Google Ads op­ti­miza­tion – how to perfect your campaign

Thanks to Google Ads (called Google AdWords until 2018), running ads in the search results of the leading search engine is, in principle, a straight­for­ward matter. It’s much harder to maintain campaigns that meet your ex­pec­ta­tions and pay off – because only if you optimize your Google Ads campaign do you stand a good chance of SEA success. Reg­u­lar­i­ty is par­tic­u­lar­ly important here. Depending on your business model, the aim is to use your budget as ef­fec­tive­ly as possible and to manage it on the basis of relevant metrics such as con­ver­sion rate, cost per click (CPC), cost per con­ver­sion or return on ad spend (ROAS). Today, many bidding decisions are made by Google’s automated bid strate­gies – which makes it all the more important that you set the right pa­ra­me­ters and review the results crit­i­cal­ly.

But how exactly should the various data be in­ter­pret­ed? And what levers are there beyond the budget to optimize Google Ads?

Using the right bid strategy for your campaign goal

The success of a Google Ads campaign depends largely on the bid strategy you choose. Before deciding on a strategy, you first need to define the goal you want to achieve with your campaign. Basically, there are four possible scenarios, for each of which Google Ads offers suitable bid strate­gies:

• Max­i­miz­ing clicks: The campaign aims to generate visits to your web project – possible con­ver­sions play only a secondary role. The suitable strategy is called “Maximize clicks”: Google tries to get as many clicks as possible with your budget. You can op­tion­al­ly set a maximum CPC bid.

• Max­i­miz­ing con­ver­sions: Your ads are meant to prompt users to take an action, such as making a purchase in an online store or sending a contact request. The strate­gies “Maximize con­ver­sions” and – once you have enough his­tor­i­cal data – “Target CPA” (cost per ac­qui­si­tion), where you specify how much a con­ver­sion may cost on average, are suitable for this.

• Max­i­miz­ing revenue or profit: This scenario is also about con­ver­sions. However, not every con­ver­sion counts equally – what matters most are those that promise a par­tic­u­lar­ly high value. With “Maximize con­ver­sion value” or “Target ROAS,” Google bases its bids on the con­ver­sion value you pass on, such as the shopping cart value.

• In­creas­ing vis­i­bil­i­ty and brand awareness: A less common but equally possible goal of a Google Ads campaign is to increase brand awareness. In the Search Network, the “Target im­pres­sion share” strategy is suitable for this, which aims, for example, to show your ads as often as possible at the very top of the page. In Display and Video campaigns, there are also bids based on “viewable CPM” (cost per mille = cost per thousand im­pres­sions), where you pay for viewable im­pres­sions of your ad.

The ap­proach­es listed here show that a one-size-fits-all bid strategy isn’t possible. Nor is there a uniform eval­u­a­tion method on the basis of which all Google Ads campaigns could be optimized. If the focus is on click op­ti­miza­tion, you compare the number of clicks with the amount paid (cost per click, CPC); if you want to maximize con­ver­sions, con­ver­sions and cost per con­ver­sion are the central element. If you want to maximize your revenue, ROAS is the decisive metric.

The con­ver­sion-based strate­gies are part of what is known as Smart Bidding: Google au­to­mat­i­cal­ly adjusts the bids for each in­di­vid­ual auction, based on factors such as device, location, time of day and search query. For this to work, you need reliable con­ver­sion tracking and suf­fi­cient con­ver­sion data. If you target users in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the UK, this also includes correct consent man­age­ment via Google Consent Mode so that Google is allowed to use your users’ data at all. For new campaigns with little data, or if you want to retain full control, you can still use manual CPC bidding in the Search Network. Google, however, dis­con­tin­ued the former hybrid “Enhanced CPC” (eCPC) in 2025.

