Google Ads Campaign Essentials

🔥 I burned ₹10 lakhs testing campaign structures on Meta Ads—here’s what I learned (and what actually works). Over the past 3 months, I’ve tested multiple campaign structures on Meta Ads. Call it “testing” or “wasting” – but it taught me one game-changing lesson. Here’s What I Tested: 1️⃣ Broad Campaign with Advantage+ Audience Enabled ▪️ Ad sets by creative theme. ▪️Concerned that spend might favor engaged audiences (e.g., website visitors), I moved to the test#2. 2️⃣ Broad Campaign with Original Audience (No Advantage+) ▪️ Ad sets by creative theme. ▪️ Outcome: Spend distribution across engaged audiences was the same as in Point 1. ▪️Hence, no delta benefit. 3️⃣ Advantage+ Shopping Campaign (ASC) + Broad Campaign ▪️ Idea: Identify winners in the broad campaign and scale them in ASC. ▪️ Reality: Marginally better performance with ASC but lower scalability due to a lack of creative freshness in ASC at scale. 4️⃣ Broad Campaign (Interests + Lookalikes) ▪️Hypothesis: Interests and LAL might perform better. ▪️Outcome: No significant performance improvement, even at scale. 5️⃣ Broad Campaign (Excluding Website Visitors) + Dedicated Website Visitors Campaign ▪️Hypothesis: This structure would improve efficiency. ▪️Outcome: Performance tanked. Meta’s machine learning thrives on frequency for conversions. The result? Nothing. No significant difference. Here’s what actually matters: ✅ Your creatives. Instead of overcomplicating campaign structures: ✅ Keep it simple. ✅ Focus 80% of your energy on testing creatives (hooks, angles, messaging). ✅ Use ASC only for catalogs or specific setups. ✅ Launch creatives by theme in a single broad campaign with ad sets aligned. ✅ Avoid remarketing campaigns unless you have a specific offer/messaging to hammer home. Summary: Stop chasing the perfect campaign structure. Start obsessing over creative quality. Note: - This learning applies to direct purchase campaigns on the web. - I’ll share separate insights for app campaigns in another post. What’s your take on this? 👇 #performancemarketing #metaads #fbads #campaignstructure

Incrementality testing is crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of marketing campaigns because it helps marketers determine the true impact of their efforts. Without this testing, it's difficult to know whether observed changes in user behavior or sales were actually caused by the marketing campaign or if they would have occurred naturally. By measuring incrementality, marketers can attribute changes in key metrics directly to their campaign actions and optimize future strategies based on concrete data. In this blog written by the data scientist team from Expedia Group, a detailed guide is shared on how to measure marketing campaign incrementality through geo-testing. Geo-testing allows marketers to split regions into control and treatment groups to observe the true impact of a campaign. The guide breaks the process down into three main stages: - The first stage is pre-testing, where the team determines the appropriate geographical granularity—whether to use states, Designated Market Areas (DMAs), or zip codes. They then strategically select a subset of available regions and assign them to control and treatment groups. It's crucial to validate these selections using statistical tests to ensure that the regions are comparable and the split is sound. - The second stage is the test itself, where the marketing intervention is applied to the treatment group. During this phase, the team must closely monitor business performance, collect data, and address any issues that may arise.  - The third stage is post-test analysis. Rather than immediately measuring the campaign's lift, the team recommends waiting for a "cooldown" period to capture any delayed effects. This waiting period also allows for control and treatment groups to converge again, confirming that the campaign's impact has ended and ensuring the model hasn’t decayed. This structure helps calculate Incremental Return on Advertising spending, answering questions like “How do we measure the sales directly driven by our marketing efforts?” and “Where should we allocate future marketing spend?” The blog serves as a valuable reference for those looking for more technical insights, including software tools used in this process. #datascience #marketing #measurement #incrementality #analysis #experimentation – – –  Check out the "Snacks Weekly on Data Science" podcast and subscribe, where I explain in more detail the concepts discussed in this and future posts:    -- Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gKgaMvbh   -- Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gj6aPBBY    -- Youtube: https://lnkd.in/gcwPeBmR https://lnkd.in/gWKzX8X2 

