How I Would Learn Google Ads... if I could start over
Summary
TLDRThis video emphasizes the lucrative potential of mastering Google Ads management, highlighting its growing ad spend and demand for skilled professionals. Aaron Young, a seasoned expert with over 15,000 hours in the field, shares his insights on why Google Ads remains a top digital marketing skill. He outlines a four-step plan for beginners: starting with Google's training, utilizing YouTube tutorials, investing in a quality course, and gaining experience at a digital agency. Aaron also offers optimization checklists to help users stay on top of their campaigns.
Takeaways
- 💼 Learning Google Ads is a highly valuable and lucrative skill, offering significant income potential.
- 📊 Google Ads is projected to grow from $224 billion in ad spend in 2022 to over $350 billion by 2026, highlighting its importance in digital marketing.
- 🔍 Google Ads management is less popular in search trends compared to other digital marketing disciplines, despite Google having a larger ad spend than platforms like Meta.
- 🧠 Google Ads management requires both analytical and creative skills, making it a hybrid discipline that is often overlooked in favor of SEO or social media.
- 💡 There is a shortage of skilled professionals specializing solely in Google Ads, making it harder for digital agencies to find qualified candidates.
- 📚 Google's training resources (Google Skillshop) are essential for learning the fundamentals of Google Ads, but they are limited when it comes to advanced campaign optimization strategies.
- 🎥 YouTube is an excellent resource for step-by-step tutorials on setting up and optimizing Google Ads campaigns, but be cautious about outdated or inaccurate content.
- 💸 Purchasing a high-quality Google Ads course is a recommended next step for serious learners, with factors like the instructor's engagement and course updates being crucial.
- 🏢 Working in a digital agency for 2-5 years is advised for gaining practical experience and managing a variety of campaigns, including large accounts with significant ad budgets.
- 📝 Using tools like Google Ads optimization checklists can help streamline campaign management, ensuring the right actions are taken at appropriate intervals.
Q & A
What makes Google Ads management a highly profitable skill to master?
-Google Ads management is highly profitable due to its large share of digital marketing spend, accounting for 42% compared to Meta's 22%. Despite this, there is less search traffic for people looking to become skilled in Google Ads, making it a niche with high demand and fewer competitors.
Why does Google Ads management receive less attention compared to other digital marketing disciplines?
-Google Ads management falls between the creative social media management path and the highly analytical SEO and web development paths. It requires both creative and analytical skills, making it less appealing to those who strongly prefer one skill set over the other.
What are the main steps to start a career in Google Ads management today?
-The four main steps are: (1) Start with Google Skillshop for foundational training, (2) Use YouTube tutorials for practical, step-by-step guidance on setting up campaigns, (3) Purchase a reputable Google Ads course, and (4) Work in a digital agency for hands-on experience.
Why is it important to work in a digital agency when learning Google Ads?
-Working in a digital agency allows you to focus purely on optimizing Google Ads campaigns without the distractions of sales or client management. It also provides exposure to various industries and larger, more complex accounts that accelerate learning.
What should you consider when selecting a Google Ads tutorial on YouTube?
-Ensure the YouTube channel focuses primarily on Google Ads, not a mix of digital marketing topics, and check that the tutorial was published within the last 6-12 months due to frequent updates to Google Ads and its interface.
How does Google's own training via Skillshop help in learning Google Ads?
-Google Skillshop provides a solid foundation by teaching the terminology (e.g., click-through ratio, ad rank) and the auction process, but it doesn't go deep into the practical steps needed to optimize campaigns for profitability.
Why is purchasing a Google Ads course recommended, and what should you look for in a course?
-A paid Google Ads course offers structured learning with more in-depth strategies. You should look for a course with an engaging instructor, up-to-date content, a money-back guarantee, and active support from the course creator to answer questions.
What advantages does learning Google Ads via a paid course offer over free resources like YouTube?
-Paid courses often provide more comprehensive, structured learning, and the instructor's direct support is a valuable advantage. Additionally, paid courses tend to be more updated and specifically designed for mastery, unlike general free tutorials.
How do you know if a Google Ads course is up-to-date and worth purchasing?
-Before purchasing, check if the course content is regularly updated, especially for modules on campaign setup and optimization, as Google Ads frequently changes. Additionally, verify if the instructor is actively engaged in answering student questions.
What should your next steps be after completing Google Skillshop training and YouTube tutorials?