Op­ti­miz­ing Google Ads with the right campaign settings

Right from the moment you create a Google Ads campaign, there are a number of settings that have a major influence on the results of your ads. First, you choose a campaign objective (e.g. sales, leads or website traffic) and then the campaign type – such as Search, Per­for­mance Max, Display, Video, Demand Gen or Shopping. If you want to run classic text ads in the search results, choose a Search campaign. Pay attention to the network settings: for Search campaigns, expansion to the Google Display Network is often selected by default. Since display ad­ver­tis­ing works on a com­plete­ly different principle, you should usually de­ac­ti­vate this option and manage display ads in a separate campaign instead. You should also make a conscious decision about whether your ads should appear on Google search partners. Further decisions you should make at the start of your campaign include:

• Device settings: By default, all ads run on all supported devices. With manual CPC bidding, you can use bid ad­just­ments to specify whether, for example, you want to bid higher or lower on smart­phones. With Smart Bidding, Google takes the device into account au­to­mat­i­cal­ly – here, a device type can only be excluded com­plete­ly with an ad­just­ment of −100%.

• Location and language settings: To ensure that your ads are only shown in the search results of relevant users, the target language and region settings are essential. For example, analyze in advance whether regional targeting by ZIP code, city or radius might make more sense than na­tion­wide targeting. In the location options, you should also check whether you want to reach people who are in your target area or also those who are only in­ter­est­ed in it – for local busi­ness­es, the first option is usually the better choice.

• Assets (formerly ad ex­ten­sions): If it suits your web project, you should add extra in­for­ma­tion to your ads. Google Ads offers, for example, sitelinks, callouts, struc­tured snippets, as well as call, location, price and image assets. Assets make your ad larger and more prominent and have a positive effect on Ad Rank.

• Ad schedule: The ad schedule is a powerful ally for managing your daily budget optimally. By defining exactly on which days and at which times your ads should run, you ensure that you reach your target audience when it’s most promising – for example, only during the hours when your customer service can be reached by phone.

• AI features: Google is in­creas­ing­ly expanding Search campaigns with automated features such as AI Max for Search campaigns. With these, your ads are also served for search queries that go beyond your keywords, and ad text and final URLs are partly adjusted au­to­mat­i­cal­ly. This can bring ad­di­tion­al reach but costs you control. Check which of these options are active in your campaign and review the results regularly.

Research never ends: op­ti­miz­ing your keyword set

With the Keyword Planner, Google Ads has one of the most important tools for keyword research. By putting together a suitable keyword set while creating your ads, you lay the foun­da­tion for your ads to be shown in the right context. However laborious and detailed the initial research may have been, it’s still no more than the first step – without regular analysis and im­prove­ment of the keywords you use, you forgo one of the most decisive ways to optimize Google Ads. So regularly compare the data of the keywords you use (cost, im­pres­sions, click­through rate, con­ver­sions, cost per con­ver­sion, etc.) and filter out poorly per­form­ing search terms. Use Quality Score as an in­di­ca­tion of weak­ness­es, not as a per­for­mance metric.

The keyword match types also need regular attention. Today, Google Ads dis­tin­guish­es between three keyword match types: exact match, phrase match and broad match. The former “broad match modifier” option (modified broad match) has not existed since 2021; it has been merged into phrase match. At the start of a campaign and with a very limited budget, you should mainly rely on exact match and phrase match keywords so that your ads are only shown for relevant search queries. Broad match keywords are in­ter­est­ing if you want to achieve more reach – they play to their strengths above all in com­bi­na­tion with Smart Bidding. In any case, regularly evaluate the search terms report and con­sis­tent­ly make use of the option to add un­suit­able search queries as negative keywords – at campaign or account level.

