Using Google Ads + "Best Of" Lists To Make $$,$$$ per Month

When you want to buy something online, what’s the first thing you do? Go to Google and type in “best whatever you’re looking for.” 

Let’s say, for example, you’re in the market for a sleep tracker. You’ll probably go to Google and type in some variation of “best sleep tracker.” You’ll then be presented with nothing but “best sleep tracker” lists from companies with affiliate links to sleep trackers. Companies like New York Times, Rolling Stones, Vogue…

But why are these media giants making “best of” product lists with affiliate links? Because, it’s one of the best ways to make money, and they know it.

There’s no other explanation as to why Rolling Stone - A MUSIC MAGAZINE - would have a list of “11 Essential Products for Any Pet Owner, From Dog Wipes to Collapsible Bowls.” (see image below)

The reason these lists are so powerful is because they capture customers during their research phase. When a customer is researching a product with the keyword “best…”, they’re in the buying mindset. And if you can present them with a compelling list of the “best” of whatever they’re looking for, you have a very good chance of capturing their sale.

Here are 3 steps to setting up a profitable “best of” funnel.

Step 1:  Find A Profitable “Best Of” Niche

This is much easier than you think. First thing you should do is ask your affiliate manager what products are selling well on the affiliate network. Have them give you a handful. This way you know you’re going to be selling offers that convert well. 

Then, go to google ads keyword tool, and start typing in keyword variations of whatever it is you want to sell. 

Let’s use an example. Let’s say you want to sell snoring devices. You would go to the Google keyword tool and type in a few variations of “best anti snoring devices”, “how to stop snoring”, “best snoring mouthpiece” etc…

If the total volume of monthly searches for these keywords looks good, then move onto the next step of creating a “best snoring devices” page for these products.

Step 2: Create a High Converting “Best Of” Page For Your Products

A successful “Best Of” page needs to have a few things in order to convert well. It should have:

1. A nice introduction paragraph

2. A numbered list of products

3. A compelling headline for each product

4. A good hero image for each product

5. Social proof (star ratings with # of customers) for each product

6. A brief, compelling description for each product

7. A call to action button for each product.

That’s all a good best of page needs. If you start to get too fancy you end up losing people, they get distracted and bounce.

A simple, easy to scroll, best of page will guarantee super high click through rates and convert better than many of the fancier pages out there.

That’s why I use lstly.com to build my “best of” lists.

It makes it super easy to quickly put up a new list, add new offers, exchange offers etc. LSTLY takes the work out of making list pages for every campaign, which is usually very time consuming and annoying, and lets me focus on the media buying, offer prospecting, and campaign optimizing, which is what I love.

Step 3: Creating Profitable Google Search Ads For Your Best Of Page

Ok, now it’s time to create the Google Search Ads for your “best of” list, targeting the keywords you found in Step 1.

You should have a handful of keywords that are highly relevant to the products you’re selling. Keywords people would likely search for if they were searching for your product.

Go to Google Ads and start a new Search Campaign. When you’re creating your ad groups, I highly recommend grouping your keywords together in relevant keyword groups.

You may have heard the term SKAGs in the past for making Google ads (Single Keyword Ad Groups). But as Google has moved away from the literal meaning of the search term and more towards search intent - the intent behind the search term - what I’ve found works best are STAGs (Similar Themed A Groups). These are keywords that follow a similar theme. 

So in our example you wouldn’t group “Snoring Mouthpiece” with “Best Nasal Dilator.” Snoring Mouthpiece would be grouped with keywords like “snoring mouthguard” “mandibular advancement device” etc.

And the headlines for the ads in that ad group would be tailored to those keywords to keep your quality score high. For example, if one of the ad groups in our snoring example is “best nasal dilator” then one of your headlines for an ad would be “Best Nasal Dilators For Snorers”

Ok, once you have your ad groups set up it’s time to make ads. I recommend setting the positions of your headlines as follows (when making Google search ads you can pin your headlines and descriptions in any order you want): 

1. Headline position 1 will be what they’re looking for, and should include their keywords or get as close to what they’re searching for as possible. So if they’re searching for the best snoring devices, the first position should be:  “Top 5 Snoring Devices” / “3 Best Snoring Devices 2024” etc.. 

2. Headline position 2 should be adding in social proof or authority. I like to go with something like “Recommended by Sleep Experts” / “Trusted by Thousands” / “That Actually Works” / “We Did The Research For You”

3. Headline position 3 should be a call to action or discount  like “See Our #1 Pick” / “30% Off Our Top Pick” etc..

Conclusion - The $200/day strategy

Everything I’ve explained above is pretty easy to do. You just keep rinsing and repeating until you have a dozen or more profitable campaigns that are pumping out $200/day. That’s what I’ve done. After a year of doing this strategy, I now have 15 “best of” campaigns running evergreen on Google Ads that make me, on average, $200/day each in profit. 

Here’s a screenshot of my earnings from the two of the “best anti snoring device” products from my list so far this year:

And what makes it even easier is being able to quickly put up a new list, add new offers, exchange offers etc. with LSTLY. LSTLY takes the work out of making landing pages for every campaign, which is usually very time consuming and annoying, and lets me focus on the media buying, offer prospecting, and campaign optimizing, which is what I love.

This strategy isn’t a flash in the pan. It’s not a get rich quick strategy. It’s not a burning fire. It’s more like searing hot coals. It’s hot, it will keep you warm, and it will last a really long time. 

If you want to start making powerful best of lists now, I’d highly recommend giving lstly.com a try! It’s free for the first 14 days so if you don’t love it you can cancel.