Section 2: The Fundamentals of Google Ads Flashcards
The Key Metrics of Google Ads, Understanding the Google Ads Auction, What Determines Your Actual CPC?, How Does the Google Ads Auction Operate, Balancing CPC Against Conversion Rate and AOV, Google Ads Key Terminology You Need to Know, The Core Structure and Functionality of a Google Ads Account
The key differentiator of Google search advertising compared to billboards or social media ads is its ability to capitalize on ________ intent.
search
Google search ads show messages or ads at the exact moment a user is ________ for a related product or service.
searching
The three key metrics to evaluate Google Ads performance are ________, ________, and ________.
cost per click, conversion rate, average order value
________ is the amount you actually pay per click, which may differ from your max bid.
Cost per click
A ________ refers to any meaningful action a user takes on your site, such as a sale, form submission, or page visit.
conversion
The formula to calculate conversion rate is (number of conversions ÷ total visitors) × 100, expressed as a ________
percentage
If 10 users convert out of 100 website visitors, the conversion rate would be ________.
10%
For e-commerce businesses, average order value (AOV) represents the ________ revenue generated per successful checkout.
average
In a service-based business, AOV might refer to the average revenue earned from a client’s ________ session or call.
first
To determine profitability, you should compare cost per click and conversion rate against your ________.
average order value
Google Analytics (GA4) is used to configure ________ and send them back into Google Ads for better tracking.
conversions
For lead generation businesses, a conversion might include actions like brochure downloads, ________ submissions, or calls.
form
Campaign profitability depends on metrics like cost per click, conversion rate, and the expected ________ of a customer.
lifetime value
Google Ads operates on an ________ system, similar to an eBay auction.
auction
The pricing of keywords is determined by the level of ________ among advertisers.
competition
Every search with ads on Google triggers a real-time ________ to determine which ads appear.
auction
The cost-per-click (CPC) model means advertisers only pay when their ad is ________.
clicked
If an ad receives a million impressions but no clicks, the advertiser pays ________ to Google.
nothing
The three key factors that influence CPC are ________, ________, and ________.
bid, quality score, ad rank
Your ________ is the maximum amount you are willing to pay per click.
bid
Quality score is measured on a scale of ________ to ________.
1, 10
The three components of quality score are expected ________, ad relevance, and landing page experience.
click-through rate
________ is the most important component of quality score because it determines how likely your ad is to be clicked.
Expected click-through rate
Smart bidding uses ________ to automatically adjust bids based on user behavior, historical data, and other factors.
machine learning
In target CPA bidding, advertisers set a desired cost per ________ for their campaigns.
acquisition
For e-commerce businesses, target ROAS focuses on achieving a specific ________ on ad spend.
return
Google Ads auctions determine ad placement based on ________, which is calculated by multiplying bid and quality score.
ad rank
If a competitor has a high bid but a low quality score, their ad rank may be ________ than an advertiser with a lower bid but a high quality score.
lower
Higher quality scores result in lower ________ and better ad placement.
CPC
To improve ad rank, advertisers can increase either their ________ or their ________.
bid, quality score
Ad ________ like site link extensions and call-outs can improve ad performance and potentially lower CPC.
extensions
If an ad rank is too low, Google may display a warning indicating the ad cannot enter the ________.
auction
Google prioritizes ads that create a great user experience because they are more likely to generate ________ revenue.
click-based
In the Google Ads auction, the max bid represents the maximum amount an advertiser is willing to pay for a ________.
click
Even in smart bidding campaigns like target CPA or ROAS, a ________ is still used in the auction, though it is set automatically by Google.
max CPC bid
Ad rank is calculated by multiplying the advertiser’s ________ by their ________.
max bid, quality score
The advertiser with the highest ad rank secures the ________ ad position on the page.
first
What is a second price auction?
This model is commonly used in online advertising where the highest bidding advertiser wins the ad space but pays the price of the second-highest bid; encouraging more truthful bidding as the winner doesn’t need to bid the absolute maximum to secure the item
Actual CPC is determined using a ________ auction model.
second price
The formula for actual CPC is the ad rank of the competitor below you, divided by your ________, plus a penny.
quality score
In this example, if advertiser A has a max bid of $2 and a quality score of 9, their ad rank would be ________.
