What Is Google Ads & How Does It Work?

As experts in the world of digital marketing, we understand the importance of Google Ads as an effective advertising tool. In this article, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide on what Google Ads is and how it works, in order to help you gain a better understanding of this powerful tool and how to use it to your advantage.

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is a platform developed by Google that allows businesses to create and display ads on Google's search engine results pages, as well as on other websites that are part of the Google Display Network. This advertising tool is based on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, which means that advertisers only pay when a user clicks on their ad.

How does Google Ads work?

Google Ads works by allowing advertisers to create ads and choose relevant keywords that are related to their products or services. When a user types in a search query that matches those keywords, the ad will be displayed on the search engine results page (SERP).

Ads on the Google Display Network, on the other hand, are displayed on websites that are part of the network and are relevant to the keywords chosen by the advertiser. The ads can be in the form of text, images, or videos, depending on the preferences of the advertiser.

Google Ads uses a bidding system to determine which ads are displayed on the SERP or on the Display Network. Advertisers bid on their chosen keywords, and the highest bidder is usually given the top position on the SERP.

However, Google also takes into account other factors when determining which ads are displayed, such as the ad's relevance to the search query, the quality of the ad copy and landing page, and the advertiser's historical performance on Google Ads.

Google Ads offers several advertising options:

• Search Network Ads: These are ads placed on websites on the search engine results page (SERP) based on the keywords users search for. They're also known as "keyword" or "text" ads.

• Display Network Ads: These are ads that appear on third-party websites across the Internet based on your target audience and the content of those sites. The display network includes sites like YouTube, Gmail, and Google Maps.

• Video Ads: These are video advertisements that play before or during another video on YouTube or other sites within the Google Display Network.

There are more ads on Google Search and its other properties than ever before in different forms, which means if you’re not utilizing search and other types of ads in your business, your business will feel the impact.

For many businesses advertising on Google has become necessary to stay competitive rather than just a way to increase revenue and reach.  

One of the most important things to know about Google Ads is that it’s a bidding platform, and it works in a simple way: advertisers bid on keywords, and then their ads show up at the top of search results pages or other websites. 

There are two different main types of campaigns you can run, Search Ads and Display Ads.

In Search Ads, you aim to place your ad at the highest search result positions possible while serving users’ search intent as closely as possible. And the goal of Display Ads is to combine users’ interests with ads they might be interested in receiving.

To put it simply in Google Ads, advertisers bid on keywords to have a chance to place their ads on search results pages or other websites.

An ad auction happens whenever a user searches for anything on Google Search or visits a website in the broader network. 

At every auction, Google calculates the Ad Rank for every ad in the auction, which determines if the users see your ads in the first place or not.

The factors that define an Ad Rank are:

• Your Max Bid (which is set by you) 

• Ad quality and landing page experience 

• Ad rank has to be higher than the thresholds

• Competitiveness 

• User search context (For example, device, location, time of day, and search intent)

• Expected impact of ad formats and extensions

Google Ads Quality Score

Google Ads is a complex and ever-changing platform. One of the key components of getting ads to rank higher is optimizing ad quality. You can monitor a metric called Quality Score, a combination of ad quality metrics from past performance.

This score is measured on a scale from 1 to 10 and is available at the keyword level. A higher Quality Score means that your ad and landing page are more relevant and useful to someone searching for your keyword, compared to other advertisers.

Google doesn’t use Quality Scores itself in an active ad auction, which is vital to understand. But it instead helps you optimize your overall ad quality.

Google Ad Types

The platform offers many places to advertise online through the many Google services and its vast networks of over two million third-party apps and websites.

Google Ads may appear on all Google properties and its network of third-party websites.  

All the Google services you can place ads on: 

• Google Search

• Gmail

• Google Shopping 

• Google Maps

• YouTube 

• Google Discovery

Meaning depending on the style of content you’re producing, you will find the perfect ad type to fit your campaign needs. 

