The Atlassian Vendors’ Guide to Google Ads

Amidst all paid advertising options out there, one ad platform remains popular among marketers: Google Ads. That’s because the platform gives you instant search visibility and drives traffic faster than SEO.

So if Google Ads isn’t a part of your Atlassian app marketing strategy, then you’re missing out — big time. Keen on using Google Ads to take your app marketing to the next level? We’ll show you how in this article.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Google Ads for Atlassian Vendors

Step 1: Start Off on the Right Foot by Setting Up Your Account

First thing’s first, login to your Google Ads account and enter the website you want to advertise. We recommend any of the following sites:

• App Marketplace listing page: Insert this as your website if you wish to drive app evaluations.
• Company website: Advertising your company website boosts brand awareness.
• Product microsite: This helps in product awareness.

Step 2: Choose a Campaign Goal

Next, select your campaign goal. Google Ads provides you with a selection of goals to choose from. Each goal has recommended settings and steps you can take towards reaching the goal.

While you may be inclined to select the “App promotion” goal to boost your Atlassian app evaluations, that’s better suited for mobile phone applications.

For this article, we’ll look at creating a campaign without a specific goal in mind.

Step 3: Determine Where Your Ads Will Be Shown

The next decision you’re presented with is selecting a campaign type. This is an important step because your campaign type determines where your audience sees your ad.

There are three main campaign types you can choose from. We’ll break down each below:

Search Ads

Search Ads let you reach your audience through text-based ads via Google. Since they appear on Google’s search engine results page, it’s the better option to target audiences who are interested in the benefits or solutions your app provides.

Display Ads

Display ads use banners that appear on other websites. They may not be the best option for conversions, but don’t rule it out just yet. Display Ads work better if you want to increase brand awareness since the ads appear on websites your audiences are likely to visit.

Video Ads

Video ads appear on YouTube and other websites. They’re the perfect campaign type for introducing your brand, demonstrating how your app works, and educating your audiences. While Video Ads don’t directly contribute to conversions, they’re effective in driving product knowledge.

Step 4: Select a Target Location

To select a target location, start with where your primary market is. Most Atlassian Marketplace vendors’ primary markets are in North America followed by Europe, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Step 5: Decide on a Budget and How You Want to Spend It

Google Ads operates like an auction, so your budget and bidding strategy plays a big role in the success of your campaign.

The platform’s Keyword Planner and keyword research tools can help you gauge how much you should spend based on the keyword’s Cost Per Click (CPC).

With a budget set, the next step is to decide on a bidding strategy. Google offers two options: 

• Manual bidding lets you decide how much you’re willing to pay when someone clicks on your ads.

• Smart bidding is an automated bidding system. All you need to do is decide what you want to achieve, whether it’s to maximize clicks, conversions, or impressions and Google does the bidding for you.

There’s no right or wrong way to bid. While Google recommends smart bidding for its machine learning capabilities, it’s best to test and optimize the best bidding option that drives your goals.

You can start with manual bidding to gauge its performance before deciding if a campaign should move to smart bidding. When you opt for smart bidding, test each option to find out which is the most effective for you. 

Step 6: Select Your Keywords

The keywords you choose are significant in getting your ads shown to someone who enters a Google search query. But before you narrow down your keywords, there are several things you need to do as an Atlassian vendor:

Submit a Whitelist Request 

Atlassian has a strict trademark policy. Atlassian vendors are required to submit a whitelist request to use Atlassian trademarks among their keywords and to avoid their ads being flagged as trademark violations. 

If you haven’t yet submitted your whitelist request, you can do so here.

Add Atlassian Marks to Your Negative Keywords List 

Atlassian has a list of trademark keywords you can’t bid on for any keyword match type. Doing so results in limited approval, where your ads won’t be shown extensively.

To avoid this, you need to add the list of Atlassian trademarks as negative keywords in the exact match type.

With that covered, now we can now dive it into a few guidelines for selecting keywords.

Identify Search Intent

Figuring out the “why” behind your target audience’s search queries gives you an idea of what keywords to target. One way to understand keyword intent is by typing your target keyword in Google and examining the search results.

Suppose you search for “social media.” The search result will be educational, reflecting your intent to learn more about social media.

However, if you search “social media apps for confluence,” your search result will show a list of apps, indicating your intent to install an app.

Target Brand Keywords

Targeting brand keywords is also a good strategy to “protect” your brand keyword from being targeted by competitors. When a competitor targets your brand keyword, it causes your audience to see the competitor’s ad instead of yours. Avoid this from happening by dominating brand search.

Target Product Keywords

Audiences who search for product keywords are already considering an app as a solution. To meet their needs, target product keywords, or keywords that are related to your app’s benefits.
For example, if you have a project management app, a related keyword you can consider targeting is “jira gantt chart.”

Step 7: Write Your Ad Copy

Finally, it’s time to write your ad copy.

A general rule is to include relevant keywords and your app’s unique selling point in the copy. But you can always test different ad copy to identify the messaging that drives the most clicks.

And now you’re ready to run your Google Ads campaign to market your app!

Paid Search Pays Off!

You want to be at the forefront of your audience’s mind (and search results) when they’re looking for your app, or what your app aims to solve. Thanks to Google Ads, you can complement your organic search efforts to accomplish this.

Discover more Atlassian marketing tips when you download the Definitive Guide to Atlassian Marketplace Optimization ebook!

Need help running Google Ads campaigns for your apps? Contact us for a free, no-commitment consultation today.