Today, every business house or every business person runs Google Adwords campaigns on a regular basis. There is certainly always room for improvement. Every google adwords user wants to maximize on their experience with the tool. At the end of the day, arranging and setting up your AdWords campaign is just a large portion of the fight. The other half is enhancing your campaign once it’s live. Indeed, even the best, most splendidly set up campaign will at last come up short if it’s not overseen properly.
There are many available best tools with Google Adwords that business individuals must maximize on.
1. Keyword Planner
This is the most popular keyword research tool in order to get the keywords idea for website and campaign. The tool is also better known or referred to as AdWords Traffic Estimator. You can simply seek the most important information about expected “search term” on the basis of your products, services or website content and target details like Location, category, language, date range and many more details. Along with this, you can get an insight to the accurate details such as estimated search volume trends, Average monthly searches, Competition, Suggested bid, Ad impression share, CPC cost and many more aspects based on historical facts, figures and the current trend in vogue.
If you are aware of your projected industry area for promotion then you will definitely get perfect keywords for campaigns and ad groups. Keywords planner is by far the best tool for search campaign creation. See this tool in AdWords, then click on Tools and Analysis, post which you will see Keywords Planner. Keyword planner as a tool allows the digital marketer to choose and analyse keywords and their performances. This assists in choosing the right keyword for every campaign ahead.
2. Remarketing Tag
The Remarketing Tag is a small script and a very important component of remarketing list. Google has now made it convenient to collect the cookies from people who have visited your website. Google then generates a list as per your setups like the audience, type, list size & tag. You only need to place the remarketing tag in all pages of your website. On basis of the remarketing list, you can simply create the remarketing campaign for your products and services. Here is an article for you to understand the concept better – “Create your first remarketing list“. You can choose a list for remarketing from the AdWords account and prepare a new remarketing list targeted to a selected set of customers.
3. Google Analytics
Here is a free web tracking Google tool in order to ascertain traffic analysis. When you link a Google Analytics property to AdWords, you will be to examine the visitor’s activity on your landing page.
As you use this tool, you will be able to understand how much traffic has come from AdWords and click, cost data report all together with your Analytics site engagement data. Filters, Goal, real-time visitors, Geo info and funnel visualization are useful components to analyze the behavior of the audience. You also can create remarketing lists in Analytics to use along with AdWords for targeting specific audiences. In the above dashboard, Google Analytics is measured for a particular website considering all factors i.e. time spent on the site,device used to log in, traffic, etc. This rates the brand performance on the whole.
4. Conversion Tracking
This is a very important tool for conversion tracking in Google AdWords. Using the conversion tracking code, you will be able to analyze the information related to number of signups, app downloads, phone calls and purchases have happened from your landing page. Different types of conversion tracking tools are available in AdWords like Track purchases, sign-ups, and other website conversions, Track Android app conversions, Track iOS app conversions, Track calls from ads, Track calls to a Google forwarding number on your website, Track phone number clicks on a mobile website, Track offline conversions and Track transaction-specific values. All these conversions are indeed the best for understanding data such as which keywords, ads, ad groups, and campaigns are working fine and also to calculate the ROI. From the above image it is quiet eminent, the Conversions dashboard talks of all the statistics i.e. overview, conversion rate, etc.
5. Display Planner
Display planner is one of the vital tools for AdWords display campaign creation. You can find the best suggestion about keywords, placements, topics, interest, demographics, and remarketing on the basis your interests or your landing page. You will get an estimated set of collective data for your campaign creation. However, it will be more helpful for achieving better converted clicks.
Display planner, as you can see above, displays the entire plan in terms of videos, keywords, impressions, etc.
