Is Google Ads Worth It & What You Need to Know

Savvy businesses know better than to rely on a single marketing channel to promote their products and services.

While social media has always been an effective means to reach out to your target market, you can't always limit all your time, resources, and effort to platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram because by showing ads in the place people actually go to look for the things you're selling, you can not boost your digital marketing campaign but you ~~can~~ will get actual sales.

Since Google is the most used search engine at the moment, you might want to promote your brand through it by sending up a pay-per-click ad campaign using Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords).

If you are curious about the potential value a Google Ads campaign can bring to your business, then this guide is for you.

Read on and learn everything there is to know about starting a Google Ads campaign.

What Are Google Ads?

Before we get down to the specifics of starting a Google Ads campaign, here's an overview of the platform.

With over 5.6 billion searches per day, Google is the largest and most popular internet search service in the world.

According to Statista, the search engine has a global market share of 92.47% which means most of your target market is using Google to search for the products or services that you are selling.

While there are other ways to reach out to potential customers (i.e., blogging and creating a Google My Business profile), you can give your brand an immediate and sizable boost by posting ads on Google's massive online network.

Google Ads allow you to create and post ads that appear on a number of places:

Google search pages and search partner pages
Google applications
Websites through the Google Display Network (millions of websites are running Google ads)

The ads can also appear across different types of devices.

Whether they are using a desktop PC or a mobile phone, your customers will be able to engage with your ads.

A Google Ads campaign is one of many ways to reach out to your target market online, but let's see how it stacks up against other advertising channels and platforms.

Google Ads vs Facebook Ads

Although both provide business owners the means to reach out to their target audience, there are some important stark differences you need to be aware of.

For one, Facebook Ads basically target users who are active on their social media platform.

These ads are usually heavy with visual content so they stand out and can be seen while browsing your Facebook newsfeed either via laptop, desktop, or mobile device.

That said, the real strength of Facebook Ads lies in its targeting system.

With 3.5 billion active users each month, Facebook allows you to run an ad campaign that's pushed towards users that "look-alike audiences" (this means you can describe your ideal customer and Facebook will literally find people who fit th criteria!).

This allows you to zero in on Facebook users who are likely to buy from your brand.

On the other hand, Google Ads offer both text-based ads (through the Search Network) and dynamic ads (through the Display Network).

This gives you options when creating and running ads based on the size of your budget.

Also, for better or worse Facebook Ads are "distractive ads" that people are not actively seeking out whereas a Google Ad is [mostly] an "intentioned ad" because you know the person seeing your ad is actively searching for what you're selling.

This difference is most noticable in pricing.

Facebook Ads are generally cheaper per click because the nature of distractive advertising means your conversion rates will typically be much lower. Great for branding but maybe not so for direct response and getting actual sales.

All this isn't to say your Google Ad won't reach your target audience even when they're not actively searching because Google Ads allows you to set up retargeting / remarketing campaigns so that you can follow your target audience with relevant ads (just like Facebook does on your feed).

Google also has a smart algorythm that targets people based on behavior and previous searches so essentially, it's able to match Facebook's lower cost while oftentimes providing better returns on investment (ROI / ROAI).

Another advantage marketers talk about when comparing the two (Google Ads vs Facebook Ads) is that the search engine platform allows for a much wider reach due to the number of searches it gets each month. It's just so massive that there's no real comparison in terms of [targeted] reach.

Of course, Google / Facebook Ads isn't for every type of business and there's more nuance and intricacies to them than what's shared above but know that if it is for you, running ads on Google's massive network will complement the other marketing strategies and channels that you're using and most importantly, amplifies sales in a very immediate, very affordable, and very customizable way.

Is Google Ads Worth It? Weighing Down on the Benefits

What are the actual reasons to start a Google Ads campaign... and would you be better off using existing marketing channels / strategies?

Sure, Google Ads raise brand awareness and get customers to convert, but it goes beyond that as well:

Target your ideal audience based on their behavior

Accuracy is crucial to promoting your business because you wouldn't want to spend time and money on people who may not be interested in your offers.

With Google Ads, you can push your brand message only to the people who are more likely to convert.

That's because the platform provides a sophisticated targeting system that not only shows ads based on demographic data but also behavioral data.

Such data include interests, the keywords users search the most, the websites they visited before, how recent they performed the searches / visits, etc.

If your business is selling tennis equipment, Google Ads gets you in front of people who have recently searched for tennis balls, equipment, and / or who've recently visited tennis shops online.

