To run effective campaigns in Google Ads, you can either do it yourself (DIY) or hire a certified Google Ads expert to manage them. There are pros and cons to both options, and you need to consider these carefully before going forwards.
However, managing Google Ads campaigns requires a deep understanding of the platform’s complexities, best practices, and ongoing updates. And this is where a certified Google Ads expert will help. But there are costs related to this and sometimes it’s better to learn the platform yourself and manage your own ads.
In this article, I’ll explore the pros and cons of each option and what you can expect in both situations.
1. In-depth knowledge and experience
A certified Google Ads expert has undergone extensive training and passed rigorous exams to earn their certification. This requires a lot of studying and working on campaigns to improve their performance and get the best results.
To do that, a Google Ads expert should work to improve their knowledge of features, tools, and strategies in this PPC platform. And this is built in real-world experiences managing campaigns for many businesses in a wide range of industries.
And they then receive certification in Google campaign types such as Search, Shopping, Display, and others. So, hiring a certified Google Ads expert provides you with the best person to set up and manage your campaigns.
However, if you decide to manage your campaigns in-house you gain the opportunity to build this expertise and hopefully gain certification.
But there is a steep learning curve, and it will take months or years to gain in-depth knowledge and experience. And you’ll be spending a lot of money in the process, which you may never recover.
2. Stay up to date with industry changes
If you’ve decided to follow the DIY Google Ads management route, then you should stay up to date with industry changes. That means understanding how Google Ads can help your business to run effective campaigns with the latest features and tools.
But, the industry is constantly changing, and regular updates, features and algorithm updates are now the norm. So, it requires a lot of work to keep up with these changes and stay current with what is happening and how it can help your campaigns.
A certified Google Ads expert stays up to date with these changes and uses resources like the Google Ads Help website, Google Ads blog, Skillshop and many others to develop their skills and knowledge.
And as the Google Ads expert manages your campaigns they align their knowledge and best practices with your campaign goals. And they adapt quickly and take advantage of new opportunities as they relate to things like keywords, match types, text ads, bid strategies, campaign optimization and a lot more.
3. Strategic campaign planning
A certified Google Ads specialist takes a strategic approach to working on your campaigns. They work closely with you to understand your goals and target audiences and they then develop a customized strategy that’s relevant to your specific needs.
With their expertise they can identify opportunities, conduct research and create targeted campaigns in Google Ads. And with this they’ll optimize your budget to ensure you get the best results.
Buy if you decide to bring your Google Ads management in-house with a DIY strategy, then you need to ensure you have a good idea what strategy you’ll implement.
The benefit here is that you can easily adapt your strategy and test different tactics. And you can do this quickly and not wait for someone else to implement them. But without expertise and experience, you may find it a challenge to find the right strategy. And that could take a lot of time and money.
4. Advanced targeting and optimization
Google Ads provide you with some of the most advanced PPC targeting tools in the industry. And as the leading advertising platform online, it’s important to gain a good understanding of the various advanced targeting options so you can carry out effective optimization.
This is especially important if you’re managing the campaigns yourself and have chosen the DIY route. As mentioned, there can be a steep learning curve which will require a lot of time commitment, but it could save you some money too.
However, a certified Google Ads expert already knows how to maximize these features to reach your audiences effectively to reach a good ROI. They understand keyword research, automated bidding, location targeting, device targeting and more in-depth and know how to achieve effective results.
They also know when to optimize your campaigns and when to leave them to run as they monitor them. Then they act based on the results that are achieved.
5. Ad copy and design expertise
Creating great ad copy and design takes some expertise. And like most copywriting work, it requires creativity to write text that will appeal to your target audiences. So, a certified Google Ads expert with many years’ experience will be able to write great ad copy and advise on image design for Display advertising.
They will be able to write persuasive ad copy for text and image ads, that communicate your unique value proposition effectively.
If however you prefer DIY ad copy writing and design, then you’ll need to use the knowledge of your industry to follow best practice and write great copy. So, you should focus on your target audiences and write the best headlines and descriptions possible with good benefits, features, calls to action, keywords, and unique selling points.
6. Conversion tracking and analysis
Conversion tracking is a feature that should be set up early and before you start advertising. This allows you to see which keywords, ads, search terms and campaigns are driving your sales or leads.
So, this requires expertise to set it up correctly, so you can get accurate conversion data. And you should work with a certified Google Ads expert to help you set it up correctly either in Google Analytics (GA4) or Google Ads, or you can use the Google Tag Manager platform.
You can set up conversion tracking yourself by following the instructions in Google Ads, GA4 or GTM.
7. Time and cost efficiency
One of the challenges you’ll find with managing Google Ads campaigns is that it can be time consuming. That’s especially true if you go down the DIY route and make all optimization decisions and actions yourself.
This involves a steep learning curve with a lot of trial and error and time spent researching and implementing strategies.
But if you hire a Google Ads freelancer, you’ll save valuable time and resources as they handle all aspects of campaign management, initial setup and optimization, allowing you to focus on running your business.
And importantly they’ll ensure that your budget is utilized efficiently, minimizing wasted ad spend.
8. Fees and rates
One of the main benefits of DIY Google Ads management is that you could save a lot of money because you don’t have to hire a Google Ads expert to work on your campaigns.
But if you’re thinking of hiring a certified Google Ads expert it’s important to know what they charge and what you are actually get for that.
Fees for Google Ads management start from $450 per month. And this can go up to $2,000 per month and more for larger accounts that spend thousands each month. Find out more about Google Ads management costs to get an idea of what you’re likely to pay.
Conclusion
I hope this article has helped you decide which option is better for you; whether that’s to hire a certified Google Ads expert or do it yourself with your own expertise and experience.
If you like to find out more about running Google Ads campaigns or need help with management, contact me today to discuss.
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