18
If there are only four ad spots available and an advertiser’s ad rank is too low, they will not appear on the ________ page.
first
If an advertiser’s quality score is low, they may need to increase their ________ to achieve a higher ad rank.
bid
The advertiser with the lowest ad rank in a competitive auction will have a position of ________.
zero
Conversion rate is impacted by factors such as your ________, ________, and overall user experience, not CPC.
site, pricing
Advertisers calculate total spend by multiplying their CPC by the number of ________.
clicks
Return on ad spend (ROAS) is determined by dividing total ________ by total ________.
revenue, ad spend
Higher CPC is not necessarily bad; it can lead to higher-quality ________ that are more likely to convert.
traffic
Advertisers must balance CPC, conversion rate, and ________ to determine campaign profitability.
average order value
The concept of ________ refers to allowing machine learning models to operate with minimal human constraints.
liquidity
Placement liquidity involves using the appropriate ________ in which the ad is being served. This could include channels like Google versus meta and individual properties within channels like search first YouTube within Google.
medium
Audience liquidity means avoiding overly restrictive ________ that lack an insufficient amount real data or real evidence to support that claim, restricting the model from using as much of it’s learnings as possible.
demographic limitations
Budget liquidity ensures that campaigns can increase or decrease budgets based on ________ rather than fixed limits. (Top down budget requirements is not good for performance media. You want an unrestricted budget so that you can meet your benchmark goals as a minimum because it is the threshold we must cross with profitability or conversion value or new business.)
performance
Creative liquidity refers to minimizing subjective preferences and relying on ________ to determine which ads perform better.
(Clients have a right for ad creative input but as the practitioner, it is our job to understand the difference between optimizations that are going to move the needle vs. optimizations that are NOT going to move the needle, and optimizations that will have to wait until data comes in.)
data
Advertisers should use A/B testing to let the ________ of public opinion decide which ad performs better.
jury
Most A/B tests fail to isolate a single variable, such as ________ or ________, because other factors often affect the results.
layout, color)
Successful practitioners understand when to ________ machine learning and when to let it operate freely.
intervene
A campaign’s ________ across metrics like CPC, conversion rate, and AOV determines overall success.
balance
Restricting machine learning with unnecessary constraints can limit its ability to optimize and maximize ________.
results
ROAS
Return on Ad Spend
Formula: Total revenue ÷ Total ad spend
Measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising.
ROI
Return on Investment
Formula: (Profit ÷ Total ad spend) × 100
Focuses on the profitability of ad spend rather than just revenue.
POAS
Profit on Ad Spend
Formula: Total profit ÷ Total ad spend
Indicates how much profit is generated per dollar spent on ads.
CPA
Cost per Acquisition
Formula: Total ad spend ÷ Total conversions
Represents the cost to acquire one conversion (e.g., a sale, form submission, or other valuable action).
CPC
Cost per Click
The amount paid for each click on an ad.
Note: CPC can sometimes be confused with CPA. To avoid this, CPA is often referred to as “Cost per Acquisition.”
Conversion
Any valuable action taken by a user on your site, such as a purchase, form submission, or account signup.
Conversion Rate
Formula: (Total conversions ÷ Total clicks) × 100
Represents the percentage of users who take a valuable action after clicking on an ad.
Average Order Value
AOV
Formula: Total revenue ÷ Total conversions
Measures the average revenue generated per transaction or conversion.
Conversions does not always equal Sales. What other meaningful actions are considered a conversion?
A conversion can include any meaningful action for your business, not just purchases. Examples include brochure downloads, signups, or time spent on a page.
Clicks vs. Conversions
Not all clicks result in conversions. Conversion rate measures how effectively clicks translate into valuable actions.
Should you use the term CPA or CPC when referring to conversion costs.
Ensure clarity in conversations by using specific terms like CPA (Cost per Acquisition) instead of “CPC” (Cost per Click) when referring to conversion costs.
At the top level of a Google Ads hierarchy is the ________, which is tied to a single email address and contains billing, currency, and time zone settings.
account
Within an account, ________ act as containers for ad groups, keywords, and ads, and are where goals, budgets, and strategies are set.
campaigns
________ are subdivisions within campaigns that group thematically related ads and keywords.
Ad groups
A ________ is the destination page on your site that corresponds to the keywords and ads in an ad group.
landing page
________ are the words or phrases that guide Google in deciding when to display your ads.
Keywords
A ________ is what users see and click on, including text, images, or videos.
ad
Daily ________ represent the maximum amount you are willing to spend on a campaign per day.
budgets
The ________ is the amount you are willing to pay for a click, impression, or per thousand impressions (CPM).
bid
________ refers to criteria like location, demographics, and interests that define who sees your ads.
Targeting
Additional information added to an ad, such as phone numbers or links to specific pages, are known as ________.
extensions
Performance metrics like ________, impressions, and click-through rate (CTR) measure the success of your ads.
clicks
A ________ is any valuable action taken by a user, such as a purchase, form submission, or download.
conversion
Reports are tools used to analyze and visualize ________ performance based on KPIs and metrics.
campaign
Negative keywords prevent ads from showing for ________ search terms. (ie. velcro baseball hat)
irrelevant (ie. velcro)
Ad groups help maintain relevance by grouping keywords and ads with ________ themes.
related
The goal of a landing page is to provide a ________ destination that matches the intent of the user’s search.
relevant
In campaign targeting, narrowing criteria from the global population to specific demographics is called ________.
segmentation