If you want to gain more new customers for your nail salon business with online advertising, then Google Ads is the marketing tool you need. Google Ads for nail salons will help you attract new potential customers, increase visibility and sales for your business, and it will give you a competitive advantage over local competitors.
In this article, we will go through a step-by-step guide on how to create Google ads for nail salons, and we will share with you some of the best marketing strategies to maximize the performance of your campaign.
1. What are Google Ads?
Google Ads is an online advertisement tool that uses the PPC or pay-per-click system, where you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. It’s the process of paying for specific keywords, and the higher the bid, the more likely your Google Ads will appear at the top of the search results page, increasing traffic towards your nail salon business.
2. Why Google Ads for Nail Salons?
- Google Ads will allow your nail salon business to show up on SERP across the Google Display Network.
- It will bring your nail salon business faster results in comparison to other marketing strategies, such as SEO.
- Google Ads allows you full control over your campaign.
- It will bring you more new customers, which will allow you to experience a higher ROI.
- It can increase the brand visibility of your nail salon business, increasing the chances of potential customers finding your nail salon services.
- Google Ads will provide you with detailed performance metrics allowing you to analyze and optimise your campaign.
3. Understanding Google Ads
It’s important to understand how Google Ads works, its structure, and the key features of this advertising platform before creating your Google ads for nail salons.
- Campaign – This will contain all your ad groups, keywords, and preferred ad settings.
- Ad Groups – These will usually follow a main theme and your keywords will be placed under your ad groups.
- Keywords – These are the specific key terms or phrases under your ad groups and are usually the terms potential customers are searching for when looking for nail salon services.
- Conversions – An action of conversion or a set of actions people may take to contact your nail salon, or to schedule an appointment.
- Landing page – A standalone page to convert leads into customers. This is also the page that users will be redirected to when they click on your ad
- PPC – Pay-Per-Click. You are only charged when someone clicks on your ad.
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4. Create Google Ads for Nail Salons
To create your first-ever Google ads for nail salons, create an account on Ads Google and sign up by clicking on “Start Now”. If you already have an existing Google ads account, simply log in.
Click “New Campaign”
4.1 Campaign Settings
Then select “Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance” as your campaign objective. This will allow you more control over your Google Ads for nail salons. It will also allow you to implement different marketing strategies of your choice.
Select “Search” as your campaign type. This is the ideal campaign type for beginners or first-time users of Google ads, because of its functionality, and because this option will allow your Google ads to show up at the very top of Google’s SERP or search engine results pages.
Next, select the goals you want your campaign to focus on. For your Google Ads for nail salons, you can select “book appointments” or “contact” since our campaign will mainly focus on bringing your nail salon business more new customers.
Don’t forget to name your campaign. You could use your company name and add the type of campaign it is. For instance, our example uses “Nail Salon – Search Campaign” as the campaign name
4.2 Network Settings
In your network settings, ensure that the option to include Google search partners is checked, while the Google display network is not included. You want to include the Google search partners option because it will allow your Google ads for nail salons to reach a wider audience, and encourage more conversions.
You don’t want to check the “Display Network” option because this setting is more applicable to campaigns that will rely on large, high-quality images to promote the product, services, or business. Keeping this option disabled will also ensure that your Google Ads for nail salons will show up to people who are actively searching for your nail salon, or nail salon services.
4.3 Location Settings
In your location settings, you can implement targeted demographics to help maximize the performance of your Google ads for nail salons. Select “Enter another location”, then enter the location you want to target. For this example, we will use Orange County, California as our location for this nail salon campaign. At the bottom of your location settings, make sure that “Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations” is selected.
For a more targeted demographic, select “Advanced Search”.
Once you click on advanced settings, choose the “Radius” option and enter your location. Make sure your radius setting isn’t higher than 15 miles, since potential customers may not want to travel further than that distance to receive nail services. If you have more than one nail salon, consider including all physical store locations in this setting.
You will also want to implement a bidding strategy in your location settings for your Google ads for nail salons campaign. For example, the further away the location is from your nail salon, the lower you want your bid or ad spend to be, and the closer the location is to your nail salon, the higher you want to bid.
Not sure how to implement location bidding strategies?
4.4 Language Settings
Next, choose your language setting. This is the language your Google ads will show up in, so if you want your Google ads for nail salons to appear in a different language, then you will need to create a completely new campaign from scratch.
