Google Ads is Google’s PPC or pay-per-click advertising service. Through Google Ads, you can advertise your business through ads that appear on top of search pages, where everyone can see and click them. It is an effective way of generating clicks and promoting your business and products.
But does it work and how often do businesses actually invest money into it? Well, the fact that over 1 million businesses use it and that Google earns 95% of its revenue, or about $60 billion through Google Ads says it all. This service is highly successful and can be extremely beneficial if done right, and in this post, you can learn about it and why your business needs it.
How does Google Ads work?
As already mentioned, it uses the pay-per-click model, which means that you pay for every click you get via this service. But in order to pay for these clicks, people need to find your business first. This is where keywords come in.
AdWords Match Types
There are 4 keyword match types, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Those are Broad Match, Broad Match Modifier, Phrase Match, and Exact Match.
Broad Match
Broad Match is how you reach the widest audience. Your ads have the possibility to appear whenever people search for any word that your keyword contains. Let’s say you run a car repair business and the keyword of your choice is ‘car repair’. If people search for ‘car’, ‘repair’, ‘repair car’ or ‘car repair’, there is a chance that they will see your ad. Additionally, your ad could also get displayed if they misspell ‘car repair’ or search for a synonym of it, like ‘auto repair’.
The disadvantage of Broad Match is that it could generate clicks from irrelevant traffic. Let’s say someone is looking to buy a car and ends up finding and clicking your website, realizing that’s not what they want and closing it. They just cost you a click without purchasing your service, which is the opposite of what you want with Google Ads.
Broad Match Modifier
Broad Match Modifier gives you the freedom of Broad Match, but with certain usage restrictions. Using it, you can modify your keyword and make it more precise, so you get less irrelevant traffic.
Let’s take the same example as before: using Broad Match Modifier, you can set your keyword so people who are looking up searches like ‘car repair near me’, ‘car repair services’ or ‘car repair website’ can see your ad. It will also display it to people looking up for ‘auto repairs’ because this phrase is a synonym to yours.
Phrase Match
Maybe the best option out of all four, Phase Match will modify your keyword so your ad appears only to the people who are looking up for your keyword, with some additional words at the beginning and the end. Phase Match fully excludes synonyms, and only includes the exact match.
Car repair is not a great example in this case, so I will use a different one. Let’s say you were selling women’s dresses. Phrase Match will fully lock your keyword, so it won’t appear when people are searching for ‘women’s dresses’. Instead, if someone is looking up ‘elegant women’s dresses’, ‘green women’s dresses’ or ‘women’s dresses for weddings’, your ad will have the chance to get displayed to them.
Exact Match is the most restrictive out of all. If you use it, your ad will appear only to people who are searching for your keyword, with no other words. So, if someone was searching for ‘car repair near me’ or ‘red women’s dresses’, they wouldn’t be able to see your ad.
The Google Ads auction system
Let’s say you run a business that sells affordable sunglasses. If this is something people want, they will probably search for ‘cheap sunglasses’, which is, in this case, will probably be your keyword. However, if you don’t know which keywords to choose, there are a number of websites that will help you find featured keywords and related keywords.
Using Google Ads, you will set your bid for this keyword, through which you are telling Google that this is the maximum amount of money you are willing to pay for that ad. But this is not all. Google will also look at your ad and your website to make sure that the product you are advertising is accurate to the advertisement, so the person who is searching for a product gets exactly what they need.
Google then gives you a Quality Score, which is their assessment of your ad. Using this feedback, you can change your campaign and improve it, should it need improvement.
Google also offers Ad extensions, which enable you to add additional information about the product or service you are advertising. Google offers the option to include call buttons, location information, links, additional text and many more. The best thing about them? They’re free to set up. But do keep in mind that you will be charged if someone uses the extensions to call you, download your app from the app store or find your location.
How does Google determine which ad it will display?
The ads that appear on top of the search page are determined by a number of factors. The amount of money put into the bid and the quality of the ad are the super obvious ones, but what about the very website where your product or service can be purchased? If your website is slow, or unoptimized, Google will give advantage to other websites that are faster than yours.
Imagine if you were hungry and wanted to order pizza. You search ‘pizza places near me’ on Google and click the website on the very top of the page. However, the website takes ages to load. Anyone would lose their patience, close that website and open a different one, let alone someone who is hungry.
Google wants to provide the people who use it with fast and efficient service, and as such, there is no space for slow and inefficient websites. So make sure that all the content on your website is optimized and that all the pages are fast to load.
Why use Google Ads?
Google Ads may sound complicated, but once you’ve learned how everything works, you can set it up in less than an hour. It is important to be patient in the beginning and not immediately invest a lot of money. Start simple and small, because your first campaign can teach you a lot.
Google Ads has a number of benefits:
- Google is the most used website in the world, so the majority of people who are on the internet have a chance at seeing your ad
- You are in control of your campaign, so you can make changes whenever you want
- It is faster than SEO – both are important, but Google Ads can give faster results
- You pay only for the clicks you receive, if you don’t get any, you don’t pay anything
- You can see the results of your campaign, which makes it easy to determine how to proceed and how to improve
- Your ad being on top of the search page will generate more traffic and more people will get familiar with your brand
Wrapping up
There you have it – now you know what Google Ads is and how it works. It is highly advisable to find your keyword and start off small and not spend a significant amount of money on your first Google Ad campaign. They are usually used to learn more about the way Google Ads and auctions work.
Hopefully, this post has helped you learn a little about Google Ads and why your business needs it!
