Google Ads: What to expect when paying for Search Ads

Google Ads are a great tool for increasing your online presence however many people have had a bad experience or been deterred by high agency fees or have been locked into contracts they can't wait to get out of.

Note: this article is written with small service-based businesses in mind. Larger businesses or those in the e-commerce space have more complex needs and will likely need more nuanced and specific support.

Google Ads work by bidding for your ads to show on certain keywords. The specifics are covered elsewhere on my website but it's important to know your Google Search Ads will only show when someone is searching for the keywords you've targeted.

If you've set up ads up yourself, Google may have set up a 'Smart' campaign doing much of the heavy lifting for you. Unfortunately this type of campaign provides limited data and control of your ad spend.

Understanding key metrics and data points

• Clicks: How many people are clicking yours ads and being taken from Google search results to your website. 
• Impressions: How many times your ads are appearing on Google search results.
• Click-through-rate: The number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown.
• Cost-per-click: ​On average, how much each Google Ad click is costing you.

Website design and navigation is essential
​Google Ads are great for getting more people visiting your website. However it's important to know that the design of your website is the influential factor in what action people do or don't take when they visit it.

For example, if you're running ads with the intention to increase the amount of people contacting you via your website contact form but the contact form itself is not very inviting or not mobile friendly then you likely will get few, if any, enquiries despite spending a lot of ads.

You also want to make sure ads for Product X are going to the relevant Product X page on your website.

Spending a lot on search ads to be sending people to a poorly designed or outdated website can often be fairly redundant as it would be better to invest in updating your website first.

It's pretty common for businesses owners to explore Google Ads after a new website build or redesign because they're already done the work to ensure their website is set up well.

Reporting 
It's also to important to look at your 'Search Terms' which are the actual terms people are putting in Google that are prompting your ads to showing up based on your keywords.

Competition
Competition for your target keywords greatly impacts the performance of your Google Ads campaign. If there is high competition then it's likely your CPC will be a lot higher and/or your ads might show but not very high up on the page, which means potential customers are still seeing your competitors first.

It's also possible competition may be too high for your ads to get any traction. While there are keyword planners and ad click estimation tools available, my recommendation is for businesses to try and run ads themselves with a moderate budget to collect actual data on ad performance.

Budgets
Its possible to start running Google Ads from $2/day however because ad placement works on an auction-like basis, whoever is willing to pay the most gets the the highest placements and lower budgets offer little results in competitive industries.

If your cost-per-click is $1 then you can only expect two clicks on your ad per day with a $2/day budget.

From my experience, a starting budget of $5/day is sufficient for your ads to show and to get enough data to properly assess ad performance.

Experience
Many agencies and digital marketers offer a wide range of services but don't have much experience with many of the services they're offering. Many web designers add on Google Ads as an extra to get some extra money from their clients, convenient sure button always effective.

Other important things to note: 
Your ads will likely not show up 100% of the time and not being able to see them when making your own searches does not mean they 'are not working'.

​Google Ads are only effective as long as you continue to pay for them. For this reason it is also worth investing time (and money if available and appropriate) into making sure people can find your business and website online without relying on ads. A Google Business Profile is a great starting point. Learning about SEO (search engine optimisation) and what SEO features are available on your website helps to increase your organic ranking, organic referring to free or unpaid. Social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn can also appear in Google searches as well. LinkedIn is particularly helpful for anyone who is self-employed and/or when people are likely to be searching for you by your name rather than your business name as a link to your LinkedIn profile will likely be what appears first.

"It’s important to remember your competitor is only one mouse click away" - Douglas Warner III

 My approach...

To keep management costs at a minimum, I base my search ad campaigns around a businesses current website. I work with businesses looking to spend $100-$500/month on ads. Any businesses wanting to spend more than this are often better off with an advertising agency who can offer more specialist services such as conversion tracking and remarketing, which are things I do not offer.