Google Ads

Want to master Google Ads for B2B? 

We’ll dissect Google Ads from a 10,000 foot view in this guide. 

So you can walk away knowing: 

• What is Google Ads? 
• Is your ideal B2B buyer searching on Google? 
• How can you get your ad seen on the top of Google?
• How much does Google Ads cost?

So whether you’re a SaaS founder, performance marketer, or in-house marketer looking to: 

• Scale demo and trial requests for your new B2B SaaS startup 
• Run Google ads for clients or launch  campaigns internally
• Work with  freelancers or agencies running your Google Ads 

It all starts here with the fundamentals, so let’s dive in! 👇

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What is Google Ads? 
• Is Your Ideal B2B Buyer Searching on Google?
• How Much Does Google Ads Cost?
• How to Forecast Your Google Ads Budget
• Why is Google Ads So Powerful?
• How Can You Get Your Ad Seen on the Top of Google?

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What is Google Ads? 

Google Ads is an auction place. 

Or as I like to think about it, a battleground. 

Where you have thousands of advertisers competing against each other to show up on the top of Google when their ideal prospect searches for their products & services.

With 8.5B + searchers happening per day on Google there is a very HIGH likelihood your ideal B2B buyer is using Google to find information, and research solutions. 

Is Your Ideal B2B Buyer Searching on Google?

Depending on the niche you’re in Google may or may not make sense. 

You can create a free Google Ads account and leverage the Keyword Planner to validate demand. 

All you need to do is research the ideal keyword your dream buyer would search and review the average monthly search volume and top of page bid estimates.

In the example below, I can see that for “email marketing software” there is:

• 1,000 - 10,000 average monthly searches
• $49.75 top of page bid estimate 

If your ideal keyword has > 100 searches per month, Google can be a worthwhile return on effort. 

How Much Does Google Ads Cost?

Before diving into how much does Google Ads cost? 

With Google Ads you’re only charged on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis. 

Meaning you only pay Google if someone clicks your ad, so unlike traditional advertising you’re not being locked into a fixed contract and paying just for eyeballs (aka impressions). 

So in short if someone sees your Google Ad and doesn’t click, you won’t pay. 

This is what makes Google Ads so attractive, but extremely competitive.

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Here’s two ways to find out how much Google Ads will cost for your ideal keywords:

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1/ Review Top of Page Bid Estimates in the Google Ads Keyword Planner 

As shown in the previous step you can leverage the Keyword Planner to find bid estimates. 

In my experience these estimates are never 100% accurate and recommend adding 20% on top of the top of page bid estimate to be safe. 

For example, with the keyword of email marketing software we have a $49.75 top of page bid estimate, adding 20% makes it $59.70 allowing us a margin of error to better set expectations. 

2/ Launch a Pilot Campaign for $100

Ultimately you’ll never know your real cost per click prices until launching. 

If you’re seriously considering Google Ads I recommend launching a pilot campaign for $100. 

The whole objective of this campaign is to understand; what is my REAL cost per click price? 

Here’s a simple cheat sheet for setting up this campaign: 

• Campaign Name = {Region}_{KeywordTheme}_{MatchType}
• Locations = {Your Target Country/Region/State}
• Match Type = Exact
• Bidding = Manual CPC

This setup will allow you to have the greatest control to discover your real CPC prices. 

How to Forecast Your Google Ads Budget

Once you know the following: 

• Your quarterly sales goal 
• Average cost per click
• Opportunity win rate 
• Revenue per sale 

You can easily forecast a daily, monthly, and quarterly budget using our Google Ads Budget Calculator based on worst, moderate, and best case scenarios. 

Give it a look, there’s a video tutorial on the page for you explaining the process. 

Why is Google Ads So Powerful?

Intention Is what makes search advertising so powerful  🤝

You can reach exactly the right person, in the right place, in the right location searching for your specific product or service. At that point all you have to do is show up and not mess things up.

I always say Google Ads is a blessing and a curse; they bless you with intent, and curse you with scale. 

Given your industry search volume will vary dramatically and it can become hard to scale. 

The key is to win Google’s Ad Rank game to offset competitors and rising click prices. 

How Can You Get Your Ad Seen on the Top of Google?