80 % of marketing budgets are still doing cartwheels in the wrong part of the funnel. Here’s a quick sanity check I use when clients ask why their “awareness” ads don’t move revenue.👇 1. Start where the money is (literally). If you’re not retargeting → CRM contacts, open opportunities, and past proposals first, you’re burning cash. Warm dollars convert 3–5× faster than any cold campaign, yet they get the leftovers. 2. “High‑intent” is code for “ready to buy.” Exact‑match search queries and branded terms deserve their own budget and landing page. No fluff, no blogs—just proof, pricing, and a form. Paid search has to be a foundational layer for most orgs. After warm near-bound prospects and before you think about ice cold targeting..paid search is where you go. 3. Middle‑funnel is your trust factory. Website lurkers, LinkedIn page visitors, newsletter readers—feed them testimonials, analyst quotes, ungated checklists. The goal: move them one click deeper, not straight to a wedding proposal. 4. Cold prospecting ≠ spray & pray. ABM lists with technographic or intent data beat look‑alike audiences every day of the week. Speak to the pain you know they have. Then cap your spend until retargeting pools are healthy. 5. Measurement > mythology. Weekly: pacing and cost per lead. Monthly: SQLs and win‑rate lift. Quarterly: cost‑to‑revenue by funnel stage. Most of the rest is dashboard glitter. TL;DR Shift budget down the funnel first, earn the right to scale up, and track every dollar like a bloodhound. Your CFO—and pipeline—will thank you. What’s the one funnel tweak that moved the needle most for you this year? Drop it below ⬇️ Website LinkedIn Ads Agency: https://lnkd.in/guEafPKk B2B Strategies and Guides: https://lnkd.in/gB-WQ82f Impactable YouTube Channel: https://lnkd.in/emYVDn_T

“Is this ad working?” is the wrong question. The right one is: “Did the core idea even land?” Today it's not uncommon to see brands measure the impact of advertising campaigns by media or business metrics: clicks, traffic, hold rate, hook rate, etc. And that’s not wrong - especially if you made an ad just to drive traffic or get purchases from your in-market audience. But advertising can do a lot more, like building mental availability amongst your audience so that at the moment of truth, you are familiar to them. So let's assume we are advertising, what should we be checking in the creative device - let's say a 30 sec ad film? Recall / Message comprehension / Key message / Persuasion Because if you run your campaign consistently, over a fairly good period of time, and your message is designed to solve for your audience, then you are building mental availability. It's really that simple. Say the right thing. Repeatedly. Over a long period of time. It works. Kent RO Water has been saying "Kent RO deta hai..." Then there are other must have's that apply to your creative device - grab attention, reinforce brand codes (logo, colours, design elements) And messing this up is too easy. I’ve seen this happen in person. Back in my FMCG days, a rough animatic was tested for a film. It was about face wash vs. just using bar soap. The animatic scored brilliantly—because it had a scene where the user tosses the soap bar with the line "For tough skin and active lifestyle, just this is not enough" That scene landed the idea. But when the final edit was done, a 2 sec shot of throwing the soap got cut to shorten the film, since the Voice over was already there. We released the ad. It looked great. But in post-launch testing, it turned red. Viewers were confused. Some asked: “Are you saying we shouldn’t even wash our face with water?” The missing shot of the soap being thrown broke the message chain. Often we complicate and underestimate simplicity. Here’s a simple exercise: Pick any 2 ad for a category, of two competitors. Show it to 4 category buyers. Ask them to narrate back the ad, and what is the main thing they understood. Don’t prompt. Just observe. If the core message doesn’t come through, no matter how slick the edit, you’ve got a problem. Yes, I know it sounds like some traditional brand guy giving old-school gyaan. But this small habit has saved crores in media & months of wasted storytelling. And of course "Brand advertising doesn't work" An important component of getting the ad right is the JTBD framework. More on that in the next post. Disagree? Let me know in the comments.