4.5 Audience Segments
Another opportunity for you to implement targeted advertising is through your audience segment settings. Enter “nail salon” in your search for audience segments, then select the segments your nail salon applies to, such as “Beature & Personal Care”, “Spas & Beauty Services”, “Manicures & Pedicures” and “Nail Care Products”.
Then select “Observation” as your targeting setting for your audience segments. This will ensure that your campaign reach is not narrowed or affected by your audience segments.
4.6 Ad Rotation and Ad Schedule
Choose the “Do not optimize: Rotate ads indefinitely” as your ad rotation settings. Doing so will allow all your ads to rotate indefinitely (or until you stop it) and equally. This way, you will gain insightful data on which ads are performing, which ads aren’t, and why.
Consider only running your Google ads for nail salons during the days and times your business operates. It will also ensure that your front desk or receptionist will be able to answer any questions or calls that come from your Google ads, during these business hours. Failure to do so can result in lost leads.
5. Ad Groups & Keywords for Nail Salon Campaign
Your ad groups are part of your Google ads campaign, and your ad groups serve as an umbrella that will contain all your ads and keywords, therefore a critical step you shouldn’t skip is doing prior keyword research before creating your Google ads campaign.
Enter your ad group name, for example, “Basic Nail Manicure Services”, and then you can create other ad groups for other services, like Acrylic Nail Services or Polygel Nail Services, and ad groups for package deals like “Mani and Pedi Services” or “Spa Packages” if your nail salon offers it. Depending on your ad group name, you want to make sure that the keywords you will use will align with the ad group theme.
For example, if you use “Basic Nail Manicure Services” as your ad group name, ensure that only the keywords applicable to basic manicures are included in this ad group, such as “manicure near me” or “French nail set”.
After entering your ad group name, enter products or services you want to advertise to get keyword suggestions, for example, “nail manicure”.
Remove any keywords that do not apply to the ad group, and remove any services from the keyword suggestions that your nail salon does not offer, for example, “kiss impress nails”, “olive and June nail polish”, “manicurist” and “dnd gel nail polish”.
5.1 Keyword Match Types
If you want to use a more general ad group name, like “Nail Salon Services”, make sure that all your keywords are categorized into specific match types like in the example below.
Implementing keyword match types is one of the most critical steps for your Google ads for nail salons to be effective. Use different keyword match types for your campaign, to effectively trigger the right keywords, so it shows up on a user’s search page when searching these keywords.
Broad match types are key terms that usually relate to your chosen keywords. These can involve misspellings, and these will usually have the highest reach but the lowest relevance.
Phrase match types key terms that will usually be included within a phrase or close variations of that phrase. They could also include the meaning of the keyword and keywords of this match type will need to be put in quotation marks, for example: “keyword“.
Exact match types are key terms or queries that match your keyword or your keyword’s meaning. Exact matches will usually have the highest relevance to the keywords in your Google Ads for nail salons campaign, but it is also likely to have the lowest reach in comparison to broad match and phrase match. Keywords in this match type will need to be categorized by putting them in brackets, for example: [keyword]
You also want to include the keywords of the highest services your nail salon offers, to ensure that you will make a profit from your advertising campaign. If your nail salon offers high-end services, such as encapsulated nail services with crystals, diamonds, sapphires, stones, and nail art, make sure to include them in your campaign, or even focus on advertising these specific services through Google Ads.
Not sure which keywords to add to your ad group for more efficient CPC?
6. Google Text for Nail Salon Ads
6.1 Final URL and Display Path
Now that you are done with your keywords for your ad group, you can start creating your ad text campaign.
Enter your website in the Final URL section and then enter key terms relevant to your ad campaign in the Display Path section. This works by allowing the user to have an idea of what the website is about before clicking on your ad.
6.2 Headlines
Next in your Google Ad Text are the headlines. This is the first thing that users will see when they click on your ad so you want to use keywords that are relevant to what you are advertising, straightforward, and attention-grabbing.
You can add the name of your nail salon business in the headlines, along with the location of your business, for example, [Your Nail Salon Name], Orange County. You can include up to 15 headlines in total, with a maximum of 30 characters each.
If you struggle to come up with the right headlines for your Google ads for nail salons, click on “More Ideas” and you will see a variety of headline suggestions using the top keywords based on Google’s high-volume search database.
6.3 Descriptions
After your headlines are your descriptions. Use this opportunity to include key information that will further help convince the user to click on your Google ads for nail salons.
