Google AdWords is one of the best ways for businesses of all sizes and industries to bring traffic to their websites. However, because of its somewhat confusing nature, business owners and novice marketers often ask us, “What is Google AdWords, and how can it help us?” Here’s the answer.
What is Google AdWords?
AdWords is Google’s system for marketing across its search engine and its affiliate websites.
The most popular formats are search ads, which you see when you search for something on Google, and display ads, which are the banners you see on websites across the internet.
You can spend any amount of money to bid for your ads to be shown, making it affordable even for businesses with small marketing budgets. Also, the wide variety of targeting criteria allows each campaign to be fine-tuned in order to maximize the value of each dollar spent.
5 Ways AdWords can Benefit your Business
1. Almost Instant Results
What is Google AdWords best at doing? Driving traffic to your website or landing page. Within just a few hours of launching an ad campaign that directs to a page on your website, traffic may begin to increase.
This makes AdWords a great choice for new websites that don’t have enough SEO authority to develop sufficient brand awareness.
2. Provides High Return on Investment
The main goal of any ad campaign is to maximize the number of conversions for the least amount of money. Since it has Google Analytics integration, the effectiveness of AdWords campaigns is easy to measure and tweak.
This allows you to adjust your budget on a day-to-day basis, if necessary,y until you find the sweet spot that generates the most return on investment.
3. Gives Insightful Data
Another word on Google Analytics—it offers insights into your audience that you would have a tough time finding elsewhere. Running an AdWords campaign, and then running Analytics reports on the traffic driven by the campaign delivers a wide range of demographic data, including:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Interests
- Online behaviors
You can then use this information to improve not only your AdWords campaigns, but social media and email marketing campaigns as well.
4. Detailed Targeting Criteria
AdWords campaigns can be targeted based on demographic criteria, such as the information above, or by keyword-based search queries.
For example, bidding on the keyword phrase “Long Island accounting firms” which trigger your ad when someone searches Google for it, is an excellent way for small businesses to gain visibility in the local market.
Alternatively, AdWords offers a remarketing option, which will show your ads to people who have visited your website in the past, but neglected to become a lead or make a purchase. This serves as a constant reminder that your business offers something they may be interested in.
5. Can be used for a Variety of Goals
The versatile targeting criteria and ad formats make it convenient to tailor AdWords campaigns to serve any digital marketing goal your business has, whether it’s to increase brand awareness or generate leads.
Having an understanding of what is Google AdWords and its capabilities will help you navigate the digital marketing landscape with much more confidence and success.
