Google Ads 101: guide to creating your B2B advertising campaign

With 8.5 billion queries launched every day in 2024, Google is the most widely used search engine in the world. This translates into a considerable pool of opportunities for your business, even (or especially!) if it’s B2B. To get you started in this universe, avoid common mistakes, and set up a Google Ads campaign (formerly Google AdWords) that will make your ads shine online, here’s our guide.

Step into the world of advertising on Google

Launching a Google Ads campaign enables you to reach businesses seeking the product or service you offer, even if they’re not familiar with you yet.

Results-based payment

When prospects type a query into Google, your ad appears in the top search results, above the organic results. Google Ads works on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, which means you don’t pay for every display of your ad, but rather for each click on it. The data used to calculate the results of a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign is the cost per click (CPC).

A variable advertising bidding system

This pay-per-click (CPC) billing system operates through an advertising auction, where you set the maximum amount you are willing to pay for each click. Let’s say that to achieve your profitability goal, you set your maximum CPC at $4 for each click on your ad, and Google sets a CPC of $2; it’s this latter amount you will pay. If your CPC is not high enough, the ad will not be displayed. Each time a user types a query that your Google Ads ad could answer, this evaluation is repeated, and the situation can change.

Does your B2B company operate in a niche sector? That’s to your advantage, since you may have to pay less for a keyword with little competition.

The quality score to watch

The quality score that the search engine assigns to you as an advertiser is one of the key factors of your campaign. Google assesses the performance of your keywords, your ads, and your pages. This is one of the reasons why you should care about the user experience (UX) on your website: the landing page of your campaigns is rated on a scale from 1 to 10.

Added to this is the expected click-through rate (CTR), i.e. the number of clicks divided by the number of times your content is displayed, expressed as a percentage (clicks ÷ impressions = CTR). The score to aim for? For a keyword crucial to your business, aim for a score of at least 8/10. For a keyword related to your business, a score of 5/10 may be sufficient. When in doubt, your Google Ads account manager can guide you!

“A high quality score is an indicator of the potential results of your digital ads: more impressions, higher ranking, and a lower CPC – all good news for your ROI.”

Steps to launch your B2B Google Ads campaign and boost performance

Here are the steps in detail.

1. Select your keywords

The Google Ads Keyword Planner tool allows you to explore for free the expressions or keywords related to your business that you should bet on for your B2B Google Ads campaign. You will get useful information, such as their search frequency and their minimum and maximum CPC bids (to guide your bidding). In addition to informing you about the popularity of keywords, this tool will even suggest others!

The more your ad targets a specific audience – as is the case in B2B – the more precise your keywords should be. The challenge is to combine this precision with a sufficiently interesting search volume. You can also bet on more general keywords to reach larger audiences, but be careful not to cast your net TOO wide! Using keywords that do not reflect your product or service is penalized by Google, and this clickbait logic can annoy your targets while harming your reputation, not to mention the fact that you will likely pay for unqualified clicks.

A frequently asked question: could you select a competitor’s company name among your keywords? Although this option is possible in the platform, we recommend instead focusing on the benefits and differentiators of your own products or services. Indeed, although the operation may be legally possible, it is not uncommon for companies whose identity is misused in Google Ads to retaliate with legal action. We believe it’s not worth it!

2. Define your budget

In B2B, the CPC is around $3.50, and conversion is around 3%. This amount is not fixed, as it depends on the quality of your website and the bids. Also, avoid betting everything on a large budget: your success does not lie there, since Google favours those who help users with clear, relevant, and precise ads.

You can also opt for a daily budget corresponding to the maximum CPC to spend each day for a month. Your budget can therefore fluctuate according to peak periods and competition. The extra spent on certain days is offset by lower expenses on other days.

3. Define your objective

Google Ads offers several categories: are you aiming to increase your brand awareness and visibility, traffic to your website, or the number of forms or calls received? Do you want to increase newsletter subscribers or tool downloads? Google will then suggest features and settings that match your needs.

4. Put your ad into context

Should your B2B Google Ads be shown within a radius close to your business or in a specific region? And in which language? If you are not able to meet the needs of certain internet users, it’s important to specify this to avoid unnecessary clicks.

Optimize your Google Ads campaigns for B2B.

And that’s it, you can launch your Google Ads ad, carefully written for your B2B audience by showcasing your value propositions! It is also recommended to keep an eye on your advertising campaign to see if there is a way to optimize specific keywords or expressions and their respective CPC.

No time to manage your campaigns? Our team takes care of every step, from copywriting to monitoring. Get in touch with us!