GOOGLE ADWORDS STRATEGIES FOR AUSTRALIAN
BUSINESSES IN 2015

Google AdWords for Australian Businesses in 2015

In 2015, Google AdWords was an established part of the Australian digital marketing landscape. For businesses competing in search, paid advertising offered a way to appear when potential customers were actively looking for products, services and information.

Google's own 2015 reporting highlighted the growing importance of mobile, location and the connection between online searches and offline business activity. Google also introduced new ways for advertisers to understand how search advertising could influence visits to physical locations, including the availability of store visits measurement in Australia.

For Australian businesses, the opportunity was significant but so was the risk of wasted spend. Simply increasing an AdWords budget did not guarantee more customers. Successful campaigns required careful keyword selection, relevant advertisements, sensible bidding, effective geographic targeting, strong landing pages and reliable conversion measurement.

This guide explains the Google AdWords strategies Australian businesses could use in 2015 to make paid search more targeted, measurable and commercially useful.

1. Start With a Clear AdWords Objective

Before creating an AdWords campaign, businesses needed to decide what they wanted the advertising to achieve.

Common objectives included:

• Generating enquiries
• Increasing online sales
• Driving qualified website traffic
• Generating telephone calls
• Promoting a specific product or service
• Increasing local store visits
• Supporting a new business or market

The objective influenced almost every other campaign decision. A business seeking telephone enquiries needed to think differently about its advertising from an online retailer focused on completed purchases.

Having a defined objective also made it easier to determine whether the campaign was successful.

2. Target Australian Customers by Location

Geographic targeting was particularly important for Australian businesses because customer coverage varies dramatically between industries.

A local plumber, dentist or restaurant may only need to advertise within a relatively small area. An online retailer may be able to sell nationally. A professional services company may target selected cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide.

Instead of advertising across Australia automatically, businesses should consider where their customers actually come from.

Location targeting can help businesses:

• Focus advertising on service areas
• Reduce irrelevant clicks
• Adjust bids according to location performance
• Create locally relevant advertising
• Allocate budget to higher-value markets

Google's enhanced campaigns allowed advertisers to manage bids according to factors including location, device and time of day, making this type of campaign segmentation increasingly practical.

3. Research Commercial Keywords

Keywords formed the foundation of a search advertising campaign.

Australian businesses should identify the terms potential customers were likely to use when looking for their products or services.

There is an important difference between informational and commercial searches.

For example, someone searching for how to repair a leaking tap may be researching a problem. Someone searching for plumber Melbourne may be closer to contacting a business.

Commercial keywords can be particularly valuable when the goal is generating leads or sales.

Keyword research should consider:

• Product and service names
• Australian spelling variations
• Location-based searches
• Specific customer problems
• High-intent phrases
• Long-tail searches
• Brand searches

4. Use Tightly Structured Ad Groups

One of the basic principles of effective AdWords management was keeping keywords closely related within ad groups.

A business selling several different services should avoid placing every keyword into one large campaign or ad group.

Instead, campaigns can be organised around distinct services, products, locations or customer needs.

For example:

Tighter organisation makes it easier to write relevant advertisements and understand which areas of the account are producing results.

5. Write Ads That Match the Search

AdWords advertisements needed to be relevant to the keywords that triggered them.

A generic advertisement could be less persuasive than one directly addressing the customer's search.

Good ad copy should clearly communicate:

• What the business offers
• Why the customer should consider it
• Where the service is available when location matters
• A useful point of difference
• A clear next step

For example, a business targeting a local service could incorporate the relevant Australian city or service area into the advertisement where appropriate.

The aim was not to make exaggerated claims. It was to make the advertisement closely aligned with what the customer was looking for.

6. Test Multiple Advertisements

Businesses should not assume that the first advertisement they write will perform best.

Testing different messages can reveal which benefits, calls to action and positioning resonate with the target audience.

Tests could compare:

• Different headlines
• Different value propositions
• Different calls to action
• Location-focused messaging
• Price-focused messaging
• Service benefits
• Trust and credibility messages

Testing should be controlled and reviewed over enough data to make the results useful. A small number of clicks should not automatically determine the winning advertisement.