-After gaining foundational knowledge from Skillshop and practical skills from YouTube, it's recommended to invest in a paid course for advanced strategies and then apply your skills in a digital agency to gain real-world experience.
Outlines
💡 Why Google Ads Management is a Lucrative Skill
Google Ads management stands out as a highly lucrative skill in digital marketing, even as AI technologies evolve. In 2022, Google ad spend exceeded $224 billion and is projected to reach $350 billion by 2026. Despite this, Google Ads management receives less attention compared to other digital marketing disciplines like social media, SEO, and web development. This presents an opportunity for aspiring digital marketers, as the demand for skilled Google Ads managers outstrips supply. The hybrid nature of Google Ads, which requires both analytical and creative skills, makes it less popular among job seekers, but also highly profitable for those who master it.
📚 Starting a Career in Google Ads Management
To kickstart a career in Google Ads management, begin with Google's own training resources, formerly called Google Ads certifications and now known as Google Skillshop. These courses are essential for understanding the core concepts such as click-through rates, quality scores, and campaign types. However, Google's resources mainly cover the basics and stop short of advanced strategies. Beyond Google's resources, YouTube is an invaluable tool for learning how to set up campaigns. Look for channels that specialize in Google Ads, and ensure that tutorials are recent, as Google Ads frequently updates its interface and algorithms.
🎓 Selecting the Right Google Ads Course
Investing in a specialized Google Ads course can be a pivotal step in advancing your skills. Before choosing a course, it's essential to ensure you resonate with the instructor’s teaching style by watching their free content on YouTube. Also, verify that the course is up-to-date and that the instructor provides a money-back guarantee. An active and responsive instructor who answers student questions is crucial for a valuable learning experience. Access to a course can offer deeper insights and personal feedback, which free resources often lack.
🏢 Gaining Experience at a Digital Agency
Working in a digital agency is the next critical step to mastering Google Ads. This experience provides the opportunity to manage a diverse range of accounts, from small businesses to large international clients with million-dollar budgets. Agencies offer a focused environment where you can hone your skills without the distractions of sales or client management. It also allows for greater exposure to various industries and campaign types, offering a broader skillset that’s essential for success whether you plan to become a freelancer or start your own agency.
📋 Optimizing Your Campaigns: Free Checklist Offer
Aaron Young concludes by offering access to his personal Google Ads optimization checklist, designed for digital agencies. The checklist covers essential tasks, highlighting the frequency of necessary optimizations (weekly, every 60 days, etc.). This valuable resource helps ensure that campaigns are not only well-set up but consistently maintained for optimal performance. He encourages viewers to follow the link in the video description to download this checklist and invites them to explore further resources, especially regarding recent changes in Google Ads.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Google Ads
💡Digital Marketing
💡Google Skillshop
💡Campaign Optimization
💡SEO
💡Creative and Analytical Skills
💡Ad Spend
💡Google Trends
💡Course Selection
💡Google Ads Agency
Highlights
Google ads management is one of the most lucrative digital marketing skills due to its high ad spend, projected to grow from $224 billion in 2022 to over $350 billion by 2026.
Google dominates digital ad spend, accounting for 42% of the total in 2022, compared to Meta's 22%.
Google ads management has less search traffic for learning resources compared to other digital marketing disciplines, like SEO or web development.
The hybrid nature of Google ads management (combining analytics with creativity) makes it less appealing to job candidates, making it harder for agencies to recruit specialists.
Google ads require both analytic skills (to dive into data) and creative skills (for ad copy and design), making it a unique and sought-after discipline.
Despite the growing importance of AI, Google ads management remains highly relevant and continues to provide opportunities for high income.
Google’s official training resources, like Google Skillshop, provide a good foundation for learning the terminology and basic functions of Google ads.
Google’s training is good for learning the mechanics but lacks depth in teaching how to optimize campaigns effectively for profitability.
YouTube is a valuable resource for learning step-by-step Google ads campaign setup, but it's important to select channels focused on Google ads and with recent content (within the last 6–12 months).
It's recommended to invest in a paid Google ads course that is frequently updated and offers a money-back guarantee for better learning results.
Before purchasing a paid Google ads course, ensure that the instructor is active in answering questions and the content is regularly updated to reflect recent changes in Google ads.
Working at a digital marketing agency for 2–5 years is highly recommended to gain practical experience and exposure to different industries, rather than starting out as a freelancer.