🌟 The Frustrations of Working with Indian Companies on Performance Marketing Ads 🌟 Working with Indian companies on performance marketing ads can be both rewarding and challenging. But one recurring frustration? Founders often expect to see results before they’re willing to increase the budget. 🚨 While it’s natural to want proof of ROI before committing more resources, this approach fundamentally misunderstands how performance marketing works—and it’s holding businesses back. 📉 💡 Here’s why this “results-first” mindset is flawed: Performance marketing isn’t a magic wand. It’s a data-driven process that demands an upfront investment to collect insights, test strategies, and optimize for success. Expecting big results from a tiny budget is like planting a single seed and hoping for a thriving garden—it just doesn’t happen. 🔍 Let’s break it down: A common scenario: a founder allocates a small budget to a campaign, sees modest returns, and decides performance marketing “doesn’t work” for their business. But the truth is, that limited budget crippled the campaign’s potential from the start. Platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads rely on algorithms that need data—impressions, clicks, conversions—to optimize effectively. A small budget starves those algorithms, leaving you with insufficient data to make smart decisions. It’s like trying to train a machine learning model with a handful of data points: the results won’t be accurate or impressive. 📈 The right way: Testing and Scaling The best campaigns follow a clear two-step process: Testing phase 🧪: A moderate budget lets you experiment with ad creatives, audiences, and bidding strategies to find what works. Scaling phase 🚀: Once you’ve got data-backed winners, you scale the budget to amplify those successes. Skimp on the testing phase, and you’re gambling with suboptimal results—or worse, missing out entirely. 🏆 Don’t forget the competition In crowded industries, competitors are pouring money into performance marketing. If you’re not willing to match or exceed their spend, you’ll likely get outbid and overshadowed. Digital visibility isn’t just about having a great product; it’s about investing to stand out. 🌍 Cultural context matters This “results-first” mindset isn’t unique to India, but it’s especially common here, often tied to cultural or economic priorities like frugality and immediate ROI. While those instincts make sense, they can clash with the long-term growth performance marketing delivers. 🤝 For founders: Shift your perspective. Investing in performance marketing is investing in your business’s future. Start with a realistic budget for testing and optimization, then scale based on what the data tells you. 📣 For marketers: It’s on us to educate and set expectations. Show clients the process—use examples or case studies to bridge the gap between investment and results. Let’s help them understand that performance marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.

When I first started working with small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), I noticed something: many of them were trying to run their paid search campaigns just like the big players. They’d look at what major corporations were doing and try to replicate their strategies, often with disappointing results. One business owner I worked with, let’s call her Priya, ran a thriving local bakery. She was spending a chunk of her tight budget on paid search campaigns but wasn’t seeing the returns she’d hoped for. Her ads were competing for generic terms like “best cakes,” where her budget was up against national chains. I asked her, “What’s special about your bakery? Why do your customers love you?” Her answer was simple: “Our custom cakes and same-day delivery.” That was the lightbulb moment. We stopped trying to compete with the big brands and instead focused on what made Priya’s bakery unique. We built a hyper-local strategy, bidding on specific keywords like “custom cakes near me” and “same-day cake delivery.” We highlighted her 5-star reviews and added local extensions to her ads. The result? In just three months, her conversion rate doubled, and her cost-per-acquisition dropped by 30%. This experience taught me an important lesson: SMBs don’t need to follow the big brands—they need their own approach. SMBs thrive by being nimble, understanding their audience deeply, and leveraging their unique strengths. Paid search success isn’t about having the biggest budget; it’s about having the sharpest strategy. For SMBs, that means: ⭐ Targeting niche, high-intent keywords. ⭐ Focusing on local campaigns. ⭐ Leveraging customer reviews and unique selling points. If you’re an SMB struggling to make paid search work for you, maybe it’s time to rethink your approach. It’s not about playing the same game as the big guys—it’s about playing a different game altogether. Have you faced similar challenges with paid search? I’d love to hear your story or discuss how SMBs can succeed in this space. Let’s connect and exchange ideas! #PaidSearch #SMBs #DigitalMarketing #SmallBusinessGrowth #SuccessStory

