Google launched their online advertising platform nearly 18 years ago and up until recently, it was called Google Adwords. It has now been changed to Google Ads but the platform remains the same. It is a pay-per-click (PPC) model that allows advertisers to pay for product offerings and service listings, amongst many other things.
We usually see these ads at the top of the results page when something has been searched for, or on the (usually left) sidebar of the web page. They can also be found at the bottom of some pages.
When used to it’s full potential, Google Ads can be incredibly useful for your business. During 2017, it was Googles biggest revenue generator, bringing in almost $100 billion (US). It is used by millions of businesses all across the world as it is an excellent form of targeted advertising, for a relatively small amount of money. You can manage them yourself manually, or you can get PPCnerd Scripts for Google Ads today, and let it work on an automated system, identifying trends and issues, and ensuring that your overall ad performance is at it’s very best.
Here are 5 reasons why you should be using Google Ads for your business:
1. The Reach
Google, being one of the biggest companies in the world, and pretty much holding the monopoly on search engines (over 90% of internet searches are made on Google) means the amount of people that you can reach is enormous. While not every search made will be relevant to your business, with 4 out of 5 consumers using search engines to find out about products and services, you will certainly be able to find your audience. Their search engine algorithm is continually evolving and improving to make sure the most relevant ads are shown to customers.
2. The Targeting
Continuing on with the point from above about reaching a large amount of people, you can really focus in on your target audience. Amongst other things, their platform allows you to choose specific key words relevant to your business, and you can further narrow this down to the appropriate demographics, sorting them by age, gender, region and even family status and income bracket. This is particularly useful if you are a small business wanting to focus in on your local area.
3. The Speed of Results
While search engine optimisation (SEO) on your website is more useful and effective in the long term, Google Ads yields results much faster. SEO is a long term strategy that will increase the ranking of your website but can take months to see results. Google Ads can be almost immediate with it’s results, depending on your audience and budget, bringing in fast bucks for your business. It also allows you to see quickly what keywords work well, and use those to then inform your search engine optimisation.
4. The Budget
In relation to other forms of traditional advertising, Google Ads is cheap. Of course, it does all depend on what sort of audience you are hoping to reach. It has flexibility in terms of what you spend, so whether your budget for adverts is $10 or $10,000, you will see results. You can also go in and change your budget, decreasing or increasing it when you want to. If optimised properly, Google Ads can bring in the money no matter how big or small your budget.
5. The Reporting
Finding out how effective your campaign was can be difficult, and for some methods of advertising, such as newspaper adverts or direct mail, near on impossible. Despite the huge amount of information that Google can collate, the reporting system is pretty simple, intuitive and accessible. You have a dashboard, and when you log into it, the information is literally at your fingertips. Some of the basic metrics available to you include impressions and clicks, average cost per click, keywords, the devices used, demographics, locations and times. To boost the effectiveness of your campaign even further, Google even provides recommendations. If your a statistics geek (aren’t we all?), you can go further and have the information collated and put into charts and graphs and tables and you can get information on competitors results. Another benefit to it is the speed in which these reports are delivered. They are as close to real-time as you can get, with only a few minutes delay. It can be connected to your Google Analytics as well, allowing you to make informed decisions immediately, regarding not just that campaign but future ones.
