What is Google advertising? A guide to Google Ads

Google's advertising platform, known as "Google Ads" or "Google advertising", is used by millions of businesses around the world.

Understanding how to navigate the Google Ads platform is the first step needed to work with this powerful tool. In this guide, we'll also explore the benefits, advertising costs and which tools can help you build your first ad campaign.

What is Google advertising?

Virtually every search query returns with ads at the top of the page. These ads are Google Ads - ads placed on Google's advertising platform, to appear on search results pages and other websites in their advertising network.

‍

‍

Google ads are usually marked with a "sponsored" indicator in bold.

You may hear professionals refer to Google advertising as "Google search advertising" - this is because the ads often appear on search pages. Google advertising also offers ad placements on Youtube and other websites.

These search ads are used by businesses to drive traffic and sales to their website. People using Google are often actively searching for something, so these search ads have the added benefit of appearing in front of a more engaged audience.

Furthermore, you can use the platform to further target your audience when building your ad. Google Ads' functionality allows you to decide which audiences you want to show your ad to, thus offering more opportunities for conversion.

How much does Google advertising cost?

Your Google Ads cost will depend on your budget, the intensity of competition in your industry and the type of ad you want to place.

Ads are created, managed and run on the Google Ads platform. You add copy, images (if applicable) and set a landing page for potential visitors.

‍

‍

There are also options to select your audience, keywords and the time of day you want to advertise, depending on the type of ad you're setting up. You are then instructed to enter your budget.

Google decides where and when to show your ad (within your budget) with machine learning. You have control over how much or how little you want the cost per ad to be.

Imidlertid vil du trenge et betydelig budsjett når du arbeider i konkurransedyktige bransjer som detaljhandel eller teknologi.

Du må gjerne lese mer om hvordan opprette google ads konto.

How do Google Ads work?

Google ads have always been at the center of digital marketing. For those wondering how these ads work, here's the insight you need.

Too many ads, too little space

There will always be more available ads for specific search queries than there is ad space on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). So, to determine which ads to show for a particular search query, Google runs "auctions" for each keyword.

Competition for more visibility

When you create an ad, you're competing against other businesses that have also created an ad for your targeted keyword or audience.

Top 3 factors that determine the success of your ad:

• Budget: This is about how much you (or your competitors) are willing to pay for the ad space.
• Quality score: This is a rating of the quality of your ad and landing page based on the user experience. A higher quality score can mean lower costs and better ad placement.
• Relevance: This is how relevant your landing page is in relation to your ad and keywords. Relevance also plays a role in the quality score.

Google's rating mechanism

Googles maskin tar hensyn til hver av disse faktorene for å bestemme hvilke annonser som skal vises på en søkeside, på nettsider i Ads-nettverket, eller på YouTube-videoer. Forståelse av denne mekanismen kan hjelpe markedsførere å optimalisere sine kampanjer og oppnå gode resultater med Google-annonser.

Google ads types

5 Ad types you can choose from:

1. Søkekampanjer: Dette er tekstannonser som vises øverst på en Google søkeresultatside. Vanligvis er Google søkeannonseringskampanjer kostand per klikk (pay per click), så du betaler kun Google når noen klikker på annonsen din. Annonseteksten er fokuset for disse kampanjene, så vær nøye med skrivingen.

2. Shopping campaigns: Shopping campaigns are for the sale of products or inventory. These ads include product details such as an image, product title, price, and company name. These PPC ads appear either at the top or on the right-hand side of a Google SERP.

To set up a shopping campaign and bring products from your website to the platform, you need Google Merchant in addition to Ads.

You will be able to specify negative keywords with shopping campaigns. These are keywords you don't want your ad to appear for. But you won't be able to specify which keywords you want to target - Google decides when to show your shopping ads based on algorithms.

3. Display network campaigns: Display network campaigns, sometimes known as Google Display Network (GDN) ads, appear on websites other than on SERPs. They usually contain text and images, which you decide when you create your ad.

Display ads reach 90% of internet users because they appear when users are browsing the web, checking email or using certain apps. You'll be able to specify which demographics you want to target within your display network when setting up your campaign.

4. Video campaigns: Video campaigns, or video discovery ads, are short videos that appear just before or midway through a YouTube post. They can help drive subscribers, traffic or conversions for your product or service.

Although it will be seen on YouTube, you still need to use Google Ads to set up this ad. The platform allows you to adjust the target audience and create a 6-15 second video.

5. App campaigns: App campaigns are ads that are intended to drive app installs or in-app purchases. They can appear on SERPs, in the Display Network, and on YouTube, depending on where Google's machine learning predicts you'll benefit most from your ad.

When you set up this ad, you'll be able to add your ad design and budget. Google will automatically show your ad where your audience is most likely to be interested in your app.

Is Google Ads the same as PPC?

No, it isn't. PPC (short for "paid per click") is a type of paid advertising, while Google Adwords is a PPC platform. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, they do not mean the same thing.

As the name suggests, you only pay for a PPC ad when the customer clicks on it. You don't have to pay to display your ad. Many types of Google advertising are PPC, but PPC isn't limited to just Google advertising.

Paid Google advertising vs. Google Organic

Google advertising (PPC) and Google organic (SEO) are both types of search engine marketing (SEM). However, the two work very differently and should be run as separate marketing channels:

• Google Ads is a paid search channel. You run ads, and pay when someone clicks on your ad. You can decide which ads to run and how much you want to spend, and you can start driving traffic immediately.

