Alexander Advertising

Benefits of Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords)

Posted by Stuart Walters on May 01, 2020

In fact, we would go so far as to claim it is sometimes the most effective form of advertising. Quite a claim huh? We would always say ‘sometimes’ in this case because platforms always work differently for different businesses and companies. What might work for one business might be completely useless for another depending on a variety of elements such as target audience, cost, and reach. Google Ads, though, is great because it really does reach a HUGE number of people meaning that it is likely your target audience will be available for you to target. Think about it, how many times do you hear somebody say ‘Google it’? Every time somebody ‘Googles’ something, there are ads shown to these people with relevant results, and, we can guarantee that people don’t avoid clicking on ads (because we’ve seen them work!). Obviously, there’s always the odd person who won’t click on an ad simply because it’s an ad, but if it’s relevant, why not?  

Howard Gossage, a very influential man in the advertising industry, once said “nobody reads advertising. People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad.” And this statement couldn’t be more true of Google Ads. So, now we’ve established that Google Ads are great, we probably need to look at the reasons why. How do they manage to be so great? What really are the advantages of using Google Ads for your business growth?  

1. It’s faster than SEO 

Numero uno has got to be the fact that it’s much, much, much faster than SEO. There are two ways to appear on the first page of Google: continuously work really hard on your SEO at all times or advertise with Google Ads and get there immediately. Obviously, SEO is really, really beneficial and we would definitely recommend investing in your SEO strategy and continuously working on your website but this does take time and if you’re looking for immediate results, Google Ads is your best friend.  

2. Everybody can use it  

One of the best things about Google Ads/Google Adwords is that everybody can use it! Really, anybody can make an account. It takes a time to learn the details on how to create effective campaigns but Google Ads can be used by everybody. There’s an ‘express’ version which makes it easier for people to use and find and an ‘expert mode’ which is slightly more advances but gives much more room for campaign optimisation. The ‘express mode’ makes it much harder to optimise your campaigns and therefore means you might end up spending more but is a good beginners interface. 

3. It gives you complete control 

One of the beauties of advertising online is the complete control you have over your campaigns. You can pause, edit, or stop the campaign at any point. This has so many benefits! It means that, if something changes internally, you can edit all your campaigns so that the information is always up to date. It also means that you can stop your campaigns should your budgets change or circumstances. It leaves so much flexibility that it’s hard to resist.  

4. Budget 

The fact that you can stop your campaign at any time automatically gives you control over your budget but there are also lots of other features that make Google Ads very ‘budget-friendly’. You can decide how much you are willing to bid per click, for example, and choose bidding strategies depending on what suits. We will go into this another time, but basically it’s great for any budget. You can also pay per click, which means that you don’t pay unless your ad is working.  

5. It can be affordable 

Depending on your industry, Google Ads can be extremely affordable. The cost per click can be as little as 30p! But, this does depend on your keywords and how much competition there is. If a lot of people are targeting the same keywords the top page bid (how much you probably need to pay to get up to the top of Google) can go up to £100 at least. When we get a client, we will always explore the numbers before we advise people on any particular channel because sometimes Google Ads can be very, very expensive, massively reducing the ROI and other times it can be cheap as chips! https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/06/28/most-expensive-keywords-uk-edition 

6. There is a variety of ad formats to choose from 

You can choose from text ads, shopping ads, display ads, inbox ads, and more! Crazy isn’t it? You can choose what suits your campaign best. Maybe you want to appear on the search results because you want to target people who are already intending on buying something you offer, but maybe you also want to raise brand awareness and advertise on Google’s Display Network. Perhaps you also want to send out an email campaign but not to people on your email list. The possibilities are (almost) endless.  

7. You can target different demographics and locations 

With Google Ads, you can target specific or broad locations and different demographics depending on what suits you best. This can really help to optimise your campaigns and reach the right people. It is important to note, however, that the targeting options on Google Ads are nowhere near as extensive as they are on social media channels such as Facebook. But, this doesn’t matter because… 

8. You can harness intent 

When talking about Google Ads, this usually means the text ads that appear on the search engine results page, and this is because, these ads are perfect for harnessing intent. Somebody is already searching for your product or service, so you are in the perfect position to put your business in front of them. This kind of targeting is impossible with pretty much all other forms of advertising and yet is arguably the most effective way that you can reach people.  

9. You can retarget people 

Another great thing about Google Ads is that you can retarget people if they have already shown an interest in your website. Retargeting allows you to put your ads in front of people who have already shown an interest in your products and are therefore much more likely to convert. It is always a good idea to make the most of this in the display advertising side of Google Ads.  

10. It’s extremely measurable  

An advantage of all digital marketing methods is that they are measurable, but Google Ads reporting and data is so detailed that you can find out so much information about your campaigns, what worked and what didn’t and you can get this information immediately. The beauty of advertising on Google is that you can link up all your Google accounts, analytics, search console etc. and combine all your data together to create extremely detailed reports to help you optimise your campaigns.   

11. Your competitors are doing it  

Let’s be honest, Google Ads is very popular. If you’re not doing it, you’re not putting your name out there where you competitors are. I know this sounds like the most generic reason ever but trust us, Google Ads is just growing and growing! 

Still not convinced? Our digital marketing team would be happy to have a look at how Google Ads could help you and your business grow. So, do get in touch.