A Comprehensive Guide to Managing Google Ads for Clients

When learning how to manage google ads for clients, it’s essential to focus on several key strategies to ensure success:

• Understand Client Goals and Budget: Begin with a clear understanding of what your client aims to achieve and set a realistic budget that aligns with these goals.

• Perform Keyword Research and Competitor Analysis: Identify the most profitable keywords and analyze competitors’ strategies to gain an advantage.

• Set Up and Optimize Campaigns: Develop organized campaigns with smart bidding strategies, and continuously optimize them for improved performance.

• Track Performance and Report: Regularly monitor conversion data and provide clients with detailed reports to offer actionable insights.

• Optimize Landing Pages: Ensure landing pages align with ads for a seamless user experience that drives conversions.

At Linear Design, we understand the complexities of effectively managing Google Ads for clients. It’s about more than just setting up ads; it’s a holistic approach that involves strategy, organization, and constant optimization to boost profitability and generate leads.

I’m Luke Heinecke, founder of Linear Design. With a deep passion for optimizing PPC campaigns, I’ve spent over a decade as a strategist in Google Ads management, helping businesses achieve scalable growth. My focus is always on making paid advertising a robust growth engine rather than just an expense.

Understanding Client Goals and Budget

When managing Google Ads for clients, understanding their goals and budget is the foundation for success. It’s not just about running ads; it’s about aligning your efforts with what the client wants to achieve and how much they are willing to invest.

Client Goals

Start by having an open conversation with your client. What do they want to achieve? Are they looking to increase sales, generate leads, or boost brand awareness? Each goal requires a different approach.

For example, a local service business might prioritize lead generation through phone calls or form submissions, while an eCommerce store may focus on driving online sales and revenue. Understanding these goals helps tailor your strategies to meet specific needs.

Budget Planning

Once goals are clear, it’s time to discuss the budget. Budget planning involves more than just setting a spending limit. It’s about understanding the client’s Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and Cost Per Acquisition (CPA).

• LTV helps determine how much a customer is worth over their lifetime, which informs how much can be spent to acquire them.
• CPA is a key metric that shows how much it costs to gain one customer. Setting a target CPA helps in maintaining profitability.

Here’s a simple formula to calculate your target CPA:

If your client can afford to spend $75 to acquire one lead and their monthly ad budget is $3,000, aim for 40 leads per month.

Communication

Effective communication is crucial for managing expectations and building a strong client relationship. Establish clear channels, whether through weekly calls, email updates, or monthly meetings. This ensures both parties stay aligned and any issues are addressed promptly.

Being transparent about challenges and successes builds trust. Clients appreciate honesty, even when things don’t go as planned. Discussing both good news and setbacks provides valuable learning opportunities and helps refine strategies.

By thoroughly understanding client goals and budget, you set the stage for a successful partnership. This approach ensures that every dollar spent contributes to achieving the desired outcomes.

Setting Up Google Ads Accounts

Once you’ve nailed down your client’s goals and budget, the next step is setting up their Google Ads accounts. This involves creating a manager account and gaining access to client accounts. Let’s break it down.

Creating a Manager Account

A Google Ads Manager Account, often called an MCC (My Client Center), is essential for managing multiple client accounts efficiently. It offers a single sign-in to access all your clients’ accounts from one dashboard.

Here’s how to set it up:

1. Sign in with the email you want to use for your manager account. This email can manage up to 20 Google Ads accounts.
2. Create a manager account by clicking on the relevant option after signing in.
3. Name your manager account—this is what your clients will see.
4. Select your usage type: Decide if you’re managing your accounts or those of others.
5. Choose your country, time zone, and currency to ensure accurate reporting and billing.

With your manager account, you can easily link client accounts, manage campaigns, and consolidate billing.

Gaining Access to Client Accounts

To run Google Ads for clients, you need access to their accounts. This involves sending an email invitation from your manager account.