Maximize your ad spend

Since Google Ads uses a pay-per-click model, you will only need to pay whenever a user clicks on your ad.

Even if your business is just starting out with a minimal budget, the platform's targeting system lets you spend only when you engage a potential customer so you're not wasting money on people that aren't interested in doing business with you.

In addition, the platform uses an auction system that lets you bid for the best ad placements which means you'll never spend more than you need to for any given search or keyword.

Fyi, successful campaigns generally earn $2 or more for every $1 they spend on ads.

We as an example, use several bidding strategies to fit our clients' budgets and campaign goals (a bid is simply the money we want to spend to get a qualified prospect / lead to our sales landing page).

For one, you can choose whether to manually allocate more money to high-value keywords or you can also let Google Ads set bids automatically.

In this case, you can maximize the number of clicks you get based on your budget or you can focus on showing your ads in the best position.

With its flexible budgeting system, you know you're always running successful ad campaigns at a cost you can afford plus you have the benefit of being able to turn off the ads when you're getting more sales than you can manage (which is exponentially helpful as you scale your business and sales).

Re-engage users

If someone visits your website, you 100% know they are browsing for the kinds of products and services you are selling... so when they leave your website, you might want to keep them engaged with your brand.

With Google Ads, you can easily reach out to these users who might be interested in giving your brand a second look.

We referred to this a little above (retargeting / remarketing) and it's a powerful way to stay connected with people who need an extra nudge to convert.

With retargeting, Google Ads enables you to provide potential customers a personalized experience.

For example, if they added an item to their online carts, you can remind them to proceed to checkout.

You can even announce a new promo or event that will push them towards converting.

Through Google Ads, it's easy to stop losing visitors (and ultimately business) to competitors, increase your conversions, generate greater ROI, and build a large customer base.

Track the results and make better decisions

Another benefit of Google Ads is that it allows you to track the success of your campaign and generate insights you can use to change your bidding strategy and come up with better ad content.

Through Google Analytics, you will be able to determine the pages or products that get the most visitors.

You get to identify keywords, demographics, and the time your visitors spend on each page.

If you are not seeing the results you want from Google Ads, you can check campaign metrics like impressions, clicks, and the click-through rate.

You can review the data and find out what you need to tweak.

If these benefits align with your business goals, Google Ads may be right for you.

You just need to know how to make the most of the platform for raising brand awareness and generating conversions.

How to Make the Most of Google Ads?

If you think running ads on Google is the best route to take, you will need to conduct thorough keyword research and build a list of keywords that your target audience is using.

A good rule of thumb is to create ad groups for certain keywords so you can deliver the right type of ad content to the right people.

You will also need to use the platform's geotargeting feature so your ads will appear to audiences in specific locations.

For some of our clients this will be a specific mile-radius distance from their physical locations, while others want their Ads in front of people in specific towns / cities / zip codes / states (this is the most popular option), and still others need to get in front of national audiences (think politicians) or even globally.

Some clients, typically in the real estate and construction industries, have us run campaigns to get their Ads in front of people who've shown interest in a specific area but is physically outside the region!

Say you are targeting French-speaking audiences in Canada, you can set the geotargeting feature to show ads to browsers that use French in Montreal.

Let's say you're a restaurant and you are targeting French-speaking (or really any language for that matter) people in Canada, New York City, or anywhere really, you can set your ads to only show during the hours you're open or when you're least busy.

All that said, before launching your ad campaign you need to make sure that your landing pages are consistent with the keywords you're targeting otherwise you're going to compromise the performance and effectiveness of the campaign.

The Takeaway

Google Ads provides businesses of every size (that means small businesses, big corporations, brick-and-mortar, and even people looking to improve their personal brand) with the widest possible reach onlinebut there's a lot you need to take in before you can structure a successful campaign.

You have options however. You can do it yourself or you can enlist the help of a Google Ads specialist to make sure you're getting the best from your pay-per-click / Google Ads campaign(s).

P.S.: If you learned anything new or found any of this helpful, do us a favor and let us know by leaving us a positive review on Google.

Please be as detailed as possible when describing how we helped or if you're a-person-of-few-words, that's okay too... a simple 5-star review is greatly appreciated too!

Here's the direct Google link: https://g.page/r/CVal72XJBEIVEAI/review

If you would like to get started on your journey to more clicks, more conversions, and greater sales, sign up with our Google Ads Starter Service today!

If you would like to know more about our PPC campaign management fulfillment services and other digital marketing services, check out our complete services page or click on the Support link (see screenshot below) so you can email our team directly.