If you’re a PPCer just starting out with Google Ads Scripts, it can feel overwhelming trying to decide where to begin. With the right scripts, you can automate time-consuming tasks, streamline reporting, and ensure your campaigns run smoothly. In this article, I’ll break down some of the most beginner-friendly Google Ads Scripts that you can implement right away.
Scripts for Handling Repetitive Tasks
Managing Google Ads campaigns often involves repetitive tasks like adjusting bids, generating search query reports, and updating keyword lists. Here are a couple of scripts that will save you time and help automate these processes.
Auto-Adjusting Bids Script
As a PPC specialist, regularly adjusting bids based on campaign performance is crucial but tedious. The Auto-Adjusting Bids Script helps automate this by increasing or decreasing bids based on specific rules you set.
- How it works: You can set conditions such as increasing bids for keywords with high conversions or lowering bids for keywords that aren’t performing. This ensures you’re maximizing return on ad spend without manual monitoring.
- Why it’s great for beginners: It’s a simple script to set up and allows you to control your bidding strategy without needing to manually monitor campaigns all the time.
N-Gram Script for Search Query Reports and Negative Keywords
Search query reports are essential for discovering new keyword opportunities and identifying irrelevant queries that should be added as negative keywords. The N-Gram Script breaks down search queries into word patterns and helps you identify patterns in search terms.
- How it works: This script pulls data from your search query report, showing common word patterns (n-grams) in search queries. You can then automatically populate a list of negative keywords based on underperforming search terms.
- Why it’s great for beginners: It simplifies the process of refining keyword targeting and prevents wasted ad spend by automating the identification of irrelevant keywords.
Scripts to Monitor Performance and Reporting
Once your campaigns are running, monitoring their performance is key to making data-driven optimizations. These scripts help you keep track of important metrics and generate reports without the need for constant manual checks.
Quality Score Checker Script
Quality Score is an important metric that impacts your ad rank and cost per click (CPC). With the Quality Score Checker Script, you can automatically track Quality Scores across your campaigns and keywords.
- How it works: The script pulls your keywords and their corresponding Quality Scores into a report, allowing you to monitor how well your ads are performing.
- Why it’s great for beginners: This script makes it easy to stay on top of Quality Score fluctuations, helping you improve ad relevance, landing page quality, and CTR.
CTR Heat Map Script
The CTR Heat Map Script gives you a visual representation of how your ads are performing across different hours of the day and days of the week. It’s an essential script for understanding the best times to run your ads and optimize your bids.
- How it works: This script generates a heat map that displays CTR (Click-Through Rate) patterns over time, so you can see when your ads are getting the most clicks.
- Why it’s great for beginners: It helps you understand time-based performance trends at a glance, so you can adjust your ad scheduling and bids more effectively.
Ad Spend Report Script
Managing your ad spend is critical to staying within budget. The Ad Spend Report Script generates daily or weekly reports summarizing how much you’re spending on campaigns.
- How it works: This script pulls your ad spend data and creates reports that can be emailed directly to you or exported to Google Sheets for further analysis.
- Why it’s great for beginners: Instead of manually checking your budget daily, this script automates the process, ensuring you never overspend.
Scripts for Testing and Quality Checks
Testing ad variations and ensuring your landing pages are error-free are key components of running effective PPC campaigns. These scripts help automate testing and quality checks, so you can ensure everything is running smoothly.
Ad Copy A/B Test Script
A/B testing ad copy is vital for discovering which versions resonate best with your audience. The Ad Copy A/B Test Script automates the process of testing different ad variations and determining the winner based on performance metrics like CTR and conversions.
- How it works: This script runs A/B tests across different ad copies, pauses the losing ads, and ensures the best-performing ads stay active.
- Why it’s great for beginners: It removes the guesswork from testing and helps you systematically improve your ad copy without needing to manage the tests manually.
Landing Page Check: Broken URLs Script
Broken links in your ads can lead to a poor user experience and wasted ad spend. The Broken URLs Script scans your ads and landing pages for any broken or incorrect URLs and notifies you if it finds any issues.
- How it works: This script runs checks on all your destination URLs and flags any that return errors (404s, timeouts, etc.), allowing you to fix them before they hurt your campaign performance.
- Why it’s great for beginners: It’s an easy way to ensure all your ads lead to the correct pages, preventing wasted clicks and poor user experience.
Zero-Impressions Pause Script
Sometimes, certain keywords or ads might not be generating any impressions due to low search volume or other factors. The 0-Impressions Pause Script automatically pauses keywords or ads that haven’t received impressions over a set period.
- How it works: This script scans your account for any ads or keywords that aren’t getting impressions and pauses them to prevent inefficiencies.
- Why it’s great for beginners: It helps you keep your campaigns streamlined and prevents you from wasting budget on ads or keywords that aren’t showing up.
To be fair, Google Ads Scripts can seem intimidating at first, but the right scripts can help you save time, improve efficiency, and make data-driven decisions. Also, part of being a PPCer is the ability to be technical when needed.
By implementing these and other basic scripts, you’ll be able to focus more on strategy and optimization, rather than spending time on repetitive tasks. As you grow more comfortable with Google Ads Scripts, you can explore more advanced options and continue automating your campaigns for success.
