Discover Google Ads explained and learn how to use the platform to create targeted ads, boost your online visibility, and attract more customers to your business.
Jannick Troelsen
6 things you need to know about Google Ads
This blog post is aimed at those who are not yet familiar with Google Ads but would like to learn more about what Google Ads actually is. Here you will find an easy-to-understand introduction to Google Ads.
You will gain a solid understanding of Google Ads, even if you have never worked with it or read about Google Ads before.
Google Ads is the engine behind the ads you see on Google whenever you perform a search on the Google search engine. These ads appear at the top and bottom of the search results, and sometimes on the right-hand side after you have searched.
Google Ads collaborates with Google Ads advertisers to display the most relevant online adverts that match your search.
The key word for Google Ads is relevance. Google uses a range of factors in a mathematical algorithm to tailor ads to your search. This ensures that the advert is relevant to you, increasing the likelihood that you will click on it.
Bear in mind that if Google’s search engine is not relevant to users’ queries, people will stop using Google as their preferred search engine.
Below you can see where Google Ads adverts typically appear after you have performed a search.
The search results/ads within the red frame are all Google Ads adverts. The results outside the frame are organic search results. There is a significant difference between the two, which I will explain below:
The position of your website in Google’s organic search results depends on how good your website is and how well it has performed over time in relation to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Search Engine Optimisation covers your website’s code as well as the copy on your site. There are countless parameters that can influence whether your website ranks higher or lower in the organic search field. It is crucial that you follow Google’s rules and guidelines. Otherwise, you risk being penalised and dropping far down in the organic search results – and it is almost impossible to regain your position.
Google’s organic search result is theoretically free, but in practice, it is not. It requires specialist knowledge of SEO. Generally, large brands tend to hold the top positions – although this depends on the search term.
Another important factor is how many inbound links your website has, whether these links are relevant to your site, and whether they come from other “good” websites.
A quick and effective way to attract good and relevant traffic is through paid Google Ads adverts. These ads are typically shown based on selected keywords.
You can optimise your ads to reach precisely the target group who are actively searching for what you offer. For example, if Mrs Smith searches for “affordable ceramics”, you can target your ad to her. Of course, you need to offer the product she is searching for and be skilled at targeting your Google Ads adverts and campaigns properly.
This type of paid advertising is also known as PPC marketing. PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click. This means you pay each time someone from your target audience clicks on your ad and visits your website.
This leads us to the next section of the blog.
Google Ads can cost nothing or everything. Sounds confusing? Perhaps a little…
What it means is that you can set exactly the budget you wish to spend on Google Ads. If you run a small business and can only afford to spend £20 per month on online marketing, you can set your budget at £20, and you will never spend more than that. Google Ads will take your budget and display your advert as many times as possible until the budget is used up. After that, your Google Ads adverts will stop showing until the start of the next month.
In most cases, advertising via Google Ads is almost always profitable, depending on your market. Most importantly, everything is measurable. This means that no matter what you do or write in your ads, you can measure whether your ads, campaigns, and keywords are successful.
You can then optimise your Google Ads adverts, keywords, and campaigns to improve them further. And, crucially, you can focus on the campaigns that perform best. All you need to do is read the statistics. You can analyse your results directly in Google Ads, as well as with other tools that connect to Google Ads. Google Analytics is the most commonly used. I will not go into further detail about statistics and analysis in this blog, as it can quickly become technical and overwhelming.
There are no restrictions on who can use Google Ads. It depends entirely on your business. For example, if you sell fresh strawberries from your farm and spend your day picking strawberries with a small profit margin, you may not have the resources to invest time and money in Google Ads advertising.
On the other hand, Google Ads advertising is highly relevant for an online shop selling clothing. I have looked up a couple of generic keywords on Google to show the difference between these two searches and demonstrate one of the tools you can use for more accurate ad targeting.
I have compared the traffic generated by “clothes online” and “fresh strawberries”.
Both statistics come from the same database, so they can be compared. Most importantly, you can see how often the two search terms are used and the level of competition for each keyword. This allows you to determine which term generates the most traffic and how much Google expects you to pay to compete for that keyword. The keyword “fresh strawberries” does not cost much to bid on – that is, the price you pay when someone clicks on your advert (see suggested bid).
Later in the blog, I will link to a video that explains how Google Ads bid prices are calculated – a very informative video from Google itself.
So what am I trying to say? If you have a little time in your day to work with Google Ads, you can manage it yourself. You can also hire a digital agency to handle it if you do not have the resources. You set your own budget and can compete for the keywords that matter to you.
But can’t the big companies simply pay more and always secure the top spots?
Simple answer: No.
As I mentioned earlier, relevance is the most important factor for Google. This remains true. You will learn much more about this in the video link at the end of the blog.
Google uses a highly complex algorithm with many factors at play. How good is your landing page – the page visitors arrive at when they click your ad? How well do your keywords match what your target audience is searching for, and much more. These factors are combined into a “quality score”. This is then calculated alongside your bid price. Therefore, you can compete with larger companies if you are skilled at creating effective ads and have optimised landing pages on your website.
Essentially, it is free and requires very little time, depending on the structure of your Google Ads account. You can create your own account here free of charge.
Costs only arise when you start advertising. Setting up a Google Ads account takes just a few minutes, but mastering it is a lifelong learning process.
Google Ads is constantly evolving, so it is important to keep up to date. You will need to invest considerable time in research and reading about Google Ads. You should also develop the right skills to achieve the best possible results. Otherwise, you risk wasting money – which happens far too often. Therefore, it is highly recommended to seek advice from a digital agency regarding your Google Ads account.
Here is a link to Google’s official site where you can get help getting started: Google Ads Help
Beyond the Search Network, you can also take advantage of Google’s “Search Partners”. A Search Partner is a website that uses Google’s web search. You can choose to advertise on Google’s partner network, which expands your advertising opportunities. There are many more options, but I will briefly explain two of them.
On the “Display Network”, you can advertise on a variety of websites that are part of the Display Network and have agreed to show adverts.
On the right, you can see an example from mx.dk. They are part of the Display Network and have chosen to show adverts from Google. This gives you the opportunity to display something visual and engaging, rather than just a short text ad.
However, this type of advertising does require more from you. You will need to create graphic materials, which takes time.
On the Display Network, you can choose to pay “per impression”. This means you pay each time someone sees your ad, rather than each time they click on it. This can be useful if you are looking to build brand awareness.
You can also put more effort into your adverts by creating a video to be shown on YouTube. On the right, you see an advert from CallMe, shown on the YouTube homepage at the beginning of a video tutorial.
The user can skip the video after five seconds. You might wonder: “Why should I pay if the user simply skips the video?” This is a very good question. Google has thought of this. The user must watch more than 30 seconds of the video, or the full video if it’s under 30 seconds, before you are charged. In theory, this means you can get a lot of “free” exposure by creating a video for YouTube.
Alongside the typical ad that can be skipped after 5 seconds, Google has recently introduced bumper ads, which are 6-second videos that viewers must watch before they can see their chosen video. With the 6-second format, you are less intrusive but still able to deliver your message. This ad type is particularly good for general brand awareness.
The following list highlights what you can use Google Ads for:
And as promised earlier in the article, here is an explanation of how the combination of your bid and quality score determines where your ad will appear – or if it will appear at all.
I hope this article has given you the information and tools you need to get started, or to understand what Google Ads is and what it can do for you. Below you will find a short video summary where Thomas explains the most important things about Google Ads in one minute:
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