Understanding Google Ads
Written by Courtney Raguso, Social Media Content Creator
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads is a paid advertising platform that falls under a marketing channel known as pay per click where the advertiser pays per click or impression on an ad. It offers an effective way to bring customers to your site and help make your business more discoverable online. It also helps you reach your target audience and, over time, offer useful data to help you analyze what ads work and what don’t. You decide the budget you want to spend and the program offers you different ways to advertise based on your personal business goals. Do you want to bring users to your site, receive more calls to your business, or increase visits to your store? You can focus on growing profits or expanding your market share, increasing customer value or your brand equity! There are options for every business. They can range from broader business and marketing goals to more tactical digital advertising goals, but the end goal for every business is always to increase revenue and decrease production costs. However, there are different ways to get to that! Your business goals should reflect your strategy and will depend on your competitive positioning, your industry and other factors. 
Why advertise on Google?
Google makes it easier to target your ads and reach people with specific interests and demographics, giving you the luxury to use different targeting methods to reach potential leads based on the types of customers you want. Google also makes it possible to control your costs, measure your success and easily manage your campaigns. You get to choose the keywords, budget, extensions and message of your ads. Aside from that, Google is the most used search engine with over 3.5 billion searches per day. From its start in October of 2000, Google Ads grew into a resource for brands to drive people to their business and now thousands of them are using it. If you aren’t on top of your game like they are, then your business is most definitely ranking lower and your results are being pushed down the page, beneath your competitors. According to Google, advertising with them can get you $8 for every $1 you spend on an ad. Although the average click-through rate is just 2%, Google display ads get a total of over 180 million combined impressions over the course of a month. It’s worth the investment because if you’re not using it, your competitors are.
How does it work?
Essentially, Google Ads displays your advertisement to potential leads who are entering certain keywords and terms into the search engine. Advertisers bid on these search terms, or keywords, and winners are placed at the top of the search results. To be placed at the top depends on multiple factors including AdRank, Quality Score, and your bid. The AdRank determines the placement of your ads while the Quality Score is based on your ad’s relevance. So, the relevance of your ad is directly related to the keywords you use. It’s best to just focus on the Quality Score because the higher it is, the lower your cost per click will be and the higher your business will be ranked. When it comes to bidding, you’re telling Google your ad budget, and how much you pay depends on clicks and impressions. You can change the bid at any time as well as pause the campaign if need be. Your ad copy and call-to-action also play a role in the outcome of your ads. They should deliver what the searcher expects to see based on their search, and so should the user’s experience once they see your landing page. For example, you can have different types of matches based on the user’s search phrase or keyword seen below:
Broad Match: the default setting that uses any word within your keyword phrase in any order. For example, “digital marketing agency in Tarrytown” will match “digital marketing” or “agency in Tarrytown”.
Modified Broad Match: allows you to lock in certain words within a keyword phrase by denoting them with a “+” sign. Your matches will include that locked-in word at the very least. For example, “+digital marketing agency in Tarrytown” could yield “digital,” “digital marketing tips,” or “digital agency in Tarrytown”.
Phrase Match: will match with queries that include your keyword phrase in the exact order but may include additional words before or after it. For example, “marketing agency” can yield “top marketing agency” or “marketing agency blunders.”
Exact Match: maintains your keyword phrase as it is written in the exact order. For example, “digital marketing agency” will not show up if someone types “marketing agency” or “best digital marketing agency”.
The goal is to win the bid, using the best keywords to get a match, so your business will be discovered. When it comes to match types, they are helpful in that they give you some flexibility in how you can be found in the search engine. It’s best to start off with a broad match so you can keep a close watch on your ads performance and modify to a more narrow approach as you go along and gain new insights. Your location settings will also play a role in placement. You can choose the geographical setting which will either be a reasonable radius around your store or shipping locations. However, if you own a digital marketing agency in Tarrytown, someone in California that enters “digital marketing agency” will not see your result, no matter your AdRank. Ad extensions is another cool tool you can use with google ads. It includes a location extension as well as sitelinks, offers, app and call extensions within the ad to offer searchers more of a reason to click. Given its reach and authority, you should be using Google Ads. If you’re not, you need to be. If you are, there is always some room for improvement. If you want Google Ads to start working for you and get the leads you need, you know who to call.
At MSM DesignZ, we put in the time and energy needed for success, so you can ensure you are using every dollar for maximum return. With over 20 years in the business, we have seen the birth of the original Google Adwords and watched it evolve. There’s no such thing as a Google Ads campaign that doesn’t work. There are only ones that need a bit more work. We’re here to put in the leg work for you to drive clicks and convert leads! We will always continue to place our clients’ needs at the heart of our operations. From web development to social media management, we’ll work directly with you to build a personalized strategy to not only retain but also gain business. We are assisting in all areas for our clients. Visit our contact page at https://www.msmdesignz.com/contact/, and we’ll work with you to devise a custom plan that will keep your brand alive and well. We look forward to working with you!
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9wA3OdVPdI
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-adwords-ppc