Taking over an existing Google Ads account can be daunting, especially if you're new to the platform. That's precisely the situation my client found herself in. We'll call her Sadie.
Sadie was inheriting her company's Google Ads account from an agency and felt overwhelmed by the responsibility.
She had been reading up online and checking out YouTube tutorials, but she'd never managed Google Ads before!
We started our coaching call by diving deep into her account and doing a "speedy audit" together. Our first key finding was that the agency had set her target CPA too low, limiting her campaign's reach and potential conversions. We decided to increase her target CPA by 15%, giving her campaigns more room to breathe and capture valuable leads - at an efficiency that would still be profitable for the business.
Next, we turned our attention to her Quality Score. A higher Quality Score means better ad positioning and lower costs. Sadie's keyword Quality Scores were hovering around 3. Yikes! Ad relevance and Expected CTR were both Below Average, so we revamped her ad copy to be more compelling and relevant, ensuring it aligned perfectly with her target keywords and would garner attention in crowded search results.
Third, we added a segment for "Network" and saw that Search partners performance was lagging behind Google Search, eating up budget while yielding a 30% higher CPA. To optimize her budget and focus on high-performing Google Search, we decided to turn off search partners.
Before the hour was up, we also explored different bidding strategies and campaign settings to fine-tune her account for maximum performance. By the end of the call, Sadie was well on her way to managing her Google Ads account confidently and effectively.
Here's what you can do like Sadie, when you're taking over an account and need to take a quick pulse:
- Focus on efficiency metrics first: How's the click-through rate? Conversion rate? Impression share? These 3 are my first go-to metrics, as they can point you in the right direction, whether that's targeting, ad copy, bid strategy, budget, etc.
- Don't be afraid to increase your targets: Most businesses can afford a 20% higher CPA or 20% lower ROAS. Is it worth it for the extra reach and revenue? Probably.
- Review and refresh your ad copy: This is a consistent agency weak spot. Look at your headlines, descriptions and assets, and feel free to use a tool like Gemini or ChatGPT to help you come up with new angles and ideas.
- Don't forget the fiddly settings: Are Search partners on? Are there CPC limits on that bid strategy? Are Auto-apply recommendations turned on? No speedy audit is complete without checking some of the core account and campaign settings.
Don't let Google Ads overwhelm you. Follow Sadie's lead and book a coaching call to boost your confidence and results.
One more thing...
If you'll be in or near Munich on March 18 and 19, 2025, you've gotta join me at SMX Munich!
I'll be speaking about "Seeing is Converting: A Data-backed Approach to Image Assetsā€¯ on March 18th, 2025. And then the next day, March 19th, 2025, I'll be leading an interactive session where I walk you through a real-life Google Ads case study, and you need to solve it.
Tickets are available at smxmuenchen.de and you can use code JyllSMX15 to get 15% off your SMX Munich tickets.
