New Way of Running Google Ads: Guide the Algorithm Instead of Controlling It

Whether you're an old pro or new to Google Ads, we all hear the same thing–keywords are vital to your PPC success.

There is a "but" here…

Choosing the right keywords just scratches the surface of how to make the most of PPC and your Google Ad strategy.

As we dig into our clients’ PPC campaigns, we can see that looser targeting methods actually perform better than those with exact matches and headlines.

Google's algorithms are improving by leaps and bounds in terms of targeting people in different audiences.

We can see the algorithm improvements in action when testing our campaigns and strategies.

Truth 💣: Ultimately your PPC campaigns can perform better with less stress over finding the perfect keywords, saving you time and money.

But Google isn’t the end all be all. Multifamily advertisers still need to use negative keywords and exclude phrases to help guide the algorithm to get the desired results.

Want to try it for yourself? Here are some things we're doing to make our ads perform better than ever.

The Power of Loose Match Keywords

There's some good news when it comes to Google Ads in 2023.

Let’s start with some stats. Display campaigns now reach 80% of global internet users, making PPC more powerful than ever.

But you don’t need to scrutinize every keyword anymore to hit on the right search intent. In fact, you’re better off not obsessing over exact keywords as the core of your marketing campaign.

Let’s get clear.

Exact match words are still a savvy strategy when trying to increase or decrease spending on highly specific searches. But here’s the caveat:

Exact match keywords should be used in conjunction with broad keywords and phrases.

Why?

They’re helpful at identifying someone's search intent and targeting only related searches.

At the same time, you still need to guide the process by honing in on high-converting keywords and phrases to get there.

Let’s take a broad match keyword phrase like "apartments in LA" that would have triggered searches like, "apartments for rent in Los Angeles" and things loosely related like "moving to LA with no job."

But this is no longer the case.

Google now recognizes that renting an apartment in LA is not the same thing as searching for info about moving without a job or if you can live in LA affordably.

Today, you can match to much more relevant searches when using phrases or broad matches for apartment rental searches.

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Finding Good Keyword Phrases and Broad Matches

The concept of using looser keywords may be new, but the practice of finding keywords to build ad campaigns aren’t.

Despite Google’s algorithm getting better, you still need to find keywords that actually convert.

Google's Keyword Planner or tools like SEMRush will help identify some good options and get data of their estimated search volume.

Google Trends is also a valuable tool to see what kinds of searches are trending.

Tip 💡: Remember to loosen up the keywords with phrases or questions, "Best places to live in Los Angeles."

Once you hit on some results in your keyword tool of choice, throw them into Google.

After the first few results, you'll see their "People Also Ask" and relevant suggestions:

But again, let’s not get too controlling over keywords. You just need a good baseline to launch your PPC campaign from.

High Ad Strength

According to Google, "Ad Strength provides you with feedback to help you focus on providing the right messages to your customers."

You'll see ratings that include:

👉 Incomplete

👉 Poor

👉 Average

👉 Good

👉 Excellent

These ratings work to provide a metric of the relevance, quality, and diversity of your Google ad copy.

It makes sense that you want the highest ad strength possible.

Idea 💡: High ad strength will also identify how many combinations of relevant headlines and descriptions an ad can make.

We've also found that carefully selected, loose keywords earn high ad ratings and hit on the relevant search intent we’re looking for.

Optimized Targeting

Back in the day, optimized targeting matched you to anyone and everyone looking for something to do with your keyword, even if it was outside your targeting. 🎯

No matter what you did, you would inevitably end up with results that just didn't align with the right search intent.

Today, optimized targeting replaces look-alike audiences and matches people outside of your targeting.

The results? You end up with results for searches much closer to the intent of your specific target audience.

The old way of running Google ads involved exercising as much control as possible over your keywords.

Now search engines are moving away from control and allowing for more flexibility.

Yep. Advertisers are losing some control, but it’s nothing to freak out about.

The shift could come with a learning curve if you started with PPC back in the old-school days where control was necessary to get results.

Truth 💣: You earn better results when you change your mindset to deliberately guide the algorithm instead of controlling it and embracing Google Ads' structural changes.

But don’t just take Google’s word for it.

Yes, their algorithm is sophisticated and predictive, but it’s still crucial to:

👉 Use negative keywords

👉 Measure your ROI

👉 Set KPIs, including signing more leases or getting more inquiries as a result of your Google ad campaign

At the end of the day, your Google Ads goals should still be about lead quality and not just the quantity of people Google sends you.

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