Should your business be running Google Ads?

While many businesses take a DIY approach to Facebook Ads, Google Ads is generally less popular and less understood but can be just as effective, if not more so, in increasing your online presence.

While most businesses with a website can benefit from Google Ads, there are a few exceptions and nuances to the ad platform meaning that certain types of businesses will get more benefit that others. While Google Ads can get very technical and has a lot of advantages for large international businesses, it's possible to put together simple yet effective campaigns for small businesses to help them increase their online presence. Learn more about the key benefits of running Google search ads compared to other ad platforms below... 


High search intent
Google Ads is a great option if you know your customers are using Google to browse their options.

Google ads work by targeting keywords and show when people are researching their options meaning they're likely needing a service or committed to buying a product and are now choosing where to buy it from.

Reaching customers in this stage is a much easier sell than advertising to people with no current need for what you're selling. Rather than convincing the customer they need to make purchase you're instead at the stage of convincing them that your business is the best place to do so.

The cost-per-click model
If you want to increase traffic to your website then Google Ads is a cost-effective platform to do so given it's pay-per-click model, you're only charged for people that click your ad through to your website.

Because of this payment model, Google Ads can be fairly low risk to experiment with because if no-one clicks on your ads there is no charge from Google, however having Google Ads active means your ad may show for relevant searches even if there aren't too many of them.

This makes it a great option for e-commerce businesses or any others that greatly rely on their website for leads and sales and only want to be paying for advertising that actually gets more people to their website.

Navigating competition
If you're in a competitive industry, Google Ads can help your website appear above your competitor's organic (unpaid) website listings. 

However if your industry is highly competitive, Google Ads can become quite expensive to rank highly as whoever is willing to pay the most will get the highest ad positions.


Text-based advertising
Unlike many other visual ad platforms, Google Ad mainly uses text which means a business doesn't need to invest in photography, video content or other visual assets to get started with Google Ads.

This makes Google ads a great choice for many service-based businesses that may not have as much marketing content to work with but already have text available on their website to repurpose for ad copy.


A continuous, scalable campaign
Once a Google Ads campaign is set up it continues running unless you choose to pause it, while many newer campaigns require monthly maintenance and optimisation they require much less work than other campaigns that need renewal on a monthly basis.

You can adjust your daily budget in small increments such as an extra $1/day during sales or periods of high demand and because of the text-based creative discussed above, compared to other ad channels there is minimum input required for adding new seasonal sales, products or services to your campaign (assuming there is a relevant web page as a destination).

​“In the world of Internet Customer Service, it's important to remember your competitor is only one mouse click away.” - Doug Warner

Instances where Google Ads might not be your best choice:

• ​As Google Ads core job is to direct people to your website, businesses with outdated websites or sites that are slow and difficult to navigate on mobile devices would likely want to invest in upgrading their website first before spending money increasing traffic to an older website.

 

• Businesses in industries with high competition will also likely be priced out top ad placements particularly for businesses that have competition on a global scale. The likes of low-cost global giants like Temu make it hard for many ecommerce stores to get broad exposure online.

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• Google Ads also has limitations for any products or services that people don't know they need and therefore would not be searching for.

Want to learn more?
I'm happy to assess your website and give some initial thoughts on if and how Google Ads could be an effective tool to promote it.

I recommend most businesses with a modern website can benefit from running Google Ads for a minimum of three months to get a gauge on how Google Ads is performing specific to their business and industry.

​A simple Google search of the key product or service you offer, plus any relevant location descriptors, can give you a quick idea of what businesses a potential customer making the same search might see first and whether or not your business is among them.