Basics of Google Ads for Small Businesses

Understanding Google Ads

The majority of businesses nowadays are using online ads to promote their business in one form or another. Facebook and Google Ads are the dominant players in this field. Google Ads is an extremely powerful platform that offers the opportunity for strong and consistent returns on ad spend. Because the platform is so robust it is very easy to spend money inefficiently and therefore it’s important to have a strong understanding of how Google Ads works.

Overview of Google Ads

Every time someone searches for something in Google and clicks one of those sponsored ads, then that individual that created the advertisement pays Google a set cost. This is where the term pay per click or PPC comes from.

So how is the cost or cost per click determined? Well, advertisers bid on particular keywords and search results pages they want to display ads on. The more rewarding or aggressive a search phrase is, the more they may have to pay for every click. Depending upon the competition for this keyword the advertiser could pay anywhere from $0.01 to $10, or even $100+ in some cases. for each individual click.

Types of Google Ads

There is a wide variety of different Google ad formats and styles, however, they can be broken down into three basic categories – Search Ads, Display Ads, and Shoppings Ads.

SEARCH ADS

Search ads are the traditional text-based advertisements on Google searches. They are managed through keyword targeting so whatever keywords you want to bid on you can bid on directly (ex: Coffee Shop Tsawwassen). Advertisers choose which keywords they want to target, create text-based ads within the Google Ads platform, and pay for each click on their ad.

DISPLAY ADS (VIDEO ADS)

Display ads are the traditional image or banner ads on a wide variety of websites such as news sites, blogs, and more. These ads can be targeted towards specific audience lists (ex: people who have visited your website or people who like golf). They can also be set up for a wide variety of targeting options including placements where you select certain websites or categories to place your ads (ex: golf.com or golf-related websites). Ads are created outside of the platform (or dynamic display ads are used and Google automatically combines the best headlines and images to get the best result). Advertisers can bid on a cost per click (CPC) or cost per thousand impressions (CPM) model and will pay for every click or every 1,000 impressions.

SHOPPING ADS

Shopping ads are e-commerce advertisements in search results that display products and prices and link directly to the product n your website so people can purchase. Your message is a lot more limited with these ads however they have high conversion rates as people are intentionally looking at the products on your page and wanting to purchase. A spreadsheet and extra Google account are required to run these ads and they are billed on a cost per click or CPC based system.

Types of Google Ad Networks

GOOGLE SEARCH

The Google search network is all the Google search results on their own sites and on their extended search network which includes search results on 1000’s of other sites. The extended search network will provide more impressions but typically reduces your engagement metrics.

GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK

Google Display Network is the entire digital inventory of ad space on Google websites and Google’s Adsense network. Adsense is the program for individual websites to get advertising revenue to their website through ad serving. The Google Display Network is estimated to reach roughly 90% of web users globally.

YOUTUBE

The second most popular search engine, aside from Google; Youtube is a very powerful ad platform that allows text, image, and video-based ads. Ads placed on this network can show up anywhere Youtube is embedded or active so your ads can show on videos in other websites or on the Youtube site itselt.