In this blog post you’ll learn:
- What Google Ads are
- How Google Ads work
- What a Google Ads can look like
- Why they are beneficial to you
To give you a heads up: with the right Google Ads strategy, you can increase your company’s reach and gain measurable results comparatively quickly.
Google Ads are one of the most flexible and targeted marketing avenues available today. There are a variety of options to choose from, which can make your ads engaging and lead to a better conversion rate. Plus your competitors are probably already using Google Ads.
Let’s dive right in!
Every day there are about 5.6 billion searches on Google, which means there are 63,000 search queries per second [Hubspot]. You can literally reach anyone any day on Google. Because Google is a search engine, it can feed your ads specifically to users who are searching for your type of product, service or company. Therefore, Google Ads can drive relevant, qualified traffic to your website.
While there are other search engines and platforms, Google holds a 90% market share in the search engine market [Netmarketshare]. So, it is highly impactful to pay attention to Google and Google Ads.
What Are Google Ads (Previously called AdWords)?
The Google Ads platform is a pay per click tool provided by Google that allows you to build advertisements on their network. Pay per click means you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. These ads will appear in various formats on the Google Search Network alongside the organic search results and on the Display Network.
The Google Search Network can be understood as the search results page (SERP). Ads that appear here are labelled with an “Ad”-tag or “sponsored”-tag. These ads are targeted by your chosen keywords which you include in your ad campaigns.
The Google Display Network is composed of third party websites that allow Google to display ads. There are over 2 million websites within that network which means you can reach up to 90% of people using the internet with display ads. [Ignite Visibility] For these ads you have the option to choose to target by keywords and topics, specific websites or specific audiences. You can include images and animations. This ad format gives you a lot more design possibilities.
Note: because these ads don’t appear on the SERP within the information a user is actively looking for, they are better used in an early stage of the sales funnel. Use these ads to increase brand awareness and grab attention.
How do Google Ads work?
While creating your campaign remember that you are competing with other businesses that are also targeting the same keywords in an auction. To win the auction for each search, you have to outperform your competition.
The auction winner is calculated with the AdRank Formula: Ad Rank = CPC Bid x Quality Score.
Your Quality Score affects your eventual Cost Per Click (CPC) and is determined by the following:
- Expected Click-Through Rate
- Ad Relevance (how your ad matches the search intent of the user)
- Landing Page Experience
Note: winning a Google Ads auction is not a question of bidding higher than your competition. In fact, working on the Quality Score can help you decrease the total CPC that you pay per month. While the expected click-through rate is highly dependent on Google’s algorithms and the user, you can control the ad relevance and landing page experience.
Ad relevance can be improved through evaluating your keywords and refining when, where and how your ads display. Make sure you target the right search queries and audience with your campaign.
The landing page experience can be improved by working on your website’s SEO and designing a great user experience (UX).
We provide detailed information on both:
- SEO: Search Engine Optimization Explained
- What you need to know about UX
- Download our free User Experience Guide
What does a Google Ad look like?
There are various formats that your Google Ads can take. Text Ads and Image Ads are used across the Search Network and the Display Network. Another image ad application is the Shopping Ad which is a more specialized ad, and ideal for e-commerce websites. Remarketing, which means targeting users that have engaged with your company before - on Facebook, Instagram, your website, etc. - is available through Google Ads. Remarketing ads normally take the form of an image ad.
Here are examples of Google Ads:
Search Network text ads on desktop and mobile
Display Network ads with images - here a banner ad
Shopping Ads
Below we displayed what a search results page (SERP) can look like. You will see Ads displayed up onto the first four ranks. On the right, you might see the shopping ads, which are indicated as “Sponsored” in the top right corner.
Under the listed ads on the results page, you have a map displaying all related results to the query which are listed on Google Places. Below the map, you’ll see the organic search listings.
Tip: Claim your Google My Business listing to appear on the map too.
Should I be using Google Ads?
Google Ads is a highly targeted way of advertising. And we all know how important it is to speak to your specific audience. Google is the number one search engine worldwide for very good reasons. Targeting on this platform outperforms others such as Facebook Ads or Yahoo Ads. It is highly profitable to target customers who are already searching for products, brands or content like yours. It gives you the opportunity to easily reach markets and potential customers that you don’t even know exist, and who don’t know you exist yet.
Given the CPC approach combined with the quality score of your site, it’s also easy to start on a small budget. And Google offers in-depth analytics of your ads performance.
Google Ads with DMM
Advertising through Google Ads with us can be extremely beneficial for you. Google Ads can be a time-consuming and complicated platform to figure out. But we are Google Certified Partners with years of experience and daily hands-on interaction with the platform.
We work with you to evaluate your keywords, ads and campaigns to optimize your spend on Google Ads and find the right strategy for your business. We monitor constantly and make sure that your account is performing at optimum levels. We report the statistics that mean the most to you. No vanity metrics here!
Google Ads can be a full-time job, but we make your advertising effortless for you.
Speak to DMM today to get your Google Ads started.
