How to Cut Your Google Ads Costs in 5 Steps

Learn proven strategies to cut Google Ads costs in 2024. This guide will help you achieve better ROI on your ad campaigns.
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Google Ads can be an effective tool for increasing traffic and conversions, but without adequate management, expenses can quickly spiral out of control. In 2024, optimising your ad expenditure is more important than ever to ensure a high return on investment (ROI). This guide will take you through practical methods for lowering your Google Ads costs while keeping your campaigns effective.

Table of Contents

1. Understanding Your Current Spend

To minimise costs, you must first understand where your money is going.

Analysing Your Google Ads Account

Analysing your Google Ads account means looking deeply into your campaign data to uncover spending patterns and performance indicators. This is done using the Google Ads dashboard, which provides extensive information on campaign performance, expenses, and returns. In 2024, new upgrades to the Google Ads interface will provide improved AI-driven insights and recommendations, making it easier to spot opportunities for improvement.

Check the performance metrics such as:

  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): This measures how often people who see your ad actually click on it. A low CTR might indicate that your ad isn’t relevant to your audience or that it needs better wording.
  • Conversion Rate: This measures the percentage of clicks that result in a desired action, like a purchase or sign-up. A low conversion rate suggests that while people are clicking your ad, they aren’t finding what they need on your landing page.
  • Cost-Per-Click (CPC): This tells you how much you’re paying for each click on your ad. High CPCs can quickly drain your budget, especially if they’re not leading to conversions.

Compare these metrics against your campaign goals to determine which ones are underperforming.

Analysing Your Google Ads Account

Keywords are the foundation of every Google Ads campaign. Concentrate on discovering high-cost keywords that are not generating conversions. To avoid emptying your budget, pause or change these terms. The Keywords tab in your Google Ads account displays performance numbers for each keyword, helping you identify high-cost, low-performing keywords. Google’s 2024 enhancements feature new keyword performance indicators to help you quickly identify and manage pricey keywords.

  • Look for high-cost keywords with low conversion rates. These keywords are most likely devouring your budget without producing results.
  • Pause them or alter their bids to prevent them from depleting your budget; changing bids can also assist reduce costs.

This allows you to better allocate your budget by focusing on keywords that are more likely to drive conversions and improve the overall effectiveness of your campaign.

Struggling to control Google Ads expenses?

Book a free 30-minute consultation with our Google Ads expert to get a personalised plan to help you cut costs and optimize your budget.

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2. Ad Quality and Relevance

Improving Ad Quality Scores

Google rewards relevant, high-quality ads with cheaper pricing and better placements. Concentrate on increasing your ad quality scores by writing appealing and relevant ad copy. Your Quality Scores can be found under the Keywords tab in your Google Ads account. In 2024, Google improved the visibility of Quality Score components, providing more insight about how to improve them.

  • Regularly check your Quality Scores in the Keywords tab. Aim for a Quality Score of 7 or above. Break down your Quality Score into three components: ad relevance, expected click-through rate (CTR), and landing page experience.
  • Rewrite your ad copy to match the keywords if the relevancy of your ad is below average.
  • Try different headlines and calls to action if the CTR you were hoping for is low.
  • Make sure your landing page loads quickly, is optimised for mobile devices, and aligns with the content of the advertisement.

Creating Highly Relevant Ad Copy

Adjust the ad copy to your target audience. To boost engagement and conversions, use language and offers that speak to them personally. You may create and modify your ads in the Ad Copy section of your Google Ads dashboard. In order to increase relevance and engagement, Google has implemented AI-driven recommendations for ad copy enhancements for 2024.

  • Make at least three changes to your advertisement copy per month. Analyse the impact of these adjustments by keeping an eye on indicators like conversion rate and click-through rate.
  • Over the next three months, set a goal to boost your CTR by at least 10%.
  • Divide up your target into several segments and create ad text for each one using language and offers that will appeal to their particular needs.

A/B Testing Ad Variations

Test multiple variations of your adverts on a regular basis to determine which ones work best. A/B testing can provide useful information about what resonates with your target audience. Google Ads’ Experiments feature allows you to create and track A/B testing. Google simplified the A/B testing process in 2024 by introducing additional automated testing options and more detailed performance reports.

  • Run at least two A/B tests per month in the Experiments area. Use the new automated testing options to rotate ad versions and evaluate their effectiveness.
  • Define unambiguous success metrics, such as a minimum 5% increase in conversion rates. After each test, examine the performance statistics to select the best ad variation.
  • Implement the winning variation and launch a fresh A/B test to continuously improve your ad performance. Monitor the cumulative improvement in your campaign’s overall conversion rate and aim for a 20% rise in six months.