Improving ad quality

However important the optimal bid strategy and high-quality keywords may be, they basically only help the po­si­tion­ing of your ads. When it comes to gen­er­at­ing clicks or con­ver­sions, it’s ul­ti­mate­ly the text and structure of your ad­ver­tis­ing messages that are mainly re­spon­si­ble, which is why you should devote at least as much attention to them. The standard in the Search Network today is re­spon­sive search ads: you enter up to 15 headlines and up to 4 de­scrip­tions, from which Google au­to­mat­i­cal­ly puts together the most suitable com­bi­na­tion in each case. Since 2022, it has not been possible to create new classic expanded text ads. The key tasks are:

• im­ple­ment­ing the main keyword, usually in several headlines and ad­di­tion­al­ly at least once in the de­scrip­tions, and op­tion­al­ly in the path of the display URL
• writing headlines that are as different as possible so that Google can test many mean­ing­ful com­bi­na­tions – the “Ad strength” rating gives you pointers on this
• for­mu­lat­ing a mean­ing­ful message that, for example, answers a question or solves a problem
• po­si­tion­ing calls to action, if any, optimally
• designing suitable assets such as sitelinks, snippets, reviews, etc. at­trac­tive­ly
• linking to a relevant landing page that delivers on the ad’s promise – landing page ex­pe­ri­ence is factored into Quality Score alongside expected click­through rate and ad relevance

Check regularly that your ads are up to date, es­pe­cial­ly if you use the Google Ads tips presented here and, for example, make op­ti­miza­tions to your keyword set. The automated rec­om­men­da­tions and the op­ti­miza­tion score in your Google Ads account can also provide ideas – but don’t adopt them without checking, because not every rec­om­men­da­tion suits your goals and your budget. When designing your ads, always make sure that you comply with the Google Ads policies.

Un­der­stand­ing and improving Quality Score

Quality Score is a di­ag­nos­tic tool in Google Ads that shows how the quality of your ads compares with that of other ad­ver­tis­ers. Google reports it for each keyword on a scale from 1 to 10. The higher the score, the more relevant your ad and landing page are to people searching for that keyword.

The three com­po­nents of Quality Score

Each component is rated “Above average,” “Average” or “Below average.” The com­par­i­son is made with ads from other ad­ver­tis­ers that were shown for exactly the same search query over the last 90 days. If Google shows only a dash (“—”) instead of a number, there aren’t enough searches that exactly match your keyword to calculate a score.

What Quality Score tells you – and what it doesn’t

Important for op­ti­miza­tion: Quality Score itself is not used in the ad auction. It’s a di­ag­nos­tic tool, not a per­for­mance metric that you should optimize in isolation. In the auction, Google re­assess­es the quality of your ad and landing page for every search. Together with other factors – including your bid, the context of the search query, the expected impact of your assets and Ad Rank thresh­olds – this as­sess­ment de­ter­mines your Ad Rank. Quality Score, on the other hand, doesn’t take device, location, time of day or assets into account. A low score is therefore primarily an in­di­ca­tion of where your ads or landing pages have weak­ness­es.

You can find Quality Score at keyword level: in your Google Ads account, open the keywords overview, click the columns icon and, under “Quality score,” add the columns for the score and the three com­po­nents. The columns marked “(hist.)” also show you how the values have developed over time.

How to improve Quality Score

Start with the com­po­nents that Google rates as “Average” or “Below average”:

• Expected click­through rate: Write ad text that addresses the intent behind the keyword. Highlight a specific benefit, such as free shipping, and test different calls to action that match your landing page.
• Ad relevance: Tailor your ad text to the search terms used by your target group. Group keywords by theme – for example, by products or services – and split ad groups with very different keywords into smaller, more precisely targeted groups.
• Landing page ex­pe­ri­ence: Make sure that users find exactly what the ad promises on the landing page and that the message and call to action are con­sis­tent through­out. The page should load quickly and work well on mobile devices. Con­ver­sion rate is a good indicator of this but doesn’t directly influence the status. Con­ver­sion op­ti­miza­tion is a good place to start.
• Dash instead of a score: Use the Keyword Planner to check whether there are related keywords with more search volume, or use broader keyword match types so that the keyword takes part in more auctions.

FAQs about Quality Score