Understanding Google Ads and Google Search Network Campaigns

QUESTION: What Do All These Google Products Have in Common? 

Google Clips, Google Daydream, Google Goggles, Google Spaces, Google Swiffy, Google Currents, Google Talk, and Google Mini... 

ANSWER: These Are All Google Products That Have Been Discontinued by Google. 

As you can see the graveyard of former Google products alone is huge, then, if we factor in their current products, many of which have also had name changes over the years, it gets even more complex. It's no surprise then that digital marketers sometimes find getting the names and products right confusing. You may be reading this very article because you typed into a search engine:

What is Google Adwords?

I hate to break it to you, but the platform Google Adwords no longer exists, Google Adwords, the product that played such a huge role in making Google one of the biggest companies in the world, no longer exists. 

These days it goes by the name of Google Ads, so before we understand exactly what that is, get the name straight in your head: It's Google Ads, not Google Adwords. 

To help with all this confusion, today I am just going to focus on helping you understand what Google Ads is and why you might need a Google's Ad Account . 

What is Google Adwords? 

Ahem,    >: (

Sorry I mean, what is Google Ads?

Google Ads is an online advertising platform that offers a variety of different types of marketing campaigns based on the Pay-Per-Click model. This means the advertiser pays Google a fee every time the target audience completes an agreed action. Google marketing products on this service include

• Search Network Campaigns
• Display Network Campaigns
• Shopping Campaigns
• Video Campaigns
• App Campaigns

To focus on the essentials, today we are just going to talk about one of these: Search Network campaigns. This is also the platform's most Iconic product.

SMB TIP: If you are new to Google Ads, the Google Ads Coaching feature in rankingCoach 360 is a great way to start. I will automatically optimize and target your ads based on your website needs and offer you a selection of professionally generated ads to choose from.

What Does A Google Ads Search Network Ad Look Like?

The most obvious place to see an example of what a Google Ad looks like is on the first results page of Google. These ads look similar to unpaid organic results but they have  ‘Ad’ or ‘Sponsored’ written by them. They are normally the top result displayed. For instance, all three of the top results displayed for the term Lawyers London are Google Ads

Where Else Do Search Network Campaigns Appear?

Google Ads don't just appear on the Google results page they can also appear on: 

Google Maps, Google Images, Google Play, and Google Shopping.

The results of Google search partners are also a location for Google ads, that many people are not aware of. These are websites that use Google search applications to help users find content on their websites. For example Online Newspapers like the Guardian

How Does A Google Ad Get The Top Place on Google?

If I type a phrase like 'online car insurance' into Google, the top result that appears will be a Google Ad. The insurance company running that ad will have set up a Search Network Campaign that includes the term 'car insurance online in the terms they wish to appear for. 

Terms like 'online car insurance' have a high likelihood of conversion so will often have an ad as the top result as many other advertisers are trying to appear for this term. In order for this specific car insurance company's Ad to appear as a top result, the site's marketer will have won Google's keyword auctioning process for that specific search.

How Does The  Google Ads Auctioning Process Work?

Every day millions of Google Ads auctions are occurring. Every time a user types an inquiry into Google, the Google Ads auctioning process will take place to decide which Ad is shown. 

Google Ads can be set for a variety of objectives such as click-throughs or sales conversions, the marketer only pays Google if the target of the Ad completes the target action. 

As with online auctioning processes like eBay, Google Ads auctions feature a bidding process where the advertiser sets their maximum bid. Often the highest bid will get the best position but unlike eBay, this is not always the case, especially with pay-per-click ads.

This is because with pay-per-click ads Google only receives a fee if a user clicks on an ad, so Google calculates the value of a bid in its virtual auction for pay-per-click in a different way using the following equation

Bid value = Bid Per Click × Probability of Click

What this basically means is that If an ad with the top bid is not clicked on by a high proportion of searchers who see it in the search results, then that ad’s bid will come to have a less overall value compared to the similar bids with a higher proportion of clicks. This method of calculating the winner of Google Ads auctions makes it possible for ads with lower bids and higher click-through rates to beat higher bids in auctions. This is great news for advertisers who have well set-up ads, but very bad news for those who haven’t taken the time to optimize their Google Ads. 

Optimizing Your Google Ads

Now that you know that just by getting more clicks on your ads you can get better value for your Google Ad bids, naturally, your next question must be: how do I optimize my Google Ads to maximize clicks on the SERP? Doing this requires focus on two key areas: ad targeting and ad creation.

The first area is about making sure the words your ads are targeting the best possible words that searchers type into search engines, so in the previous example ‘car insurance’ was a good target phrase but the marketer may find that that the term ‘insure my car now’ is better value because it gets more clicks, attracts more customers, or simply costs less. Constantly improving your Google Ads will help you to find the best ad version. 

Once you have chosen the best keywords to target for your ads, you then need to optimize your ads so that the maximum number of the right kind of searchers click on them. Getting this right can involve a lot of trial and error, competitor analysis, and focus on key marketing triggers such as CTAs and persuasive language. Alternatively, Google Ads features like those found in rankingCoach 360 target and optimize your ads automatically.

Optimize my Google Ads Now

Who Is Taking Part in Google Ads Auctions?

Just because a company is targeting a phrase for Ads doesn't mean they will bid on that phrase every time it is entered into Google...

Shrewd digital marketers target the right time of the day when their target audience is most likely to convert. Geography also plays an important role, for instance, a Local business focusing their ads on local searches for terms such as 'cafes near me', should set their campaign to only bid on searches that are made by users who are likely to be within a sensible driving distance of their business. 

The marketer's budget distribution also affects which auctions they can bid in. An ad campaign ends when the marketer has exceeded their budget limit. Marketers who set their campaign to bid on as many searches as possible may quickly exhaust their budget for that day too early, and may not be able to take part in ad auctions when their search terms lead to the best conversion rates. This is a key reason why ad budget control is also really important for a good Google Ads auction strategy. 

How Not to Do Google Ads

The combination of bidding and CTR rates, along with a huge array of variations on how a Google Ads campaign can be targeted, makes the platform extremely effective for marketers with the right approach. On the other hand, marketers who are new to the game and don’t know how to optimize and target their Google Ads correctly can waste a lot of money by picking the wrong kinds of ads, failing to optimize them, and not controlling their budget. 

For example, A marketing campaign that is set up with a payment for impressions, with a target audience and keywords that are too broad, could quickly spend their budget on clicks that bring a lot of traffic to a website but don’t create any sales. Another problem could be that a well-targeted ad that isn’t well optimized to attract clicks, loses out in auctions to lower bids. 

These are just a few of the many reasons why it's so important for businesses who use Google Ads to have the right approach. We hope this article has given you a better understanding of what Google Ads are, how the auctioning process works and why you should put time into targeting and optimizing your Google Ads correctly. At the very least, now you should have the name right - it’s Google Ads!

Professionally Target and Optimize Google Ads in 3 clicks

You don’t have to pay agencies thousands to professionally target and optimize your Google Ads to bring more sales and customers to your business. All you need is the Google Ads feature of rankingCoach 360. This feature allows you to professionally optimize the target and launch ad campaigns in 3-clicks.

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