Every time you search for something on Google (or other search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, and Firefox) the results page you’re directed to afterwards is the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

I like to think of the SERP as the Battleground in which Google Ads takes place. 

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The SERP is Divided Between Paid and Organic Results.

The Google SERP usually has about 3-4 paid ads at the top and 3 at the bottom.

Ad Rank Determines the Position of Your Ad on the First Page

Which determines if your ad is on top of the first page of or nowhere to be seen.

Your goal is to appear in the top 3 spots as click-through rates decline with lower positions.

Higher Position Doesn't Always Mean Greater Cost

The remarkable thing about Google Ads is that you can be #1 on the page and pay less than your competitors who are in positions lower than you (hypothetical example below). 

If after reading this article you believe Google Ads is worth further exploration. 

Build on this fundamental understanding of Google Ads for B2B. 

Hope you found this useful! 

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Resources for Mastering B2B Advertising

If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.

Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it 😂)

‍

Looking to research competitor's Google Ads? 

In this guide I'll walk you through how to find their best ads, and reverse engineer their strategy. 

Regardless of if your budget is as low as $10/day or $10,000/day, the same process applies. 

We’ll first focus on analysis in this guide and then dive into strategy. 

Let’s get into it! 👇 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• How to Find & Research Competitors Google Ads
• Free Tools to Find Examples of Competitors Google Ads
• Paid Tools to Find Examples of Competitors Google Ads
• How to Break Down Your Competitors Google Ads Strategy

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How to Find & Research Competitors Google Ads

Pablo Picasso once said “good artists copy, and great artists steal” taking inspiration from what works from your competitors and transforming it into  “your own” way is a sound approach. 

Just remember this can sometimes lead to a situation where everyone is copying each other and no one has any real idea of what their doing in the first place 😅

Ultimately beating your own baseline performance is what you should obsess about. 

With this disclaimer out of the way, you first need to know what competitors you want to research. 

You can find who you’re up against with the auction insights report in Google Ads. 

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Find this report by navigating to Keywords > Auction Insights within your Google Ads account. 

• Sort this report by Impression Share to understand how visible you are against your competitors for your targeting criteria (ex: keywords, locations, audiences). 
• Review the Top of page rate as well to understand how often you and your competitors appear within the top 3 positions of Google. 

Now that you have an understanding of who your competitors are. 

Let’s dive into the free and paid tools you can use to conduct Google Ads competitor analysis. 

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Free Tools to Find Examples of Competitors Google Ads

Each of the following competitor analysis tools can be used for free, leverage whichever resonates. 

Google Ads Transparency Center

Source: https://adstransparency.google.com/ 

The Google Ads Transparency Center was released on March 29,  2023 as a way to help you quickly and easily learn more about the ads you see on Search, YouTube and Display.

Since the release of this tool it’s become an absolute goldmine for Google advertisers. 

Here’s how you can leverage the Google Ads Transparency Center for competitor analysis:

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1. Visit the Google Ads Transparency Center and enter your competitors domain URL 

2. Scroll down to see the most recent Search, YouTube, and Display ads

When scrolling through the results take note of the following:

• Number of total ads to understand how active your competitor is. 
• The language the ads are written in to know if your competitor is running localization strategy.
• The primary keyword your competitor is trying to target in the ad copy.
• {Parameters} in the ad copy to know if your competitor is using dynamic search ads or keyword insertion.

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3. Once you find an interesting ad click on it to reveal the target location 

• Click on the show anywhere button to reveal the target location for the ad. 

Armed with this information you can decide if you want to advertise to these same regions. 

If you only used 1 tool for Google Ads competitor analysis I’d recommend the  Transparency Center. 

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ISearchFrom

Source: https://isearchfrom.com/ 

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If you’re planning to advertise somewhere you’re not physically located and want to know which competitors are bidding on your target keywords, ISearchFrom is a great free tool to use. 

Here’s how you can utilize ISearchFrom for google ads competitor analysis:

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1. Visit ISearchFrom and enter your target country and keyword

2. Review the ads to uncover advertisers in your target location you might not be aware of 

From this simulated result for someone “physically” located in the United Kingdom I can see Coursera is advertising on google ads courses in this region. 

