Google Ads Mastery 2019-2020 Bad News: If you thought you could just keep your head down & your nose clean, and get great results based on “sound principles of direct marketing” …think again. If you are advertising on Google based purely on the help Google offers you… or on the advice of Google Reps or your agency… then you are marching into severest battle armed with plastic sword and helmet. But Here’s the Good News: Not only has Google’s AI gone from JOKE to serious new capabilities… even if you’re not using Google Ads AT ALL, you should probably start now, just to take advantage of Google’s AI. Google Ads Mastery is underway, but it’s not too late to join us!

Dear Marketing Professional:

If you are spending more than $1000/month on Google Ads then innumerable NEW gains, efficiencies, advantages and strategies are now available to you. But only if you synchronize with the new moves.

And if you’re an AdWords veteran, sit up and listen because a target is painted on your head and a sharpshooter has you in his sights:

– All advertisers are consciously being manipulated, very deliberately by Google. Dark patterns exist. You often have to unplug your natural tendencies to make good choices. The new interface is an example.

– In prior years, you could make money being on the frontier of new changes. You could ride that wave at the forefront of what was new in targeting and ad format. You must be very careful now.

– Now, instead you often make money riding the back end of that wave, of change, hanging onto existing command over what Google is assuming control of, for as long as possible.

You MUST know this. This is not an option!!! If you choose to take a pass on this… “don’t bother me this time, I’ll circle back later” – you are making a very big mistake.

If you are an agency managing Google Ads for others, then to not take this course would be irresponsible management of other peoples’ money.

The modest $1000-$2500 investment in Google Ads Mastery will pay for itself over and over and over again. If you’re spending many thousands or tens of thousands a month, it will pay for itself monthly… maybe even weekly.

Mike Rhodes runs the largest Google Ads agency in Australia and is co-author of Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords with me. This is the #1 selling book on Google advertising and Mike and I are the most trusted truth-tellers in the Google advertising space.

Google Ads Mastery comes in six modules:

Module #1: Search:

Google’s massive battery of new changes: the New Way of thinking about & running Google Ads

How to use ‘drafts & experiments’ Because You Must Test Before You Trust!

You MUST know the fundamentals before you automate!

You must use audiences and not just keywords in search campaigns

Correct account & campaign structures for 2019-2020

Why Exact Match isn’t exact any more & what to do about it (Google is doing to keywords what phone providers do to service plans… they morph them into something else so if you’re not paying attention, you wind up on the most expensive plan)

Why you need to be VERY CAREFUL using broad match with smart bidding

“Responsive Search Ads” is now 90% bigger than it ever was before – but they need to be tested FIRST (your mileage may vary)

AI: Understanding ad ‘elements’ in 2019-2020… When to let the ‘machine’ manage your ads (& when not to)

Which Ad extensions are most critical

Should you use Google’s new Smart Campaigns? A definitive criteria

Module #2: Google Shopping:

Smart Shopping campaigns – what are they & should you use them?

How to setup shopping the correct way for 2019-2020

Feed management – what do you need to know, what tools to use

Dynamic Remarketing – how do you set this up? (You can expect very attractive ROIs if you do this properly)

Shopify integrations are coming. Are they ready for prime time?

How do you sell products to multiple countries with the new Smart Campaigns

Common errors & how to troubleshoot them

YouTube TrueView shopping – filter & match to video ‘groups’

Module #3: Display & Remarketing:

The Display Grid – what is it & how to use it to plan campaigns & win more clients

How to target Intent with G’s latest audiences

Smart Display Campaigns – eventually forced into this, why you need to know this NOW

What happened to the Display Planner? Google scrapped it. What Google wants you to use instead.

Similar Audiences recently changed – are you using them the right way?

What offers/funnels are working on Google Display Network? Look at these examples!

How should your Display messaging differ from search?

What are ‘Life Events’ & should you use them?

Responsive Display Ads – what’s changed & why you probably want to re-consider using them, with the new capabilities that Google’s AI brings (Google is in a massive dog fight with Facebook – struggling to regain their perceived relevance. But make no mistake, Google is EXTREMELY relevant)

Module #4: Youtube & Gmail:

YouTube as sales influencer – earlier in funnel than ever before!

How does targeting differ for Youtube & Gmail?