If you are just starting with your Google search ads account, you can divide your strategy into phases . Have a long term view of execution and define the phases this way - For starting Google Search Ads in 2025, the strategy can be divided into the following phases: 1. Research and Planning Duration - 1-2 Weeks Look for your competition, keyword selection, search volumes, cost estimates, business plan projections. 2. Campaign Structure and Setup Duration - 1-2 Weeks Think through your account structure, campaign types & structure, keywords, ad group structure, as copies, tracking ( Google Analytics, Tag Manager etc ). Execute patiently as this is the foundation stone. 3. Initial Testing and Data Collection Duration - 3-4 Weeks Launch small budget campaigns even if you have scale to go way beyond. The data collected during this phase will give you idea about spends, individual campaign / ad group / ad level performances. It will guide you towards next phase while informing you if things are working as expected. Monitor closely. 4. Optimization and Scaling Duration - 4-6 Weeks Refine your keyword strategy, CPA goals, campaigns budgets, new ad copies and double down on what is working. Stop what is not making sense or you are not sure of it. 5. Landing Page Optimizations Duration - 8-12 Weeks Try variations of landing pages and do A/B testing. Each variation will take its time which will further impact your previous steps. Go steady. 6. Performance Monitoring and Refinement Duration - 2-3 Weeks Do this along with campaign changes and landing pages changes. Make reports for Week On Week , Month On Month comparisons to understand trends. Your Budgets, CPA, Keyword Targeting, ROI etc would change and need to be recalibrated. 7. Innovation and Expansion Duration - 4-6 Weeks ( As per Business Requirement Also ) Once you achieve a level where business goals are being met and lot of things are autopilot, use small budgets to try new things. For example - Performance Max campaigns, new keywords l, geographies, verticals etc. 8. Automations Duration - 3-4 Weeks As the account grows, data grows , number of tasks grow. It's now like a flywheel which needs to be improved. Automations help you become more efficient and avoid excessive spends and reduce wastage. Plus it provides more time to focus on other areas as the account is taken care of. Highly recommended. Google ads account management can become simply too cumbersome and daunting. These phases avoid any wrong expectations too. #digitalmarketing #googleads #sem

GOOGLE ADS CHECKLIST Set up. Optimize. Scale. 1. SETUP ☐ Create a Google Ads account (or link to existing) ☐ Install conversion tracking (Google Tag / GTM) ☐ Link Google Ads with Google Analytics ☐ Set up billing + define monthly budget ☐ Define primary conversion (purchase, lead, call) ☐ Set geographic + language targeting ☐ Choose bidding strategy (start with Max Conversions or Manual CPC) 2. ACCOUNT STRUCTURE ☐ Create campaigns by goal ☐ Segment ad groups by tight keyword themes ☐ Use clear naming conventions (e.g., Brand_Search_US) ☐ Separate Brand vs Non-Brand ☐ Use one product/service per ad group ☐ Add negative keyword lists early 3. KEYWORD STRATEGY ☐ Use Google Keyword Planner for research ☐ Focus on high-intent keywords (buy, hire, near me) ☐ Use match types properly: • Exact → precision • Phrase → balance • Broad → scale (with caution) ☐ Add relevant keywords per campaign ☐ Continuously add negative keywords 4. AD COPY ☐ Write headlines with clear intent (benefit + keyword) ☐ Include primary keyword in headlines ☐ Use emotional + outcome-driven language ☐ Add strong CTA (Get Quote, Buy Now, Book Today) ☐ Test multiple ad variations per ad group ☐ Use all available assets: • Sitelinks • Callouts • Structured snippets ☐ Highlight USP (price, speed, guarantee) 5. LANDING PAGES ☐ Match landing page to ad intent (1:1 relevance) ☐ Keep load speed under 3 seconds ☐ Clear headline + offer above the fold ☐ Strong CTA visible immediately ☐ Mobile optimized ☐ Add trust signals (reviews, testimonials, badges) ☐ Track conversions properly 6. CONNECTORS (TOOLS) ☐ Link Google Tag Manager ☐ Use Google Analytics 4 for behavior tracking ☐ Connect CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.) ☐ Use call tracking tools if needed ☐ Enable enhanced conversions ☐ Import offline conversions if applicable 7. OPTIMIZATION (SKILLS) ☐ Check search terms report regularly ☐ Pause low-performing keywords ☐ Increase bids on high converters ☐ A/B test ad copy continuously ☐ Optimize Quality Score: • CTR • Relevance • Landing page experience ☐ Adjust device, location, and time bid modifiers ☐ Test different bidding strategies 8. CAMPAIGNS (PROJECTS) ☐ Create one campaign per objective ☐ Separate cold vs warm audiences ☐ Use remarketing campaigns ☐ Scale winning campaigns gradually ☐ Allocate budget to top performers ☐ Kill underperforming campaigns fast 9. BUDGET & PERFORMANCE ☐ Start small, scale based on ROI ☐ Track: • CPC • CPA • ROAS • POAS ☐ Avoid wasting spend on broad irrelevant traffic ☐ Reallocate budget weekly ☐ Focus on profitable conversions, not just clicks ☐ Review performance every 3–7 days 10. RESEARCH & SCALING ☐ Analyze competitors using Auction Insights ☐ Identify new keyword opportunities weekly ☐ Expand into Display / YouTube when ready ☐ Use Performance Max campaigns for scaling ☐ Monitor trends + seasonality 🏆 FINAL RULE Focus on value. Test. Optimize. Repeat. Better data → Better decisions → Better results

