A Beginner's Guide to Google Ads

Compared with other forms of advertising, Google Ads has a higher return on investment and can be a powerful tool for small and medium-sized sellers to increase their revenue. But the technical jargon and endless search results make it difficult for sellers to grasp the basic principles of Google Advertising.

This article will provide a brief introduction to Google Ads and help you understand the role of Google search ads in your small business marketing mix.

How do Google Ads differ from paid social advertising?

Google Ads specifically targets users who search for specific keywords and are interested in your products.

Google Ads is different from paid advertising on social channels like Facebook and Instagram. Social ads are delivered in social feeds when people don’t need to search for your products or services.

In short, with Google Ads, you can directly target people who are interested in your products.

How to Choose Google Ads Keywords?

The art of Google Ads lies in choosing keywords. Google offers a free keyword planner tool that allows you to efficiently create Google ads and get the most from them. All you need to do is enter your search term and the tool will provide you with related keyword suggestions.

The Google Keyword Planner tool will also tell you how competitive each keyword is and the average bid for each keyword.

When creating an ad, all you have to do is enter your website and industry, and a list of relevant keyword suggestions will pop up.

How do Google Ads and keyword bidding work?

Once you have a list of all the relevant keywords you want to target, you need to bid on all of them.

During this process, Google looks at search terms relevant to your business, your bid amount, your ad’s historical performance, and your quality score.

The quality score evaluates how well your keywords, landing page, and ad copy match up with each other.

For example, if you're a sporting goods company and you're planning on creating an ad to sell baseball caps, your landing page, ad copy, and the keywords you choose should all highlight "baseball caps."

Can small sellers use Google Ads to compete with larger, more established brands?

Start by targeting a smaller but specific audience, then stay hyper-relevant, make your efforts more localized, and choose keywords and audiences accordingly. This is your advantage as a small or medium-sized seller because you understand the local audience better than those larger, more established brands, and you will understand their needs and purchasing behaviors better.

Google Ads also allows you to test keywords, messaging, timing, and audience composition. Over time, you will learn what works for your business and what will make you stronger.

How are Google Ads different from Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Google Ads are paid, while SEO is free. With Google Ads, you pay to appear in search results when customers search for the goods and services you offer. SEO is the process of improving your website’s content, usability, design, and experience, which can improve your product’s ranking in organic search results.

Google Ads are custom messages you create that target people searching for the keywords you’re bidding on.

SEO, on the other hand, is based on the website content you create. When customers search for keywords, search engines automatically extract information from website content and display it in search results.

Organic search results are placed below Google ads. In fact, the first few results are Google Ads, followed by local results, depending on the user’s location, and then organic results.

Here is a full view of the search engine results page:

The approach of prioritizing results means that Google Ads are often more targeted and controlled by businesses. The business decides what potential customers will see.

With organic search results, Google determines what customers see in search results.

So what are the main advantages of Google Ads?

(1) Flexibility – You decide when to start, stop or pause your campaign, how much to spend on it, and the time periods and audiences to target.

(2) Testing – You can test different aspects of your campaign to really understand what works for your audience.

(3) Control – You have complete control over the information your potential customers see and who sees it.

(4) More targeted – Your ads are more targeted because you are using keywords that your audience searches for.

(5) Intent-driven — users who see your ad will search for the keywords you choose because they are interested in what you offer.

(6) Pay-per-click (CPC) - When using Google Ads, you only pay when someone clicks your ad, which is more budget-friendly for small businesses.

(7) High Return on Investment (ROI) – Google Ads has a higher return on investment compared to other types of advertising. According to Google, on average, advertisers see $2 more in revenue for every $1 they spend on Google Ads.

How Much Does Google Ads Cost?

You can start by setting your budget at $5 per day and increase it as you learn and grow.

Plus, considering that Google’s Keyword Planner tool is free and does a lot of the work in making your ads successful, and you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, it’s fair to say that Google Ads isn’t too expensive.

How do you make money with Google Ads?

How you monetize Google Ads depends entirely on your business goals. Google Ads can help you get more leads, generate more revenue, and increase traffic to your website. You can use Google Ads to track your revenue and determine your return on investment.

You can also create ads to get more people to sign up for your newsletter, buy your products, or book your services. Based on the goals you set, you can create custom messaging to drive people to take the desired actions.

Is Google Ads worth it for small and medium-sized businesses?

Google Ads are intent-driven, so you know the right people are viewing your ads. Likewise, since there is no limit to how high or low your budget can go, you have complete control over your spending.

Additionally, you can choose to stop or pause your campaign, adjust it, or even test it based on time of day, demand, or changes in audience needs.

Get more revenue and expand your business with Google Ads

Google Ads has many advantages that can accelerate your business goals. Whether you want to attract more leads, increase sales and revenue, or drive more traffic to your website, Google Ads is a great advertising solution.

Author: Google Traffic

Source: Google Traffic