Digital Marketing Blog

In 1998, there were approximately 500,000 Google searches per day and now there are approximately 3.8 million Google searches per minute.

And did you know that the majority of those search results you see on Google are actually ads that are paid for by businesses? 

Obviously, there's a reason why Google is so powerful and why businesses invest in the search engine. 

Before we get started with Google Adwords, I want to make sure you are familiar with how Google Adwords work so you can get the biggest return on investment and avoid making simple mistakes. 

Now, let's get started.

What Is Google Ads (Adwords)?

Google Ads (Adwords) is Google's online advertising program.

Through Google Ads, you can create online ads to reach people exactly when they're interested in the products and services that you offer.

If you want to reach new customers online, then advertising with Google Ads is something you should consider for your business. 

Google is one of the most effective ways to reach new customers and increase traffic to your website or landing pages, especially if you understand how it works and what the best practices are for your business.

Learn more about the benefits of Google Adwords here.

When you advertise with Google Ads, you’re investing in your business and brand. Make sure you understand how Google Ads works and how this investment can help you grow your business—all within your budget.

Google Ads (Adwords) help you:

• Promote your business

• Sell more products and services

• Raise brand awareness

• Increases traffic to your website and landing pages

Any Google Ads accounts are managed online.  So, you can create and change your ad campaign at any time, including your ad text, settings, and ad budget. 

When you are starting out there's no minimum spending commitment and you can set and control your own budget. 

You can also chose where your ad appears, set a budget, and easily measure the impact of your ad. 

Where Will Your Ads Appear On Google?

When you advertise with Google Ads, your ads can appear on different places across the web depending on how you target your ads, to whom you choose to show them, and the types of ads you create.

But, I want to start off pretty simple and make sure you understand the difference between paid advertising and organic search results before we dive into all of the other place your Google ads can appear.

Google likes to explain the difference between organic and paid advertising by displaying two main sections. 

Here's the example Google gives you: 

Let's say someone conducts a Google search for products or services related to your business while you're advertising with Google Ads, Google's online advertising platform.

Section 1

Section 1 is considered to be paid advertising.

Ads can appear on the top or bottom of the Google search results page next to or under an "Ads" label.

The ads are ranked primarily based on how relevant and useful they are to what the person searched for, your bid, and a few other factors.

Section 2

Section 2 is made up of "organic" search results. 

These are unpaid links to websites with content related directly to what the person searched for. The more relevant the site is to the search term, the higher the link will appear in the list.

Your related website could appear here, but your ad won't.

Here's another example of how paid advertising and organic search results show up.

When someone searches on Google for a particular term, say ‘marketing software’, Google would show you a list of results for those keywords.

But if you look closely, you will notice that the top results are generally ads.  You can clearly see that in the example below. 

Now that you understand the difference between paid advertising and organic search results, I want to go over some other places your Google ads can appear. 

On Google Search and other search sites

Ads can appear above or below search results on Google Search. They can appear beside, above, or below search results on Google Play, Google Shopping, and Google Maps, including the Maps app.

On websites that your customers visit (Display/Banner Ads)

You can also choose to show your ads to people as they browse the web. Your text, image, and video ads can appear on the Google Display Network.

If you've ever seen an ad on your favorite news site or in your Gmail account, and wondered how it got there, now you know: websites like these are part of the Google Display Network.

Your ads can appear on websites based on the targeting methods you choose. On the Display Network, there are several ways to target your ads:

• Choose keywords and topics related to what your offer

• Choose specific websites or pages

• Choose specific audiences based on their interests, demographics, or whether they've visited your website before.

On Different Devices

You can show your ads to people as they search or visit websites on the go:

• Your text ads can appear when people search on Google from their mobile devices and tablets.

• Your text, image and video ads can appear on Google Display Network websites when people visit these sites from high-end mobile devices, such as iPhones, Android devices, or tablets.

• Your ads can also appear on mobile apps, which are considered part of our Display Network.

If you have text ads, you can choose to show them to customers in an entire country, a certain geographic location, and even to customers who use names of locations in their searches.

To better reach your potential customers, Google also lets you target your campaigns by specific language. 

And if your customers speak multiple languages, you can create separate campaigns to manage ads and keywords for each of those languages.

Types Of Campaigns You Can Create In Google

When you go to create a campaign in Google, there are 6 different campaign types to choose from. 

• Search campaign - Reach customers interested in your product or service with text ads. 

• Display campaign - Run different kinds of ads across the web.

• Shopping campaign - Promote your products with shopping ads.

• Video campaign - Reach and engage viewers on YouTube and across the web.

• App campaign - Drive app promotion across Google's networks.

• Smart campaign - Reach your business goals with automated ads on Google and across the web. 

Even though there are six different types of campaigns you can choose from, Google classifies them into three main categories.

I also think these are the best three to focus on.

• Search campaigns - I will talk about this in-depth below.

• Display campaigns - these are also called banner ads. 

• Video campaigns - this is basically all YouTube. 

Search Campaigns

Search campaigns are all about keywords.

I'm talking about any and all:

• Brand keywords

• Category-specific keywords

• Broad based keywords

• Long-tail keywords

• Short-tail keywords

Let's say, you go to Google and search for the phrase 'Chiropractor.' 

As you know, Google will give you a list of results that its algorithm thinks is most relevant to what you just searched.  You will see a few ads for those keywords first, and then you will see organic content that ranks for those specific keywords below it.  

Here's a screenshot of what you would see.

When I searched for a Myrtle Beach chiropractor, at least one local business who offers chiropractic services should have active Google ads running to be the top search result on Google; which gets more people in the front door. 

Now, here's how you can do that. 

When you go to set up your ad groups in your Google ads account, you will enter specific keywords that are related to your topic. 

You want to enter specific keywords so Google will know who to show your ad to.  Or to put a little differently, anyone who searches for those specific keywords or phrases will be shown your ad. 

It will look like this:

Pro tip: If you own a local business and are going to use Google ads make sure you put geographical qualifiers on your keywords.

This makes sure that you have the first opportunity to get them to be your customer, especially when they are close in location. 

Final Thoughts

Over the years people have learned that there are great opportunities to reach more people and earn more money by paying for advertising on Google. 

Google ads are an effective way to drive more relevant and qualified leads to your website and business.

The purpose of Google ads is to get more traffic and more conversions, it's the same reason you run Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads.