Google Ads is today one of the biggest ways in which CPA marketing is being done. One major benefit of Google Ads CPA marketing is that marketers earn cash as they can reach targeted audience at a very low price.
As with every other model of affiliate marketing, CPA marketing also requires lots of high-quality traffic. And to achieve this, marketers turn to advertising and who else to rescue them than one of the most popular contextual advertising networks which is Google Ads. Google Ads CPA marketing is simply you performing cost per action marketing using the Google Ads platform.
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads is an online advertising service that displays ads on webpages at the top, bottom, and sides of the site. Ads are generated by the system based upon the recent and former search phrases entered into Google by web surfers.
Google Ads affiliate marketing was originally launched in October 2000 and has become Google’s greatest source of income. In 2012, advertising revenues for Google neared $42.5 billion.
In Google’s advertising system, certain keywords are defined by the system. Advertisers then bid for keywords that are closely related to their industries. On winning a bid for a specific keyword, they then include these words in their ad campaigns. The result is that Google ranks and displays these ads which help advertisers increase sales of their products or services.
Google Ads CPA Marketing
CPA or Cost per Action Marketing is a smart form of online marketing, where businesses only pay per transaction or per action. The action being paid for must have been previously determined as the conversion action.
Businesses operating on CPA don’t pay per click (in the case of CPC) which most times can be more expensive to them. CPA Marketing, therefore, is a value for your money advertising strategy while doubling as an online income earning source. Google Ads CPA marketing is just a combination of the marketing strategy with the platform. This is a very powerful combination by leveraging the traffic on Google and the popularity of CPA.
By arming your affiliate business with Google Ads, you can create efficient CPA marketing campaigns to help increase conversions. This conversion doesn’t have to be sales-oriented but a goal that helps your affiliate partners grow in one way or another. The best part, you can drive massive traffic through your Google Ads CPA marketing strategy for a really cheap price.
The statistical value of Google Ads
No doubt, Google holds a high position in the digital marketing ecosystem. These statistics can give you a perspective into what you stand to gain by integrating the platform into your business. It can as well help you form a digital marketing strategy.
- As of 2019, Google Ads accounted for around 31% of all online advertising
- 97% of Google’s total revenue comes from advertising
- 80% of internet users globally are exposed to Google Ads display and search advertising
- The average cost per action is £47for display ad campaigns on Google Ads
- The average cost per action is £46for search ad campaigns on Google Ads
- In 2012, advertising revenues for Google neared $42.5 billion.
- According to a 2017 report, Google’s annual revenue increases by an average of21% per year
Considerations before Starting Google Ads Affiliate Marketing
Earning money from Google Ads CPA marketing is possible and sounds awesome. The platform has huge traffic that can aid conversions. Also, all you need as a marketer is an equally awesome ad to capture your audience and lead to conversion. Truth be told, setting up a campaign is just the beginning and the real work starts after that.
Affiliates will have to constantly test their ads, keywords, and their own landing pages to optimize such campaigns and keep costs at a minimum. With Google Ads CPA marketing, you pay money to earn money.
Before plunging into the world of Google Ads CPA marketing, we have created a checklist of factors to consider:
- Ensure the affiliate program allows for paid ads usage
- Always link to your own affiliate landing page and not directly to the merchant’s website
- Your landing page has to offer additional value to users, e.g. using your industry experience to create guides, tutorials, etc. if not Google will kick you out
- Choose your ad platform in this case, Google Ads
- Never use branded keywords most brands won’t allow you to
- review Ad performances regularly and optimize by testing;
- Always start with a small budget. Then scale up once you get positive results.
How to Start Google Ads CPA marketing
The first step is to create a Google ads account. Then, there are two methods to create a Google Ad campaign for affiliate marketers:
Smart Mode or Google Ads for beginners
This is a simplified version of Google Ads for beginners’ campaign. In this mode, affiliates define the goal of their campaign and places of advertising. Google then automatically manages the campaign and specifies its settings, such as Set bids, define and adjust keywords, define ad extensions, and more. This is the mode we will show in detail in our article.
Expert Mode
This is the Google Ads for affiliate marketers who know how to set up and manage Google Ad campaigns themselves.
Starting Procedure
After selecting which mode to start with, continue with the list of steps below.
- Create an account on the Google Ads Network. Simply log in to ads.google.com using your Gmail account and register on the platform.
- Choose the main goal of your ad campaign. This can be to: Receive more calls, Get more sales or subscriptions on your website or Attract more traffic to your store. It all depends on the type of conversion you want.
- Describe your business. This is as simple as entering your business name, website, or channel.
- Enter the geographic location where the Google Ad will appear. Google Ads location targeting allows your ads to appear in the specified geographic locations.
- Select your products and services. This setting directs Google Ads to target Google search queries that are related to the product or information specified.
- Create your Google Ad. Create your Ads by including Headline text, description, and URL. It’s important to include your keyword terms in the text that is displayed to the user.
