Does Google Ads Work for Small Businesses?

There is an excellent chance you’ve interacted with some advertisements if you’ve ever used Google to search for a service or product. Millions of businesses worldwide use Google Ads, a genuinely revolutionary business tool, to advertise and generate billions of dollars annually. 

Online advertising is essential for bringing in new clients, whether your company is new or established. Because Google is one of the most popular online services, Google Ads can allow small businesses to advertise their service or product to internet users worldwide who use Google to look up items related to their industry and, consequently, attract new customers to your business.

In this post, we’ll go over how Google Ads works for small businesses and the pros and cons of it.

Pros and Cons of Google Ads

Although Google Ads can be a useful tool for reaching a sizable and specific audience, weighing the benefits and drawbacks before launching a campaign is crucial. Let’s jump into them:

Pros of Google Ads

• Because Google Ads target specific keywords, you can reach people when their purchasing intent is at its highest. Know that 89% of customers start their purchasing process by using a search engine.
• Although SEO is crucial for any business, it may take weeks or even months to start seeing results on the SERP. Paid search advertisements, however, start appearing right away.
• Not only do search ads appear at the top of the SERP, but search engines are also the most popular channel for consumers conducting online brand research, with Google being by far the most popular. As a result, with billions of searches on Google daily, your ads are more likely to be seen by potential customers actively looking for similar products or services to yours.
• As with most forms of digital marketing, the Google Ads platform provides quantifiable results, allowing you to see which ads, offers, keywords, and landing pages are performing the best. After each ad campaign, you’ll be able to see which keywords produce the best results, which times of day generate the most click-throughs, which specific ads convert the best, and so on.
• Google Ads should enable any advertiser worth their weight to generate a 2x Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). Google claims businesses typically see an ROI (Return on Investment) of 100% or $2 for every $1 spent. This estimate was created by Google using cost-per-click (CPC) data from a significant sample of its advertisers.

Cons of Google Ads

• Google Ads uses a pay-per-click business model, charging you each time someone clicks on your advertisement. This can add up quickly, particularly in competitive industries where the cost-per-click (CPC) can be high. 
• In addition to fluctuating cost per click, other bidders typically determine the overall sum. You might need to pay between $30 and $40 per click if your direct rival is willing to pay $35 for a keyword to appear in Google’s top ad position. As you might predict, the potential cost of ad placements increases with the number of bidders.
• There are hundreds of settings to deal with. These settings are required for optimization but can be confusing if you don’t know what each one does.
• The ongoing management and optimization necessary to maximize the effectiveness of your campaigns is another potential disadvantage. To ensure that the right people are seeing your ads and that you are getting the best return on your investment, Google Ads needs to be regularly monitored. This can take a lot of time, and a digital marketing expert might be needed.
• Google Ads, like other Google services, is constantly evolving. This means the more features and capabilities it adds to make the platform easier to use, the more difficult and confusing it can be to use—or at least learn.

Does Google Ads Work for Small Businesses?

Google Ads is very effective for small businesses if you have a solid strategy in place to target the appropriate keywords, audiences, locations, etc. Following these simple guidelines will enable Google Ads to propel your small business to new heights:

First, remember to think like your customer. Visitors click ads because they want to get something done. The purpose of your advertisement is to make it crystal clear that your offer is exactly what they were looking for. Therefore, you must write ads that include words that your target audience is likely to search for and incorporate those words into your headline and description text.

Also, do not forget that the landing page experience impacts your overall Quality Score. If you own a plumbing company and bid on keywords related to “plumbing materials” but direct users to a page about “emergency plumbing services,” they will most likely leave, and you will have wasted money on this click. The landing page to which you direct users must convey the need they are looking for.

Another thing you must work hard on is your keyword strategy. It is basically the key to maximizing your advertising budget; selecting the right keywords can save you money. And it does not simply imply selecting the cheapest term in your industry. A little PPC keyword research will reveal that a mix of high-cost, high-reward keywords, and branded or low-cost terms is the best way to go.

Additionally, there’s a good chance you and your competitors are using similar ad copy. In this case, whether or not your ad is clicked depends entirely on chance. However, if you include specific details about your service that set you apart from the competition, you can make your ad stand out and get a click.

How Much Does Google Ads Cost?

The amount of money that small businesses spend on Google Ads is entirely determined by their advertising budget and the keywords that they choose to target.

One can anticipate paying a lower CPC for “handmade bags” than “car insurance,” for example. Although there may be equally fierce competition for both, the insurance company would benefit significantly more from winning that customer. This illustrates how the industry of the business has a significant impact on Google Ads pricing.

The lifecycle of your customer is another important factor to consider. The decision-making process for larger ticket offerings takes more time, so your company needs to remain top-of-mind during that period. This could entail several visits to your website, a few content downloads, attending a webinar, and more—before making that decisive move.

Conclusion

Overall, we believe the answer is yes; Google Ads can be a powerful tool for improving the sales of your small business. There are numerous advantages to advertising on Google, such as reaching targeted and motivated audiences, a pay-for-performance pricing model, and easy-to-track ROI. And while there are some drawbacks, they are easily overcome.

You can relax if you’re concerned about learning how to use Google Ads effectively. You don’t have to be an expert because there are numerous tools available on the internet today that can assist you in making the process much easier.

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