Andy Black
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I had a chat with a LinkedIn friend today about how business owners can get started and run tests quickly and cheaply using Google Ads.
Hope it helps!
Curious what your takeaways are.
Also... I'd love to know if you think these chats are too "rambly"? Would you prefer them more edited or are you happy listening to a very lightly edited conversation?
The video:
View: https://youtu.be/q_gz6UnAd9I?si=gspaomHwpSFUVxMh
The LinkedIn carousel discussed in the call:
www.linkedin.com
A 5 minute video showing how to get your Google Ads up and running fast:
www.thefastlaneforum.com
EDIT:
AI SUMMARY OF THE CALL: (thanks @MTF)
This video is a consultation call where Andy Black (a Google Ads expert) advises a business owner on how to use Google Ads for market research rather than just lead generation. The core concept is using a tiny ad budget to test assumptions about what your target audience is actually searching for before you build out your business offering.
Here is the step-by-step strategy for validating a business idea using Google Ads:
1.Ignore Google's automated recommendations:
When setting up a new campaign, Google will push you toward automated "Smart Campaigns" and suggest daily budgets of hundreds of dollars/euros. Ignore these. Choose "Manual Bidding" (even if you have to set it up incorrectly at first to bypass the setup wizard, then go back and edit the settings).
2.Use Keyword Planner for initial ideas:
Go to Tools & Settings > Keyword Planner. Enter a broad term related to your idea (e.g., "journalist jobs") and set your target location. Google will provide a list of related searches people actually use (e.g., "freelance sports writer", "technical writer"). Filter these for terms that indicate high intent.
3.Use the 'Single Keyword Ad Group' (SKAG) structure:
This is the most critical structural rule.
Do not lump 10 keywords into one ad group. Create a separate Ad Group for each individual keyword.
Set your daily campaign budget to something very small, like $5 or $10/day. Set your manual CPC (Cost Per Click) bid very low, like $1 across the board. The goal right now isn't to win clicks; it's to gather data safely.
5.Uncover 'Impression Share' to gauge market size:
The secret metric for market research.
Let the ads run. Because your bids are low, you might not get many clicks (meaning you spend very little money), but you will get "Impressions" (how many times your ad was shown).
Review which Ad Groups are getting the most impressions. You might find your original idea ("journalist jobs") gets very little traction, but a related term ("freelance writing jobs") has massive search volume. You can then change your landing page, your messaging, or your entire business model to catch the "hill where all the people are already running down."
Hope it helps!
Curious what your takeaways are.
Also... I'd love to know if you think these chats are too "rambly"? Would you prefer them more edited or are you happy listening to a very lightly edited conversation?
The video:
The LinkedIn carousel discussed in the call:
How we Tested a Business Idea with Google Ads | Andy Black | 14 comments
| 14 comments on LinkedIn
A 5 minute video showing how to get your Google Ads up and running fast:
HOT! - MARKETING - The Shortest Google Ads Tutorial Ever
It took me HOURS to create this. Let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions. Hope it helps! View: https://youtu.be/7z7kx3kJC4M EDIT: Once you're running watch these two short videos to make sense of the metrics...
www.thefastlaneforum.com
EDIT:
AI SUMMARY OF THE CALL: (thanks @MTF)
This video is a consultation call where Andy Black (a Google Ads expert) advises a business owner on how to use Google Ads for market research rather than just lead generation. The core concept is using a tiny ad budget to test assumptions about what your target audience is actually searching for before you build out your business offering.
Here is the step-by-step strategy for validating a business idea using Google Ads:
1.Ignore Google's automated recommendations:
When setting up a new campaign, Google will push you toward automated "Smart Campaigns" and suggest daily budgets of hundreds of dollars/euros. Ignore these. Choose "Manual Bidding" (even if you have to set it up incorrectly at first to bypass the setup wizard, then go back and edit the settings).
2.Use Keyword Planner for initial ideas:
Go to Tools & Settings > Keyword Planner. Enter a broad term related to your idea (e.g., "journalist jobs") and set your target location. Google will provide a list of related searches people actually use (e.g., "freelance sports writer", "technical writer"). Filter these for terms that indicate high intent.
3.Use the 'Single Keyword Ad Group' (SKAG) structure:
This is the most critical structural rule.
Do not lump 10 keywords into one ad group. Create a separate Ad Group for each individual keyword.
- Ad Group Name: "freelance sports writer"
- Keyword: "freelance sports writer" (use phrase match by putting quotes around it: "freelance sports writer")
- Ad Copy: The headline must explicitly say "Freelance Sports Writer" to match the search intent exactly.
Set your daily campaign budget to something very small, like $5 or $10/day. Set your manual CPC (Cost Per Click) bid very low, like $1 across the board. The goal right now isn't to win clicks; it's to gather data safely.
5.Uncover 'Impression Share' to gauge market size:
The secret metric for market research.
Let the ads run. Because your bids are low, you might not get many clicks (meaning you spend very little money), but you will get "Impressions" (how many times your ad was shown).
- You must unhide the "Impression Share" column in your dashboard.
- If a keyword gets 100 Impressions, but your Impression Share is only 20%, you know the actual market demand for that keyword is roughly 500 searches.
Review which Ad Groups are getting the most impressions. You might find your original idea ("journalist jobs") gets very little traction, but a related term ("freelance writing jobs") has massive search volume. You can then change your landing page, your messaging, or your entire business model to catch the "hill where all the people are already running down."
Why this approach works
Instead of building a product or landing page based on what you think the market wants, and then asking Google's AI to find buyers for it, you reverse the process. You spend $10-$30 total to find out exactly what phrases people are typing into Google, and then you build the landing page that perfectly matches their query.
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