Search Engine Advertising, or SEA, can be a highly effective way to link your business to popular keywords within your industry. But at what budget do your efforts actually start to pay off? Can you see results from as little as 10 euros a day, even in a competitive sector? We’re sharing five tips to give your SEA efforts a significant boost, even with a more limited daily budget in Google Ads.
The more competitive your market, the more it pays to focus on local search queries. For example, a smaller, local payroll company in the Antwerp area has to compete online with many large, national players. We would advise such a client to anchor their search terms locally. Instead of using the keyword combination payroll service, they should opt for payroll service Antwerp or—even more local—payroll service Lier. This is an opportunity that larger companies may have overlooked.
Shorter, popular search terms—also known as short-tail—are usually the most expensive terms to advertise on in Google Ads. Here, too, you are often better off making your keywords more specific.
For instance, if you are a B2B company active in cloud computing, you might choose not to focus on the short-tail term cloud services, but rather on a long-tail variant like hybrid cloud solutions financial sector, provided your target audience is in this segment.
The keyword in question may yield a lower search volume, but it often compensates with more conversions. You are answering a query from someone who is further along in their decision-making process and therefore more likely to give your brand or company a chance.
Furthermore, consistently strive for maximum Google quality control of your chosen keywords. Is your ad well-written? Is it structurally sound? Does the keyword appear on your landing page, and does that page load quickly? These are all factors that play a role here.
TIP: Keep a close eye on the search behavior of visitors to your website. Which search terms lead them to your pages? Use these insights to further optimize your choice of keywords.
A local business is best off anchoring its search terms locally
Google Business Profile is your free business card on Google. It shows who you are, where you’re located, how people can contact you, when you’re open or available, and what reviews you receive from customers. The better you optimize your business profile in Google, the more free visibility it generates among organic search results.
In addition to middle-of-funnel efforts, it’s certainly a good idea to work on brand building within new target groups at the top of the funnel. Even with a limited budget, it is possible to showcase your brand, service, or product to relevant audiences within a specific, smaller region using display banners.
By using targeted placement on websites like Het Laatste Nieuws, 1.5 euros can already get you around 1,000 impressions. This way, your brand will immediately feel familiar to people in your target group the moment they search on Google and see your ad among the search results.
Google Ads provides new results and insights every day. As a marketer, this means you can adjust your strategy daily. This is especially necessary for companies facing strong regional and/or national competition. The higher the competition, the higher the advertising budgets you will need to make a difference.
Success scales linearly with your investment. Therefore, allocate enough Google Ads daily budget to aim for at least ten conversions per month.
Conclusion? Google Ads with a daily budget of just 10 euros can—under certain conditions—effectively deliver great results, even in a more competitive market. In that case, a holistic approach is required: simply applying one of the strategies above won’t cut it. And that, by the way, also applies to higher advertising budgets. Want to know the best possible approach for your business? Feel free to reach out and together we’ll find an outstanding advertising strategy.