn't know what that was either. It's a small piece of plastic that helps breastfeeding people experience less pain while breastfeeding. Anyhoo, they had keywords like "nipple shield" and they were getting nowhere with Google Ads.

Why? Because nipple shield is the solution, breastfeeding pain is the problem, and people who have pain while breastfeeding didn't yet KNOW that the solution was nipple shields.

So, they had to start advertising on problem-aware queries like "inverted nipples" "how to stop breastfeeding pain" etc. And of course, they couldn't drive that traffic straight to a nipple shield product page, they used an educational blog post to explain how breastfeeding pain, inverted nipples, and other breastfeeding challenges can be solved by nipple shields.

Bringing this back to your small business question, a dedicated landing page with lead form is usually a good idea for cold paid traffic, what that page says will be much more important then details like whether or not to include the top nav.

Key KPIs to start should be click-through rate on the ads, because that's how you know if you're reaching the right audience with the right message.

If that goes well, then you want to look at on-page engagement (like lead form CVR) from ads. Are those right people resonating with your messaging, and giving you their information?

If so, that is when you can start thinking about cost optimization. If you try to drive costs down too early, you can inadvertently drive away quality in the process.

Last but not least, you're going to want to incorporate what we call "full funnel conversion tracking" - for example, connecting your CRM to Google Ads, or implementing offline conversion tracking. That is a can of worms for another day but important to mention, as it's often overlooked

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Want to join our next AMA or check out what else the WTS Community Slack has to offer? Head over here for more info.