PrestaShop & Google Ads: best practices and tools

Introducing a little bit of this PrestaShop module with Google Ads, it is necessary to know that nowadays, having an eCommerce store has become a necessity for the growth of sales of any product/service company. This is not only due to the ease of browsing the Internet, but also due to the convenience for users to access lower prices and various types of promotions. There’s also the additional perk of being able to carry out a transaction from anywhere and from any type of device.

Google Ads Best Practices 

Creating successful Google ads requires constant hard work, finding a balance between the optimal keywords chosen, and readability. In addition, you need to plan the tone in which you are looking to approach the ads, create the landing pages, and establish a bidding strategy so that the ads have a chance to reach the top of the home page.

In addition to those mentioned above, there are other factors that must be taken into account, so it is recommended to follow the advice that Google provides for the ad strategy:
 

• Optimizing ads to generate natural language search: expressing search terms in everyday language is increasingly common, and your Google ads should reflect that style. Natural language search is increasingly growing thanks to the fact that voice search now accounts for a larger proportion of overall search traffic. 

Google is actively trying to prioritize ads written in natural language over blended keywords. Its expanded text ad policy is optimized for ads that do not repeat words and read naturally. So what they are looking for is to combine high-potential keywords with natural language copywriting.
 

• Google advises to adopt automated bidding: to achieve the top positions in the Google search engine, an automated bidding strategy is recommended. Google is pushing for this type of bidding, since those with a manual approach must be constantly adjusting their wording or changing keywords and ad text. Therefore, automated bidding offers a better opportunity to get a well positioned ad. Regardless of the maximum budget, Google will always manage it.
• Ads adjusted to mobile devices: In addition to a change in mobile design, user behavior will also change depending on the type of device. Today the value of desktop conversions is 56% higher than mobile, yet more than half of clicks come from mobile devices. Google advises using a short extension text for ads containing keywords that people tend to search for much more often on their mobile devices.
• Use negative words in ads: the use of negative keywords helps to redefine the audience and save money, since it will not show ads for terms that have been configured as a negative word. Universal examples such as: "free", "samples", "about", "meaning", among others.

Suggested tools by Google Google

1. eCommerce Ads: this tool automates Google Ads ads in partnership with PrestaShop. In addition to creating ads in a personalized and automatic way, you can receive recommendations, set alarms and measure the performance of the campaigns, among other features.
2. Templates to create your automated emails: with these templates you can customize the emails sent to customers according to their preferences: colors, content, sending frequency...etc. In addition, it has an optimal design for all types of devices: desktop, mobile and tablet.
3. PrestaShop Metrics: this tool offers easy, simple and important information to manage Google Ads campaigns and make decisions, without leaving the back office.
4. SEO Expert: this tool automatically fills in the necessary tags for SEO positioning. It also gives you the opportunity to appear at the top of the Google search engine.

How to optimize Google Ads campaigns

Five relevant tips for efficient and effective Google Ads campaigns:

1. Google attaches great importance to the consistency of the campaigns: a good long tail keyword research generates efficiency since it is focused on more specific product and/or service terms, and that usually means greater consumer interest–it has less competition because being more specific implies lower volume of searches which also means a lower cost. The CPC (Cost per click) depends on the demand and in the case of uncompetitive words, they will have a lower cost.
2. Constant updating and review of the campaigns: a good daily update and review of the ads helps to optimize costs and avoid unnecessary losses. Some examples include evaluating the performance of the selected keywords, changing the ad text if necessary, and creating new ads for new products or categories.
3. Highlight the attributes that best represent the brand and lead the consumer to generate an action: the importance and relevance of the ad texts will depend on the number of users who click on it. Incite the potential customer to click on the ad, with words that generate a sense of urgency either by showing scarcity of the product, or on the contrary displaying the most successful and sold products. You can also add extensions manually: location, phone, website links, among others.
4. A good and attractive landing page: a good optimization of the campaigns will depend largely on an excellent landing page, striking colors in the action button, usability, responsiveness, website speed, and the ability to fulfill to the specific needs of the consumer.
5. Optimize the bidding budget: once the campaigns are set up, it is recommended to allow 10-15 days to re-evaluate the bidding strategy and see which ads generated the highest CTR and which keywords generated the most clicks and conversions. When this happens, the maximum CPC should be raised, while underperforming keywords should be eliminated.

Benefits of a Google Ads & PrestaShop module:

• Build, visualize, update and optimize Google Ads campaigns effectively and efficiently.
• Drive relevant traffic to specific product landings.  
• According to studies, around 40% to 60% of eCommerce sales revenue comes from using Google Ads for PrestaShop.
• You will be able to reach users in the acquisition phase, which is the earliest phase to purchase.
• Generate a retargeting strategy for abandoned carts, getting customers who abandon their shopping cart to return to the eCommerce when a new search is started.
• Easy to grow eCommerce quickly and easily.
• Provides the opportunity to optimize bids based on product categories and ROI, ensuring that each category converts (sells).

To conclude, it is recommended to all those interested in the eCommerce sector, to join the thousands of people already using Prestashop, Google Ads and other ecommerce platforms to improve performance and conversions.