7. Use Negative Keywords

Negative keywords were an important way to reduce irrelevant clicks.

If a business sells premium professional services, for example, it may not want its advertisements triggered by searches for free resources, employment opportunities or unrelated educational information.

Negative keywords can help prevent advertising budget being spent on searches that are unlikely to produce a customer.

Businesses should regularly review search terms and identify irrelevant queries that should be excluded.

8. Separate Brand and Non-Brand Searches

Brand searches and generic searches can behave very differently.

A person searching for a company's name may already know the business. Someone searching for a generic service may be comparing several providers.

Keeping these searches separate can make performance reporting easier.

Businesses can then assess whether AdWords is primarily capturing existing brand demand or generating visibility among people who are not yet familiar with the company.

9. Think About Mobile Search

Mobile was already an important consideration for Australian AdWords advertisers in 2015.

Google's 2015 advertising updates emphasised the importance of reaching consumers across devices and understanding the relationship between mobile searches and offline activity. Google's mobile advertising changes also reflected the increasing use of smartphones for immediate, location-sensitive searches.

Australian businesses therefore needed to consider what happened after someone clicked an advertisement on a smartphone.

A mobile user should be able to:

• Read the page easily
• Find contact information quickly
• Call the business where appropriate
• Complete a simple enquiry form
• Understand the offer without excessive scrolling
• Find the next step immediately

Google's AdWords system also allowed advertisers to adjust mobile bids within enhanced campaigns, giving businesses greater control over how aggressively they competed for mobile traffic.

10. Create Mobile-Friendly Landing Pages

Paying for a click is only the beginning of the customer journey.

If the landing page is difficult to use, the advertising budget can be wasted even when the keyword and advertisement were well chosen.

Australian businesses should ensure landing pages are:

• Relevant to the advertisement
• Easy to navigate
• Readable on mobile devices
• Fast enough for practical use
• Focused on one primary objective
• Supported by a clear call to action

The landing page should continue the promise made in the advertisement. Someone searching for a particular service should not click through to a generic page that provides little information about that service.

11. Match Landing Pages to Search Intent

Landing page relevance is particularly important in paid search.

If someone searches for commercial property lawyers Sydney, sending them to a generic law firm homepage creates unnecessary friction.

A more relevant landing page could focus specifically on commercial property law and the Sydney market.

This approach helps the visitor find the information they expected and gives the business a better opportunity to generate an enquiry.

12. Use Location in Local AdWords Campaigns

Local businesses could make their advertisements more relevant by incorporating location into campaigns and landing pages where appropriate.

For example, a business operating in Melbourne could develop campaigns around relevant searches that include Melbourne, specific suburbs or nearby service areas.

Location should not be inserted mechanically into every advertisement. It should reinforce genuine relevance.

Businesses should also ensure that their address, service area and contact details are consistent across their website and advertising destinations.

13. Consider Time-of-Day and Day-of-Week Performance

Not every business receives valuable enquiries at the same time of day.

A business that relies on telephone calls may perform differently during business hours than outside them. An online retailer may see different purchasing patterns across weekdays and weekends.

AdWords bidding controls allowed businesses to consider time and device context when managing campaigns.

Rather than assuming every hour has equal value, businesses should review performance and adjust campaigns where the data supports it.

14. Use Ad Extensions

Ad extensions could make search advertisements more useful by providing additional information and pathways for customers.

Depending on the campaign and features available at the time, businesses could use extensions to highlight additional website pages, contact information or other useful details.

For an Australian business, relevant extensions could help communicate:

• Key services
• Important website sections
• Business contact information
• Relevant locations
• Additional customer information

The goal should be to make the advertisement more useful rather than simply adding more information for its own sake.

15. Track Phone Calls and Enquiries

Website conversions are not the only valuable outcome from AdWords.

Many Australian businesses generate leads through telephone calls. This is particularly relevant to trades, professional services, health businesses, local services and businesses where customers prefer to speak with someone before purchasing.

