Google Adwords: How Does It Work?

What are Google Adwords or Google Ads?

Google Ads, previously Google Adwords is Google’s official advertising platform. It is a PPC (pay-per-click) platform that allows companies and businesses to publish their ads that are displayed on YouTube, SERPs (search engine result pages) and other affiliate platforms of Google.

With Google Ads, businesses gain more visibility across Google’s network and ecosystem. If you wish to run your business ad on Google Adwords, you’ll have to bid on certain keywords. Your ads will then appear whenever users look up those specific terms.

Let’s take a look at the different kinds of Google Adwords.

Different Kinds of Google Ads

Ads that can be run on Google ads come in various shapes and sizes. Typically, businesses use the platform to run search ads the most followed closely by YouTube ads, shopping ads and display ads.

Let’s explore the different types.

• Search Ads: Search ads are the most popular and commonly used ads. These are the text-based ads you see right at the top of SERPs whenever you search for a relevant keyword.
• Local Ads:These are ads created specifically for offerings for the local audience. You’ll see the local ads appearing primarily in the local search results and maps. They also drive real-time foot traffic to stores and physical locations.
• Shopping Ads: These are basically the product-based ads that exhibit the products’ images, descriptions, prices and other relevant details. Shopping ads work best for e-commerce businesses.
• Display Ads: Display ads are the visual banner-styled ads generally appearing on websites structured within Google’s Display Network. These target specific audiences.
• Video Ads: Video ads are those that run on Google’s video platforms such as YouTube as well as the partnering sites such as non-skippable and skippable formats.
• Discovery Ads: Discovery ads are the engaging visual ads that run on Gmail, Discover feed and YouTube’s homepage.
• Performance Max Ads: Performance max ads are created for automated campaigns that span all the Google ad platforms. This uses AI, and also maximizes the performance.
• App Promotion Ads: The app promotion ads are created with the main aim to encourage more app installs, and fuel engagement. These appear across Youtube, display and search.

Google Adwords: How Do They Work?

The pay-per-click model lays the foundation of Google Ads. It means that an advertiser will only have to pay whenever anyone clicks on their respective ad. This is why it is quite a cost-effective tool to drive traffic and increase conversions.

Keywords are the main driving force in Google Ads. When an advertiser, in this case you create a search campaign in Google Ads, you create an ad featuring a particular offer. You’ll also have to select different keywords relevant to the offer.

Anytime that a user searches those keywords on Google (also referred to as query), the platform i.e. Google will instantly check if anyone is bidding on the relevant keywords. If someone has bid, those ads will start appearing on that specific SERP. 

You’re charged if someone clicks your ad which is why you need to measure your campaign’s CTR, and have to pay attention to achieving the desired click-through rate in Google Analytics.

Let’s break down the mechanism of how Google Adwords work to make the process easier to understand.

Keyword Research, Selection & Targeting

The process starts with finding the relevant keywords. These are the key phrases or terms your audience including potential customers, is most likely searching for whenever they want services or products similar to what you offer.

You can use Google Keyword Planner to identify the most relevant and high-performing keywords.

Ad Creation

Once your keywords are ready, you need to create the ads. An ad has two main components: catchy visuals and persuasive ad copy. Make sure your ad has a captivating headline, meaningful description, and a functional URL that leads users to the landing page. Your ad needs to be attractive and immersive so it prompts users to click it.

Bidding

Google Adwords follows an auction system wherein you being the advertiser has to bid for placing the ad. Your specific bid coupled with the ad’s quality score affects your ad’s rank on the SERPs.

While many factors influence the ad’s quality score, the three main factors include the click-through rate, landing page experience and relevance.

Ad Display

As per your specific targeting priorities and needs, your ad starts appearing on YouTube, Google’s search results, GDN (Google Display Network) and Gmail.

With these platforms, you get a huge access to reach millions of users across the globe.

Performance Tracking

Moving on, you have to constantly monitor the performance of your ad campaign to check its effectiveness. You get powerful analytics tools with Google Ads to measure and track your ad’s performance. 

Keep a check on metrics such as clicks, impressions, CPC (cost-per-click) and conversions to gauge your campaign’s success. With these insights, you can successfully tweak and optimize your strategy as well.

There are other details involved with setting up a campaign too such as the number of ads to implement per ad group. We have covered many of these aspects in our blog.

What are the Benefits of Google Ads?

Running ads using Google Adwords comes with a variety of benefits. These perks are the reason why 96% brands from across the world display their ads using Google Ads.

Let’s take a look at the notable benefits of Google Ads.

Delivers Instant Results

SEO takes time to generate results. Google Ads, on the other hand, is quite fast, and offers immediate visibility to your ad and in turn your brand.

Once your campaign goes live, your ads start appearing at the very top of search engine result pages which drives instant traffic straight to your site.

Budget-Friendly Advertising

Since Google Ads follows a PPC model, you worry about paying when anybody engages with your specific ad.

As you are charged only when someone clicks the ad, your ad budget isn’t used profusely. This is why it is deemed as ‘budget-friendly’ advertising, and a scalable solution.

Specific Targeting

With Google Ads, you can easily define your target audience using metrics such as device, location, demographics, language and user behavior.

You get a new level of precision that helps you ad target your ideal audience at ideal times. The likelihood of your leads converting into clients automatically increases.

Global and Local Reach

Google Ads allows you to efficiently customize your ad campaigns to reach global or local audiences. This depends on your offering, target market and campaign’s goals.

Increased Brand Awareness

Sometimes users may not click on your brand’s ad. That said, your ad is still revolving in Google’s ecosphere which means you start building your presence in the search results which elevates your brand’s awareness.

Performance Tracking to Maximize ROI

You can conveniently track your campaign’s performance by checking different metrics. Plus, you can analyze your user’s behavior at different times. Moreover, you also get comprehensive reports showcasing your ad’s results.

With the help of all this data, you can better fine-tune your advertising and marketing approach. The better you optimize your campaign, the more are your chances of maximizing your ROI. just ensure to identify high-intent and relevant keywords, and routinely optimize all your ad campaigns.

Conclusion: Target Your Audience Effectively with Google Ads

Google Ads has brought quite a revolution to the digital marketing ecosystem. Now that you are more aware of how Google Adwords works, you can leverage its perks even more.

One suggestion though—it is always a wise move to hire an expert Google Ads marketer or agency for this task to get brilliant results. At ITechSole, we have a qualified team of Google Ads experts, and substantial experience in generating revenue for clients through powerful Google ads.

How about we run a FREE website audit for you? Once we are through with that, we’ll devise a personalized marketing strategy and plan for your business.