6. Negative Keywords
A negative keyword tool is a PPC match type (i.e. a keyword targeting option) that is generally offered by most of the search engine advertising platforms, also including Google AdWords. The negative keywords permits you to filter who generally sees your ad, that is based on the search queries therein. You must use the negative keywords tool when you would like to ensure that your ad doesn’t show for any particular word. When you prevent your ad from showing on irrelevant searches, you save money on wasted clicks and create more opportunities for it to display on searches that are relevant and that do lead to conversions. The benefits of effectively using negative keywords in a P.P.C. campaign are that you will always have an improved C.T.R, quality score and a conversion rate. The negative keywords tab as is visible from above allows you create a list for negative keywords, i.e. these are the keywords which must be abstained from being used in any of the campaigns
7. Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool
As the name suggests and implies for itself, this tool is indeed useful for showing the preview of ads corresponding the keywords, language, location and device. Generally, you can use the ad preview & diagnosis to investigate if your text ads are visible or not as per the keywords. A tool shows the message for improving your campaign and changes, which is required for the ads on any search term. If in case you don’t have thorough knowledge about your industry related ads, then you also can use this ad preview and diagnosis tool to check out the sample ads and competitor’s ads. A tool in your account (which is seen above) helps identify why your ad or ad might not be appearing. The tool displays a preview of a Google search result page for a specific term. This helps you see which ads and extensions are appearing for your keyword. As you enter a search term and other criterion such as language and location, the tool suggests you whether your ad is eligible to appear in that situation.
8. Google Merchant Center
Google Merchant Center is is a tool that helps you in order to manage the products data in Google shopping. By using this tool you can upload the product details and facts to Google and eventually find your product listings on Google. This tool helps you in reaching shoppers while they are surfing for items to buy on Google. This tool is much useful for website promotion. As you link your AdWords or your Manager accounts, you can promote your products directly through Product Listing Ads. The Google Merchant Center dashboard details out the clicks for every ‘search’ keyword, the impressions and the products/services active for the brand
9. Bid Strategies
AdWords offers several strategies to bid that are defined for different types of campaigns. Heavily depending on which networks your campaign is targeting, and also if you want to focus on getting clicks, impressions, conversions and views, you can determine the best strategy for yourself. There are certain categories of bidding strategies:
Manual C.P.C:
This is the most desired and preferred setting in order to have total control over focused on driving click traffic. AdWords generally takes the ad group default bid first, unless a much different bid is manually specified at the keyword level itself.
Automatic C.P.C:
In this bidding, advertisers are determined on driving click traffic. However, they give AdWords control over individual CPC bids. You must adjust a budget and AdWords automatically adjusts your bids with the goal of getting the most clicks for the budget. With automatic bidding, AdWords gets the most clicks. There is an additional option to set a CPC bid limit. Nonetheless, setting a limit can help control costs and also, it might also potentially limit clicks.
Enhanced C.P.C:
This bidding strategy is tailormade for the conversion-focused advertiser. Conversion tracking should be enabled, so that AdWords can automatically bring variation in CPC bids to drive most conversions. Also, the bidding is lowered for clicks less likely to show any positive conversion. As we go ahead to select a bidding strategy. The options drop down from where you can either choose a Manual, Automatic or an Enhanced C.P.C
Want to learn how Growth Hacking can boost up your business?
These are the scripts in java language. Which help in making automated changes in your AdWords account and for reports generation. This feature helps you change bids, pause ad groups and add keywords. It also assists in generating the ads performance report and account reports. This script is more helpful for managing the large campaign and reporting. Scripts can also be used to modify multiple accounts through MCC. The Adwords script herein, gives an estimate of the percentage reach of your ad in every hour for entire week. This way you know when your ad will do better than the previous hour.
Take away
In conclusion we would like to say that. If you focus more on these tools while you work on your campaigns. You will be assured best results. We look forward to hear and know your opinions.
Watch: 10 Free Tools to Manage Your Google AdWords Campaigns
For Curious Minds
The Keyword Planner provides critical forecasting data that transforms keyword research from a simple brainstorming session into a strategic financial plan. It allows you to estimate potential campaign performance and allocate budget effectively before spending a single dollar. This tool provides a detailed, data-backed view of the search landscape for your industry. You can analyze key metrics such as:
Average monthly searches to gauge the overall demand for your products or services.
Competition level to understand how many other advertisers are bidding on the same terms.
Suggested bid to receive a CPC cost estimate that helps project expenses and set realistic daily budgets.
By evaluating these historical figures from Google, you can prioritize keywords that balance high search volume with manageable competition and cost, building a more efficient campaign from the start. Uncovering these details is the first step toward building a truly optimized search strategy.
