Google Ads: Is It Worth The Investment?
Here at Deviant Digital Services we try to encourage business owners to focus on foundational services first when it comes to digital marketing. Examples of these foundational services are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or even Social Media Marketing. We’ve written about these services before and referenced how these strategies are important to the foundation of your brand. However, they tend not to garner results quickly, instead usually yielding obvious results years down the road. In a previous blog we likened this to your savings account building up interest and good faith with the bank of Google over time.
While focusing on these foundational services can be all well and good, we’ve often spoken to business owners who feel time is of the essence. They tend to ask us, “why should I spend hard-earned marketing dollars on a service that isn’t returning on my investment right away?” It’s a fair question, after all many business owners need new customers NOW and saving away for tomorrow doesn’t necessarily pay the bills today. This is often why people tend to focus on digital marketing strategies which return results fast. The most popular of these choices are Google Ads, but the question has to be asked: are Google Ads worth the investment? Deviant Digital Services wants to break down that question, because as usual with digital marketing the answer is not always as simple as it seems.
What Are Google Ads?
There are many different types of Google Ads including display or image ads, video ads, remarketing ads, dynamic ads, local service ads, search ads, etc. For today’s lesson though, let’s focus on the ads easiest to identify, which are text search ads that appear at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) of Google. Of course, there are other search engines and digital ads entirely such as Bing Ads or Facebook and Instagram ads. Again though, since Google accounts for over 90% of the world’s search market share let’s remain focused on Google for now.
To the right is an example of what you first see on the Google SERP page after searching “pizza near me”.
Ads are always going to be listed first and you can identify them by their Ad label. As you can see the top listing for this SERP is an ad, and as you can imagine that is extremely sought after real estate. Afterall, who doesn’t want their business to be the first thing at the top of the page for users to find? In theory if your brand has a Google Ad at the top of the SERP, then users could click to your website or landing page and ideally convert to become a customer. It’s only beneath these ads on the SERP that users can start to see the SEO listings. We’ve written previously about the work it takes for a website to rank via SEO, but as we’ve reiterated that process takes quite a bit of time. What then does it take to run a Google Ad so your business can skip the wait and be listed as number one in the SERP today?
The Google Auction House: How Google Ads Works
Google Ads is an extremely complicated and diverse digital marketing strategy that we could not possibly fully explain within one blog. This is why Google offers academy courses and certifications to the world’s top digital marketers for becoming properly trained in the medium. Trust me when I say there are many rabbit holes you can fall down in the world of Google Ads which is why it’s always best to work with professionals like Deviant Digital Services to ensure your Google Ad campaigns are running properly.
That said, for the sake of today’s purpose we’ll explain the most basic functions of Google Ads so you can start to grasp this strategy's ecosystem. First and foremost, Google Ads are precisely what they sound like, they are ads. Which means you need a Google Ads account with a credit card on file and budget ready to pay for that prime-time real estate we discussed before. However, simply paying money does not guarantee that you will have that number one spot in the SERP. It just means that you are now bidding for that number one spot. You see a common misconception with Google Ads is that many think businesses are buying their ads placement on Google. In fact, this is not the full picture because Google is actually auctioning off ad opportunities and placements to the best bidder.
Let’s imagine a scenario to paint this a bit clearer:
Pretend you are a business owner who runs a local pizza shop. You are ready to start running Google Ads so you create your Google Ads account, connect it to a credit card, and have your budget ready. Those three things now earn you a ticket which allows you to enter the illustrious Google Auction House. In this auction house you are escorted to the room which is most relevant to you because the theoretical “items” up for bid are related to “pizza near me” searches in your area.
You enter the room and find you are far from the only interested party who wants to bid on “pizza near me”. In fact the room is full of other pizza shop business owners who want the same thing you want. You look around and notice business owners from the pizza shops down the street, pizza shops that are your top competitors, and even big nationwide pizza brands like Dominos or Papa Johns. All of these people or brands are in the exact same room as you, throwing their hands in the air and eagerly bidding on the chance to win the “pizza near me” search which is being auctioned off at the front of the room by the Google auctioneer.
Now you may look around this auction room and think, “My goodness what chance do I have? Clearly everyone else knows what's going on here and I can’t compete with all these people. Besides, aren't the big nationwide brands going to win out no matter what? They clearly have a budget that small business owners like me can’t compete with.”
Before you toss in the towel let me assure you that the Google Auction House has put in contingency plans to avoid that very problem. Google wants the small business owners of the world to have a fighting chance in these auction rooms without bleeding their budget dry. They don’t want the big brands to price you out of items you really desire like “pizza near me” searches. Which is why the Google Auction House created the “Quality Score” system.
