One type of digital marketing that is widely used is search engine marketing, or better known as SEM. Search engine marketing includes all marketing done on search engines, one of which is Google Ads. As a form of paid search or paid search, Google Ads needs to be utilized by all business people to increase their business awareness.
Google Ads is Google's advertising service that allows you to pay a fee to have your website displayed on search results pages (SERPs) when someone enters certain keywords into a search engine. The SERP will display the ads that you create to bring searchers to your website. You only need to pay if people click on the ads.
In other words, you can pay to have your website visible at the top of the SERPs. Curious and want to know more about what Google Ads is? Check out the following explanation!
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads is an online advertising platform from Google that allows its users to create advertisements so that information and links to your site appear in Google search results. This means that people can find your site in the Google SERP with certain keywords that you have targeted. Initially, Google Ads was called Google AdWords before finally changing in 2018.
Even so, the services offered remain the same, namely advertisers pay per click (CPC) or pay per impression/impression (CPM) obtained from advertisements. Ads that are displayed not only on the Google search engine, but once you place an ad with Google Ads, your ad will appear on the search engine results page (SERP), Youtube, Blog, to the Google Display Network.
Maybe some of you are still confused about the difference between paid search, such as Google Ads, and organic search, or what is often known as SEO. Paid search and SEO both appear on search results pages, but they appear in different places. Here are the differences in the location of paid search and SEO.
As you can see, when you enter the keyword “online shopping”, the results at the top are paid search results. While the SEO results are below. To distinguish it, websites that do paid searches, they have a green sign that reads Ad in front of their website URL.
According to data from HubSpot, only 30% of people will click on a link that has the Ads sign. But does that mean that you don't need to do paid-per-click (PPC) campaigns?
Actually, not really. PPC campaigns can help your website appear on the first page if your website's SEO isn't very good. This can help you to build an online presence on the internet.
What are the Functions of Google Ads?
Google Ads has many functions and uses. Not only limited to displaying ads and the opportunity to be seen by many people on the Google platform, you can also take advantage of this one paid search method to give you an advantage.
Paid search like Google Ads may sound easy to use because you only need to pay, in contrast to SEO which requires you to do the right SEO strategy to appear on the SERP. When in fact you also need a strategy in optimizing paid search. Here are some of the functions of Google Ads as a form of paid search to support your marketing strategy:
1. Test landing pages
You can use Google Ads to test and optimize landing pages. You can just create two different landing pages to be installed in Google Ads. From there, you can see which landing pages are receiving more traffic.
This is called A/B Testing, a strategy where you do two different things to see which one works better. Paid search including Google Ads is one way you can do effective A/B Testing, because you can get traffic to the website pages you want and see which website pages have a higher conversion rate.
2. Looking for new keywords
In addition to landing page trials, you can do paid search to find new good keywords for your campaign. Google Ads can provide a "search terms" report that tells you the keywords where your ads are displayed when someone searches for those keywords.
For example, if you are bidding for the keyword “red shoes”, Google might show your ad if someone searches for “red sneakers”. Even if you don't include “red sneakers” in your keyword list, it will still be included in your report because it is a keyword many people are searching for.
Moreover, in the same report, you can see how each keyword is performing. So you can choose for yourself whether you want to include these keywords in the campaign.
3. Ensuring the website is located above-the-fold
One of the advantages of using Google Ads is that the website can be above-the-fold. What is above-the-fold? Above-the-fold is the part of the website page that is immediately visible without scrolling. If your website appears at the top of the SERP, it can be said that the website is above-the-fold. Websites like this have a greater possibility of being clicked than websites that are below-the-fold.
What are Different Type of Google Ads?
Google is a giant global company that focuses on internet services and products. Google has various products or channels, ranging from search, websites, software to advertising on various sites. Through Google Ads, you can reach various Google channels to run your ads. Several types of Google Ads include:
1. Google Search Ads
Google Search Ads are text advertisements that appear on Google search engine results pages (SERP). When you run ads on this type of Google Ads, your ads will appear at the top of organic search results or at the bottom of the first page of search results.
Whether your ad campaign displays at the top or bottom of the SERP depends on your bid price. The more you bid, the better visibility you get.