Linking Google Analytics to your AdWords account reveals what happens after the click, offering a complete picture of user engagement that AdWords alone cannot provide. This integration allows you to measure the quality of traffic from your ads, not just the quantity. By analyzing user behavior, you can determine if your ad spend is attracting the right audience. You can examine crucial engagement data, including a visitor’s time spent on the site, the devices they use, and their geographic location (Geo info). This helps you identify which campaigns drive not just clicks, but valuable interactions that lead to conversions. For example, you can create specific remarketing lists in Analytics to use with AdWords, targeting audiences who have demonstrated high engagement. Understanding these post-click actions is fundamental to optimizing your campaigns for profitability.
Both methods enable powerful retargeting, but they serve different strategic purposes. A direct Remarketing Tag from AdWords is streamlined for building broad audience lists based on website visits, making it ideal for straightforward campaigns. Conversely, creating audiences in Google Analytics offers far more sophisticated segmentation capabilities. The best approach depends on your campaign's complexity. Use the direct AdWords tag for simplicity and speed when targeting all site visitors or visitors of specific pages. Opt for Google Analytics audiences when you need to target users based on specific behaviors, such as those who spent more than three minutes on the site, visited a certain number of pages, or completed a specific goal. Analyzing a metric like 'list size' growth in both platforms can reveal which is capturing your desired audience most effectively. Mastering these options allows for more precise and effective audience engagement.
Successful businesses look past surface-level metrics like clicks and impressions to focus on what truly drives growth, which is conversions. Implementing Conversion Tracking provides the direct evidence needed to connect ad spend to tangible business outcomes like the number of purchases or app downloads. This data-driven approach transforms campaign management from guesswork into a precise science. By tracking specific conversion actions, you can:
Attribute revenue directly to specific campaigns, ad groups, and keywords.
Calculate your true return on ad spend (ROAS) and cost per acquisition (CPA).
Optimize bidding strategies to focus budget on the elements that deliver the most conversions.
For example, Google uses this tool to measure its own ad effectiveness. By tying every dollar spent to a measurable action, you can confidently scale successful campaigns and eliminate wasteful spending. This clarity is essential for achieving sustainable growth through paid advertising.
The Keyword Planner is a powerful forecasting tool that helps you model potential campaign outcomes before you invest your budget. By analyzing its historical data, you can build a predictive model for your search efforts and steer clear of financial pitfalls. This proactive analysis is key to launching a successful campaign. Instead of bidding blindly, you can evaluate metrics from Google to make informed decisions. For instance, a high 'Average monthly searches' figure indicates strong demand, but a high 'Suggested bid' combined with 'High' competition suggests a costly battle for visibility. A strategic approach involves finding keywords with a healthy search volume but moderate competition and a manageable CPC cost. This balance allows you to capture relevant traffic without depleting your budget on hyper-competitive terms, ensuring a more sustainable path to a positive return on investment.
Analyzing Google Analytics engagement metrics provides undeniable proof of traffic quality, moving beyond simple click counts to show how users actually interact with your site. Low engagement signals that your ads, keywords, or landing pages are misaligned with user intent. High engagement validates that you are attracting a valuable audience. For example, if Campaign A has a high click-through rate but an average 'time spent on site' of only 10 seconds, while Campaign B has a lower CTR but an average session duration of two minutes, Campaign B is likely driving more qualified traffic. This insight allows you to shift budget from campaigns that generate low-quality clicks to those that attract genuinely interested visitors. Companies like Google rely on this type of analysis to ensure their ad products deliver real value. This deeper understanding is key to refining your targeting for better leads and higher conversion rates.
Properly setting up Conversion Tracking from day one is the most critical step for any new e-commerce advertiser. It ensures every dollar spent is accountable and provides the data needed for intelligent optimization. This foundation allows you to measure what matters most: sales and leads. The implementation process involves these core steps:
First, define your key conversions within your AdWords account, such as 'Track purchases, sign-ups, and other website conversions'.
Next, Google will generate a unique conversion tracking code snippet for each action you define.
Then, place this code on the confirmation or 'thank you' page that appears immediately after a user completes the desired action.