3. Bidding Strategies

Smart Bidding Techniques

Google’s Smart Bidding can let you automate your bidding process using performance data. Optimise your bids with tactics such as Target CPA or Maximise Conversions. These can be configured in the Bidding section of your Google Ads campaign settings.

  • Enable Smart Bidding in your campaign settings and choose a strategy such as Target CPA. Set a specified target CPA depending on your campaign goals, such as €10 per acquisition. Monitor results on a weekly basis and alter the goal CPA as needed.

Smart Bidding Techniques

Automatic bidding saves time, while manual bidding offers more control. Evaluate which method is most effective for your unique campaigns. You can select your bidding strategy from the campaign settings. Google will enable greater granular control over automatic bidding settings in 2024, enabling better customisation and performance monitoring.

  • Conduct a split test of manual and automatic bidding on two similar campaigns. Use manual bidding for one campaign and an automated method, such as Maximise Conversions, for the second.
  • Compare performance data: cost per click (CPC), conversion rate, and return on ad spend (ROAS) throughout a month.

Adjusting Bids Based on Performance Data

Review performance data on a regular basis and alter your bids accordingly. Increase bids for high-performing keywords while lowering or pausing offers for underperforming ones. This flexibility is possible thanks to the Bid Adjustments tool in your campaign settings.

  • Use the Bid Simulator tool to examine potential bid modifications. Set up a bi-weekly review of bid performance.
  • Increase bids by 10-20% for well-performing keywords (those with a high conversion rate and low CPA) to fully realise their potential. Reduce or suspend bids on underperforming keywords (those with a high cost and low conversion rate).

4. Ad Scheduling

Determining Optimal Ad Times

Study your data to see when your adverts work best. To maximise ROI, allocate your budget at these peak hours. The Ad Schedule area of your campaign settings allows you to schedule particular times for your ads to appear. In 2024, Google released predictive scheduling options that use historical data to identify the best ad times.

  • Use the Ad Schedule feature to analyse performance statistics and pinpoint peak hours. Look for patterns in your ad performance indicators, like as click-through rates (CTR) and conversions, throughout different time periods and days of the week. Implement predictive scheduling features to automatically recommend and set the best ad times.
  • Adjust your ad calendar to allocate at least 70% of your spending during these busy periods. Review and refine this schedule monthly!

Dayparting Strategies

Dayparting allows you to arrange your adverts to appear at specific times of day. This allows you to target your audience when they are most likely to convert. You can configure dayparting under the Ad Schedule settings. The 2024 enhancements include more complex dayparting capabilities that provide better insights into the ideal times for ad effectiveness.

  • Set up dayparting in the Ad Schedule settings by designating particular time blocks for your adverts to appear. For example, if data shows that conversions peak between 9 AM and 12 PM and again between 5 PM and 8 PM, arrange your advertising to appear primarily during these times.

Reducing Wasted Spend During Low-Conversion Periods

Pause or cut your ad expenditure when conversions are low. This can considerably reduce expenditures while maintaining overall performance. The Ad Schedule options also enable modifications based on performance periods. Google Ads 2024 has updated the interface for setting these modifications, making it easier to notice and respond to low-conversion periods.

  • Using your performance data, identify periods with poor conversion rates. For example, if conversions are typically poor between 12 and 6 a.m., use the Ad Schedule settings to suspend your ads during those hours. Alternatively, cut your bids by 50% during these low-conversion periods.
  • Every two weeks, review the impact of these changes on your total ad expenditure and conversion rates.

5. Device Targeting

Adjusting Bids for Different Devices

Not all devices perform equally. Adjust your bids based on the performance of your ads across various devices, such as mobile, desktop, and tablets. The Devices tab in your campaign settings allows you to make device adjustments.

  • Navigate to the Devices tab in your campaign settings and examine the performance numbers for each device type. If you observe that mobile devices convert at a faster rate but have a lower cost per acquisition (CPA), boost your mobile bids by 15-20%. Conversely, if desktop devices have a higher CPA and lower conversion rate, cut your desktop bids by 10-15% (monitor these adjustments monthly).

Analysing Device Performance Data

Review your advertising’ performance on various devices on a regular basis and alter your approach accordingly. The Devices tab includes extensive performance metrics. Google Ads’ 2024 improvements now provide deeper insights and predictive analytics for device performance, allowing you to optimise your ads more effectively.

 

  • Create a schedule to evaluate device performance data every two weeks. Pay special attention to critical data including click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and CPAs for each device.
  • Predictive analytics can help you forecast performance patterns and change your plans proactively. For example, if the data forecasts a surge in mobile traffic during specific times, increase mobile bids ahead of time.

Need to save on Google Ads?

Book a free 30-minute consultation with our Google Ads expert to get a personalised plan to help you cut costs and optimize your budget.

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