Google Ads Basic
With the development of the Internet, the popularity of websites has become more and more prosperous. In fact, many businesses take advantage of their online markets through websites. As any web development agency or professional would state, websites are not only the bridge between businesses and customers, but they are also the tools for businesses to widen their local markets and maximize sales to global markets. However, to make a website well-known for customers, businesses or online marketers need a platform to help the website reach worldwide markets. There are several popular platforms that business owners can advertise their websites—for example, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. And Google Ads is one of the most efficient channels that can potentially increase your sales in tremendous amounts if used efficiently.
The Evolvement of Google Ads
Google manages Google Ads, one of the biggest companies globally, with trillions of users worldwide. Before July 24th, 2018, Google Ads was branded as Google AdWords, which mainly focused on advertisements through keywords. After 18 years of success in the advertising market, it is necessary to refresh the advertising products to keep up with the changes in the markets. Years ago, Google acted mainly like a search engine where people looked for information. As the tool becomes productive in searching, advertising, displaying, Google decided to change the platform's name to emphasize the wide-ranged abilities of its advertising tools.
With the changes in advertising methods, Google Ads also develops in its advertising sources and network devices. Websites are no longer the only medium to introduce a business. Apps or videos are now new advancements for businesses to make money. People are not limited to only table desktops. They have a wide range of options from laptops to Ipads, especially mobiles. To comply with those changes, Google strikes to make it simple for marketers to reach all those media using their Google Ads products.
The Advantage of Google Ads
When mentioning Google, no one can deny the tremendous potential markets the company is holding. The first biggest advantage one can find using Google Adwords is the possibility of connecting their business to thousands or even billions of customers around the world. Not counting China, the rest of the world is a huge pizza for businesses to explore. Until October 2020, Google is monopolizing 71.75% of the market shares of worldwide search engines. Therefore, Google Ads is a great digging tool that can bring thousands to millions of dollars to grow any business.
source: https://netmarketshare.com/search-engine-market-share.aspx
When businesses choose the right type of ad campaign, Google can effectively connect businesses with the right type of customers they want. Because people who use Google are mostly looking to buy something, the chance they will purchase a product from the website shown to them is very high. This second advantage results in a higher chance of sale with the same advertising budget spent on other advertisement channels like Facebook or Instagram. When using Facebook or Instagram to advertise your products, the main goal is to catch the attention of people who do not actively seek something via attractive ads. The reason is that Facebook and Instagram users mainly surf those apps randomly to see new things and communicate with people rarely as they will use Facebook or Instagram to search for a product instead of Google.
The third advantage is Google works to bring transparency in the choice of ads for its viewers. Ads are personalized based on habits, interests, demographics, and choices of viewers. All websites or searches people visit every day will be stored as valuable data in the Google Analysis system. Google will base on those data to calculate the choices of ads viewers will want to see the most. For example, you will notice that the ads shown to you on YouTube are often related to most of the videos you watched on YouTube in the past. As the ads are shown, there are options for viewers to watch or skip on the ads if they do not want to see them. And Google will base on those actions to alter the other ads that may be more suitable for viewers.
Types of Networks in Google Ads
Marketers who employ Google Ads for their products or services have 2 options to place their ads: Search network and Display network. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages.
The Search network works together with bid strategies from marketers. People will choose their budgets and the cost they will pay every time someone clicks on their ads. The higher the cost and the more popular the website will put the ads on top of the result lists. Those ads are more likely to get clicks from viewers compared to competitors’. To employ this network, it is recommended to be proficient in choosing and using the best keywords to match the searchers’ keywords on Google. When using effectively, this network can help win over competitors’ markets, sometimes at lower bid prices if people actively seek the site. The disadvantage of this network is that it takes time to analyze the bidding strategy and keywords because marketers need to set up those themselves based on their research. There is no guarantee that their ads will be successful right away if they cannot win over the competitors’ advertising strategies and meet viewers’ expectations.
Google search results — Google.com
Google Display Network
The Display network is a passive advertising method where businesses place banners of their products and services on famous and most visited websites worldwide. This network works best for famous brands and companies like HP, Adobe, or Lenovo. The main disadvantage of this network is Google will place the ads in front of all people who visit the website, no matter if they are interested in the products. This results in more cost to place the ads in front of a wide range of customers. Therefore, new and small brands often will not choose this type of network for their ads. Below is the percentage rate of result for Display network in the US and around the world.
How Google Ads Works
Google Ads works based on the data Google collected from its users. When someone visits several sites regularly or uses Google to search for videos, texts, products, or games, Google will collect the search data and categorize its users into different groups with different interests and characters. For example, if a person visits YouTube every day and watches many food channels, the Google Data Analysis tool will put that person in the groups of people who love food or love eating. The second example is someone who searched for heaters in October. Google will assume that the person is looking to buy a heater for winter and put the person in the group with the same interest.
With all the tedious information Google can collect from a person, it will use those data to help businesses reach the most potential customers who will likely purchase their products. Businesses need to let Google know what products or services they provide, and Google will categorize that business in the correct industry. Businesses also need to tell Google the type of customers they are looking for, from interests to ages or genders. After that, Google will link the businesses and the right customers together by displaying the ads in front of those customers. When the customers are interested in the products or services, they will visit the business’ sites and purchase those goods.
There are various platforms where Google can place ads. Ads can be shown as results when people show interest as they search for a keyword that marketers set up. Ads can be placed as videos or banners when people watch a YouTube video, and they have shown interest through the videos they watched before that. Google may also display its ads on some famous blogs or websites. Even when you search for a place in Google Maps, you may discover some ads relating to the places you searched in the past. This multi-platform format has brought a high chance for business ads to reach more potential customers instead of calling or visiting customers’ houses like in the past.
Should you use Google Ads to advertise your business?
The answer depends on your knowledge and your business. Google Ads does bring back a lot of revenue and make a business well-known if being employed effectively. However, it takes a lot of knowledge and experience to understand Google Ads to use the tool efficiently because it is complicated for beginners. Also, Google Ads does require a good amount of investment. With about $500 for testing and implementation, there is a slight chance that your ads will succeed without understanding how Google Ads works. Therefore, it requires more budgets if you plan to test out Google Ads in the long run.
Having said that, the truth is it takes investment for returns in business. And people who understand how Google Ads works can actually get profits from their ads using a small budget and in a short time. Surely, everything comes with the requirement of knowledge and understanding of Google Ads’ structures. If you have not researched or know very little about Google Ads, it is not a great idea to jump into this network blindly. The cost will be a lot for a starter. So it is necessary to prepare well by learning from other people through YouTube videos, blogs, or articles. For example, a great starting point can be Google’s Ads helping small businesses initiative. Of course, there are thousands of good sources where experienced users have shared their knowledge, successes, and even failures that you can learn from.
While you may be at it, you may also want to consider and compare SEO vs. PPC and see if both or just one of these strategies would work for your business.