Paying More. Getting Less. Why So Many Google Ads Campaigns Are Quietly Drifting Nationwide targeting is a hidden budget drain but not enough brands want to hear that. I just looked at three US campaigns spending big on Google Ads. All three used “United States” as their targeting. Looked fine in the dashboard, solid clicks, good CPCs. But inside the search term reports? Over 30% of clicks came from states they don’t even ship to. CPAs in those dead zones were two to three times higher and conversion rate was near zero. Why does this keep happening? Because Google’s default is broad. Broad targeting at scale looks good on paper until you see where your dollars really land. If you’re running Search or PMAX nationwide but only ship to certain states, this is burning money: • Loosely matched geo settings • No state exclusions • No negative keywords tied to locations • Zero device or location bid adjustments When you fix this, the impact is instant. Lower junk clicks. Tighter signal data. Smart Bidding that isn’t confused by leads you’d never serve. One simple tweak we made for a national ecommerce brand: Added geo filters and negatives. ROAS jumped 25% with the same budget. No new campaigns. No fancy AI. Just plugging the leaks. If your paid search feels more expensive this year, this might be why. I break this down fully in my latest short strategy video. Real examples, what to fix, and what to test next. I’m also running a few complimentary audits right now for US brands that want to see where their geo targeting might be quietly draining spend. If you’d like the strategy video, Report (Google Marketing Live 2025 Event) or the audit, drop me a quick Interested below or DM me. Let’s see what we can tighten up. Search keeps changing. No point paying for traffic you can’t serve.

The 90-Day Google Ads Framework that turned a failing campaign into a profit machine. When my client was ready to cancel their Google Ads after 3 weeks of poor results, I convinced them to follow my 90-day roadmap instead. By month 3, their CPA dropped 42% and conversion volume doubled. The secret? A structured, phase-based approach: Month 1: Data Foundation • Focus on generating 10+ clicks daily • Monitor CTR (2%+ indicates relevance) • Add negative keywords aggressively • Verify conversion tracking accuracy Month 2: Volume Optimization   • Target 30+ monthly conversions • Mine search terms for converting keywords • Eliminate underperforming keywords • Adjust budget allocation • Begin transitioning to smart bidding Month 3: Performance Refinement • Analyze impression share metrics • Test Target CPA/ROAS bidding • Review and enhance ad creative • Make data-driven decisions about campaign viability The key insight: Search campaigns need sufficient data before they can be properly optimized. Each phase builds on the previous, creating a virtuous cycle of improvement. This framework applies whether you're spending $1,000 or $100,000 monthly - the principles remain the same, though timelines may vary based on volume. Too many advertisers make the fatal mistake of expecting immediate results, making random changes, or giving up entirely before their campaigns have collected enough data to succeed. Comment "FRAMEWORK" below to receive my complete 90-day Google Ads optimization checklist. (Note: Please connect with me so I can share it with you.) #GoogleAdsOptimization #PaidSearchStrategy #DigitalAdvertising #90days #PPC #SEA #SEM