Five Google Ads Tips for Financial Advisors

1. Control Your Placement

To start, we’re looking for speciﬁc placement in Google Search Ads or Local Services Ads. These appear right where we want them—at the top of search results. We don’t want to worry about the Display Network or Performance Max, which spread your ads to a wide variety of websites and apps that have partnered with Google to display ads.

2. Select Smart Keywords

Think of around 10 keywords that you can target at ﬁrst. Use Google Keyword Planner to help make your choices. It will tell you the search volume and level of competition for each keyword. You’ll likely start with some of the basics:

• “Financial planner near me”

• “Financial advisor near me”

• “Certified financial planner (city name)”

3. Include Negative Keywords

Negative keywords make it so that your ad doesn’t show when certain terms are used. For example, it’s not smart money to pay for placement when someone searches for “free ﬁnancial advisor,” is it?

4. Scale Through Budgeting

Consider using a daily budget as it allows Google to manage the bidding process for you. If you say $10/day, it may go over or under sometimes, but it will average $10/day for the month. If the going rate in your area is $5/click, that would be two visitors per day. This is variable based on search terms and geography. While Google offers predictions, you won’t really know the cost until you’ve run some ads.

5. Focus on Ad Quality to Improve ROI

Make sure your keywords are included in your ad copy and landing page content. It shows the searcher that your ad aligns perfectly with their search. Be sure to test different ad variations like headlines, descriptions and calls to action. Google’s Ad Quality Score is a big help in getting it right.