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What Is Google AdWords?

Growing Your Business With Google AdWords


Looking to increase your digital footprint? Are you analysing ways to drive more people to your website and increase your sales? The higher the internet traffic that is directed to your site, the higher the revenue that is obtained. Pay-per-click (PPC) platforms are a popular way of doing this. Over the years, PPC has become increasingly competitive- and that’s because it actually works. Did you know that 65% of customers click on ads when intending to make a purchase? The PPC traffic has a 50% higher conversion rate than organic traffic. In fact, 72% of marketers have increased their ad spend in 2018. When done right, it results in rapid growth even for new companies, and it reshapes entire industries. However, the converse is also true- going about it the wrong way will cost you thousands of dollars, with little to show for it in the end. There are numerous PPC options, based on the different search engines supporting them, and here we’ll focus on the most renowned: Google AdWords.



What Is Google AdWords?



It’s a pay-per-click platform from Google, where ads get to be displayed together with the organic results from Google searches. For instance, there can be 3 text ads at the bottom of the SERPs (search engine result pages), with Google serving 4 text ads for the highly commercial queries -like car insurance- instead of three in the mainline area above the organic listings. The maximum number of ads that can appear on a SERP is 7, hence it’s highly competitive. The user consequently has up to 17 options with each search query made on Google on the results pages- 10 organic results and 7 ads.

What Is Google AdWords?

At the moment, the advertisements come with a small  label on them. This is different from other modes of advertising, such as using banner ads with cost per thousand impressions (CPM). Here, it’s a performance-based approach, where you pay only for the results- clicks, leads and sales. A visitor has to actually click on the advertisement for you to be charged. That makes it basically an inbound marketing channel, where the internet user is already looking for the product or service. Just how popular is this platform? Well, revenue from Google’s ad business accounted for 84% of Alphabet’s total revenue of €110.8 billion in 2017. Millions of business around the world incorporate AdWords into their marketing program.

What Is Google AdWords?

From bid adjustments and audience dashboard in the AdWords user interface (UI), to campaign goals and actionable insights, you get to leverage on a vast pool of data to increase the quality of your ads, and generate more returns. With Google AdWords, you can also take advantage of features such reviewing the performance of your landing page, sifting the market and targeting audience based on aspects such as household income, bid on call extension, and even promote discounts through extensions.

What Is Google AdWords?

How Google AdWords Works
It starts at the search. A user types in a keyword or phrase into Google, looking for information on anything from products and services, to financial information and reports on the local weather. Google’s algorithm returns a list of results in the SERPs. There are both organic results, and advertisements. AdWords focuses on the latter. To get to the top spots of the Google advertisements, the advertisers outbid each other. However, it’s not just about the money. Whoever has the biggest ad budget doesn`t automatically get the greatest influence.

What Is Google AdWords?

– The Auction Process
When the user makes a search, Google looks at the query plus its AdWords advertisers’ pool, determining whether the search contains keywords that are being bid on by the advertisers. If there are, an auction begins, to determine the inclusion and placement of ads. An Ad Rank formula is used:



“Ad Rank” = “CPC Bid” x “Quality Score”



Let’s break these down:
CPC (Cost-per-click) bid- This is the maximum bid that you have specified for your keyword. You can also opt for the automatic option, where Google selects the bid amount that is within your budget, bringing you the most clicks possible without exceeding it.
Quality Score- This is a metric that answers the question: “How useful is your ad to the user?” It takes into account factors such as the click-through-rate (CTR), the landing page, all through to the relevance of the content.
Number 1 to 7 of ranked ads appear on the first SERP, while positions 8 through 11 are put on the second page.  



How Much Do You Actually Pay?
For this, Google uses your Quality Score and Ad Rank.



“Actual Price” = (“Ad Rank of the person following you” / “Quality Score”) + $0.01



As such, with a higher Quality Score, you can end up paying less for a top position. Note that the CPC is different from the actual amount that will be paid. For instance, if you have set up an ad with a CPC of €0.30 and you’re looking to get 200 ad clicks in a day, the estimated daily cost is:
€0.30 x 200 = €60
In this case, the €0.30 the most that you can be charged for a click. However, the actual amount will depend on the varying factors of each individual ad auction, hence you’ll probably end up paying less. Based on how competitive the keyword is, some bids will be more expensive than others. Rival companies bidding for the same search term will certainly shore up the prices.

What Is Google AdWords?

Then there’s also the question of where the ad is being posted, whether it’s the search network or the display network. On the search network, text ads are placed in the SERPs, and with the display network, the ads are placed on numerous sites across the internet. The former targets users directly typing into Google’s search engine or its partner search sites, while with the display network it`s more passive, like those visual banner ads you see as you read through news sites and your favourite blogs online. On average, the CPC ranges between €1 and €2 on search networks. Display networks usually have a lower CPC, going under €1. The industry involved also factors in. Keywords like gas/electricity, insurance, loans, mortgage, claim, attorney and conference call can have CPCs higher than €40. The competition in financial services, asset management, bail bonds, casinos and gambling niches usually results in the keywords being more expensive. Keep in mind that you can always lower your CPC and still rank high by focussing on improving your quality score.

