How To Improve Google Ads Campaigns: Practical Strategies for Better Results

Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is a powerful but complex advertising platform. So before you can make improvements to your campaigns, you'll need to understand how things like Click Through Rates (CTR), Quality Scores and even your website's SEO affect campaign performance.

What is Click Through Rate (CTR)

Click Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who click on your ads when they appear in Google Search, Facebook or other online advertising media. Each time one of your ads appears, one impression is counted. For example, if one of your ads gets 1000 impressions and is clicked 42 times, it will have a CTR of 4.2%. If you don’t understand this AdWords terminology, don’t worry, you can check out Adhesion’s article about Google AdWords and Google Analytics Definitions.

A high CTR is an indication that your advertising campaign is performing well. In fact, a higher CTR can reduce your ad spend (more on that later).

Tips to increase click through rate (CTR)

Average Click Through Rates depend on a countless number of factors including your ads, your campaign settings, the industry you’re in, your target market, your product/service, the location you’re targeting, demand seasonality etc. A notable difference in click through rates can be seen between text ads in Google Search and display/image ads like banners. Across the board, text ads have higher average CTRs than display ads (mostly because they serve different functions). Check out the graph below showing how average CTR varies by industry.

In this article, we're going to focus on the Click Through Rates for text ads, not display ads.

What is considered a good average CTR?

At Adhesion, we consider the click through rates less than 4% to be relatively low. A lot of NZ business owners struggle to manage their own Google Ads (AdWords), therefore lowering the average CTR figures in the graph above. When anyone joins Adhesion's Google Ads team, our baseline goal is always to get 5%+ Click Through Rates within the first month. Any CTR we can get above 10% is considered impressive. CTRs above 15% are called "unicorns" because they're so rare. In fact, 12% of the campaigns that Adhesion manages are "unicorns" (see graph below). Adhesion strongly recommend seeking a Google certified professional instead of trying to DIY.

How to increase CTR

• Add Negative Keywords: Block irrelevant searches to improve audience targeting.
• Optimize Ad Copy: Test different ad versions—sometimes even small tweaks (like punctuation changes) can see big gains.
• A/B Test Regularly: Continuously test two ad variants at a time to discover what drives higher engagement.
• Use Specific & Relevant Keywords: Ensure your ad targets exactly what your audience is searching for.
• Highlight Value Propositions: Use clear offers, benefits, and strong calls to action.

What is Quality Score and why it matters?

Quality Score is Google’s rating (1–10) for each keyword, based on:

• Expected CTR: How likely your ad is to be clicked compared to competitors
• Ad Relevance: How closely your ad matches searched keywords and landing page content
• Landing Page Experience: The usefulness and relevance of the page your ad leads to

Higher Quality Scores mean lower costs and better ad placement.

How to improve Quality Score?

Quality Scores are set at the keyword-level. One way to check your Quality Scores is to log into your Google Ads accounts, navigate to an Ad Group, select the 'Keyword' tab and hover over the speech bubbles in the 'Status' column (see image below).

Optimize Your Website

To improve Quality Scores, the first step is to optimise your website (don't fret, it's easier than you think). In this case, you'll mainly want to focus on editing your website's text, headers, page titles and meta descriptions. As per Adhesion's SEO Tips and Guidelines, you'll want to use relevant and popular keywords that describes your products/services so that Google understands what you do. You can use the Google Keyword Planner tool to research what popular keywords best describe you. You can also use the Google PageSpeed Insights tool to find out other things Google wants you to fix/improve on your website.

• Use relevant keywords in your page titles, headers, and body copy
• Ensure meta descriptions are unique and descriptive
• Speed up your website with Google PageSpeed Insights
• Make your site mobile-friendly and easy to navigate

Ad Relevance

• Make sure your ad headlines and descriptions match your keyword themes
• Reflect the user’s search intent in your ads

Landing Page Experience

• Match ad messaging to landing page content
• Ensure clear calls-to-action and fast loading times
• Provide useful, relevant information that encourages action

Key Action Steps for Campaign Success

1. Review your keyword list: Use Google Keyword Planner to find relevant, high-performing keywords for your industry.
2. Refine your ad copy: Regularly test and update ads to maximize CTR.
3. Implement negative keywords: Filter out unwanted traffic to target your ideal audience.
4. Optimize your landing pages: Make sure they’re relevant, fast, and mobile-friendly.
5. Monitor and adjust: Check campaign performance in Google Ads and Google Analytics, and keep optimizing for better results.

Get Expert Help

Optimizing Google Ads is an ongoing process. The right adjustments can significantly reduce wasted spend and drive more qualified leads. If you’d like an expert review or help getting the most from your AdWords budget, get in touch with Adhesion's team of friendly experts.