This type of Google Ads works by targeting keywords that are most frequently searched for by users or what is usually called search intent. So you can reach buyers as they browse the products or services you offer.
2. Google Display Ads
As the name suggests, Google Display Ads are visual image-based Google ads. In contrast to Google Search Ads which are text-based and based on target keywords, Google Display Ads allow you to reach potential audiences who are interested in your product but do not carry out search activities on Google Search.
In Google Display Ads, your ads will be displayed on all Google channels. You can usually see Display Ads when browsing your favorite websites. They can also appear in your Gmail account, apps, or videos but in the form of images.
Google Display Ads can help you introduce your business to a specific target audience who may be interested in what you sell but don't yet intend to search for it on Google. Apart from that, using Google Display Ads can drive site traffic, leads and even your sales. This way, you can reach more people than just using search ads.
3. Google Video Ads
This type of advertisement is probably one of the advertisements that we encounter most often, especially when accessing YouTube. As we know, YouTube is one of the many channels owned by Google, which also works like a special search engine for videos.
So, you can target your potential customers on YouTube based on what they watch. And with over 2 billion users worldwide, you have quite the audience to target.
Even though your video ad is hosted on YouTube, your ad can appear on YouTube and across websites and applications running on Google Video Partners, depending on the ad format and campaign settings you choose.
Apart from that, you can also choose the placement of your video ads, they can be placed before the main video, in the middle or after the main video ends.
4. Google Shopping Ads
Have you ever searched for a product or item on Google and found search results like the image below above? This is an example of Google Shopping Ads.
Google Shopping Ads are product-based advertisements. They are displayed specifically for product searches on Google.
Different from Google Search Ads search results, Google Shopping Ads displays product images along with the product title, price, shop name and reviews. Basically, they provide shoppers with important product information before they even visit the online store.
This type of Google Ads is best used to increase traffic to your e-commerce store and increase sales. Because, visually appealing Ads will usually perform better than regular search ads.
5. Google App Ads
Does your business have a mobile app? Through Google App Ads, you can promote with app campaigns across Google's biggest properties, including Google Play, YouTube, Search, and the Google Display Network.
This type of Google Ads is quite different from the others. You don't need to create individual ads for App campaigns. Instead, your ads will be automatically designed for you.
You only need to enter some copy text, starting bid or initial offer, budget to discuss and location for your campaign. You can also add some HTML5 assets if they are relevant to your business. Then, Google Ads will adapt this info for different ads across different formats and networks.
How Exactly does Google Ads Work?
There are three elements that must be present in a paid search campaign or Google Ads, namely keywords, ads, and landing pages. In doing a paid search, you need to tell Google a list of keywords. This will help Google determine which keywords the ads should appear on.
After that, you need to design ads so that the audience is interested and makes people want to click on them. If someone clicks on your ad, that URL should send them to a landing page. The goal of a landing page is to get visitors and convert them – whether that's buying a product, downloading an e-book, and so on.
To find out how Google Ads works further, you have to know what the elements are in it. Some elements of Google Ads are PPC, Quality Score, Keyword, Account Structure, and Budget. Here's the explanation:
1. Pay-Per-Click Bidding
If you are familiar with the term paid search, you may have heard of the term pay-per-click or better known as the acronym PPC. Pay-per-click means you won't pay for your ad if it's only displayed, you'll only pay if people click on your ad.
Then how does Google set the price to pay for each click? Google uses a bidding or auction system to set the price. For each keyword, you have the bidder with the highest price. For example, there is someone who charges $ 1.00, then there is another who charges $ 0.75, -.
Then there are those who set a price of $ 0,003, - and so on. Then Google will sort the website based on the highest auction price. The price of each click itself will be set by Google with the help of machine learning.
2. Account Structure
Google Ads account structure is very important for the efficiency and success of paid search campaigns. So you have the keywords, you have the list of keywords that you buy from, and then you have the ad that you want to show when someone types in one of those keywords.
Now you can group together the keywords you want your ad to appear on in order to create highly relevant Ad Copy for these keywords, and increase the likelihood that searchers will click on the ads.
