How To Set Up & Structure Your Ad Accounts for Ecommerce Success

When it comes to e-commerce paid search, you’ll need a few types of ad accounts. Knowing which ones you need and setting them up properly is important, and we’ll be going through them in this post. Once you get the accounts you need set up, you’ll also want to structure them for success, so I’ll talk you through that as well. Hold on to your hats, for this in-depth overview.

How to Setup Your Google Ads Account

Visit the Google Ads page and select the “Start Now” button in the upper right-hand corner. You will need a Gmail account to proceed. Enter the email you want to register the account with. Don’t worry, you will be able to invite other users to access your account once you’ve created one.

The Layout of Your Google Ads Account

Company Data: You can use company data in several different areas of your account. You can manage these resources by navigating to your company data section. Examples of company data may include parameters for the behavior of your ads in a certain context or product inventories that you use to create dynamic shopping ads.

Security: Google Ads allows you to share different access levels with fellow employees. Sharing access controls will better ensure passwords are kept safe and secure. Navigate to the account access settings, add a new user and select the specific access required for the user. You are able to add and remove access at any time.

Link with Google Analytics: You can link your account to your very own Google Analytics account. This link allows you to see ad performance data in your Google Ads report in Analytics. It also allows you to import analytics goals and e-commerce transactions.

How to Link Google Ads and Google Analytics

Sign into your Google Analytics account.
Click the Tools & Settings icon, select admin, and find the property you want to link to your ads account.
In the Property column, select Google Ads Linking.
Once in Google Ads Linking, click + New Link Group and select the Google Ads account you want to link.
Turn on linking for each view where you would like Google Ads to receive data.
If you have enabled auto-tagging in your Google Ads accounts, skip to the next step. If you want to mutually tag your Google Ads links, navigate to Advanced settings > Leave my auto-tagging settings as they are.
Click Link Accounts.
Congrats, it’s complete!

* For more detailed instructions, you can consult Google’s official instruction webpage.

Transactions: In this section of your account, you will be able to update and make payments.

Google Merchant Center: Under this account, you will be able to upload products and link your Google Ads account to your Merchant account.

How to Link Google Merchant Center and Google Ads Account

When you approve a link between Google Ads and Merchant Center, you will allow all of your product data to flow from Merchant Center to Google Ads. This connection makes it possible for you to create Shopping campaigns, dynamic remarketing campaigns and so much more.

Only the Merchant Center account user can request to link Google Ads with their account. New account links will appear when you navigate to your “Linked Accounts” page located in the “Setup” section of the Settings drop-down menu.

Once the Google Ads account owner approves the request, information begins to be shared between accounts. Merchant Center’s product info can then be used for campaign creation.

Conversion Settings

Conversion tracking is essential for all effective campaigns. Let’s break down how to set up conversion tracking.

Within your Google Ads account, you will get a piece of tracking code that you will need to add to your website. In order for the code/tag to be implemented properly, you will need access to the backend of your website to insert the code in the proper location.

Step 1: Create a Conversion Action

In the upper right-hand corner, click the Tools icon and under “Measurement” click Conversions.
Click the plus (+) button.
Click your website.
From there, you will select the type of action you want to track from categories that include sales and leads.
Next, you will give your conversion tracking a name. This will help you identify conversion action in conversion reports you can generate.
Select how to track value for each conversion. This will help you identify the worth of each action.
Next, select how you want Google Ads to count these conversions, once or every time.
Select how long to track conversions after ad interaction on the Click-through conversion window.
Click Include in Conversions, which will allow you to decide if the data is included in the conversions reporting column.
Click Create and you will be taken to a page that shows your conversion tag.

Step 2: Set up Your Google Tag

Setting up your Google tag will depend on whether you have a tag previously set up.

- - If you have a Google tag set up and it was created using a URL as your conversion action, you are good to go and will start to see conversion data.
  - If you do not have a Google tag set up but you have a URL created as your conversion action, Google will alert you and take you to a page to create your Google tag.
  - If you created your conversion action manually and have Google Tag set up, you will be shown instructions on how to add your unique code.
  - If you created your conversion action manually and do not have Google Tag set up, you will get instructions on how to set up Google Tag and how to manually add your unique code.

How to Install your Google Tag

Your Google tag will set new cookies to your domain that will capture and store information on how your end users interact with your site after they have clicked on your ad.

You will install this tag on all pages of your site. To install, you can either paste the Google Tag into your website code or you can add it via Google Tag Manager.

Step 3: Verify Your Google Tag

Once you have implemented your tag, you will want to make sure the tag is firing off conversion tracking correctly. Follow these steps to verify your Google Tag is working:

- - Sign into your Google Ads account and click on Conversions via the upper right corner menu
  - Once there, you will see under the Status column how your conversion actions are performing.

How to Structure Your Account

Campaigns and Ad Groups

When you first begin to structure your accounts, you will begin by creating campaigns that are focused on keyword themes. For example, you may create a campaign with a focus on “Indoor House Rugs”. Within this campaign, you may have subcategories that would fall under Ad Groups. These Ad Groups may include jute house rugs, vintage house rugs, and washable house rugs.

Ad Groups should be organized by keyword variations. Why? This allows you to break down your target focus into specific products you offer. For example, there should be one ad group for each specific type of rug being sold. One ad group for “vintage rugs”, another for “vintage Persian rugs”, etc. It’s crucial to only have one theme of keywords per ad group so the ads are directly related to the keywords.

Keywords

When you select the keywords you would like to rank for, each of the keywords can be assigned a match type. Match type indicates which ads will show.

Exact – The keyword must be typed in word-for-word to be displayed.