Steps to gain access:

1. Contact your client for their Google Ads account ID.
2. From your manager account, steer to Sub-account settings.
3. Click the plus button and select Link existing account.
4. Enter the client’s Google Ads Customer ID and send the request.
5. Notify your client to accept this request from their email.

Security is crucial here. Always ensure that access levels are appropriate. You don’t need full access to all features unless necessary. This protects both you and the client.

By setting up a manager account and gaining access to client accounts, you streamline the management process. This setup not only saves time but also ensures that you can focus on optimizing campaigns and achieving your client’s goals.

Next, we’ll explore the importance of conducting an initial account audit, including reviewing historical data and identifying wasted spend.

Conducting an Initial Account Audit

Once you’ve gained access to your client’s Google Ads account, the first step is to conduct an initial account audit. This involves diving into historical data and identifying areas where you can improve performance and manage costs effectively.

Reviewing Historical Data

Understanding past performance is crucial for planning future success. Start by downloading campaign reports to analyze how the account has performed over time. Look for trends and patterns that reveal what has worked and what hasn’t.

Key areas to focus on:

• Top-performing ads: Identify ads that have consistently delivered conversions. These are your benchmarks for success.
• Search terms report: This helps you understand what search queries triggered your ads and how they performed.
• Targeting strategies: Assess the effectiveness of current targeting options, such as demographics and locations.
• Landing pages: Check where the traffic was directed. High bounce rates may indicate that the landing page needs optimization.

By reviewing historical data, you gain insights into the account’s strengths and weaknesses. This information is vital for making informed decisions moving forward.

Identifying Wasted Spend

Optimizing your client’s budget is one of your primary responsibilities. The goal is to ensure every dollar spent contributes to achieving their goals.

Steps to identify wasted spend:

1. Keyword Analysis: Look for keywords that are costing a lot but not delivering results. These should be added to your negative keyword list.
2. Quality Score: A low Quality Score can indicate issues with ad relevance or landing page experience. Improving this score can lower costs and improve ad rank.
3. Device Performance: Mobile optimization is critical. Analyze how ads perform across different devices and make adjustments as needed.

By identifying areas of wasted spend, you can reallocate the budget to more effective keywords and campaigns. This not only improves performance but also maximizes the return on investment for your client.

With a thorough audit complete, you’re now equipped with the knowledge to optimize the account effectively. Next, we’ll dig into keyword research and competitor analysis to further improve campaign performance.

Keyword Research and Competitor Analysis

When it comes to how to manage Google Ads for clients, keyword research and competitor analysis are the backbone of a successful strategy. These steps help you understand the landscape and identify opportunities to outperform competitors.

Performing Keyword Research

Keyword research is about finding the right words that potential customers use to search for products or services. It’s crucial to identify both high-performing keywords and negative keywords to ensure your ads reach the right audience.

Steps for effective keyword research:

1. Start with the basics: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to find keywords related to your client’s business. This tool provides insights on search volume, competition, and suggested bids.

2. Focus on long-tail keywords: These are phrases with two or more words, such as “dentist near me” instead of just “dentist.” Long-tail keywords are often less competitive and more specific, making them cost-effective.

3. Implement negative keywords: Identify terms that are irrelevant or non-converting and add them to your negative keyword list. This prevents your ads from showing up in searches that won’t lead to conversions.

4. Use competitor research tools: Tools like SpyFu can help you find which keywords your competitors are bidding on. This can reveal valuable keywords you might have missed.

5. Monitor and adjust: Regularly review keyword performance and make adjustments. A keyword that performs well today might not be effective tomorrow.

Analyzing Competitors

Understanding your competitors’ strategies is crucial for gaining a competitive edge. Competitor analysis involves examining their advertising tactics, keyword choices, and market positioning.

Key areas to focus on:

• Competitor Strategies: Look at how competitors structure their campaigns. Are they using specific ad extensions or targeting certain demographics?

• Market Positioning: Analyze how competitors position themselves in the market. What unique selling propositions do they highlight in their ads?