Highlight the features of your nail salon in this section, for instance, using descriptions like “Experience Self Care Excellence with our Spa Treatments” or “Providing customers with the best manicure and pedicure services in Orange County, CA”. If your nail salon business has also received awards or has been featured anywhere, you can also include that in your descriptions.
6.4 Ad Assets
To increase the CTC or Click-Through-Rate of your Google ads for nail salons, you will want to include ad assets in your campaign. Ad assets work by making your Google Ad appear bigger on SERP (Search engine results pages), and it can also help encourage some form of action from potential customers, like booking an appointment.
There are many types of ad assets available, such as structured snippets, lead forms, promotions, apps, and prices. For this campaign, one of the ad assets we recommend adding is sitelink ad assets. These work by including direct links to specific landing pages on your Google Ad, which will encourage the user to complete the customer conversion journey when they click on any of these sitelinks.
When creating your sitelinks for your Google Ads for nail salons, you can create up to 4 sitelinks. Consider using the key terms or main services your nail salon gets more inquiries about, for example, “Manicure”, “Pedicure”, “Spa Packages” and “Paraffin Treatments”.
Callout Assets
Another type of ad asset you can include for your Google ads for nail salons is callouts. Callout assets allow you to include additional information to your ad campaign that could help encourage the user to click on your ad. Include key information in this section that will also help your nail salon business stand out over your local competitors, for example, “Accepting Credit Cards”, “Since 2003”, “Award Winning Nail Salon” and “Book Online Today”.
Want to include other ad assets in your Google Ads campaign?
7. Manual CPC and Bidding
Once you are done creating the ad text for your Google campaign, you will need to set up your Cost Per Click (CPC) or Budget.
Based on the competition level, the average top-of-page bids, and the search volume of your chosen keywords, Google will recommend an average daily budget for your campaign. Skip the recommendation and select “Set Custom Budget”. This is because Google’s average daily budget suggestion may not help with the performance of your campaign, and in return will only make you spend more money.
When you select “Set custom budget”, enter a starting amount between $40 to $50. Don’t enter a budget amount that is lower than that, since it may not give you enough measurable data to analyze and optimize your campaign. A very low budget amount will also take longer for your nail salon campaign to bring you new leads and customers.
Keep in mind that your daily budget will depend on your industry, your location, and your local competitors.
With any amount you enter, you will also gain access to the expected estimated performance metrics of your campaign, like the estimated weekly clicks, average CPC, and weekly costs. These are only estimates, so your campaign could underperform in comparison to these stats, or it could perform better than the estimated metrics.
When creating your Google Ads for nail salons campaign, ensure that you select “Clicks” as your bidding settings since Google Ads uses the PPC system, and you want to gain more new customers from your ad campaign.
Underneath your Bidding Settings, ensure that your “Customer acquisition” setting is not selected. This will ensure that your ads will not be limited to new customers only.
Once you are done with all your settings, check all the information is correct before publishing your campaign.
If everything is good to go, click on “Publish campaign” and you are done! Congratulations! You just created your first Google Ads for Nail Salons!
8. Optimize Your Google Ads Campaign
To ensure that your Google ads for nail salons perform well by bringing your nail salon business more new leads and more new customers, you will need to optimize your campaign.
8.1 Keyword Planner
One of the tools you can use to optimize your campaign is Google’s Keyword Planner. It’s an accessible tool available through your Google ads dashboard, which can provide you with historical trends for specific keywords. With Keyword Planner, you will also understand the popularity and demand of a certain keyword, and you will gain data insight on a keyword’s search volume over time, competition level, and top-of-page bids.
To access Keyword Planner from your Google Ads Dashboard:
- On the left side of your screen, click on “Tools”.
- Select Planning, then click on Keyword Planner.
- Choose Discover new keywords.
Next, enter the keywords relevant to your Google Ads campaign. These can be products or services of your nail salon business, or you can enter something like “nail salon services”. Click “Get Results”.
After clicking on Get Results, you will see all the relevant keywords to your keyword search. Any keywords already in your Google ads for nail salons will be labeled as “In Account” under the Account Status column.
With the keywords from the search result using keyword planner, you can easily add any of these keywords to your Google ads campaign.
Tick the box on the left side of each keyword you want to include, then select “More” found in the top right corner.
