When looking at how to bring in traffic to your website, there might be some options that come to mind for paid ads. Usually the big names – Google and Facebook. Of course, there are lots of platforms that you can run ads on, almost everything that you can access for free online relies on advertising to give it revenue. Google ads in particular allow advertisers to place text, image and video ads in front of users that are searching or interested in the service/product that the advertiser can provide.
Because of this, I can answer in the definite – Google ads do work. How and why? Let’s get into it
How do google ads work?
Without going too technical, google ads work on a system of auctioning off placements in their search results. So if someone were searching for “holiday cottages” there are advertisers that want people to go to their website when that is searched and are happy to give google a budget of money per day to show their advert to as many people as possible that are searching for that phrase. There will be lots of competition for a lot of phrases, and when more and more advertisers are prepared to spend more and more money to be shown for that phrase, google can drive up what’s called the cost per click – so every time a user then clicks on an ad out of all of those shown, that will cost that advertiser more.
There are a lot more intricacies to it than just this, but we don’t need to know more than the basics – you need to find keywords that people are searching for, you need to see if you’re prepared to spend as much as your competitors to get people to click on that ad, and you need to then make your ad appealing enough for someone to click on rather than your competitor.
Why do they work?
The reason google search ads work (and this applies to any search engine ad link Bing as well) is because of why those ads are shown to someone. If you advertise on Facebook or Instagram, for instance, you are relying on the ad to be shown to people who have an interest in or who are in the correct location for what you sell. You are trying to then market to them when they are passively using their device. However, when someone searches “birthday cakes” on google they are there with intent, they want to find out more information on the product and look for a place to purchase. When your ad then shows up for google ads, there is already a better likelihood that someone clicking on that ad will buy your product/service than seeing an id without that same intent.
Of course, the reason why advertisers still use platforms like Facebook ads to show ads to people is that your ad can still be effective if you show to people at the right time with the right interests, and usually the key is for them to see an ad for you multiple times to increase the likelihood of a purchase/lead etc.
Why don’t your google ads work?
When a search campaign fails to get results, it is generally because of a few reasons
- Your keywords aren’t correct
- Your audience isn’t correct
- The ad doesn’t appeal
- The page(s) you bring them to from the ad don’t work for the audience
Your keywords aren’t correct
Use google’s own keywords planner which comes with your google account anyway and check the keywords you’re using – do they get many searches per month? Are there any alternatives that google can suggest you use instead? Broaden out your keywords and see if that brings in anyone better
Your audience isn’t correct
Have you chosen a certain location to target – and is it correct? If you’re running an international ad and the ad itself is only in English, consider splitting it into multiple ads and getting the ad translated to suit.
The ad doesn’t appeal
Search the phrase you’re targeting and see what your competitors are saying. If all of them mention they have x amount of years of experience and free delivery over x amount – make sure you include similar details in your ad. Make sure there are no spelling mistakes in your ad, as this is very easily missed as well.
The page(s) you bring them to from the ad don’t work for the audience
Are your ad and keywords centred around a particular product on your website? Do you then take them to the homepage? Don’t expect anyone to work for the page they need after they click on the ad, take them directly to the page that suits the audience. If there isn’t a particular page associated with that product/service on your website then you will need to adapt another page or, better yet, make a new page dedicated to it send them there.
If you want to know more about google ads or would like us to help with your google ads management, please feel free to get in touch with InSynch and we’d be happy to help.