Google Ads has helped revolutionize the world of digital marketing. With a robust, ongoing Google Ads campaign, you can increase your brand’s visibility and ultimately transform your bottom line.
When launching a new Google Ads campaign, there are a few phases your campaign has to go through before you see the real success of your ad: launch, learning, and optimization. Once your campaign is launched, your ads will be evaluated by Google. This phase usually takes 24 hours but can take up to 3 days for Google to approve your ad. Once your setup is approved, your ads will be active, and the learning phase will begin.
During the learning phase, Google uses machine learning to determine what will drive results. This phase lasts around 7-14 days. When the learning period has ended, optimizations begin. During this time, Google uses its algorithm within your account to optimize.
Once the learning phase is complete, optimizations begin. Optimizations help fine-tune your campaign and require gathering enough data over time to deliver the best results possible.
Keeping this in mind, many people wonder how long it takes for Google Ads to generate results? The answer, as you’d probably assume, is it depends. In most cases, you won’t see the real success of your ads until the optimization phase is complete, which is roughly three months in, on average. However, you should begin to see conversions happen within the first month.
How does Google Ads work?
Google Ads utilizes a pay-per-click (PPC) pricing model, meaning that marketers will only need to pay for an ad when someone clicks on it.
With Google Ads, marketers choose a specific set of keywords to target and offer a competitive bid for each of the words and phrases they choose. Common keywords, such as “Apartments Near Me,” will likely cost more to target, while more specific keywords and phrases, like “Real Estate Syndication in St. Louis,” can often be targeted at a more affordable price.
Google’s algorithm is constantly learning and evolving. Once Google understands your ads, who you are targeting, and what you are looking to accomplish, they will give you guidelines to optimize and set you up for success.
What factors might affect how long it takes Google Ads to work?
During the beginning stages of a Google Ads campaign, Google will initiate the “learning phase,” where its algorithms will learn about your campaign and identify possible keywords and phrases that you should be implementing. Usually, this phase will take about a week, which marks the bare minimum you will need to wait before you begin seeing any results.
In some ways, Google Ads is always in the learning phase as the algorithm is incrementally working to deliver the results you are looking for to the audience you want to reach.
Making an effort to plan your campaign–identifying keywords, optimizing landing pages, and creating a targeted strategy–can help minimize the number of changes you’ll need to make, thus minimizing the amount of time it takes to generate results. It’s important always to monitor the different metrics and elements of your campaign as changes and conditions occur in your market.
Once the learning phase is complete, optimizations can begin. During this phase, Google will identify opportunities to improve your ad and offer recommendations for your campaigns based on real-time data.
Elements of your campaign, such as the keywords you are targeting, your budget, and your bidding strategy, may need to be adjusted to support your goals. Still, one thing that is important to keep in mind is that every time you make an adjustment, you will need to wait an additional one to two weeks before gathering enough data for further analysis.
The most important components of a successful campaign are keywords, ad copy, landing page, and your budget. RealDigi Ads makes this process easier by providing proven real estate keywords, ad copy, landing pages, and a recommended budget.
When can I expect to see results from my Google Ads campaign?
In most cases, you will start seeing noticeable progress from your campaign within the first month. As you implement Google’s suggestions for what’s most relevant for their users and your business, you will begin to see even more improvement. By month three, you will see the real success of your campaign.
Many variables can affect how long it takes to see results from your Google Ads campaign. For example, if your ad targets low volume, low search intent keywords, it will likely take longer to generate real traffic and interest. However, if you are operating with an appropriate budget, have an effective landing page specific to your campaign, and target terms with high search volume and intent, then the amount of time it takes to get results should be considerably less.
It’s important to note that a well-executed Google Ads campaign delivers an excellent user experience that leads to high conversion rates through a combination of the proper ad copy, keyword usage, landing page design/messaging, optimizations, and an adequate budget.
So, as a general rule of thumb, you can expect it to take seven days for Google to “learn” enough about your ad to determine what will help it perform at its best. After that, you can expect an additional one to two weeks for every round of changes that you make. This means that if you decide to launch a new Google Ads campaign and anticipate a few rounds of optimizations, it could take a month or so to see how the campaign is actually doing.
Waiting a month (or a little more) for qualified leads to come in can be frustrating, especially when you are in the early stages of your advertising efforts. However, with a little patience, investing in Google Ads can genuinely make a significant difference for your business.
And don’t worry, if you are new to Google Ads—or any other aspect of digital marketing for real estate businesses RealDigi Ads is here to help along the way.
