Google Ads is king when it comes to paid advertising platforms, accounting for nearly 29% of global digital ad spend in 2021 — an astonishing $147 billion (source). But why is it so popular? And does it make sense for your business?

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is a flexible online advertising platform that allows millions of marketers around the globe to purchase digital ad space. Google offers different ad options including display, YouTube, search and more. Google has a plethora of settings that allow marketers to get in front of their target audience at the right time and drive users to their website, to meet business goals.

What are search ads?

Search ads are available on the Google Ads platform and they appear at the top of the search results page when a user searches for a term relevant to what your business has to offer. In creating a search ad, you select keywords that target specific services or features that you wish to market.  For example, a coffee shop may target the keyword, “best coffee shop near me.” When a user searches that term, Google considers relevancy, bid settings and budgets among  all companies bidding on that term to determine which ones will appear at the top of the search results. When a user clicks on the ad, you are charged for that click.

Why should you use Google Search Ads?

This  brings us to the important question — should your business use search ads? The answer for almost every circumstance is a resounding yes! In a competitive online environment flooded by constant marketing, Google Search is an essential piece of almost every marketing plan. Here’s why…

Reach

With 4.3 billion users, Google has the largest reach of any digital platform (source). From those users, there are on average 5.6 billion searches conducted  on Google per day.  This provides nearly endless opportunities to get in front of users who would be interested in what you have to offer (source).

Intent

Google Search allows you to show ads to users researching products or services you offer. With other marketing platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TV or Instagram, you have the ability to expand your reach and target users based on locations, interests identified online, income and more.  However, with this method, you deliver an ad  while they are in the process of doing something else — whether it’s browsing social media, watching a cooking video or throwing on an episode of the Office. Your success rate is up to chance, and you can only hope that your ad is strong enough to catch their attention enough for them to stop what they are doing and take an action towards your business. With Google Search Ads, the intent is already there — they are specifically looking for what you have to offer, and that’s when your business magically appears to meet their need.

Because of high search intent, search ads are known for securing a high ROI. By optimizing campaigns and monitoring which keywords and other strategies deliver the best results, you can measure and improve campaign effectiveness over time.

Flexibility

Google Ads is one of the most flexible marketing platforms, giving advertisers unlimited ways to target users and set up campaigns depending on resources and campaign goals. As long as there is search volume (people looking for what you offer), there are ways to target it. By creating search ads, you decide how users will see your business on the search engine results page (SERP) and when, rather than Google’s organically created search results.

The platform is accessible at almost any budget, from a small flower shop with a daily budget of $25/day to a major retailer such as Nike, likely spending hundreds of thousands if not millions in a single day. There are even automated options for bidding, ads and more that reduce the workload of building the account. Your campaigns can be designed around the needs and limitations specific to your business.

Speed

Building or improving a website’s search engine ranking organically can take months or even years to see measurable results. Then even after conducting all this legwork, search ads will still appear above your organic result on the page. With search ads, you can bypass the slower success rates, leading to effective and measurable results from a higher page ranking.

Measurable

Google Ads provides transparent and in-depth reports for every component of your campaign. There is visibility into ad and keyword impressions, clicks, click-through-rates, cost and even insights on bidding and auctions. By setting up conversions for favorable actions on your website (form submissions, purchases, video views, etc.), you can identify how users are  finding and interacting with your website. Having access to metrics and insights enables the account manager to continuously make optimizations and improve campaigns.

It will also give you a better understanding of your customers, their research process, which  types of messaging attract them and how they interact with your business. This knowledge can be used to boost campaigns across all platforms, improve your businesses products or services and ultimately save money in the long run.

To speak with Google Ads professionals and find out how Google Search Ads can improve your business, contact us at connect@thebelfortgroup.com.