Types of Google Ads
Google Ads are a lot more than the traditional paid search listings you may be familiar with. More than a paid #1 spot on Google’s search results, a Google Ad encompasses a wide range of digital media online.
The different types of Google Ad campaigns are below:
Search. This is the traditional Google ad product that appears within the search results on Google. These ads are a quick way to get your brand to the top of a search page.
Display. These are visual ads that appear across the web in sidebars, banners and more. Often used as an “extension” of search, these are designed to keep customers coming to your website or landing pages after they’ve already seen your brand on Google or visited your site before
Video. Show a video advertisement at the start of a video on YouTube or other players on the web with a quick CTA.
How to Forecast Results
Alright, so here it is — a quick way we predict the outcome of adding more cash behind search ad campaign.
Step 1. Log into Google Ads
Find the “Campaigns” tab and view your “Impression Share” and “Lost Impression Share” columns. From here, you’ll want to download the past 30 days of data — make sure it’s a format Excel can read like .csv or .xlsx.
Step 2. Get the Right Data
You actually won’t need all the data you’ve downloaded! For these calculations, open up the data you’ve just downloaded and keep only these columns, left to right in this order:
- Campaigns
- Clicks
- Impressions
- CTR
- CPC
- Cost
- Conversions
- Clicks Converted Clicks/Cost
- Rate
- Impression Share
- Lost Impression Share (Budget)
Step 3. Calculate Potential
This calculation tells us what would happen if your ads had 100% impression share — how many times your ads showed up for the “slots” they were eligible for.
To get this calculation, create a new column called “Potential Impressions.” The formula for this column is (Impressions/Impression Share) x Lost Impression Share OR (Column C/Column J) x Column K.
Step 4. Keep Calculating Potential
Keep making more “Potential” columns! We’re going need to calculate, in order, Potential Clicks, Potential Conversions, Potential Costs and Potential Converted Clicks/Cost.
Here are those formulas. Remember, you’ll make a new column for each as we go:
- Potential Clicks = “Impressions” x “CTR” or “Column L” x “Column D”
- Potential Conversions = “Potential Clicks” x “Conv. Rate” or “Column M” x “Column I”
- Potential Cost = “Potential Clicks” x “Avg. CPC” or “Column M” x “Column E”
- Potential Converted Clicks/Cost = “Potential Cost” / “Potential Conversions” or “Column O” / “Column N”
Step 5. Interpret Your Data
With your new “Potential” columns, you’ve got an outline of what would happen if you spent more money on your current campaigns in terms like impressions (how many people see your ad), clicks (how many people click on your ad) and conversions (how many people become customers).
In your new set of data, we’re most concerned about the total Potential Conversions. This is the most a campaign could ever give you in terms of customers. Your Potential Cost column will tell you how much that best case scenario will cost.
Is the Potential Cost too high? Look at the last column — this is how much it will cost to add one more customer. Divide your budget by this number, and you’ll see how many customers you’re likely to get from this campaign.
Why Ads Management Matters
We hope this calculation exercise didn’t overwhelm you. WSI Marketing will dive into these calculations regularly with businesses for any campaign we manage for you.
But this is what really counts.
Ads Management is all about continuous optimization. In real terms, that means working constantly to drive down that final metric — “Potential Converted Clicks / Cost.”
Google ads management services keep down the cost per potential customer, stretching your ads budget further for the best results.