Campaign measurement should therefore consider phone enquiries where possible.

A campaign that appears expensive when measured only against website clicks may be considerably more valuable if it consistently generates qualified telephone enquiries.

16. Measure Conversions Instead of Clicks Alone

Clicks tell you that someone interacted with an advertisement. They do not necessarily tell you whether the advertising produced business value.

Businesses should establish conversion goals appropriate to their business.

Conversion tracking provides a much stronger basis for evaluating campaign performance than click volume alone.

17. Calculate the Value of Leads

Not every lead has the same commercial value.

A business should consider which enquiries become genuine opportunities and which produce little commercial value.

For example, a campaign generating 20 enquiries may appear more successful than a campaign generating five enquiries. However, if the five enquiries are highly qualified and result in more sales, the second campaign may be more valuable.

This is why AdWords reporting should eventually connect advertising activity with the sales process.

18. Set Sensible Budgets

Businesses did not need to spend large amounts on AdWords simply because competitors were spending heavily.

The budget should reflect the value of the customer, the competitiveness of the market and the business's ability to convert enquiries or sales.

Start with a controlled budget, gather reliable data and then increase investment in campaigns that demonstrate commercial value.

Businesses should also establish limits for acceptable acquisition costs. Paying for traffic is not automatically worthwhile if the resulting customers are not profitable.

19. Monitor Cost Per Click and Cost Per Conversion

Cost per click can help businesses understand how expensive traffic is, but it should not be treated as the final measure of success.

Cost per conversion is often more useful because it connects advertising expenditure with a defined business outcome.

For example:

$1,000 advertising spend ÷ 20 qualified enquiries = $50 cost per enquiry.

The business can then compare that cost with the average value and conversion rate of those enquiries.

This provides a more useful framework for deciding whether to increase, reduce or restructure advertising spend.

20. Review Search Terms Regularly

AdWords campaigns can reveal how real customers search for products and services.

Search term data can uncover:

• New keyword opportunities
• Irrelevant searches
• Unexpected customer terminology
• Local search variations
• High-intent phrases
• Questions that could inform website content

This information can improve both paid search and broader digital marketing activity.

For example, if customers repeatedly search for a particular service variation that was not included in the original campaign, the business may be able to create a more targeted ad group and landing page.

21. Use Dynamic Search Ads Where Appropriate

In July 2015, Google announced a more powerful version of Dynamic Search Ads and made it available globally. Dynamic Search Ads were designed to help advertisers capture relevant searches without manually managing every keyword by using website content to determine when an advertisement was relevant.

This could be useful for businesses with large websites or frequently changing inventories.

However, Dynamic Search Ads should complement rather than automatically replace carefully structured keyword campaigns. Businesses should monitor the queries generated and exclude irrelevant traffic.

22. Use AdWords With Organic SEO

Paid search and organic search serve different purposes but can work together.

AdWords can provide immediate visibility for selected searches while SEO works towards longer-term organic visibility.

Search advertising data can also provide insights into which keywords and messages attract customers.

Businesses can use those insights to inform website content, SEO campaigns and landing page development.

The two channels should therefore be considered complementary rather than mutually exclusive.

23. Avoid Sending Every Advertisement to the Homepage

The homepage is rarely the best destination for every paid search campaign.

Visitors arriving from a specific advertisement should normally reach a page that matches the subject of the search.

For example:

• Accounting advertisements should link to accounting information.
• Website design advertisements should link to website design services.
• Specific product advertisements should link to the relevant product page.
• Local service advertisements should link to a relevant service and location page.

This creates a clearer path from search query to advertisement to landing page to conversion.

24. Build Campaigns Around Customer Intent

Keyword volume alone should not determine campaign priorities.

A lower-volume keyword can be more valuable if it indicates strong purchasing intent.

Consider the difference between:

• what is business insurance
• business insurance broker Sydney

The first search may indicate research. The second may indicate someone actively looking for a provider.

Businesses should consider where each keyword sits within the customer journey and allocate budget accordingly.