Managing high-budget Google ads accounts (spending millions annually) offers a significantly different learning experience than handling small business accounts.
Google ads have undergone numerous changes in the past year, so it's crucial to stay up-to-date with the latest training and tutorials.
The Google ads optimization checklist helps manage recurring tasks, such as weekly optimizations and quarterly performance reviews.
Transcripts
there is no doubt that learning how to
set up and optimize profitable Google
ads campaigns is a highly sought after
skill where you can also earn a high
income and despite the fast rise of new
AI Technologies Google and Google ads is
not going anywhere soon because last
year in 2022 Google had over 224 billion
US dollars in ad spend and that is
projected to grow above 350 billion by
the year of 2026. now from my experience
of running Google ads for my own
business then building my own agency and
also Consulting to three large digital
agencies as their head of search I can
tell you that out of all the different
digital marketing disciplines Google ads
is the most lucrative and that is for
two core reasons firstly when you go and
have a look at Google Trends data you
can see that of the four core digital
marketing skills of Google ads
management social media management s SEO
management and also web development in
terms of its search history Google ads
doesn't even write so when we look at
this data you can see that Google ads
management is well done on the list
compared to those other three
disciplines and where this gets
interesting is because this is despite
Google having a much larger ad spend
especially when it's compared to social
media so last year when you look at the
comparison of Google ads management so
the amount of money that was spent on
Google ads versus the amount that was
spent on meta ads Google nearly had
double the amount of spend as meta with
Google taking 42 percent of the total
digital marketing spend whereas matter
only had 22 so you can see that's why I
believe that Google ads is the most
profitable skill to master in the range
of digital marketing because it's the
highest spending but it's also the one
that has the least search traffic for
people learning how to become a
profitable Google ads manager so we need
to ask ourselves why is this the case
and I have a strong theory on this and
this came from my experience when I was
the head of digital across some
different marketing agencies here in
Australia and when we came to employing
new staff so when I was out on the
lookout for for new stuff and going
through the interview questions there
was really two main tracks that people
wanted to go down they wanted to go down
the highly creative social media pathway
or they wanted to go down the really
analytic or technical expertise skills
of SEO and website development leaving
Google ads Management in the middle is
kind of the Forgotten discipline in
digital marketing now I do understand
this because social media ads are much
more reliant on their creative people
find that a very attractive option plus
with the people who are really highly
analytical or wanting to get really
technical I can see why SEO and website
development is more appealing to them
and Google ads has always kind of been
in the Middle where you do need to have
an analytical Edge you've got to be able
to really dive down and look at the
analytic data so that you can then
decide the best optimizer relations to
Mac and the same is true with Google ads
is you do also need that little bit of
the creative that if you've got some
good skills in ad copy and you've also
got some good skills and being able to
put together briefs on how you want your
image or your video ads to be displayed
and created it still gives room for that
Creator flare but because it's kind of a
hybrid of the two it's kind of always
been a little bit forgotten and I've
discussed this at length with different
digital agency owners and they all say
the same thing that of all the
disciplines Google ads is the hardest to
recruit for because there's just not as
many highly skilled professionals who
solely focus on Google ads and that's
why for me when I saw that opportunity I
have focused my career solely on Google
ads management and it has been a highly
successful and profitable decision so
that's why I'm encouraging you if you're
at the start of your digital marketing
journey I would encourage you to really
look at focusing on Google ads
management so now let's get back to the
question at hand of how would I start my
Google ads management career yeah if I
was starting today now just in case you
don't know who I am my name is Aaron
Young I'm from defined Digital Academy
and I'm your 15 000 hour Google ads
master and I've personally been creating
and optimizing profitable Google ads
campaigns since 2010 and when I started
way back in 2010 there weren't the same
level of resources of what they are now
when you're going about trying to learn
Google ads the only real options you had
was to use Google's own resources back
then they called it their Google ads
certifications which has now been
replaced by Google skillshot and then
the only other option was to go through
some different blogs or Reddit forums
remembering that back in 2010 YouTube
had only started in 2005 with the
partner program so that monetizing
creators only starting in 2007 and in
2010 Google ads was still very much
stuck in mashups or music videos
different comedy sketches and a very
much a new place for people to show
their Vines remember those vines that
was legitness yeah and at that stage
YouTube wasn't the highly engaged
learning platform that it is now
thankfully as we fast forward now to the
year 2023 there is much more tools for
people like you if you're wanting to
start out your very own Google ads
management career so I want to take you
through the four steps that I would
follow if I was starting in Google ads
management today and the first one would