Finally, verify the tag is firing correctly using browser tools or test conversions.
This setup directly links ad clicks to revenue-generating activities on your site, providing clear insight into which campaigns are profitable. This initial work is fundamental for any serious e-commerce advertising effort.
Implementing the Remarketing Tag is a simple yet powerful way for a service-based business to re-engage prospects who have shown interest but have not yet converted. This tag creates an audience list by collecting cookies from your website visitors. Building this foundational list is a key long-term strategy. The process is straightforward:
Navigate to the 'Audience manager' in your AdWords account and select 'Audience sources'.
Set up your AdWords tag. Google will provide a small script, known as the global site tag, and an optional event snippet.
Copy this global site tag and place it in the code of every page of your website, typically just before the closing </head> tag.
Create an initial 'All Visitors' remarketing list to begin collecting data immediately.
This 'always-on' data collection ensures you are constantly building a valuable asset, an audience of warm leads you can target with specific offers. Getting this tag in place early is crucial for maximizing future campaign opportunities.
The decline of third-party cookies is fundamentally reshaping digital advertising, making traditional remarketing less reliable. Tools like the Remarketing Tag will become less effective on their own, forcing a strategic shift toward first-party data and privacy-centric solutions. Advertisers must adapt to thrive in this new environment. As cookie-based 'list size' becomes less accurate, strategies will shift toward:
Building and using first-party data lists collected via newsletters, sign-ups, and customer accounts.
Leveraging Google's privacy-safe solutions like enhanced conversions and consent mode.
Focusing on contextual targeting, which places ads based on page content rather than user history.
The future of audience targeting will rely on consent-based relationships and sophisticated modeling rather than universal tracking. Exploring these alternatives now is essential for future-proofing your advertising strategy and maintaining a competitive edge.
While automation handles much of the daily bidding and ad serving, the Keyword Planner's role has become more strategic than tactical. It is now less about hand-picking thousands of keywords and more about understanding the broader market and informing high-level strategy. This shift empowers marketers to act as analysts and strategists, not just campaign managers. The tool is increasingly valuable for:
Identifying emerging search trends and seasonal demand shifts using its search volume trend data.
Understanding the competitive landscape by analyzing 'Ad impression share' and suggested bids.
Providing data to fuel automated bidding strategies with accurate budget forecasts.
Instead of just building campaigns, you now use the Planner to discover new market opportunities and validate business ideas. This strategic application of Google's tool is where modern marketers can provide the most significant value.
Running ads without Conversion Tracking is like navigating without a map, you are spending money without knowing if you are reaching your destination. This 'blind' spending leads to wasted budget and missed opportunities. Properly installing the tracking code provides the necessary visibility to solve this problem. It directly connects your ad clicks to valuable actions, such as the number of signups on your landing page. This creates a clear feedback loop:
You can see exactly which keywords and ads are driving sales, not just clicks.
It enables the use of smart bidding strategies from Google that automatically optimize for conversions.
It provides a clear cost per acquisition, allowing you to assess profitability accurately.
By measuring what matters, you transform your advertising from an expense into a measurable investment. This foundational tool is the only way to ensure your budget is working effectively to grow your business.
Targeting a broad, undefined audience is a primary cause of campaign failure, resulting in low engagement and wasted ad spend. The Remarketing Tag provides a powerful solution by enabling you to segment website visitors into highly specific, high-intent audience lists. This precision ensures your message reaches the most receptive users. By creating granular lists, you can:
Target 'cart abandoners' with a special offer to encourage them to complete their purchase.
Exclude 'past purchasers' from acquisition campaigns to avoid paying for existing customers.
Show different ads to users who visited your pricing page versus those who only read blog posts.
This strategic segmentation focuses your budget on users who have already demonstrated interest in your brand, a tactic Google itself recommends. Moving from broad targeting to precise remarketing significantly improves efficiency and campaign return.
Chandala Takalkar is a young content marketer and creative with experience in content, copy, corporate communications, and design. A digital native, she has the ability to craft content and copy that suits the medium and connects. Prior to Team upGrowth, she worked as an English trainer. Her experience includes all forms of copy and content writing, from Social Media communication to email marketing.
Growth Strategy and Planning