Exact (Close Variant) – The keyword must be typed in word-for-word but can be misspelled.

Broad – The keyword can be typed in several different variations and your ad will have the potential to be displayed.

Broad (Session-Based) – The algorithm takes into account other keywords searched from the user’s search session.

Phrase – The keyword can be typed in different variations but has to include all keywords in the actual query.

Phrase (Close Variant) – The keyword must be entered in a specific order but the search phrase may include misspellings.

Negative Keywords

Negative keywords can be used to remove unqualified traffic from clicking on your ads. This will allow you to pay for ad clicks that are more relevant to your business. For example, if a user searches for “types of house rugs” they are not ready to buy a specific rug. They are still in the research phase of shopping. By adding “types” as a negative keyword, your ad will not be triggered.

Audience

You can create audiences based on specific actions users take with your site. You can create these segments based on specific page views, time spent on the site, pages per visit, and more. Audiences can also be bid upon based on relevance. At the end of the day, there are hundreds of different audiences that can be created to suit your needs and drive the most relevant traffic and conversions for your site.

Understanding Campaign Types

Within the Google Ads platform, you are able to build the following campaigns: Search Network, Display Network, Video, Shopping, and Universal Apps. Selecting the proper campaign can be the first step to building an effective long-term ad strategy.

Search Ads

A search engine’s prime results are to match the end-user with a solution to their problem, a link to a product they are looking for, or more information on a topic they searched. This makes Google one of the most powerful marketing tools that businesses can use to get in front of specific audiences.

Search ads allow you to research average monthly search volumes for specific keywords you would like to rank for. This can give you insight into the estimated cost per click when ads will be available and more. You are able to run search ads for individual products, product lines, and even certain geographic locations.

You are able to create search ads that are displayed on search engine results pages. These are marked with the word “Ad” in a small box.

You are also able to be found on Google Shopping ads. These ads can display product photos and ratings that can help e-commerce brands stand out among competitors.

Google Display Network

Display advertising allows you to get your ads in front of audiences that are browsing the web, using apps, or watching videos. These results are found outside of Google’s search engine results pages. According to Google, their Display Network reaches 90% of all internet users and has ads on more than 2 million sites and 650,000 apps.

Video Advertising

Advertisers are able to run ads on YouTube through the Google Ads platform. Approximately 1 billion hours of videos are watched each day on YouTube. That allows advertisers ample time to get their products in front of future prospects. You are likely familiar with the video ads that run prior to the video the end-user selected, but advertisers can also use banners and overlays as advertising options.

Performance Max & Google Shopping

Google Ads has completed their replacement of Smart Shopping ads with Performance Max campaigns. So what does this mean for companies that previously used Smart Shopping as a tool to target engaged customer audiences? It means they are getting an upgrade.

Similar to Smart Shopping ads, Performance Max dynamically creates ads using assets provided in your account including logos, videos, images, copy, and products. Based on your campaign data, Google will automatically build ads that are most primed for conversions or pre-determined campaign goals. As you add more creative to your account, the campaign will generate more ad formats to appear across Google’s network.

Unlike Smart Shopping campaigns, Performance Max campaigns can focus on multiple conversion goals. This means you can prioritize what you want to achieve.

App Campaigns

You can advertise your app through Search, Display, and Video Networks. You should use this feature if you want to drive new app sales or if you are looking to promote your new or existing app.

Remarketing

Google Ads remarketing allows your site to show targeted ads to users who have already visited your site or engaged with your brand. Previous visitors can come across ads through search queries, YouTube videos, news sites, or apps. This allows you to stay top-of-mind for consumers who have already shown interest in your brand.

Source: wordstream.com/google-remarketing

This form of advertising can significantly increase your conversion rates and ROI. Past visitors are more familiar with your products, so they are much more likely to return and convert.

How Does Remarketing Work?

If you are actively advertising on Google, you can add a remarketing code/pixel to your website to collect visitor information that can be added to your remarketing lists through browser cookies.

It is recommended that when you first start remarketing to your audience, you target everyone who visited your website. While this can increase potential costs upfront, you can collect additional data to further refine your retargeting efforts. For example, you can choose to display ads to users who have already purchased from your site and a completely different ad set to non-buyers.

Types of Remarketing

Basic Remarketing: This type of remarketing is focused on displaying ads to past visitors as they search the Internet, use Google Display Network apps and surf social media websites.

Dynamic Remarketing: Dynamic remarketing serves ads that are tailored to specific visitors. With custom messages, businesses can increase the chances of having a visitor return and make a purchase.

For example, ecommerce websites can use dynamic remarketing ads that include specific products that visitors abandoned. This is extremely beneficial because you can remain top-of-mind for users who are actively looking to make a purchase for a relevant product you offer.

Another benefit of dynamic remarketing ads is that you can be feature-specific. If a user abandoned your website on the pricing page, you can remarket with a message focused on payment plans or free trial offers.

Once your accounts are set up and structured, you’ll need to monitor everything to make sure it is running efficiently and benefitting your e-commerce business. If you decide you need some help with this, talk to the experts on our team, here at Stryde. Schedule a free consultation with us today, and let’s see what we can do for your business!

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Looking for more paid search tips to help you grow your e-commerce business? Check out these posts:

Laurel Teuscher

Laurel is a member of the executive team at Stryde. She’s been doing digital marketing for businesses for 10 years. Two years ago, she started set up her own ecommerce business selling baby gowns and knows the struggles of a small business owner. She loves talking about digital marketing, content, SEO, and conversion rate optimization.

How To Set Up & Structure Your Ad Accounts for Ecommerce Success