From here I can leverage the Transparency Center to uncover more ad examples from them. 

Again this is a great tool for finding competitors you’re not familiar with in locations you’re not in. 

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Paid Tools to Find Examples of Competitors Google Ads

Each of the following competitor analysis tools can be used for a fee,  use whichever resonates and fits your budget.

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SpyFu

Source: https://www.spyfu.com/ 

Price: $39-$79/month

If you’re looking for a simple tool to review examples of competitors Google Ads copy, target keywords, and landing pages.

SpyFu is a great tool to start off with, here’s how you can use it. 

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1. Visit SpyFu and enter your competitors domain 

2. Review your competitors estimated Google Ads budget and quantity of paid keywords

3. Navigate to “PPC Research > PPC Keywords” to see all paid keywords 

4. Head to “PPC Research > Ad History” to see all competitor ad examples by keyword

5. Uncover other top competitors “PPC Research > Competitors” you might know of

With this one tool you can get estimates of competitors' Google Ads budgets, review keywords, ads, and uncover opportunities across new competitors you might not know of. 

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Other paid tools: 

There’s no shortage of paid tools you can use to research your competitors.

Here’s a list of some others worth exploring: 

• SEMRush ($129-$499/month) 
• iSpionage ($59-$299/month)

Don’t get hung up on the tools.

Achieving the end outcome is ultimately key. 

Now that you know how to find and research your competitors Google Ads.

Let’s walk through how to break down their strategy. 

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How to Break Down Your Competitors Google Ads Strategy

Knowing what keywords and ad copy your competitors are using is a great starting point. 

But getting answers to questions like:

• How are my competitors structuring their campaigns? 
• How are they allocating budget? 

are crucial insights that can separate you from them. 

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1. Reverse Engineering URL Parameters

Once you know your competitors landing pages, which you can get from: 

• Searching keywords in Google and clicking on their ads
• Reviewing landing page URLs in SpyFu’s Ad History report

You’ll want to review their UTM parameters to get insights on the goal of this campaign, target keyword, and anything else around how it was set up. 

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URL Parameter Example #1 - Zoho

For example, I searched CRM software and clicked on this ad from Zoho:

When reviewing the URL post click I can see the following parameters:

/?network=g&device=c&keyword=crm%20software&campaignid=14928929712
&creative=552506800726&matchtype=e
&adposition=&placement=&adgroup=130022006802&gad_source=1
&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3tCyBhDBARIsAEY0XNlAKXey
TKDzEJQDpeNh2giI4p8sVSnWKqsvlND5bvZa_J
q62wCqSFoaAsc1EALw_wcB 

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By reviewing the URL structure I can gather the following information:

• Network = g | they’re advertising on Google Search
• Device = c | they’re running ads on Desktop devices
• Keyword = crm software | they’re bidding on crm software
• Matchtype = e | they’re using exact match 

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URL Parameter Example #2 - Freshworks

Let’s use one more example to drive this home with the Freshworks ad that was underneath Zoho:

?tactic_id=6071454&utm_source=google-adwords&utm_medium=FSales-Search-InsideEU-FSE-RLSA-New
&utm_campaign=FSales-Search-InsideEU-FSE-RLSA New&utm_term=crm%20software&device=c
&matchtype=p&network=g
&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3tCyBhDBARIsAEY0XNkaG_AiGqCRYj-AEcuQcnvJS_3eI0bS6jIKu_
M7JRmqOYwSIGwuc6UaAvYqEALw_wcB&gad_source=1 

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Here’s what I’m able to gather from the URL structure:

• Source = google-adwords | they’re advertising on Google Search
• Campaign  = FSales-Search-InsideEU-FSE-RLSA-New | they’re advertising in the EU and running a remarketing list for search ads campaigns.
• Term = crm software | they’re advertising on the keyword crm software
• Device = c | they’re bidding on desktop devices
• Matchtype = p | they’re using phrase match

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With this information you can start to get answers into how your competitors are structuring their campaigns and it’s freely available and ready for those advertisers that are savvy enough to look.

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2. Keyword Classification 

How are your competitors allocating budget?