• Google Organisk retter seg mot søkemotoren selv. Du ruller ut strategier på nettstedet ditt for å rangere så høyt som mulig i Googles søkeresultater for å drive klikk. Du betaler ikke for å rangere, og du betaler ikke når noen klikker. Men det er en tregere prosess som du ikke kan slå på eller av. Det kan ta lang tid å rangere godt organisk, selv om du er en SEO-spesialist som vet hva du gjør.

Å kjøre Google-annonsering mens du jobber med SEO kan hjelpe til med å støtte dine overordnede markedsføringsmål, hvor du kan nå potensielle kunder på raskere måte.

Why should you run Google Ads?

We get it: if you can drive traffic with free or low-cost marketing channels, why pay for online ads?

Many marketing professionals have added Google Ads to their toolbox, and for good reason. With the right budget and strategy, you can achieve significant returns with a Google Ads campaign.

Benefits can include:

• Faster ROI: When ads are active, they are available for clicks everywhere they appear. Popular ads can become profitable almost immediately, and good ads can see ROI much faster than other marketing channels like SEO or email.
• Control Over Spending: Google Ads' functionality gives you full control over your budget and how much you spend. You can adjust your campaign's parameters at any time, or turn it off as needed.
• Support your marketing goals: Google advertising can help you increase brand awareness as well as traffic, footfall, or conversions. Whatever your marketing goal is, there's a Google ad type that can help you achieve it.
• Easy Reporting: Track your ads' clicks, spend, and more in the Ads platform or connect the platform to PPC tools you may have available. You can also connect your Adwords account directly to Google Data Studio for automated live reports.
• Targeting control: Google Ads gives you a lot of control over who you want to show your ads to, where you want to show them, and for how long. You can specify device, time of day, demographics, location, placement, and more. This gives you an opportunity to optimize your budget, as you know you're targeting the right people and not wasting money on people who will never convert.

How to advertise on Google

When starting out, there are generally 4 steps you should follow:

1. Revision
2. Research and development
3. Construction
4. Monitoring

Each step requires a different set of tasks and processes. There are quite a few PPC tools available that can help you outside of the Ads platform itself. These tools can help you set up your campaigns correctly and track their performance.

Here are some useful tools for each stage:

Tools for Ad Review

The first thing you should do when starting a new ad is to audit the ads and campaigns you already have. This means reviewing existing ads, their click-through rates (CTR), landing pages and competition levels.

Ads history tool

Ad History Report in Semrush:

The Ad History report in Semrush assesses the performance of past ads based on specific keywords. You'll be able to see all Ads traffic earned by a domain, as well as any keywords for ads currently linking to that domain.

Google Ads performance grader:

This free tool from Wordstream is especially useful if you already have some Google Ads set up. It assesses your existing performance and gives you basic recommendations to improve. It focuses on quality score, impression share, CTR, ad text and your landing page.

Google Ads Keyword Planner:

Ads-plattformen i seg selv kan hjelpe deg med å revidere annonsene dine med verktøy som google keyword. Bruk den til å hjelpe deg med å vurdere konkurransevanskeligheter og gjennomsnittlig bud for annonser på side 1.

Keyword research tool:

Keyword research is essential to identify the keywords you should bid on and those you shouldn't. Suitable keywords can be based on brand reasons, competition, budget and search volume.

This step is perhaps the most comprehensive when it comes to building your Google Ads campaigns. Choosing the right keywords for targeting is key to saving time and money.

Keyword Magic Tool:

The Keyword Magic tool can be just as useful with PPC campaigns as with SEO. Enter the keywords you're considering bidding on and the tool will generate similar keywords that may have better search volume, be less competitive and therefore cheaper.

PPC Keyword tool:

The PPC Keyword Tool is much more specific to ads. It helps you identify keywords for your ads based on:

• Longtail keywords
• Competitors' paid or organic keywords
• Semantically related keywords
• Mixing words to create longtail keywords

You can also group keywords in campaigns and identify negative keywords for your ads.

Ad building tools

Once you've identified your keywords and know your budget, it's time to start creating your ads. Here you'll need to exercise some creativity to stand out by developing relevant and engaging text content that also has a good quality score.

Semrush Ad research tool

Our ad research tool is perfect for creating your first display ad. When you enter your keyword, it will find a list of relevant ads to your keyword and show you what types of text and images work for currently popular ads. You can then choose aspects of each that you like and that represent your brand to create your own ad.

Tools for Monitoring Ad Performance

Once your ad campaign is live, you need to monitor it to ensure that your marketing goals are being met and that you're still staying within budget. The Google Ads platform offers some great metrics and reporting features, but there are also other professional tools that can track and present performance data effectively:

Position tracker

The Position Tracker from Semrush makes it easy to track your ad's performance against your competitors. It will also give you insights into where SERP features appear and alert you when new competitors start bidding on your keywords.

Supermetrics

Supermetrics brings all your ad information together in one place and shows you the most important metrics from across your platforms and campaigns. Although it takes some time to set up, it will help you stay on top of ROI and make decisions based on data.

Should you advertise on Google?

We think so. Google Ads can be a highly profitable marketing channel for your business. Although setting up the ads will require some effort, you can monitor them once they're up and running and learn which techniques work best for you.

Leverage specialized tools as you complete the ad building process. Your next great ad is just around the corner.