Do I need to run Google Ads continuously or can I just run them when I have the budget?
There are a lot of opinions about Google Ads…and a lot of those opinions focus on selling you something or making you feel like you need to go over your budget to see results. I’m here to tell you that Google Ads can be effective at a lot of different budget levels. So, let’s talk about it!
Pros & cons of continuous Google ads
Google wants me to tell you that you need to run ads continuously to be effective. Running continuous Google Ads means your ads can learn and experiment to be as effective as possible. Continuous Google ads keep your business top of mind no matter who else is running ads or what is happening day-to-day. Continuous Google Ads keep a running database of what’s working and what isn’t. So, Google isn’t wrong. Running continuous ads is beneficial but there’s a couple big buts (lol!).
Continuous Google Ads need to be very evergreen…nothing seasonal, nothing trendy, nothing that can feel out of date if someone sees it 6 months after you start running them. You either need to use very generic content and URLs, or you need to regularly update your ads, so they stay relevant. When we’re running continuous ads for clients, we tend to have an evergreen keyword list and then seasonal keywords that we turn on and off based on the time of year.
If you don’t regularly update your keywords…and even if you do, we’ve seen that Google Ads that have been running an extended period of time tend to see decreased clicks, impressions, etc. Starting from scratch every 6 months to a year could be necessary if you start to see results slipping.
Continuously running Google Ads can rack up the budget. Recommended daily spend is very dependent on your industry and audience, but on average we say spending less than $30 a day isn’t worth spending anything at all. When you add it up, $30 a day for a full year is more than $10k. If you can spend that…great! You’ll see pretty decent results with your ads and your organic presence as well (yes, Google Ads help with your organic SEO too!). But if you can’t spend $10k a year on Google Ads…that’s when you look at running individual, shorter campaigns.
Pros & cons of shorter Google Ad buys
The key to making shorter Google Ad buys effective is having a strategy planned out and not just throwing money at an event, product launch, or seasonal focus. When planning Google Ads campaigns, you want to look at the budget you have and figure out the best way to spend that money. Again, looking at spending $30 a day…if you only have $500, you’ll be better off spending a little more than $30 a day for 10 days than trying to stretch that budget into a whole month. And if you run one Google ad campaign for 3 weeks in June and then don’t run anything again for 8 months…Google won’t be able to learn what your audience wants or what works for your goals.
The best way to go is to decide what your focus is for a calendar year, decide what your budget can be, and strategically pick several (we recommend a minimum of 4) times during the year to use your budget on Google Ads. We also recommend using the same audience, so they start seeing your brand or business during those relevant times of year. Smaller budgets can be effective…you just have to think big picture before hitting publish.
Strategy is the most important step when looking at how you can be effective on Google Ads with any size budget. If you need help getting your Google Ads set up or planning Google Ads for a smaller budget, give us a call at Signalfire.