• Competitive Metrics: Use metrics like ad rank and impression share to gauge how your ads compare. This helps identify areas where you can improve or differentiate your strategy.

• Landing Page Tactics: Click on competitors’ ads to see their landing pages. Analyze their layout, messaging, and call-to-action to find ideas for improvement.

By combining keyword research with a thorough competitor analysis, you can craft a strategy that positions your client for success. This groundwork sets the stage for effective campaign management and optimization.

Next, we’ll explore setting up and managing campaigns to ensure your client’s ads perform at their best.

Setting Up and Managing Campaigns

Once you’ve nailed down the right keywords and have a clear understanding of the competition, it’s time to set up and manage your client’s ad campaigns. This involves creating effective ads, organizing them into ad groups, and optimizing bidding strategies to maximize results.

Creating Effective Ad Campaigns

Creating an ad campaign is like building a house. You need a strong foundation, and every piece must fit together perfectly. Here’s how to do it:

1. Organize into Ad Groups: Group similar keywords and ads together. This helps improve ad relevance and Quality Score. For example, if you’re advertising different types of shoes, create separate ad groups for running shoes, formal shoes, and sandals.

2. Craft Compelling Ad Copy: Your ad copy should be clear, persuasive, and aligned with the user’s search intent. Highlight unique selling points and include a strong call-to-action. The more relevant your ad, the higher your Quality Score and the lower your costs.

3. Use Targeting Options: Leverage Google’s targeting features to reach the right audience. You can target by demographics, location, or even device type. This ensures that your ads are shown to people most likely to convert.

4. Incorporate Ad Assets: Use ad assets like sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets to improve your ads. These provide additional information and can increase click-through rates.

5. Test Multiple Ads: Always test different versions of your ads to see which performs best. Experiment with different headlines, descriptions, and calls-to-action.

Optimizing Bidding Strategies

Bidding is crucial in managing Google Ads for clients. It’s about finding the right balance between cost and performance. Here’s how to optimize your bidding strategy:

1. Choose a Bidding Strategy: Depending on your client’s goals, you can choose from several bidding strategies. Options include Cost-Per-Click (CPC) for traffic, Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA) for conversions, and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) for revenue.

2. Set a Budget: Establish a daily or monthly budget that aligns with your client’s financial goals. Ensure you don’t exceed this budget, but remain flexible to capitalize on high-performing periods.

3. Adjust Bids Based on Performance: Regularly analyze your campaigns’ performance and adjust bids accordingly. Increase bids on high-performing keywords and lower them on underperformers.

4. Use Bid Adjustments: Google Ads allows you to adjust bids based on device, location, and time of day. For example, if mobile users convert better, increase your mobile bids.

5. Leverage Smart Bidding: Consider using Google’s Smart Bidding strategies, which use machine learning to optimize for conversions. This can save time and improve performance by automatically adjusting bids.

By setting up well-structured campaigns and using smart bidding strategies, you can ensure your client’s Google Ads perform efficiently and effectively. Next, we’ll dive into tracking and reporting performance to keep your clients informed and your campaigns on track.

Tracking and Reporting Performance

Once your campaigns are up and running, the next step is ensuring you have a robust system for tracking and reporting performance. This not only helps in measuring success but also in making informed decisions for future optimizations.

Implementing Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking is the backbone of any successful Google Ads campaign. It allows you to see how effectively your ads are driving valuable actions, such as purchases or sign-ups, on your client’s website.

Here’s how to set it up:

1. Define Conversion Actions: Start by identifying what counts as a conversion for your client. This could be a purchase, a form submission, or even a phone call. Each action provides insight into how users interact with your ads.

2. Apply Tracking Methods: Depending on the conversion type, you can use different tracking methods. For website actions, add a tracking tag to the site. For phone calls, set up call tracking to attribute calls back to the correct campaigns.

3. Use Google Tag Manager: This tool is essential for managing all your tracking tags without slowing down the website. It simplifies the process and ensures accurate data collection.

