Why Google Ads Works

Many marketers and business owners are curious about Google Ads (previously AdWords) and its effectiveness. While it requires investment, we firmly believe that Google Ads, Google’s highly successful pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform, can benefit virtually any business. Countless companies have discovered that Google Ads provides a strong return on investment (ROI) with its measurable results. This article will focus on the reasons why you should consider using it, rather than the how.

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It’s important to clarify that we are not suggesting you prioritize PPC over other marketing strategies. A well-rounded approach, incorporating organic search, email marketing, events, social media, and other lead generation methods, is always recommended. Your marketing budget allocation should depend on the channels that prove most effective for your business.

This article addresses the value of Google Ads. Let’s explore 10 compelling reasons to consider it.

1. Google Ads Offers Scalability

One of the biggest marketing challenges is finding lead sources that can be scaled without requiring exponentially more effort. This is where Google Ads excels. Its scalability is a key reason why some businesses invest millions in it annually. A successful, profitable Google Ads campaign can be easily scaled by increasing your budget, resulting in more leads and higher profits. This makes Google Ads very effective for businesses needing a high volume of leads but lacking time and resources.

2. Google Ads Provides Measurable Results

Online marketing offers superior measurability compared to traditional channels like TV or print ads. Google Ads PPC stands out as one of the most measurable online channels. SEO measurements can be imprecise due to the inability to pinpoint specific actions influencing ranking fluctuations and the “not provided” data issue. Social media also presents measurement challenges. In contrast, Google Ads offers greater transparency. Its abundance of PPC metrics provides granular insights into campaign performance, allowing you to quickly identify what’s working and what’s not. You can quickly determine your campaigns’ effectiveness and ROI.

3. Google Ads Offers Flexibility

Google Ads’ extensive customization options allow you to tailor your campaigns and ads to meet your specific needs, ensuring you reach your desired audience effectively. Google Ads allows you to:

• Utilize keyword match types to display ads only to users searching for specific keywords, such as “vegas hotels,” filtering out broader searches related to Las Vegas or hotels. (SEO, in contrast, is more aspirational; you influence ranking attempts but can’t control the outcome.)

• Incorporate ad extensions to showcase product images, phone numbers, comprehensive site links, physical locations, and even initiate chats or collect email addresses directly from the search results page.
• Refine your target audience based on location, time of day, language, browser, device type, and more. Irrelevant SEO traffic (e.g., traffic from outside your target market) can be avoided with Google Ads’ precise targeting capabilities.
• Tap into a vast network of users beyond search, including those on platforms like Gmail, YouTube, and numerous partner sites.
• Utilize the display network, which is highly effective for brand awareness and often delivers conversions at a lower cost than Google Search.

4. Google Ads Delivers Faster Results Than SEO

New businesses and websites often face a waiting game with SEO, as it can take months to see tangible results. This delay, previously dubbed the Google sandbox effect, was thought to be Google deliberately suppressing new sites. It’s more likely due to the high competition and the time it takes for a site to build authority and earn backlinks.

Google Ads provides a solution for new businesses to see faster results. While working on SEO, allocate resources to Google Ads campaigns to generate impressions and clicks immediately. This speed makes it an excellent tool for testing the viability of keywords or audiences for organic search. Strong conversions through Google Ads suggest potential for SEO ranking and content development in that area. This illustrates how Google Ads and SEO can complement each other effectively.

Additionally, starting with Google Ads can be budget-friendly. Google often provides vouchers (essentially free PPC budget) to new advertisers. Currently, there’s a special offer for Google Ads Express: Sign up by December 16 and get a free month of advertising.

5. Google Ads Is (Generally) Easier to Implement than SEO

The debate on whether SEO or PPC is more challenging is ongoing. At nexus-security, we have expertise in both. Currently, maintaining our established PPC campaigns requires considerably less effort than our SEO activities. Managing our large website and its content updates is a significant task. Additionally, expanding organic traffic demands a dedicated team consistently producing SEO content, optimizing, and building links. It’s a fulfilling, creative process when successful, but it’s reassuring to have PPC as a reliable lead source that demands less continuous effort.

Learning Google Ads is potentially easier due to less conflicting information available. The abundance of self-proclaimed SEO experts makes it difficult for marketers to discern reliable sources from those peddling ineffective tactics. Conversely, such a “gaming” industry doesn’t exist around Google Ads. Our Google Ads Learning Center is a great resource for getting started.

6. Google Ads Is Gaining Prominence on Search Results Pages

Google Ads, being Google’s primary revenue generator (accounting for approximately 97%), has led to changes in search results pages (SERPs). Over time, more above-the-fold space is dedicated to ads than organic results. This trend, while potentially frustrating for SEO professionals and users, presents an opportunity for advertisers. It allows for prominent placement of compelling messages on SERPs, as it’s a misconception that Google ads are ignored. For searches with high commercial intent (the ones you’d want to target), sponsored ads capture up to two-thirds of clicks on the first page.

7. Google Ads Formats Offer Greater Engagement Than Organic Results

Google has introduced numerous new ad formats in recent years, including product listing ads and in-video ads on YouTube. The motivation behind this is simple: more visually appealing and engaging ads generate higher click-through rates, translating into increased revenue for Google. Since higher clicks benefit advertisers as well, leveraging these new ad formats and extensions is recommended. They stand out significantly compared to standard organic listings.

8. Google Ads Traffic May Yield Better Conversions Than Organic Traffic

While we value organic traffic, there’s evidence suggesting that paid search traffic converts better than organic traffic – with conversion rates potentially double that of organic. (Conversion rates vary by industry. This might not apply to your business, and testing is crucial.) The likely reason is that paid search traffic is more targeted and qualified (thanks to the targeting options discussed earlier). Queries resulting in ad clicks tend to be more commercially driven than informational.

9. Google Ads Complements Your Existing Marketing Strategies

Google Ads works in harmony with your other marketing efforts. Remarketing, in particular, is a potent way to re-engage users who have previously shown interest. Google Ads remarketing uses cookies to track past visitors to your site (who might have discovered you through social media, your blog, product page links in emails, etc.). Your display ads will then “follow” them across the internet, keeping your brand fresh in their minds. For example, the Land’s End and Priceline ads below are retargeted ads based on my recent visits to those websites within the last month.

You can even showcase the specific products they viewed. This tactic, along with abandoned cart emails (based on the same principle), boasts a retargeted ads have super-high ROI compared to other marketing channels.

10. Your Competitors Are Leveraging Google Ads

Finally, there’s the peer pressure factor: the classic “If everyone else is doing it, shouldn’t you?” argument. While not a valid reason for reckless actions, it holds weight in search engine marketing. Covario reported a 33% year-over-year increase in global paid search spending in the third quarter of 2012. NetElixer’s research, analyzing data from 38 major US retailers and 120 million search ad impressions, revealed that “revenue generated by paid search on Black Friday surged by an impressive 31% year-over-year, as advertisers boosted their investment in keyword advertising by 21% compared to 2011.” Search for keywords relevant to your business, and you’ll likely encounter competitors in the sponsored results at the top of the SERP. Can you afford to be absent?