Select the ad group you want to add these keywords to, and the match type you want them in, then select “Add“.
These new keywords have now been added to your google ads for nail salons campaign.
8.2 Negative keywords
A critical step you must not forget to do when creating your Google Ads for nail salons is adding Negative Keywords.
Negative keywords are another form of keyword match types that specifically work by making sure your ad is not triggered by specific keywords that won’t translate to conversions, even if they are relevant to your niche or industry.
These negative keywords will also help your ad to focus on your targetted keywords, bringing more high-quality leads and conversions, resulting in a higher return on investment.
To add negative keywords from your Google Ads Account Dashboard:
- Select “Campaigns” on the left side of your screen.
- Choose “Audiences, Keywords, and Content”.
- Then click “Add Negative Keywords“
Enter your negative keywords. These can be products or services your nail salon business doesn’t offer, for example, “mobile nail technician” or “mobile nail service”, then click “Save“.
Your negative keywords have now been added to your Google Ads for Nail Salons.
Just like you can add keywords to your campaign using keyword planner, you can also add negative keywords using the same feature.
Tick the box next to the keywords you want to include as negative keywords, or the keywords that don’t apply to your specific nail salon, then select “More“.
Select “Add as negative keywords”.
Make sure to add it to the right campaign for instance, “Nail Salon – Search Campaign”, then select the match type before clicking “Add”
You have now added negative keywords to your Google ads for nail salons campaign using keyword planner. To check that your negative keywords have been added successfully, check under the Account Status column. These negative keywords will be labeled in red as “In Plan: Negative”.
Do you need help adding the right negative keywords?
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8.3 Landing Pages
A landing page is a standalone page that a user is taken to once they click on your ad, with the main purpose of convincing the user to convert through a CTA or Call To Action.
An effective landing page should have a variety of key elements that encourage the user to take a conversion action in response to the offer on your landing page, for example, signing up for a newsletter or booking an appointment.
Here are some of the Key elements you need for your nail salon business landing page to be effective:
- Headline – A clear headline or title that contains keywords of what is being offered on the landing page.
- Hero Shot or Image – These should be high-quality images that visually communicate the offer.
- Social proof or Testimonials – These can be written, video, or image feedback from previous customers which will help convince website visitors to convert.
- USP – The unique selling proposition that makes you stand out from your local competitors.
- Key Benefits – The Key Benefits your nail salon can offer to customers. These can be the solution to the problems or fears of potential customers.
- CTA – Call to Action buttons are critical for conversions. These should be dominantly placed throughout the landing page.
- Lead Forms – Another point of interaction in response to the product or service your nail salon is offering.
You can also add a section on your landing page with additional information, such as “Frequently Asked Questions” for the website visitor, to further support your landing page efforts.
Landing Page Example:
Let’s look at this nail salon’s landing page as an example. It effectively uses a Hero Shot which conveys that it is a nail salon business offering nail services.
It has the company name after the Hero Shot and has Key Benefits and a CTA button. The CTA button is present but it doesn’t stand out from the page and rather blends with the background.
It features a Unique Selling Point of using high-quality products for its nail services.
This landing page also includes Social Proof of nail services from previous customers in the form of images and video format.
Lastly, it includes additional information, such as the nail salon hours, locations, and another CTA button encouraging the website visitor to “Schedule an appointment”.
This nail salon landing page uses a variation of key elements, but these elements have not been effectively applied to the landing page for effective conversions. For example, the most critical being the CTA button. They do not stand out from the landing page and are not predominantly placed throughout the landing page.
If you feel like your landing page looks similar to this example, and you understand it needs to be optimized to effectively encourage conversions, we can help!
9. Conclusion
- Google Ads for nail salons is the online advertising tool you need if you want to gain fast and guaranteed results.
- Google Ads will also guarantee high-quality leads in comparison to other marketing tools, like TikTok Ads.
- You can maximize your return on investment by optimizing your campaign.
- Your Google Ads for nail salons will need continuous management, optimization, and refinement to ensure success, and to ensure more new customers for your nail salon business.
Google Ads have been proven effective, and most advertisers highly recommend using this marketing tool as part of your marketing strategy. We have helped more than a thousand clients succeed and achieve their advertising goals with Google Ads, which you can read more about on YoYoFuMedia’s Page. Get started today and step up your advertising strategy with Google Ads for nail salons with our team of experts. Schedule Your Free Strategy Session now.