be is that I would still start with
Google's own training as I mentioned
before this used to be called Google ad
certifications it's now called Google
skill shop now the training that Google
gives you is very good for these core
areas it firstly will teach you the
language of Google ads so by going
through their training you know the
difference between your click-through
ratio versus your keyword quality score
versus your ad rank versus your bid
optimizations and your search impression
shares versus your search impression
share top and if you have no idea what
I'm talking about that's why you need to
go and have a look at Google's training
what Google's training will also give
you some really good training about is
about how Google ADS works so how the
auction works and also it'll give you
some really good guidance on the
different types of Google ads campaigns
that are available right now while
there's some great training and I do
recommend it as the first step for
anyone wanting to get involved in Google
ads management I do want to let you know
that that's really where that training
stops it's really good for giving you
the basis it's really good for
explaining how Google ADS works and
giving you different definitions and
meanings of different skill sets and
strategies that you'll need to know when
you're optimizing Google ads campaigns
but I've never found it to be a really
highly valuable tool when it comes to
really showing you how to take that
campaign from starting and setting up a
campaign to making it an optimized and
profitable campaign so the first place
you need to start is that you need to
start with Google ads own training and
the Google skill shop resources and then
that brings us to the next step and
that's where you want to learn how to
actually set up a Google ads campaign in
the right way and the the best resource
for that is YouTube where we are right
now and that's because YouTube is a
great resource for learning how to set
up a Google ads campaign in the right
way and the reason for why it's such a
valuable tool is because many people
will give step-by-step screen share
processes so it actually walks you
through the process of how to set up
your Google ads campaign in the right
way now the only thing that I'd say with
this is that when you're selecting which
YouTube tutorial to watch I do want to
give you a couple of guidance points so
if you were to search something like how
to set up a Google ads campaign don't
just automatically go for the video with
the most views because you want to look
at two core criteria and the first one
is is you want to have a quick look at
the channel when you see the video then
actually go through to the channel and
what you want to have a look at is is
this person teaching a lot on Google ads
so it's the vast majority of their
videos on Google ads or are they
teaching you on Google ads one week and
then Tick Tock the next week then meta
ads the week after to that then they're
taking you through SEO resources or
taking you through canva tutorials while
there's nothing necessarily bad with
these types of accounts what the issue
is is that when it comes to something
like Google ads you can often be given
the wrong advice because you're dealing
with someone who's just giving you
general knowledge now I'm not going to
go through and name and change some
different channels but when I go through
and watch these tutorials I see some
really big mistakes and fatal flaws that
can be really detrimental to your
campaigns and accounts so that's the
first thing you want to go through and
focus on a channel and there's lots of
channels not just mine that do solely
focus on Google ads the second thing you
want to check is that that tutorial is
currently up to date and what you want
to be looking at is you want to make
sure that that tutorial was only
released in the last six months if you
can't find anything in the last six
months you want to make sure that it's
definitely been released in the last 12
months the reason for that is because
especially over the last 12 months there
has been so many changes in Google ads
and these changes go beyond how the
algorithm works but it also goes to how
the dashboard actually looks and as we
speak right now Google is updating the
Google ads dashboard so if you're
looking at a tutorial from 12 months ago
you're not going to be able to follow
those steps because it will look
completely different to what you're
seeing right now when you're setting up
your Google ads campaign so now that
you've gone through Google's resources
and then you've also done some campaign
setup tutorials on YouTube it brings me
to step three of where I would be going
in the resources I would be using as if
I was starting Google ads right now and
this one is where you really need to
make the decision of how serious you are
about learning Google ads and the reason
for that is because this is going to
cost you some money and the reason for
that is because the next step I would
recommend is that you go and purchase a
course now there's lots of Google ads
courses out there especially some
courses that are released by this guy
right here and when it comes to
selecting the right Google ads course
that works for you you there's a couple
of core criteria that you need to be
looking at and the first one is is that
do you actually like the instructor and
now the beauty of YouTube is that before
you come to actually investing some
money in a course you're generally going
to be able to see the instructor's
YouTube videos and you can look Beyond
how many subscribers they have or how
many views they have and really look at
the information they're providing do you
like their teaching style are you able
to learn from them you know and even
down to do you find their voice annoying
all of those little things you can
really go through and watch their
catalog of YouTube videos to find out
whether you feel like you can have a
really good instructor student
relationship inside that paid course and
