This is an excerpt of a masterclass presented by Ryan Thwaites, Professional Freelancer at Lantern Room. Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn.
If you are a Google Ads user and are not yet using Google Ads Editor, or if you’ve been wondering about whether the Editor is worth your time and how it can help you improve your campaign management, Ryan Thwaites is going to talk you through everything you need to know to get started; from navigating the Editor, to creating campaigns, ad groups and ads.
Ryan is a GA expert and agency owner who has been using Google Ads since 2010. After initially teaching himself how to use it to market his own bricks and mortar business, he eventually turned it into his main business when he set out as a freelancer. He became an enthusiast of Google Ads Editor when he found out how much faster he could make changes using this simple tool.
Getting comfortable with the editor will turn you into a power user where you can make sweeping changes in bulk quickly and set up your account in no time.
Getting Set Up and Navigating the Editor
To get started, first visit the following link to download the Editor: https://ads.google.com/intl/en_au/home/tools/ads-editor/.
On the interface, you can find the structure of your account at the top left, including campaigns and ad groups.
Once you have the campaign or ad group that you want to work with selected, you can find the associated assets just below, in the bottom left-hand Manage panel e.g. keywords, ads, ad extensions, etc.
The properties of that asset will show in the middle window and the right-hand panel is where you can make any edits.
Creating a New Campaign
Select Campaigns in the Manage panel and then click + Add Campaign to create a new campaign. Give the new campaign a name and it will appear in the account structure at the top-left.
Creating an Ad Group
Select the campaign that you want to add the ad group to. Select Ad Groups in the Manage panel and then + Add ad group. A new ad group will now appear below your new campaign.
Add more ad groups as needed and name them.
Adding Keywords
Select the ad group you want in the top-left panel and then select Keywords from the Keywords & targeting menu in the Manage panel. Click Add keyword.
Add your keywords, editing them as needed in the right-hand editing panel.
You’ll see your list of keywords in the center panel with the match type indicated in the Match type column.
You can edit the match type manually in the edit window on the right.
There are a few shortcuts you can use to add multiple keywords to a different ad group. See the full webinar to find out how.
Creating an Expanded Text Ad
To create an expanded text ad for a campaign or an ad group, find Expanded text ads in the Manage panel. Then, click the +Add expanded text ad to create the ad and give it a name.
Edit the ad in the edit panel on the right and include the 3 headlines, descriptions, and the URL of the website where you want to send ad viewers. You’ll see a preview of the ad at the bottom of the edit panel.
Find out Ryan’s cheat for creating multiple ads with similar characteristics across different campaigns by watching the full webinar.
Creating a Responsive Search Ad
To create a responsive search ad, find this option in the Manage panel, in the Ads menu and click + Add responsive search ad.
Start editing in the edit window and add your headlines, descriptions, and url.
The keywords that you already added for the ad group should match all of the ads you have in there, so you shouldn't need to add any more keywords.
Now you have a campaign with ad groups and ads.
Troubleshooting Issues
If you see some red exclamation marks, you know there are some issues with your ad: Maybe you used too many characters in the headline, or you forgot to put the url. These notifications will help you to troubleshoot those issues quickly.
If you look in the Manage panel you’ll be able to see what level the issue is related to. For example, here we can see that the issue is at a campaign level.
As the issue is with the whole campaign, select all the ad groups within that campaign so that you can resolve the issue in just one step.
Looking in the right-hand editing panel, you can see that the issue is with the budget and no budget has been assigned to the campaign. The budget you put in here will be applied daily, per campaign.
Other options you can edit include Start date, End date, device options, Ad rotation, etc.
The yellow triangle with the exclamation mark is a recommendation rather than an error. For example, here we can see that our campaign is using manual billing whereas Google prefers us to use automated billing. You can ignore these warnings without any problems; just click Ignore to hide the message.
Using Ad Extensions
Ad extensions can be created in the shared library and then applied to your campaigns or ads at any point.
Find out how by watching the full webinar.
And that’s it! These are the main things that you will need to do in the interface to get set up, but take some time to explore and see all the options the Editor has to offer.
Uploading the Ad
The next step, once you have your ads ready, is to upload them to your Google Ads account. Click the Post button at the top-right of the screen. This opens a window which shows a summary of what you are posting. Select the campaigns you want to include and click Post.
You’ll see a ‘finished posting’ which shows if your campaigns have posted successfully. Once your campaigns are posted, go to your Google Ads account where you should see your campaigns.
Whenever you change anything in your Google Ads account, make sure you sync it in the Editor as well by clicking the Get recent changes button, then selecting More data from the dropdown.
Choose the campaigns you want to sync and click OK in the pop up window.
Once refreshed, any changes will show at the top of the Editor. Just review them to make sure they match with the changes you have made in your Ads account.
Importing Data From a Spreadsheet
One of the great shortcuts you can benefit from with Ad Editor is the ability to upload bulk data from a spreadsheet. This means that if you prefer creating and planning your campaigns outside of Editor, then it’s super easy to simply add your campaign details afterwards.
First, open your spreadsheet and select the data you want to upload.
Next, go to the Editor and click Make Multiple Changes. Click Paste from clipboard and paste your data. It will appear in the grid below with the appropriate headings.
Check your data has been added correctly by checking the correct headings have been assigned to each column. If any are inaccurate, just click the dropdown and select the right one.
When you are happy, click Process. Next, click Finish and review changes.
Review the proposed changes at the top of the Editor and choose to Keep or Reject.
Review the data that has been added to the Editor and make any changes as needed.
There are still some things that are just easier to do from your Ads account. Find out when it’s better to make changes in Google Ads and how to leverage the tools from the Editor to apply these changes quickly across multiple ads or ad groups.
This and lots of other tips and tricks are available in the full webinar. Take it from Ryan and power up your Google Ads experience by bringing the Editor into your toolkit.