Why Should I Advertise On Google?

Forget for a second that you are a small business owner, and think of yourself as a consumer, one that needs a particular product or service. What do you do to find it?

You’ll probably go to Google and type it in. Then, in less than a second, you have a list of multiple websites that have the thing you need. After that, you can start shopping around until you find the one business from which you’ll buy something.

The second you’ve typed in what you were looking for, Google processed another 39,999 search queries. Yes, just in that one second. The search engine controls roughly 71% of the search engine market, and its usage is so widespread that the name itself became the verb one uses to describe this activity.

People “Google” products and businesses because it is easy for them to access a wide market this way, see offers and deals, maybe even benefit from free shipping – all in a couple of clicks. Businesses, on the other hand, should also focus on getting their name on the SERP (search engine results page) and in front of a large number of people.

Often, the best way to do that is through a Google AdWords campaign. It’s the company’s pay-per-click (PPC) service where you can create ads to boost your business’ profile and increase revenue. But these days, there are a lot of different ways you can advertise your business, and we genuinely get a lot of questions from clients wondering if Google Ads is really worth the effort (because, quite frankly, it is a rather big effort and there is no winning formula).

Hopefully, this article will shed some light on this topic.

Advertising on Google Is a Smart Move

Yes, there are a lot of different online advertising methods businesses can use to promote themselves. Just think of social media platforms like Facebook that have created a platform for advertisers to engage directly with their target audience, and the tool they’d need to reach the right one. But while Facebook is great for brand recognition and connecting with your customers, Google Ads can help increase your bottom line.

Businesses can see a 200% return on average when using Google Ads, meaning this tool is one of the most effective advertising efforts you could make. When people browse through Facebook, they are seldom looking for products or services. If they stumble upon them, they may click on the ad and go to a landing page, but the chances aren’t so great.

But with Google, there is an already formed intent to buy, because the user is specifically typing in your keywords often with the purpose of making a purchase. Sure, some might only window shop, but with a few targeting tricks, you can avoid those undecided users.

Below, we’ll explain other great reasons why you should advertise on Google.

Here’s why Advertising in Google is Great

1. It’s Everywhere

Do you know what 40,000 searches per second amount to? Roughly 5 billion daily. While this is at a global scale, and if you’re a small business and don’t really offer your services outside of your location, these numbers are impressive enough to make you want to hop on the Google express.

Your customers, potential or otherwise, are most likely using Google. But your competitors are also using it, and if you don’t, you just handed them the lead in the competition. If people go and look for products and services similar to yours, but don’t find you in the first few results on the SERP, then it’s like you don’t even exist.

You can improve your website ranking organically (meaning without paying), but that takes a lot of time. Displaying ads, whether on the search or display network is an excellent way to get your website at the top of the page fast, and possibly increase the number of shoppers.

2. Advanced Targeting

Google Ads allows you to choose who your ads will be shown to thanks to its advanced targeting options.

First, there are the keywords you’ll bid on, which will determine when the ads will activate. Whenever someone types in a specific word or phrase into the search bar, you tell Google that’s the user you want to target. That is an incredibly powerful way to harness the user’s existing curiosity or intent regarding your products or services.

But it doesn’t stop there. Google Ads lets advertisers target people based on location, demographics, whether they’ve already searched/purchased something similar to what you’re offering, and even those who’ve visited your website but left without taking action.

3. You Decide How Much to Spend

A lot of worries business owners might have regarding Google Ads has to do with the budget. How much are they going to spend on this effort, particularly since the bidding process can have unforeseen results?

It goes like this: you have to bid on the keywords you want to use. That will tell Google how much you’re willing to spend per each click your ad gets. The costs per click depend on a variety of reasons. If the keyword is popular, for example, meaning that numerous others advertisers bid on it too, then you can expect to have to pay higher per click, particularly if you’re fighting for one of the first ad positions.

However, if you go into your AdWords account, you can see the option of creating a daily budget for your campaigns. So let’s say that your bid is around $3 per click. In a day, you can only afford a total of $30, so you establish that as your daily budget. Your ad will show up on the SERP as planned, but once it exceeds that daily budget, which in this example would be after 10 clicks, the ad stops. You can either add more money or wait until the next day when it will resume.

You can even establish how much to spend a month, or review ad performances to see where it would be smart to invest more money. Ads with a high conversion rate should have a significant budget to increase their impact. But essentially, you are always in control of how much you spend.

4. Results Are Easy to Track

The golden rule in marketing is that any effort you make to boost your business’ profile must be constantly tracked. Regardless of the purpose behind it, you need to know if the move pays off, if the results are up to expectations, or if anything is going wrong.