25. Use the Australian Market to Your Advantage

Australian businesses can make their advertising more relevant by understanding local customer language, geography and market conditions.

Depending on the industry, this may include Australian spelling, city names, suburbs, regional terminology and locally relevant service information.

A localised campaign can be particularly useful when the business operates in a defined service area.

However, localisation should always reflect genuine business coverage. Advertising in locations where the business cannot serve customers simply creates wasted clicks and poor customer experiences.

26. Consider Online-to-Offline Conversions

Not every customer journey ends online.

A person may search for a business on Google, click an advertisement, visit the website and then travel to a physical location. In 2015, Google introduced store visits measurement in Australia to help eligible advertisers understand some of this relationship between online advertising and offline activity.

This reinforced an important principle for Australian businesses: digital advertising should not always be evaluated solely through online transactions.

Businesses with physical locations should consider how online advertising influences calls, appointments, visits and purchases in-store.

27. Review Campaign Performance Regularly

AdWords campaigns should not be launched and then ignored.

Regular reviews can identify opportunities to improve performance.

Review:

• Keyword performance
• Search terms
• Click-through rates
• Conversion rates
• Cost per conversion
• Ad performance
• Geographic performance
• Device performance
• Time-of-day performance
• Landing page performance

The frequency of review should reflect the campaign's size and activity. High-spend campaigns may require more frequent attention than small campaigns with limited traffic.

28. Avoid Common AdWords Mistakes

Australian businesses can waste significant advertising budget through relatively simple campaign errors.

• Using broad, vague keywords: These can attract searches with little commercial relevance.
• Ignoring negative keywords: Irrelevant searches can continue generating paid clicks.
• Using one advertisement for everything: Different services deserve different messaging.
• Sending traffic to the homepage: Visitors may struggle to find what they searched for.
• Ignoring mobile: Mobile visitors need a usable experience.
• Measuring clicks instead of outcomes: Traffic does not automatically equal business.
• Failing to review search terms: Valuable opportunities and irrelevant searches can be missed.
• Setting and forgetting campaigns: Performance changes over time.
• Advertising outside the service area: Businesses can pay for customers they cannot serve.

29. Create an AdWords Strategy for Australian Businesses

A practical strategy can be built around the following sequence:

1. Define the objective: Decide whether the campaign is focused on sales, leads, calls, traffic or another measurable outcome.
2. Identify the audience: Define the customers and locations that matter.
3. Research keywords: Prioritise relevant and commercially meaningful searches.
4. Structure campaigns: Group related products, services and locations logically.
5. Write relevant ads: Match advertisements closely with search intent.
6. Build landing pages: Send visitors to relevant, conversion-focused pages.
7. Configure tracking: Measure enquiries, sales and other valuable actions.
8. Launch carefully: Start with controlled budgets.
9. Review data: Identify successful and inefficient areas.
10. Optimise: Refine keywords, bids, ads, targeting and landing pages based on evidence.

Google AdWords Checklist for Australian Businesses in 2015

Conclusion

Google AdWords strategies for Australian businesses in 2015 needed to go beyond simply buying search visibility. The strongest campaigns connected customer intent, keyword targeting, relevant advertisements, geographic targeting, mobile experiences and conversion measurement.

The growing importance of mobile and local search made context increasingly important. Google's 2015 AdWords developments reflected this shift, with advertisers gaining more ways to account for devices, locations and the relationship between online searches and offline business activity.

For Australian businesses, the most important principle was to focus advertising investment on commercially valuable searches rather than chasing traffic for its own sake. A smaller number of relevant visitors can be considerably more valuable than a large volume of poorly targeted clicks.

Businesses that structured campaigns carefully, tested advertisements, used negative keywords, developed relevant landing pages and measured genuine conversions could make AdWords a more accountable part of their digital marketing strategy.

Ultimately, successful AdWords marketing was not simply about appearing at the top of Google. It was about appearing in front of the right Australian customer, with the right message, at the right stage of the buying journey and with a clear path towards conversion.

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