Also, the variety of different ads in your content distribution strategy can help you keep your marketing and advertising efforts always fresh, with different formats of ads targeting people at various stages of your sales funnels. 

All the available campaign and ad types: 

• Search Ads (Text Ads)

• Google Shopping Ads (Product Ads)

• Video Ads ( Learn more about YouTube Ads)

• Display ads (Image and Banner ads)

• App Ads (Through Google AdMob)

Why You Should Use Google Ads To Grow Your Business?

The internet is a massive place and it can be hard to stand out. The good news is that Google Ads can help you get noticed, drive traffic to your website, and grow your business.

In short, you should use Google Ads to grow a business online. Need a hand? Checkout this article:Grow Your Business with Google Ads: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide.

Whether you want to achieve sales, increase brand awareness, test new marketing strategies online, or collect data, the platform is the right choice.

Let’s look at more of the core benefits and the main reasons why companies should use it as part of their online strategy. 

Here are some of the benefits of Google Ads:

• Google Ads is an all-in-one digital advertising platform that helps you to reach your audience more effectively. It helps you create and manage paid search, display, video, and shopping ads across Google and other sites.

• It's easy to get started with Google Ads. You can quickly set up campaigns with a few clicks, and then easily monitor them to make adjustments as needed. You can also optimize your ads for conversions using automated bid adjustments based on your goals, so you have complete control over how much you spend and how well your ads perform.

• Costs are affordable—it's not expensive to set up an account and start using Google Ads!

• You can control everything from your phone or computer—you don't have to be a tech pro to get into this game!

• Results come fast—you can start seeing results within weeks or even days. Some businesses see results within hours!

• Competitors are easy to find and target—no one will know what's happening behind the scenes, so you can stay competitive without feeling like you're losing out on anything.

• Local advertising is available - Google ads allow you to target specific locations where your customers live, allowing you to reach more people in less time.

• Brand awareness increases—this is especially useful if you want more people from outside your immediate area to know about what you're offering them, whether it's a product or service, or anything else!

• Targeting options are plentiful—you can choose anything from age range down to zip code, country, and likes...

Conclusion

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) on Google is strongly growing. This platform is generating more clicks, conversions, and leads than any other advertising platform at the moment. At the same time, businesses are using Google more as a discovery tool.

So, there’s no doubt that search engine marketing is here to stay and will remain one of the most effective ways for advertisers to get their message out there.

If you've considered advertising online, I highly recommend Google Ads. It's an easy form of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to set up and use and provides marketers with a great number of options for promoting their business on the web.

Best of all? It's a free service (with limits), so it doesn't cost anything to get started!

Tabala Digital Solutions - Your Preferred Marketing Partner

At Tabala Digital Solutions, we help elevate your business with cost-effective local advertising solutions such as Google Ads and Google Business Profile. 

Our agency helps you manage your campaigns, gain insights into your performance, and optimize for success.

We believe that great advertising should fit your goals and help you get more customers. That's why we work to help businesses like yours.

Why work with us?

As a certified Google Partner agency, we have the knowledge and expertise to help you make the most of your Google Ads campaigns. By working with us, you can benefit from the following:

• Cost-effective solutions: We pride ourselves on delivering high-quality results that are cost-effective for your business. We understand that every dollar counts, and we work hard to ensure that your advertising budget is being used effectively.

• Enhanced local targeting: With our help, you can reach customers in your area more effectively. We can help you target specific geographic locations, so your ads are seen by people who are more likely to take action—whether that's visiting your store or making an online purchase.

• Control and management: We provide a high level of control and management over your campaigns. We can set up and manage your campaigns from anywhere, and we'll help you do it quickly so you can start seeing results fast!

• Full control over your ads: With our guidance, you get complete control over every aspect of how your ads look and behave on Google Search and Display. We give you all the techniques you need to succeed, and we work closely with you to ensure that your campaigns are optimized for maximum results.

Contact us here to claim your free account set-up, ad management, and optimization!