- Set your spending budget. Since your goal is to make more money, you want to ensure that you set a budget. You can choose from the suggested budget plan or enter your desired one.
- Review your Ad. Trends change daily and quickly which is why you have to review and update your ads regularly but not too often.
- Select the payment method. Google Ads is an advertising platform and as such, you have to pay for their services. You can also choose between automatic payment and manual payment. Fill in your personal information, then click on “Submit”.
- Launch your ad campaign. Simply launch your campaign and start earning.
For more details on how to perform these processes, check out our detailed and complete guide on how to start affiliate marketing with Google Ads.
The Bidding Process
One aspect of Google Ads CPA marketing that needs maximum attention is the bidding process on keywords. Since you are paying money to earn money, you need to focus extensively on just how much you spend in other to have a good ROI.
As an affiliate marketer, chances are that you will promote many products and as such have different ad campaigns for each. Managing and maintain all these campaigns can become tedious especially as your number of campaigns continues to grow. One strategy you can use is the Target CPA Bidding.
What is Target CPA Bidding?
Target CPA bidding is an automatic bidding strategy available on Google Ads that automate bids. It helps increase the chances of getting as many conversions as possible at the target cost per action set by you.
This strategy uses Google’s machine learning to automatically optimize your bids instead of having to manually adjust them. This strategy has a cost-per-action goal set by the marketer and can be based on any conversion metric. This can help you moderate and keep the cost of your campaigns down for maximum ROI.
Having a Target CPA or CPA goal is one of many ways to define what your KPIs are to optimize an account and measure its performance.
How to optimize your Cost per Action campaigns
In Google Ads CPA marketing, campaigns are managed differently. This is because, in Google Ads CPA marketing, Google’s algorithm handles most of your optimization techniques for you.
Google’s algorithm is programmed to automatically direct traffic across its network to maximize your conversions. This helps ensure that you get traffic to earn. To aid the algorithm, take cognizance of the following:
- Avoid making exclusion lists
- Frequently changing your target CPA every day will affect you negatively
- Do not disable your ads
- You can add new ad campaigns.
Google Ads CPA marketing algorithm: How it works?
When you launch a campaign in Google Ads CPA marketing, the machine-learning system will gather data on such a campaign. This data-gathering process can sometimes be intrusive. The algorithm performs some operations on your campaigns continuously such as:
- Google Ads tests your campaign at various points. It compares the campaign’s performance with your historical data
- If your Conversion Rate decreases, Google reduces traffic on your campaign
- During the “test” phases your traffic may increase and decrease sharply. You might receive hundreds of visitors in an hour, and then none for several hours.
- Any change in campaign settings can reset the campaign to “Learning” mode
Over the years, numerous affiliate marketers have figured out that the best strategy is to avoid the constant changes in settings. Any change you make has the potential to affect Google’s optimization system.
The ‘learning’ process is an important aspect of Google’s algorithm. In order to make optimal decisions, the Machine Learning algorithm has to accumulate data. If you change settings frequently, the machine has to re-start the learning process. Making constant changes will prevent Google from optimizing your campaign.
Patience is pertinent here. Allow the algorithm some time to understand how to optimize your campaigns and you will see results after a few weeks. After all, you have no reason to panic. The beauty of Google Ads CPA marketing is that you only pay for conversions.
Build compelling landing pages
Truth be told, there is no Google Ads CPA marketing without a website or at least a landing page. An affiliate landing page is where audiences get directed when they click the link on your ad.
It’s also where you as an affiliate create and upload meaningful quality content related to the product you are promoting and insert your unique referral links to the merchant’s website. As an affiliate, you add an extra step to the sales funnel.
This is why if you want to run a successful Google Ads campaign, your landing page must contain essential content and provide unique value for your audience.
One way to go about this is to view the landing pages of some of the top affiliates. Study their content and how they present the affiliate offer. You are bound to learn one or two things.
Maintain a high relevance score
If you want to keep earning from Google Ads CPA marketing, then you need to maintain a high relevance score. Google Ads platform usually rates its user’s advert by the quality and relevance of your ads and keywords. This rating score is affected by a number of conditions such as your Ads CTR, the quality and relevance of your landing page, the relevance of each keyword to its ad group, your account’s performance, and your ad text.
Relevance score affects your ad’s visibility in the search results and it’s important to always improve on it. By simply optimizing your landing page, refining your ad text, adding negative keywords to exclude irrelevant queries, and organizing keywords into relevant groups, you can improve your score.
Conclusion
Chances that you will earn money with Google Ads CPA marketing keep increasing daily. With the right keyword, campaign ad, and proper landing page, you are sure to earn as much cash as possible.
Obviously, to earn money with Google Ads CPA marketing, you certainly will have to spend money. Maintaining a balance between the money spent on pushing your ads to the audience and the money earned from said conversions is important.