Which of the (many) formats should you focus on

TV4A goal is sales (only!) (And don’t let any Google rep tell you otherwise)

Is your Remarketing setup the right way?

The Story Arc changed in 2018… are you making use of this critical insight?

How do you win with Gmail ads

Which metrics to expect & how to improve them

What’s Google’s Reach Planner & how can it help you?

Module #5: Tracking

Deep Dive into conversion tracking

Which phone tracking solutions are worth using & which are not (Call Rail vs Google?). How to manage local numbers

Have you updated to the Gtag yet?

A quick primer on Google Tracking Manager

When to use Google Analytics for tracking… and when not to

What questions should you ask of your Analytics – aka how to get useful reports

What reporting tools should you use in 2019?

Module #6: Optimizing campaigns in 2019:

Mike’s ‘CEO Method’ explained

It’s all about having the right processes. What questions to ask yourself to managing things right.

New Google Ads habits you need in 2019

What’s the Profit Curve & how can you use it to find that optimum sweet spot

What target CPA (or Return On Ad Spend) should you be aiming for? What are you optimizing for?

What campaign structures should you use in 2019?

Are SKAGs dead?

Are external management tools like Optmyzr worth the money in a world of automation?

Mindset – Ads management is a blend of art & science

alerts – send yourself an email when important metrics change

Billing alerts – now you can get alerted when your credit card declines

Auto rules – what are the best use cases

Should you invest in learning Scripts?

How can you create an email-able Dashboard for your results inside Google Ads

Mobile speed – how much does it matter & what is AMP?

Once again I cannot over-emphasize how confiscatory Google’s approach to customers is. It is NOTHING like a partnership or trusted agreement or fiduciary relationship. It is an all-out power grab (like the tax department when your state or province is nearly bankrupt and they’ll grab ANY money they can get for ANY reason)

– Be VERY careful on the phone with Google. Every rep has a hidden agenda! Be especially careful with the alarmist claims they use to get you on the phone.

– Be WARY whenever automated changes are made to your account. Google is getting grabby on that front.

– Be careful to keep ad testing. It matters greatly, and Google wants to take that away from you. This is the advertiser’s equivalent of Free Speech (which is more threatened now than any time in the last 50 years.)

– Google reps are trained to believe that they know what’s good for you. They’re trained to look down on maverick advertisers who maintain their independence, and even feel sorry for you because you don’t listen to the advice they are offering. DO NOT FALL FOR IT.

– Be careful with smart bidding. It’s not that smart. Seasonality, lapses in data, site downtime – they all can really hurt you with smart bidding. Phone calls may matter to you. Lifetime value may matter to you. Revenue and average order value certainly matter to you. Conversion based bidding fails hard in all those regards, and revenue-based bidding is far from being perfected.

– Be careful when it comes to attribution. Google’s by default changing it on you. You need to know what a conversion means. Did Google change the definition of a conversion on you? You can only compare apples to apples, and that’s one major issue if it has changed.

– Remember, Google Ads (AdWords) conversions are only one way of looking at success; Google Analytics offers many other views, and all are valid, and you should probably look at success via several views. Google Analytics is as powerful as ever these days.

You are dealing with all of the ADVANTAGES and DISADVANTAGES of a technocracy. Google Ads is a complex civilization run by a combination of robots and bureaucrats.

First mover advantage with new ad features once had large benefits, like with getting access to and adopting betas. There are times that’s still true, like with expanded ad copy fields, but overall that’s far less true today. You need to focus on the regions that we’ve discovered give you the most control.

Google has taken the wide, long-term view on this, and in many ways control matters more than money (spend) at this point to Google.

Agencies were once judged on the amount of spend they governed; now they’re judged on how adoption rates of Google’s most central (and often most nefarious) like smart bidding, ad rotation, attribution, and who writes copy.

Google has been buying AI companies the way a No-Carbs Dieter consumes potato chips and cheesecake on their cheat day. AI is tremendously hard to pull off (especially in advertising!!!!) but Google has tremendously upped their game in the last 3 months and serious AI advantages are available to you when you properly test Responsive Ad technology.

If you have never used AdWords, or abandoned AdWords for Facebook a long time ago, you may want to come back to AdWords because of the power of AI and Responsive Ad technology.

It is incredibly powerful when you use it correctly.