Google Ads: What it is and how it works

In an age where communication travels at the speed of light, with means that allow you to share information instantly, you can be the leader in your industry, but if no one knows about it, it significantly limits your business.

In the world of digital marketing, there are many tools that allow you to make your business known.

Among these we find Google Ads, Google's online advertising program that allows you to create online ads to reach users during their customer journey, including the exact moment in which they express interest in the products and services you offer.

In this article, therefore, we explain what Google Ads is and how it works, focusing at the end on the reasons why it is worth using it.

But first I want to point you to this Free Webinar that deals with this very topic: click on the banner below to sign up.

What is Google Ads?

Known until July 24, 2018 as Google Adwords, it is an advertising platform, developed in 2000. It represents the most important source of remuneration for the "Mountain View Colossus" group.

Although it has evolved continuously, its purpose has not changed much: to make advertisers visible to those who need their products or services. In essence, the software in question allows you to insert advertising spaces into Google search pages.

Based on the goals you want to achieve, Google Ads offers the possibility of creating different types of campaigns.

Going into detail, the Search Network campaign is certainly the most popular because it intercepts the user's informed demand through the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) mechanism: essentially, you pay every time your ad is clicked.

However, as anticipated, it is not the only one, since to reach users, advertisers can also opt for other solutions.

Among these we find:

• Display Network Campaigns

• Shopping Campaigns

• Max Performance Campaigns

• Video Campaigns

• App Campaigns

• Smart Campaigns

• Local Campaigns

• Discovery Campaigns

Now let's take a quick look at the most commonly used ones.

The Google Search Network gives you the opportunity to show users advertisements, taking into account the keywords selected and inserted within the campaign. The advertising announcements, therefore, either appear directly on Google or on partner websites that, among other things, opt for text advertisements.

In the Google Display Network you can focus on creativity by creating banners. These are inserted within the portals already visited by the target audience.

Thanks to these campaigns, you have the opportunity to stimulate a latent need, related to your product or service. As an advertiser, therefore, you position the brand of your business in the memory of those who surf the Internet.

For this reason, display ads prove to be very useful, because they put you in contact with customers potentially interested in your commercial offer.

The latter would hardly be able to find you on their own.

The usefulness of display ads is also evident when you need to show ads to users who have already visited your website . In this way, they are more likely to return to connect again. This strategy is known as retargeting.

Then there are Google Shopping campaigns, whose basic mission is to insert the items from your catalog into the "Shopping" section of Google.

If you type a product category into the most consulted search engine of all, you will realize that ignoring Google Shopping is practically possible nowadays. Proof of this is the fact that there is a tendency to push Search Network ads to the bottom of the page.

The underlying reason is that Shopping Ads appear much more interesting, because they perfectly describe what you sell. Even before clicking on the advertisement, users will be able to see the title of the product, its photo and the price. Those who click, accessing your e-commerce, will in fact be users very close to the purchase phase . The latter is not necessarily going to complete the transaction, but they certainly want to know more about it.

These are just some of the types of campaigns that Google Ads makes available to advertisers.

How does Google Ads work?

After introducing what Google Ads is, let's look in detail at its operating logic, which differs for each type of campaign.

In short, the tool is based on an auction mechanism. Every time a user types a search query on Google, a virtual auction starts that in a few thousandths of a second - based on various factors - establishes which ads to publish and in which position.

Within the panel, advertisers set the maximum budget they are willing to spend for a single click, but it must be said that the highest bid does not always win.

Google in fact mixes the monetary side with a quality score, in order to guarantee the user the best possible experience on the search engine.

Quality Score is a three-factor metric based on the relevance of your keywords to your ads and the user experience on your landing page, as well as your expected click-through rate.

Each keyword entered into the campaign will get its own quality score. Therefore, even two keywords within the same ad group can have different quality scores.

Google does not want to show users only the ads of the highest bidder: these ads may not be in line with the search performed and therefore not have an adequate click-through rate based on impressions, consequently the first fundamental factor is relevance .

We must remember that irrelevant ads often go unclicked and as we all know if the ad is not clicked, Google does not earn anything. For this reason, the expected click-through rate on the ad compared to the impressions generated is a key element.

For the advertiser, however, the most important aspect remains the conversion . When we talk about conversions, we usually mean a new contact or a sale . More generally, it means that the user has performed the action you wanted them to take.

To increase your conversion rate, you can also use another tool called remarketing . By installing the specific tag, you can track the user who does not immediately perform the action and re-propose your ads at a later time to try to complete the process of acquiring the contact or sale.

Why is it worth relying on Google Ads?

There are so many reasons why it is appropriate to focus on Google Ads as an online advertising platform. Here we will only report the main ones.

1. Scalability : With an increase in conversions, you can review your allocated budget upwards. Relevant leads grow in number and online sales, revenue and profits benefit. Google Ads is a scalable tool that leads businesses, large and small, to invest in online advertising, even with bare-bones budgets. The more positive the performance, the more you can increase your investments.

2. Measurability : Metrics allow you, as an advertiser, to know what is working and what needs to be revised. This way you will not waste your budget.

3. Flexibility : customizing your Google Ads campaigns, taking into account the target you are addressing, the objectives you want to achieve and your real needs, is a fact.

4. Completing your marketing channels : Thanks to Google Ads and remarketing activities, you will target users who have shown interest in your business. Display ads will occasionally appear on the web pages they visit. This way, your brand will have more visibility.

In conclusion

Google Ads is the main platform for advertising on Google and I hope this guide has given you the basics to start your first advertising campaign on Google.