then the second core question you need
to ask is what is the age of that course
and how often is it updated remember how
I said earlier that there has been so
many different changes happening in
Google ads lately if you're dealing with
a course that is four or five years old
it's actually not up to date and a lot
of things have changed now if that
course was initially released four or
five years ago that's not a problem but
you do just want to make sure and check
that the course creator has gone and
updated some different modules
especially around things like setting up
your campaign ad copy keyword selection
because those things have heavily
changed over the last couple of years
and then finally you want to make sure
that that course creator does offer a
money back guarantee and the reason for
that is just so that it safeguards your
decision you're going to invest some
money into this course so you want to
make sure that once you've purchased
that course you can get in have a bit of
a look around watch a couple of the
modules to make sure that it's
everything that their website promised
if they give a money back guarantee you
can then go ahead and buy with
confidence because you know that if you
don't like it you can get your money
back easily and then I want to bring you
to the final point I know before I might
have said that number three was the
final but there is actually a fourth and
final point when it comes to choosing
the right Google ads course and you want
to really ask how active that course
creator is in that course and can you
ask questions and more importantly will
your questions be answered now because
of the size of my personal YouTube
channel there's just so many different
questions coming in on my YouTube videos
that there is humanly no possible way
that I can answer all of those questions
however inside my paid courses I can
answer those questions every single week
so if you ask a question inside one of
my personal courses you'll get an answer
within the next week and that's what you
just want to make sure with your course
creator that before you purchase that
course just quickly ask and while you're
in that money back guarantee area so
whether that would be 24 hours one week
two weeks three weeks however long the
course creator gives you as a money back
guarantee just go through and have a
look at the comments section and see how
active the course creator is in
answering those questions because that
is one of the key differences between
things like Google skill Shop YouTube
videos and of course is that one of the
highest value elements of a course is
that you have some direct access to the
course creator where you can get your
questions answered now those first three
points of learning Google ads so firstly
through Google's own and resources then
secondly through YouTube tutorial videos
and then looking at paid courses when
you get to that point you would really
have a good understanding of how Google
ADS works you know how to set up and
optimize a campaign the next important
step is just experience and for this
fourth point my recommendation would be
to go and work in a digital Agency for
anywhere between two to five years now
the reason why I recommend this rather
than just going out and trying to become
your own freelancer which is what I did
I found that my learning in Google ads
didn't really happen until I worked in a
Google ads agency and the reason for
that is because rather than focusing on
sales and client follow-up and client
care you know staffing issues all of
those things that come in with running
your own agency or even becoming a large
freelancer you can purely just focus on
the skill of learning how to optimize
Google ads campaigns and the other great
thing about being involved in a digital
agency is that you're going to get a y
wide variety of clients from all
different areas so you're not only going
to be dealing with campaigns from
service based Industries you're going to
be dealing with e-commerce based
Industries and if you can get into a
larger Google ads agency you're going to
be dealing with some really large
accounts the first accounts that I was
managing where they were spending over a
million dollars a year was inside a
digital agency and there's a big
difference between you know managing
Google ads for a mum and dad business
where they might only be spending you
know a thousand dollars or a couple of
thousand dollars a month versus running
Google ads for large International
companies that are spending you know
millions of dollars every year on Google
ads and that's why I recommend that a
core step in learning how to master
Google ads even if you want to set up
your own agency or become a freelancer I
would highly recommend that you do spend
a couple of years working inside a
successful digital agency so there you
have it they're the four steps that I
would be using to learn Google ads if I
was starting off today and to help you a
little bit further on your journey I
want to give you access to my Google ads
optimization checklists and these are
checklists which I put together which I
use for myself and I also set them up
inside of other digital agencies so that
you know exactly how to optimize your
Google ads campaigns and it also lets
you know when you need to complete all
of those actions because with Google ads
there's optimization actions that need
to be completed every week where there's
other ones that don't need to be
completed until every 60 or 90 days and
if you want to get access to my Google
ads optimization checklist all you need
to do is to follow that link in the
description below once again thank you
for joining me it's been a pleasure
having you and if you're interested to
learn about the current changes which
have been happening in Google ads over
the past 12 months I want you to go
through and watch this video right here
once again thanks for joining me see you
later
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