Quickest ways to master Google Ads
Loves Data
Knowing the fundamentals of Google Ads is really important, even if you’re not managing campaigns on a day-to-day basis. This might sound strange at first, but understanding the basics can put you in a powerful position.
If you’re working towards managing your own campaigns (or campaigns for clients), then, yeah, it’s super important, but it’s also important if you’re working alongside people who are actively managing campaigns.
Why?
Well, you’ll actually be talking the same language and you’ll be able to jump in with ideas and suggestions that won’t be met by blank looks.
Being fluent in Google Ads offers some really great benefits!
I’m going to take you through my top picks for learning (and staying up-to-date) with Google Ads.
Now before we jump in, I want to add that the majority of my recommendations are actually directly from Google. This is my disclaimer…
Google knows their product like nobody else (you’d hope so right), but they also have a bit of bias (which is totally okay, I mean it is an amazing advertising platform). This means that every feature and option can come across as sounding brilliant, but when you actually use some of these features they may not work for you in the same way. This is totally fine and to be expected.
I’ve found over the years that some things work really, really well for some people and others just don’t. So when you learn about something that really excites you and sounds like it’s going to get amazing results – definitely be excited and definitely try it out, but don’t put all of your budget behind something that you haven’t tested. Starting with a small trial budget to see if something works for you can provide really valuable insights.
Okay, so here are my top resources for learning Google Ads...
#1 Free guides
Google has a whole series of guides covering their recommended best practices. The guides cover everything from understanding Quality Score through to understanding attribution and using the different advertising formats. The guides can be a little text-heavy, but they’re a great way to quickly cover important areas of improving your campaigns.
If you’re just getting started with Google Ads, then you might want to try Google’s guide to help you get started. It covers basic topics, including an introduction to online advertising. This can be helpful, especially if you’re not wanting to jump in at the deep end!
Google also has two useful guides if you’re already using Google Ads. They cover creating an effective advertising campaign and how to track and improve your results.
#2 Free courses
My first suggestion isn’t really a course, but it does provide bite-sized training – it’s Google’s best practice video series on YouTube. Each video covers a different topic, generally in under 3 minutes and they are broken into categories, so you can quickly find the lessons most relevant to you.
I’m not 100% sure if it really counts as a course, but Google has a great app called ‘Primer’ that contains short lessons on various Google Ads topics. You can download the app on Android and iOS.
I’d also encourage you to check out the lessons available in Google Academy for Ads. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the way the material is presented, but plenty of people use it to learn the basics.
If you work with an advertising agency, then I recommend joining Google Partners. Depending on your level within the program, you’ll receive invitations to online and in-person events. (I’ve presented courses for Google across Australia and New Zealand myself and I know from first hand experience people get a lot out of these sessions.)
#3 Paid courses
If you’re looking for a structured learning experience that focuses on the most important aspects of managing Google Ads accounts, then you should consider taking my Google Ads Fundamentals course. It covers everything you need to know to get started.
If you’re looking for some other options then I’d suggest checking out the courses on Lynda.com and Udemy. I haven’t actually taken any of these course, so watch out because the quality of training can vary.
#4 Creating a demo account
When I’m training people on how to use Google Ads, I always, always have a demo account available. It means I can quickly bring up a tool or create a mock campaign without having to worry about any live campaigns. (It’s also super useful when I’m managing campaigns too – being able to quickly check something means I’m not messing anything up in a live account.)
When you’re ready you can head to Google Ads and sign up for a new account.
Unfortunately Google requires you to enter in your credit card details in order to create an account, so you’ll need to remember this if you’re going to create a demo account. I suggest that you set a daily budget of $1 when you create your first campaign and once you’ve verified your Google Ads account you quickly pause this campaign so that you’re not charged.
You might also want to consider the next option...
#5 Using an account to experiment
Having a live Google Ads account where you can testing things out, explore and play can be an amazing learning tool. I do this myself when I don’t have hands on experience with an advertising platform. For example, I recently created my own personal Facebook Ad account and plugged in $50 so I could have a play with some advertising features that I hadn’t had a chance to explore yet.
Googlers create 'dollar a day' accounts to give them access to a live Google Ads account with an extremely small daily budget (hence the name). It lets people get their hands dirty. If you can afford it I'd encourage you to do the same. Even a small one-off campaign where you test something out can provide you with valuable new skills.
#6 Books
The first book I ever read on Google Ads was AdWords for Dummies (Google changed the name from AdWords to Ads in 2018). It covered the basics really well and it helped propel me into understanding the important features and the basics of managing accounts. It’s been more than a few years since I read the book, so I’m guessing it doesn’t cover the latest features or newest interface, but I’d still recommend it in terms of understanding the most important concepts.
Another book that I read when I was getting started was Advanced Google AdWords. It went beyond the basics and talks about the testing your ads (super, super important).
And my book, Learning Google AdWords and Google Analytics which outlines the most important features and also shows you how to use your analytics data to improve and inform your advertising campaigns.
#7 Blogs
Google’s official Google Ads blog covers a range of topics, but the main reason I recommend Google’s blog is to say up-to-date on all the latest features. It seems like every week there is a new feature coming out that gives you even more control of your advertising. So you’ll want to bookmark this one or add it to your favorite RSS reader.
There are also a whole lot of great blogs covering all the latest Google Ads developments. I can’t say I visit any of these daily, but I do find myself browsing through posts when I’m looking for something in particular. My top pick is Search Engine Land.
Conclusion
There are some amazing free and paid resources if you’re just getting started with Google Ads or if you’re looking to refine your existing skills. I’d recommend trying a mix of resources and then go with the ones that work for you. I really love having a combination of printed resources and online – it works for me and helps keep the right material at my fingertips when I need it most.
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