Google Ads Remarketing for Search Demystified

Targeted advertising by Google Ads RLSA
Targeted advertising by Google Ads RLSA

Just because you want to target website visitors in the search results using Google Ads remarketing for search (RLSA) – you may not be able to.

Google sets a threshold of needing over 1,000 remarketing cookie sets in a 30 day period to show remarketing for search ads. For many advertisers this bar is just too high. You will only need 100 cookie sets in a 30 day period to show remarketing ads in the Google Ads display network, but the bar is much, much higher for search ads.

I recommend that you try to lengthen the period of your cookie set from 30 days to 90 days to see if this will make a difference in your ability to use RLSA.

RLSA ads can be a great way to target in search results advertising shopping cart abandoners and other site visitors. Consider bidding a minimum of +30% to get action if you do have enough cookies.

Consider setting up a separate program for RLSA and use general keywords so your ads will appear on more queries, set the bid low, but boost up with a bid adjustment, and consider a -100% bid adjustment for mobile to start to keep your costs low until you know the program will generate a return for your needs.

Showing ads to people who have visited your website already using a target and bid strategy can be very good to add conversions to your monthly plan.

For more information on our services for Google Ads advertisers please visit our website at www.mccordweb.com.

What Happens When Your Budget is Too Low in Google Ads?

Nancy C. McCord, Owner of McCord Web Services LLC
Nancy C. McCord, Owner of McCord Web Services LLC

Can your budget be too low for Google Ads? Yes, it can be, based on the market and Google defined minimum bid to appear in the Google Ads auction.

So, what happens when your budget it too low in Google Ads?

  1. You do not get ad impressions.
  2. You get sporadic clicks and typically not during business hours.
  3. You do not spend your daily budget.
  4. You are not getting good click traffic.

Here’s the big catch, if your Google Ads budget is too low to support high click cost keywords (your first page bid), then Google tries so hard to meter out your program through the day that they literally do not deliver even your daily budget.

This continues through the month and accounts that really need a budget and cost per click boost to be competitive may deliver only a few hundred dollars of click activity with a budget of several thousand dollars.

To fix this problem, increase your budget, increase your cost per click and take a very careful look at your keywords (are they too narrow) and your ad serving schedule.

What is Attribution?

What is Attribution in Google Ads Speak?
What is Attribution in Google Ads Speak?

With over 10 years of experience in professional management of AdWords account, I wanted to share tips on an often overlooked yet important item in conversion tracking – attribution.

First to see what I am talking,(in the old interface)  about go to Tools > Conversions. Click one of the names of the conversions you have set up. Look to the bottom to Attribution Model. If you’ve done nothing it has defaulted to Last Click. Click Edit and change your conversion model to Position Based.

Position Based is my preferred attribution model. Over time you will be able to see keywords in your account that you might have pause that are actually a part of the conversion path.

The first click and last click will be weighted to 40% each and the middle clicks will split the remaining 20%. What happens is important for your keyword monitoring. You will start to see keywords that previously in the last click model may not be driving as many conversions as you had thought.

Your data drives your decisions in AdWords, put your data to work for you by changing your Attribution Model to the right one for you.

To get to the prior interface if AdWords defaults to the new interface, click the three vertical dots next to the gear in the top right and click go to prior version.

There are just some things that are easier to see and faster to do in the old interface.

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