If you’ve spent any time online, you’ve probably clicked on a Google Ad — or at the very least, seen one. You can encounter Google Ads throughout Google’s extensive network, which includes Google search, YouTube, Gmail, and over 2 million websites across the web.
No wonder more than 80% of global businesses use Google Ads to bring in new customers and grow their business!
Sections
How do Google Ads work?
Google Ads uses a pay-per-click advertising model, or PPC. That means you only pay when your ad is clicked, or, in some cases, when it receives an impression (i.e. when someone sees your ad). This model is attractive to advertisers because it offers a high ROI: what you spend is directly linked to your return — whether you’re advertising for more traffic, purchases, leads, video views, or app downloads.
How to run Google Ads
There is a lot of specialized terminology, tips, and tricks to running a successful Google Ads campaign, which is why it can be helpful to work with an experienced digital marketing agency. But, here’s a high-level overview of how the process works.
1. Create a Google Ads account.
First, you’ll need to set up a Google Ads account, which you can do here. Once you’ve added your business and website information, you can get started creating campaigns.
2. Choose a campaign type and objective for your ad.
The campaign type refers to the different types of ads offered by Google Ads, from traditional search ads to Display ads that appear on other people’s websites. These include:
- Search
- Display
- Video
- Shopping
- Discovery
- App
- Local
- Smart
- Performance Max
Your campaign objective is essentially your goal for the campaign. Your options include:
- Sales
- Leads
- Website traffic
- Brand awareness
- Brand consideration
- App promotion
3. Upload your campaign assets.
Now it’s time to create the meat of your ad. This includes the copy, logos, images, and video assets you want to use in your campaign, along with the keywords you want to target.
You can manually create different, static versions of your ads, choosing the different headlines, copy, and visual assets for each ad. Or, you can use Dynamic Display Ads or Responsive Search Ads and let Google do the bulk of your work for you. With these ad types, you provide several versions of text and visual assets, and then Google auto-magically creates an ad for each user who encounters it in real-time.
4. Choose your audience.
Next, you’ll define your target audience. You can select from demographic information like gender and parental status to purchasing behavior and shopping interests. It is very important to target your ads to the right people. Otherwise, you may end up wasting a lot of money!
5. Set your budget and launch.
Finally, tell Google how much you want to spend per day and per campaign. Enter your payment information, and you’re ready to launch your campaign!
Within each of these steps, there are multiple elements you can tweak and optimize to make your campaign successful, from negative keywords to Smart Bidding. We told you there was a lot of specialized lingo!
For the best results (and to avoid wasting budget), you’ll want to work with an agency that has experience in running Google Ad campaigns — like Your Marketing People!
How much do Google Ads cost?
The cost of Google Ads can vary from business to business, and largely depends on how much budget you’re willing to spend to drive results. In general, however, the average cost-per-click (CPC) for a Google Ad is between $1 to $7.
Your CPC will vary by campaign, depending on the competitiveness of the keywords you are targeting. It can also vary based on other factors, including the Quality Score of your ad, your maximum bid, and how you compare to other advertisers based on your bid, quality, and ad performance.
Ready to get started with Google Ads?
Contact Your Marketing People. Our Google Ads experts know all the ins and outs of what makes a successful ad campaign, so you don’t have to. Contact us today to discuss your advertising goals so we can develop a tailormade ad strategy for your business.