4. Monitor Conversion Data: Once set up, regularly check your conversion data. This goldmine of information will help you adjust bids and strategies to meet your client’s goals.

Regular Reporting and Updates

Communication is key when managing Google Ads for clients. Regular updates keep your clients informed and engaged, building trust and demonstrating the value of your work.

Here’s how to handle reporting:

1. Weekly Updates: Provide your clients with weekly updates on campaign performance. Highlight key metrics like impressions, clicks, and conversions. This keeps them in the loop and shows progress.

2. Performance Reports: Create detailed performance reports that dive deeper into the data. Include insights on what’s working, what needs improvement, and your plans for the next steps.

3. Discuss Goals and Adjustments: Use these reports to discuss goals and any necessary adjustments with your client. If a particular ad group is underperforming, suggest changes to improve results.

4. Visualize Data: Use graphs and charts to make complex data easy to understand. This helps clients grasp the impact of your efforts without getting lost in numbers.

5. Open Communication Channels: Encourage clients to ask questions and provide feedback. This two-way communication fosters a strong relationship and ensures you’re aligned with their expectations.

By implementing effective conversion tracking and maintaining regular communication, you ensure that your Google Ads campaigns are not just running but thriving. This approach helps you continuously refine strategies and deliver exceptional results for your clients.

Next, we’ll explore advanced optimization techniques to take your campaigns to the next level.

Advanced Optimization Techniques

Managing Google Ads for clients involves more than just setting up campaigns and tracking performance. To truly excel, you need to dive into advanced optimization techniques. Let’s explore two key areas: Improving Quality Scores and Optimizing for Mobile.

Improving Quality Scores

The Quality Score is a critical factor in Google Ads that affects your ad rank and cost-per-click. A higher Quality Score can lead to better ad positions at lower costs. Here’s how you can improve it:

• Ad Relevance: Ensure that your ad copy closely matches the keywords you’re targeting. This alignment boosts relevance, which is a core component of the Quality Score.

• Landing Page Experience: Your landing page should deliver what your ad promises. It needs to be fast, easy to steer, and aligned with the user’s search intent. A poor landing page can drag down your Quality Score significantly.

• Expected CTR (Click-Through Rate): A higher CTR indicates that users find your ad appealing. Test different ad copies and headlines to see what resonates best with your audience. The more clicks you get, the better your expected CTR.

• Structured Account: A well-organized account with tightly themed ad groups can improve relevance and improve your Quality Score. Group similar keywords and ads together for better performance.

Optimizing for Mobile

With more users accessing the internet via mobile devices, optimizing your campaigns for mobile is no longer optional—it’s essential.

• Mobile-Friendly Ads: Ensure your ads are designed to look great on smaller screens. Use clear, concise language and compelling visuals to grab attention quickly.

• Device Performance: Regularly check how your ads perform on different devices. Use device performance reports to identify any disparities and adjust your strategy accordingly.

• Mobile Strategy: Develop a mobile-focused strategy that prioritizes mobile users. This might include mobile-specific ad extensions, such as call buttons, to make it easy for users to engage with your client’s business.

• Landing Page Optimization: Ensure your landing pages are mobile-responsive. A slow or clunky mobile experience can deter users and waste ad spend. Use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to test and improve loading times.

By focusing on these advanced optimization techniques, you can significantly improve the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns. This not only improves client satisfaction but also maximizes the return on their advertising investment.

Up next, we’ll dive into frequently asked questions about managing Google Ads for clients, providing you with answers to common queries and tips for success.

Frequently Asked Questions about Managing Google Ads for Clients

Managing Google Ads for clients can seem daunting, but breaking it down into simple steps can make the process much more manageable. Here are some common questions and answers to help guide you through the process.

How to manage Google Ads for a client?

Managing Google Ads for a client involves several key steps:

1. Understand Client Goals: Start by having a detailed discussion with your client to understand their business goals, target audience, and key performance indicators (KPIs).

2. Set Up Accounts: Create or gain access to the client’s Google Ads account using a Google Ads Manager Account. This allows you to manage multiple accounts with ease.

3. Conduct an Account Audit: If the client already has an account, review historical data to identify strengths and weaknesses. This helps in making informed decisions for future campaigns.

4. Keyword and Competitor Analysis: Research relevant keywords and analyze competitor strategies to gain a competitive edge.

5. Launch and Optimize Campaigns: Set up campaigns based on the gathered data, and continuously monitor and optimize them for better performance.

6. Regular Reporting: Keep your client informed with regular updates and performance reports.

How do I charge clients for Google Ads?

Charging clients for Google Ads services can vary based on the scope of work and the client’s budget. Here are some common pricing models:

• Flat Fee: Charge a fixed monthly fee for managing the client’s account. This is straightforward and predictable for both parties.

• Percentage of Ad Spend: Charge a percentage of the client’s monthly ad spend. This aligns your incentives with the client’s success, as higher spending can lead to more revenue for you.

• Hourly Rate: Charge based on the number of hours spent managing and optimizing the client’s campaigns. This model can be beneficial for projects with variable workloads.

• Performance-Based: Charge based on the results achieved, such as a percentage of additional revenue generated from the campaigns. This model requires clear goal-setting and tracking.

How to create a Google Ads account for a client?

Creating a Google Ads account for a client is straightforward:

1. Set Up a Manager Account: First, create a Google Ads Manager Account if you haven’t already. This will serve as a dashboard to manage multiple client accounts.

2. Invite the Client: Use their email to send an invitation from your manager account. This gives you access to manage their account with their permission.

3. Link Accounts: Once the client accepts the invitation, link their account to your manager account. This allows you to easily oversee and manage their campaigns.

4. Configure Settings: Set up the account with the correct time zone, currency, and other necessary settings to align with the client’s business needs.

By following these steps and maintaining open communication with your client, you can efficiently manage Google Ads and drive successful advertising campaigns.

Conclusion

Managing Google Ads for clients is a journey that requires careful planning, consistent optimization, and clear communication. By breaking down the process into manageable steps, you can ensure that your client’s advertising goals are met effectively.

Summary

To manage Google Ads for clients successfully, it’s crucial to start with a clear understanding of your client’s goals and budget. Setting up and accessing their Google Ads account using a Manager Account streamlines the process, allowing you to manage multiple clients efficiently.

Conducting an initial account audit provides valuable insights into past performance, helping you identify areas for improvement. Keyword research and competitor analysis are essential for crafting targeted campaigns that stand out in a competitive marketplace.

Once campaigns are launched, continuous monitoring and optimization are key. Adjusting bidding strategies and using ad extensions can improve your ads’ visibility and performance. Regular reporting keeps clients informed and fosters trust, ensuring they see the value in your work.

Linear Design

At Linear Design, we specialize in delivering predictable growth through expert Google Ads management. Our dedicated teams focus on A/B testing and real-time reporting to ensure transparency and drive profitability for our clients. We pride ourselves on maintaining open lines of communication, offering custom reports, and serving clients globally from our Utah location.

Explore how our Google Ads Management services can help you achieve your advertising goals.

Final Tips

1. Stay Informed: Google Ads is constantly evolving. Stay updated with the latest features and best practices to keep your campaigns effective.

2. Test and Learn: Regularly test different ad copies, keywords, and bidding strategies. This iterative process helps you find what works best for your client’s unique needs.

3. Focus on Quality: Improving your ad relevance, landing page experience, and expected click-through rate can improve your Quality Score, leading to better ad placements and lower costs.

4. Accept Automation: Use Google’s automation tools to streamline processes, but always keep an eye on performance to ensure they align with your client’s objectives.

By following these guidelines and leveraging the expertise of Linear Design, you can steer the complexities of Google Ads management and deliver exceptional results for your clients.