Now you’ll never know the answer to this question with absolute certainty but with some manual work here’s how you can try and piece together a sense of their strategy allocation. 

You’ll need one of the paid tools listed above in order to perform this keyword analysis. 

I’ll be using SEMRush for the sake of demonstration but the general process is the same across tools. 

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1. Export all of your competitors paid keywords into a CSV 

2. Filter the Last Seen column by the most recent month to see active keywords 

3. Add a new column called “Theme” and classify each keyword by campaign theme. 

This step can take some significant time but can be well worth the effort to understand your competitors keyword strategy and budget allocation priorities. 

With your custom column of “campaign theme” you’ll want to manually classify each keyword. 

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Here’s the four campaign themes you’ll utilize for classification:  

• NonBrand = high-intent keywords that don’t include your brand name
• Brand = keywords containing your brand name
• Competitive = keywords that represent your competitors
• Content = keywords that are informational and research oriented 

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Watch this video for a deep dive on how to perform this advanced classification:

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4. Summarize your classified keywords into a pivot table to understand your competitors strategy and budget priorities 

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From here we can make some assumptions about what is working for our competitors. 

• 87% of Udemy’s keywords are NonBrand, 9% Brand, 4% Content, and barely 0% Competitive. 
• It’s safe to assume that the majority of the budget is supporting NonBrand, followed by Brand, Content, and ultimately Competitive. 

Based on this allocation I might want to focus on NonBrand first given the volume of investment Udemy seems to be spending on it, and avoid competitive keywords to start. 

This isn't 100% exact science but an advanced way to research your competitors Google Ads. 

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Need help calculating your stating Google Ads Budget? 

If you’re in need of help calculating your starting Google Ads budget check out our calculator. 

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Hope you found this article useful! 

See you in the next article or one of our free courses!

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Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers in AdConversion

If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. 

‍

Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

‍

Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.

Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it 😂)

‍

Google Ads is a blessing and a curse.

You're blessed with intent and cursed with scale. 

It’s a powerful channel for scaling pipeline for SaaS startups but low search volume is a challenge. 

In this article you’re going to learn 3 powerful strategies for scaling your SaaS google ads further. 

This won’t solve your limited search volume issues that's just the nature of your target keywords and B2B SaaS but these strategies will help you squeeze more performance from your account. 

Let’s dive into it 👇

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Strategy #1: Broad Match Discovery
• Strategy #2: Advertising outside of English
• Strategy #3: Industry campaigns

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Strategy #1: Broad Match Discovery

Before you click away I’m not talking about using broad match in the traditional sense. 

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Where you let Google show your ads for WHATEVER they think is relevant. 

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Broad match discovery is where you combine broad match keywords AND an audience. 

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It essentially means you’re giving Google the flexibility to show your ads for whatever they feel is relevant but within the confines of your targeted audience. 

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I would not recommend testing this approach unless you have:

• Strong negative keyword lists
• Proven converting phrase match keywords
• Significant conversion volume (> 15/month)

The benefit is you get to scale your top keywords safely past phrase match. 

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How to implement broad match discovery: 

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Step 1: Find proven converting phrase match keywords 

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Review your performance across converting phrase match keywords to identify which you’re going to prioritize testing with broad match discovery. 

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Don’t rely on “total conversions” make sure you’re viewing performance by keyword based on the custom metrics that matter for your business (ex: Demo, Trial, SQL, SAL, Opp, etc).

Once you’ve identified some worthwhile keywords it’s time for step 2. 

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Step 2: Brainstorm  your targeted audiences

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Google has 5 audience types you can leverage for targeting in your search campaigns. 

• Your data = website visitors or contact lists
• In-market = people actively researching a given topic
• Life events = people who’ve accomplished a life milestone (ex: create a business, get married)
• Detailed demographics = industries, company sizes, education level. 
• Affinity = people who are interested in a certain topic

You can use a mixture of all these different types of audiences to layer on top of your broad match discovery campaigns. 

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If you’re dealing with < 500 searches/month for your keywords I recommend clustering a minim of 10-15 audiences on top of your campaigns to help with delivery. 

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Step 3: Setup a campaign experiment 

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The safest way you can test broad match discovery is in a 50/50 experiment alongside your top converting phrase match campaign. 

