Google Ads Questions – A Definitive Guide

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is an online advertising platform that allows businesses of any size to advertise products and services through Google. It lets you to set a budget and specific goals, such as more phone calls or website visits and allows you to target your ads to a preferred audience.  The five types of Google Ads include:

Search: Text-based ads that appear on the first page of Google when a user searches a keyword. Each keyword you choose will cost you a certain amount each time a user clicks on the ad, with the more popular a keyword being, the higher the cost.

Display: The display option works differently from PPC as it doesn’t involve people actively searching a keyword. Instead, Google Display uses data and cookies from user’s web activity to figure out what advertisements they’ll be interested in seeing.

Video: These 6 – 15 video ads will show before or during a YouTube video.

Shopping: enables users to view product information for sale on your website. These campaigns link to Google Merchant Center which allows you to manage, update & review the data feeds that are linked to your website. Depending on your website, these feeds can be manual or automated. 

App: This campaign allows you to promote your apps across Google, including Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, and the Google Display Network.

How does Google Ads work?

Google ads uses an auction system, where users must bid on keywords they want their website to rank for. When you bid, you’re letting Google know the maximum amount you’re willing to pay each time someone clicks on your ad. In addition to agreeing to a set budget, Google will also look at the quality and relevance of your ad and the user experience of the designated webpage. This will then help determine the positioning of your ad – though no one knows for certain what Google’s exact formula is.

How can I get Google to prioritise my ad?

There are a few things you can do to improve your ad positioning. They include:

• Raise your keyword bid.
• Improving the quality of your ad – clear, concise copy and short snappy headlines.
• Making sure landing pages are specific – if your keyword is for ‘baby socks’, make sure the ad goes to a page selling that item, and not a homepage.
• Adding ad extensions, such as a phone number or sitelink extensions (multiple links in one ad).

How much does Google Ads cost?

The cost of Google ads is determined completely by your set monthly budget. You’ll only be charged when users click on your ad, which may differ in amount depending on the day. Google will try to evenly disperse your budget for the duration of your campaign, and work out what days get more traffic and adjust your campaign accordingly. You can lower, raise, or stop your budget at any time. Google will never go over your set budget, even if the results get more views and clicks than your budget allows.

What’s the difference between Google Ads and SEO?

When it comes to PPC FAQ, this is one of the questions we get asked most. Considered the short game, Google ads will get you results quickly but only for the duration of the campaign. SEO, on the other hand, involves implementing a long-term strategy of placing the right keywords on your webpages to improve Google’s crawl accessibility. Though SEO may take a little while to work (up to six months), it’s a longer lasting marketing solution than PPC.

Should I use PPC and SEO?

Yes! It’s recommended you use both PPC and SEO for the best chances of webpage visibility. Running both gives you more data to analyse and can help determine which keywords have the best conversion rate.

Can I do Google Ads myself?

You certainly can, though it’s recommended you enlist the help of a digital marketing professional for the best results. This is because the Google Ads algorithm is constantly changing and requires integrating quite a few platforms for proper campaign analysis. A Brisbane digital marketing agency can conduct the keyword research, oversee your campaigns, and make changes when necessary to improve your results.

What’s involved in a Google Ads campaign?

Setting up a Google Ads campaign requires some time and patience, and a good bank of knowledge to do well. At Resurge Digital, a typical Google Ads campaign involves the following steps:

• Understanding the campaign goals (Sales, leads, website traffic, product & brand consideration, brand awareness & reach).
• Working out what offers to prioritise and what pages to direct ads to.
• Deciding on the campaign type (Search, display, video, shopping, app).
• Setting out a clear budget.
• Conducting keyword research.
• Setting up conversion tracking in Google Analytics.
• Creating imagery (for display) and creative copy for each ad.
• Creating multiple AdWords campaigns.
• Adding add extensions to drive quality score.
• Optimising website landing page if necessary, to improve quality score.
• Bidding on keywords, and regular overseeing of campaigns to make modify when necessary.

These are just some of the steps we take to ensure a successful campaign, but each campaign is different and may require more actions. Ultimately, our goal is to get you the best results for the lowest amount of investment.