What Is Google AdWords?

In the blink of an eye
Google is fast. From the moment the search query is made, to when the results are displayed , it can take as little as 0.26 seconds. In this time, Google AdWords looks at the relevant advertisers with regards to the search term, determines whether or not there will be an auction, works out the Ad Ranks, and then finally displays the ad on the SERPs.

What Is Google AdWords?

Getting The Most Out Of Your Google Ad Campaign
After knowing what is Google AdWords, the next step is customising your ad campaign to suit your business and budget. After all, you don`t want to burn money. Google Ads allows you to give each campaign its unique settings, controlling the different parameters independently from each other. For example, you can run a campaign promoting a product you`re selling, and another ad campaign on providing advisory content and “How-To” guides to your readers. Both will receive different fund allocations from your daily budget. First, you’ll need to determine the kind of ad campaign that you’ll want, from using search ads, opting for the display network, or shopping ads (where your product will be shown to those searching), to video ads (which are displayed on YouTube and other sites) plus the universal app that reaches across all Google networks. Then there are various measures one can put in place to derive optimal value from the Google AdWords program. These include:

What Is Google AdWords?

Geotargeting
Getting your ads displayed for searches within a particular area- especially for local businesses- increases your ROI (return-on-investment). From clinic and consultancy offices, food-joints, to retail stores looking to reach out to shoppers, allocating more of your budget to searches that have been limited to your particular region will enable you to maximize on your returns.

What Is Google AdWords?

Day-parting
Here, you schedule the ad to be displayed at specific times. For instance, if your goal is to get customers to physically come to your business premises, you’ll want your ads being displayed within your normal business hours. You can also choose for the ad to run all through the day, but dedicate more of the budget to the hours where you’d like more visibility.

What Is Google AdWords?

Device Targeting
This looks at where the search is being made from – a desktop browser or mobile device. You may want your ad appearing on both, but realise mobile traffic generates more valuable leads for your business. As such, you can allocate a larger portion of your PPC budget to mobile devices.

What Is Google AdWords?

Using AdWords extensions
These give the viewers more information and increase the click-through-rate for your site. These are the likes of telephone numbers, additional links taking prospective customers directly to a specific page on your website, seller reviews showing feedback from other customers, or even app extensions that direct the user to the app store where can download your app, or simply begin downloading the app after the click. Selecting the ad extensions that are appropriate for your advertising campaign will enable you to get more visibility for the same CPC as the standard ad. For instance, with Callout extension, you get to add specific attributes about your products and services, such as “Next Day Delivery” for e-commerce sites or details of a unique offering such as a discount-promotion. Click-to-text extensions are especially effective when targeting mobile audiences, as they enable the viewer to comfortably get in touch with you, thus generate more leads. On the other hand, Call Extension enables them to call your business directly from the search results.

What Is Google AdWords?

Looking Into The Future
With every passing day, marketers are faced with curious, demanding, and more impatient consumers. As such, the ads that are delivered are expected to be less generalised and more personalised. They should be super-relevant solutions making the user feel valued by the advertising. Google is cognizant of this, hence the push to provide solutions that help the marketers meet the needs of the increasingly mobile and data-conscious populace. These include:

What Is Google AdWords?

– Switch to Google Ads
Google AdWords just recently rebranded into Google Ads, consolidating its ad products for smarter campaigns. With this audience-centric approach, you get to reach more people cross diverse channels faster and easier, as all the required solutions are available in the same place. Whether its users making queries on Search, exploring places on Google Maps, scouring through videos on YouTube, going through Google Play for apps, or simply surfing the web, the marketers will be able to get to them more efficiently.



– YouTube Lead Ads
These will blend the extensive reach of YouTube with audience targeting. The goal is to get valuable contact information without having to require the user to go all through to your site.



– Responsive Search Ads on SERPs
It’s all about serving the right ad to the right consumer. Here, you get to write as many as 15 different headlines, plus 4 different descriptions. These can then in turn be arranged into a whopping 43,680 different permutations. Google automatically tests different combinations of the headlines and descriptions, learning which ones perform best. Over time, the Responsive Search Ads will deliver the most appropriate message that goes with the keyword being searched for, the device being used, and other signals such as the user’s past browsing behaviour. These responsive ads are currently in beta stage, and can only be created in certain accounts.



– Machine Learning for Smart Shopping
With Smart Shopping, advertisers can choose new customers and store visits as goals. Machine learning kicks this up a notch by optimizing the ad placements, and which products get to be featured based on factors such as pricing and seasonal demand, and even adjusting the bids accordingly. Still on the same, “Automatic Feeds” will soon be launched to enable advertisers to quickly set up comprehensive product feeds, getting the products directly from your site into its UI- all at the touch of a button.



In a nutshell…
Knowing what is Google AdWords and how it works, will enable you to broaden the scope of your paid marketing efforts. Incorporating it into your business strategy will boost your ROI- and with the marketing and advertising features from Google that are currently in the pipeline, getting on board will definitely give your business the edge.

What Is Google Adwords?