3. Budget
When paying Google for a PPC campaign, you won't be swiping your credit card every time someone clicks on an ad. The way Google Ads works is that you set a daily budget for the campaign. So for each campaign, you can determine how much money Google can spend on that ad placement each day. For example entering $20.00,-/day for campaign A and Rp. 7.50,-/day for campaign B. Google will not exceed this amount.
What if all that money was spent in just an hour or two? However, if you have keywords that are very relevant or very popular, you run the risk of depleting your budget quickly. Google offers a feature that allows you to request that the budget is not spent immediately within 1-2 hours.
The daily budget limit is certainly a useful feature, especially for those just starting out with paid search. You can set a low budget when you start, and then slowly start measuring success and lead quality and try to optimize your campaign before you invest a lot of money in it.
When you start advertising on Google Ads, you will first tell Google which of these three goals you want to achieve:
- Direct more visitors to check out your store.
- Direct people to your company website or landing page.
- Then, you will be asked to determine whether the ad will be displayed to global or local consumers.
- Next, you will determine an image or three short sentences to display. What your business strengths are like, Google will use this data to help show it in ads.
- Finally, you will determine the budget according to the budget you have.
- Google will display your ad.
- Your target audience will see the ad and appear as a top search result.
- The more people click on your ad, the more your business will reach buyers in a wider area.
Is Google AdSense the same as Google Ads?
Both can give you benefits, so what is the difference between Google Ads and Google AdSense, which you probably also know?
The difference between Google Ads and Google AdSense is that Google Ads allows businesses to easily advertise themselves on Google services and products.
In contrast, Google AdSense allows people who have platforms such as blogs, websites, and YouTube to monetize or earn money through advertisements embedded in their platforms.
Google uses the Google Ads Auction feature to determine which ads to show through AdSense, and advertisers in Google Ads may need to adjust their ads to perform better in Google Ads Auction.
How do you Measure Success of Google Ads Campaigns?
Now you know what Google Ads is, its functions and how it works. Now, you can learn how to measure the success of the Google Ads ads you make. So, the only way to optimize Google Ads campaigns is to use the metrics and reports provided by Google. Check out the explanation!
There are four basic metrics that are important for paid search, including Google Ads, namely:
- Impressions are the number of times your ads appear when Google users enter that keyword. So impressions can also be said as how many people see your ads.
- Clicks are the number of clicks you get from ads. To be counted as clicks, someone has to click on the ads.
- Conversion is the number of people who see the ad, click on it, and take the action you want them to take while on your landing page. This action can be a download or a transaction. When you set up your account, you will get a tracking code that can help Google to track conversions.
- Spend is the amount of money used for the campaign.
The four metrics above are very important to note. But the analytics that are most important for optimizing your campaigns actually come from a combination of the following:
- Click Through Rate (CTR). CTR is the percentage of impressions that turn into clicks. The higher the percentage, the more successful the campaign will be.
- Conversion Rate. Conversion rate is the percentage of clicks that turn into conversions. The higher the value, the more successful the campaign.
- Cost-Per-Click (CPC). CPC is the amount of money you spend for each click. You can calculate the average CPC by dividing the amount spent by the clicks. For this measuring instrument, the smaller the value, the better.
- Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). CPA is the amount of money spent on each conversion. You can calculate average CPA by dividing total spend by total conversions. Just like CPC, the smaller the value, the more successful the campaign.
What is Google Ads called now?
Erzedka has discussed everything about what Google Ads is. Google Ads is an advertising platform from Google that allows its users to create advertisements so that links to your site appear in search results.
The thing to consider when creating an ad is that the Google Ads strategy will change. You need to adjust it based on the results of the report and the results obtained.
Conclusion
Google Ads is one of the most profitable advertising platforms for business people today. This is because Google Ads allows you to introduce and promote your products and services when users search for relevant keywords. Done right, it has the potential to increase leads and sales. But if you don't understand how Google Ads works, you can trust your campaign through Aptana.
As a company engaged in digital marketing, we provide mobile-based promotional services with more effective and measurable results, one of which is Google Ads. Through a data-driven approach, campaigns are run according to your business needs and potential target audience, so that maximum results are achieved.
Hopefully this article can help you set up a paid search strategy including Google Ads for your business. Good luck online!