Google presents all the results of your ads and campaign in an easy to understand format. You can see the number of clicks or impressions right in your account, or in your Google Analytics account. That is particularly important if the budget is an issue because if anything is underperforming, you can change it or stop it on the spot, and not feel like you’ve spent a lot of money for nothing.

5. No Clicks? Not Necessarily a Problem

Google Ads is all about the clicks for most people. But just because your ads aren’t scoring as many clicks as you’ve wanted, doesn’t mean there is no effect at all.

Think about it this way: a lot of users still see your ads, which is a great thing regarding brand recognition. Particularly if you’re not that well known yet, it can be harder for you to convert a user into a customer. Who are you? Can they trust you with their money? You wouldn’t buy something from a total stranger, would you?

But by having your brand appear in a SERP, even if it’s an ad, and even if the user does not click on it, there is a chance they’ll remember it – here lies the importance of some great, catchy ad copy. At another time, when they might see your name again, they will recognise it, and actually, pay you a visit to see what you’re offering.

6. It Makes You Better

A well-designed ad group can help you increase the number of conversions, which is the process of turning user/visitor into a customer.

However, Google doesn’t just read your copy and look at your bid when deciding where to place the ad. It will also analyse the landing page to see if it matches their criteria. The pages you choose to redirect Google users to must be relevant to the keywords and ad copy. If you’re promising cat hats, then that’s what you need on your landing page.

Moreover, the landing page also must be mobile friendly, not take long to load, and generally, offer a good user experience. But the quality of the landing page also helps you in terms of conversion.

Google ads can’t promise you conversions. All it can do is increase the traffic. What’s after the ad, your website will help users decide if they want to stick around or not. So think of Google Ads as an extra incentive to optimise your website.

7.  Maximising ROI (Return on Investment)

How can Google help me increase the return on my investment is one of the questions we hear most often here at Australian Internet Advertising. And the answer is: the bidding process makes all the difference.

• Cost-per-click (CPC) bidding – best if your goal is to drive traffic to your website;
• Cost per thousand viewable impressions (CPM) – best if your goal is building awareness, but it is only available in the Google Display network, not the search network;
• CPA bidding – best if you want to increase conversions like purchases or newsletter sign-ups.

So Google takes into account what your overall goal is, and charges you based on that. That way, you know exactly what you’re paying for, and the money you invest in these ads will go to that purpose, as Google will know how to optimise the campaign.

For instance, if you want to build awareness, then you want to show your ads to the highest number of people possible, and not those most likely to click on the link. If the bidding option is CPM, then you don’t have to worry about your ads going offline after a few clicks because you’ve exceeded the budget. Google will know you only want to be charged after 1000 impressions. It will discount any number of clicks the ads score while they are active.

Can It Be Done Organically?

Whenever we start presenting all the great things you can achieve with Google ads, our clients often hit us with the “but can’t we do this organically?” question.

The answer is fairly complex, however. While you can improve your website SERP rank organically by essentially improving every single aspect of your website, the results won’t be visible quickly. Organic SEO strategies take time to take off, and for the business owner looking to increase revenue now, that’s not always something they like to hear.

But you cannot replace Google Ads’ level of sophistication with any organic methods. Just think about the advanced targeting options that the service has to offer – it could be virtually impossible to reach the people most likely to engage or purchase without Google Ads.

Plus, you’re not as in control with SEO as you are with Google Ads, where you can design all the stages of a campaign. SEO efforts essentially make your website more readable for the search engine, but it depends on the things this search engine deems as important. And nobody truly knows what Google deems important, though you can make some educated guesses.

Still, we’re not trying to downplay the importance of SEO. The website you expect potential customers to browse must be kept to a certain standard:

• Excellent copy;
• Mobile-friendly;
• Responsive;
• Short loading time;
• Appealing design.

The list goes on. Not even thousands of dollars spent on Google Ads can let you get away with a poorly created website. You’ll need both to truly grow your business.

It’s kind of the way Google planned it all along. They have some fairly strict rules about how the websites they index should look like because Google wants to ensure a great user experience to people looking up things in their search engine. Once the website is up to their standards, you can expect an increase in ranks, though that can take months, or even years just to go one place higher.

But if you want to skip the waiting and get better results, they offer Google Ads services.

Back to you

Advertising on Google is a move a lot of business owners should make. The market’s very competitive, and organic growth take a long time to truly have an impact on your bottom line, though its methods should never be completely discounted.

Through Google Ads, businesses can expect an increase in their profile and profits at a much faster pace than through other methods. Yes, it’s not exactly cheap, but with a possible 200% return on your investment, it is definitely a very smart move to make.

But to feel these effects, you need a great strategy in place. If you have any questions about how to create one or want someone to help your business reach its potential, contact Billy and his team at Australian Internet Advertising today. Our Google Ads experts can offer great solutions for your Google Ads needs.