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You can easily AB test in Google Ads using the campaign experiments feature. 

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Located under Campaigns > Experiments 

Using this feature build an experiment splitting the traffic by 50% for your original campaign vs the experiment version using broad match AND the targeted audiences you brainstormed in step 2. 

Strategy #2: Advertising outside of English

English is the most competitive language in the world with the majority of advertisers. 

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We’ve seen reductions of up to 70% in our average CPC targeting other languages. 

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If your company has the resources to sell in multiple languages – take advantage of localization!

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Localization campaigns are when you target keywords, write ad copy, and design landing pages that all are in your audience's native language (ex: Spanish, German, Portuguese). 

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You’ll reap the benefits of lower costs due to less competition. 

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The downside however with localization is search volume. 

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If you’re already advertising in English outside of North America and finding success, definitely recommend testing this strategy. 

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How to implement localized campaigns: 

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Step 1: Find proven converting phrase match keywords 

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Review your performance across converting phrase match keywords to identify which you’re going to prioritize testing with broad match discovery. 

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Don’t rely on “total conversions” make sure you’re viewing performance by keyword based on the custom metrics that matter for your business (ex: Demo, Trial, SQL, SAL, Opp, etc).

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Step 2: Brainstorm  your targeted languages

Ask your internal team what languages your sales team is able to sell in. 

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Based on your options make a list of potential languages.

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Next, if you’re advertising outside of North America, review the top performing countries and identify their local languages and see if you have the internal resources that can speak that language.

If you can’t sell in this language then this strategy won’t make sense. 

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Step 3: Hire a local translator  

Don’t make the mistake of relying on Google Translate to perform the bulk of your translation.

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You’ll want to hire a translator that grew up in the area in which you want to advertise. 

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For instance, if you’re advertising in Portuguese. 

The dialect for Europeans living in Portugal and those living in Brazil is very different. 

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A local Brazilian can tell if it’s not their dialect just like a native Portuguese. 

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I recommend hiring locals off Upwork can be as low as $12/hour depending on the language. 

These translations will make a world difference in your ad and landing page copy. 

Strategy #3: Industry campaigns

Industry campaigns can be great for coverage and quality.

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This is where you’re going to bid on a desired keyword and add a related industry term. 

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For example, let’s say bidding on the keyword “crm software” here’s how you can modify this keyword to make it industry specific:

• healthcare crm software
• crm software for fintech 
• crm software for small businesses

The benefits of industry campaigns: 

• Personalized ad copy that can yield greater CTRs
• Higher quality leads due to a more qualified search term
• Lower cost per click prices due to less competition

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The downside however is search volume (the constant struggle of Google for SaaS 😅).

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How to implement industry campaigns: 

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Step 1: Find proven converting phrase match keywords 

Just like the other strategies we’re going to identify proven keywords first that we can create industry variations for. 

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Step 2: Brainstorm  your target industries

Run a win rate analysis in your CRM and understand which industries have the shortest sales cycles and largest deal sizes? Based on your findings, prioritise the industries in which you want to target. 

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Step 3: Build and prevent keyword overlap

Once you have your keywords and target industries you’re ready to build your campaigns. 

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Make sure to add your industry terms as negative keywords in your generic non-brand campaigns.

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Otherwise you can have people seeing your generic ads for your industry terms. 

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Hope you found this article helpful! 

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Best of luck scaling your Google Ads campaigns for your SaaS. 

‍

Resources for mastering B2B advertising

If you’re serious about mastering B2B advertising then you definitely need to join 1,000+ B2B marketers leveling up their paid advertising skill sets in AdConversion. 

‍Here’s 4 reasons why you should consider joining. Every one of our on-demand courses are:

✅  100% free access.

✅  Taught by vetted industry experts.

✅  Have workbooks, resources, and templates.

✅  Less than 10 minutes per lesson.

We believe every marketer should know how to scale paid ads so they can:

•  Scale their ideas
• Level up their careers
• Make a positive impact

Click Here to Join 1,000+ B2B Marketers Today and start leveling up your advertising skill set.

Takes < 90 seconds to sign up (seriously we timed it 😂)

‍