Every day, around 3.5 billion searches are performed on Google. And each search is an opportunity to introduce your brand to more users. This means an increase in leads, conversions and therefore sales .
This is where Google Ads comes in. Google Ads is a paid online advertising platform, offered by Google. Originally called Google Adwords, the search engine company rebranded the service to Google Ads in 2018. It doesn't really work: when users search for a keyword , they get the results of their query on a results page. of the search engine. These results may include paid advertising that targeted that keyword. But how, more exactly, does Google Ads work to attract new customers? The answer right away.
How do Google Ads work?
Google Ads works like the Click model . That is, advertisers target a specific keyword on Google and bid on that keyword, competing with other advertisers who also target that keyword. The offers you make are "maximum offers" , which is the most you are willing to pay for an ad. Just like an auction.
For example, if your max bid is $4 and Google determines your cost per click is $2, you get ad placement! If it determines that the cost per click is more than $4, you don't get the ad placement.
You can also set a maximum daily budget for your ad. You will never spend more than a specific amount per day on this ad. This allows you to have a better idea of the budget to plan for your digital advertising campaign .
Marketers have three options for their bidding:
- Cost per click (CPC): The amount you pay when a user clicks on your ad.
- Cost per thousand (CPM): How much you pay for 1000 ad impressions.
- Cost per engagement (CPE): How much you pay when a user takes a specific action on your ad (subscribe to a list, watch a video, etc.).
Google then takes the bid amount and associates it with a rating of your ad called a quality score .
The score is between 1 and 10, with 10 being the best score. The higher your score, the better you will rank and the less you will have to spend to convert your ads. Your quality score combined with your bid amount determines your ad's position in the search results page.
The different types of Google advertising campaigns
Google offers different types of campaigns that you can use:
- Research campaign
- Poster campaign
- Purchase campaign
- Video campaign
- Application campaign
Now let's take a look at each campaign type to see how they work and which ones you should choose.
Research campaign
Search campaign ads appear as a text ad in the results page for the keyword. These are the ads you are probably most familiar with. They appear on the search results page with the black “Ad” symbol next to the URL.
The purchasing campaign
A shopping campaign allows you to promote your products in a much more visual way . These advertisements may appear as images on the search results page. And they can appear in Google Shopping.
If you have a physical product, Google Shopping Ads can help you get qualified leads by showcasing your product directly to customers.
Display campaign
The Display Network leverages Google's vast network of partner websites to display your advertising on different websites across the Internet. And there are many ways to appear. First, your advertising may appear on third-party websites. You can also have a video ad appear as a pre-roll before YouTube videos .
Google also allows you to display your ad on its Gmail messaging platform: Advertising on Gmail
Finally, you can have your ad appear in third-party apps on the Google App Network: Ads on the Google App Network
Video campaign
These are advertisements that appear at the front of YouTube videos in the form of pre-rolls.
Google offers the ability to choose specific video ads, rather than more general advertising on the Display Network.
This is perfect if you have a great video ad idea that you want to test.
Video campaign ads come in different forms. There are video ads to skip, the elusive ads.
Application campaign
Like video ads, app ads are also included in the Display Network but can be used for targeted campaigns.
In this case, you don't design each individual app ad. Instead, they will take your text and assets, such as photos, and they will deliver the ad for you. The algorithm tests different combinations of resources and most often uses the one that gives the best results.
Now that you roughly know what Google Ads is, then can this platform be right for your business ? Probably yes. Because in 2013, 1.5 million businesses generated $111 billion in revenue using Google's search and advertising tools. And why not yours? Advertising on Google can be extremely beneficial for any business with a good strategy. And what is the best strategy? That is another story, which we will detail in another article.
