How does AdWords Work?
If you’re new to online advertising, or just Google AdWords, getting to grips with it can be a little bit daunting. Luckily, we’re here to show you that it’s not as difficult as it seems and that if you’re using it properly, it can be very powerful.
What is Google AdWords?
Google AdWords is Google’s advertising service. It allows you to place adverts for your products on search engine result pages. These adverts are paid for by you, and will ensure that your adverts are always at the top of the search results, without having to go down the SEO route.
Recommended Reading: What is SEO and how does it work?
Paid Searches
Advertising within the listings of a search engine counts as paid searching. This separates it from the SEO approach, which would be referred to as ‘organic advertising’. When a result on Google’s search engine results pages is a paid search, Google places a small ‘Ad’ label on the listings.
In addition to Google, Yahoo and Bing also operate their own advertising network. This is called the Yahoo Bing Network. However, Google AdWords is the much larger network, so for now we’ll focus on this.
So, how does it work? What do I do?
The basic idea of AdWords is that you pick a number of keywords that you would expect someone to use on Google. You would then need to create an advert that will appear on the search engine results pages based on those keywords. Where it gets a little more complicated is that there’s always going to be competition. When rival companies are wanting to use the same keywords as you, they can bid for the same search term. This is why there are often more than one set of adverts at the top of a Google page.
Bidding
You will pay Google AdWords every time your advert is clicked (Pay-Per-Click). You will be able to pick a maximum bid amount, or Google will choose for you if you choose to do the process automatically. Google will pick a sum from your budget and will work to get you the most clicks for your money.
Another method of bidding is Cost-per-Impression. This is where you pay for every 1000 times that your advert appears in Google’s search engine results pages regardless of whether or not a person clicks through.
Did you know: it takes about the same amount of time for Google to decide whether an auction is necessary, hold the auction and run the advert as it does to complete a Google search (around 0.26 seconds).
Quality Score:
However, it’s not all about money on Google AdWords. Google will also look at how relevant your advert is to the person who searched. It also looks at how many clicks your adverts have previously received and how relevant your landing page is.
It’s not enough to just point at your site’s homepage with the advert. You’ll need to have a landing page that immediately shows the searcher what they wanted to see.
It goes without saying that a higher quality score is better for your business and site overall. However, it also means that if you’re bidding with a rival company, your advert may appear above theirs even if they win as long as your quality score is better than theirs.
How well does it work?
It works extremely well. In a 2013 study, it was found that 40% of the people a study asked weren’t even aware that the results at the top of Google were adverts. In the time since 2013, the AdWords adverts have only gotten more inconspicuous.
Look to the experts.
If you’re still having trouble with Google AdWords and just still aren’t sure of how it works and why it works so well, then perhaps it’s time to look to the experts. At Sites For Business, we have a dedicated AdWords team who are in charge of working out ideal keywords for businesses and ensuring that the adverts are targeting the right people. For more information about our Google AdWords service, get in touch today.
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