You may not have noticed when you first walked into the Google Auction House room but someone slipped a lanyard over your head when you came in. That lanyard now hangs around your neck and at its end is a badge with a number 1-10 of your current Quality Score. There are a lot of factors that can impact your Quality Score, which I’ll touch on next but first you should know it’s actually the Quality Score more so than budget which will impact if you can win the best bid for your desired search term, “pizza near me”.
For instance, if there are two bidders in the room imagine one bids $20 on the auction item but they have a Quality Score of 1 on their badge. Then the bidder offers $10 on the same auction item, but they have a Quality Score of 8 on their badge. In this scenario the Google Auction House will give preference to the second bidder with the higher Quality Score even though they bid less money. This is a perfect example of the Quality Score system purpose and protecting the smaller business owner.
So imagine you study your badge and find that you currently have a Quality Score of 4 listed. Obviously, you want that Quality Score to go up, especially if it will help the Google Auction House see you more favorably and potentially cost you less when bidding. The question has to be asked then, how can you increase your Quality Score at the Google Auction House. Again there are a lot of factors which go into your Quality Score and truthfully Google is only partially transparent about their process. This is another reason why it’s important to utilize professionally trained and Google certified experts, like Deviant Digital Services, who can help you test and evolve your Google Ads campaigns so your quality score can improve.
That said, there are still a few factors we know for certain which can impact your quality score such as:
Website
Does your website clearly state your business’ Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP)?
Is your website safe and secure?
Is your website mobile friendly?
Does your website have a good site speed?
Do users generally have a positive experience on your website?
Is it easy for visitors to call or contact you about their pizza needs?
Relevance
If you want to win the “pizza near me” search, does your website talk about pizza?
How much does your website talk about pizza?
Do you list all the different types of pizza you cater to? Crusts? Sauces
Is your business actually located near the person who searched for “pizza near me”?
If not, does your website clearly state your service area and delivery options?
Reviews
What do people say about your pizza?
What do people say about your business in general?
Do you have a lot of reviews or only a few?
Are you responding to reviews, especially the negative ones?
In general, do you care about what users think of you, your website, and pizza?
Trustworthiness
How long have you been running ads with Google?
Do you turn your ads off and back on again often?
Are you frequently raising and lowering your ad budgets/bids?
When users click on your ads, do they find what they need?
Are users complaining after clicking your ads and visiting your website?
Are you regularly paying your Google Ads invoices?
That’s a lot to consider, right? Let’s say you’ve completed all of the above evaluations and taken the necessary steps to improve your quality score. You’ve been running Google Ads for over 30 days, fixed up your website, nurtured the reviews, and settled on a consistent budget and bidding strategy. Then low-and-behold your Quality Score has improved to a 9 and you have successfully bid and won the auction for the search term “pizza near me”. Hurrah you think and jump up and down in celebration while you shout, “Finally my business ad is in the number one spot on Google!”
But before you celebrate too much I’ll have to point out you’ve only won the first spot for this particular search for “pizza near me”. Specifically, this search was completed at 1pm from Bob down the street. You still have to continue bidding for the other “pizza near me” searches happening all the time. Like Laura from a few blocks away who is searching for “pizza near me” or Steve from a mile away searching for “pizza near me”. That’s right, this Auction House room was only accounting for Bob’s one instance of the search. There is in fact a bidding room for EACH time people search “pizza near me” searches. Not to mention other search terms you may be interested in like, “gluten free pizza”, “deep dish style pizza”, “pizza delivery” and on and on the searches go.
With eyes wide with shock you look around the Google Auction House and realize how big it truly is and each room is accounting for every instance of a search. While you may win the bidding of one auction room, it doesn’t mean you’ll win in another. Furthermore, that search you won from Bob earned you a click to your website (yay!) however upon visiting your site Bob changed his mind and decided he wanted tacos for lunch instead. He left your site without calling to order a pizza, but you still have to pay for his click because you won the auction.
This all seems like a really overwhelming analogy I’m sure, but I promise success can be had with Google Ads. While this ecosystem can seem frustrating and like quite a bit of work, there are many people who have increased their revenue and Return On Investment with Google Ads. Still, it’s easy to see how without proper training and certifications Google Ads can quickly become a slippery slope.
Are Google Ads Worth The Investment?
Finally, we’ve come full circle to the question we asked at the top of the blog. Are Google Ads worth the investment? In short, yes, but only to an extent.
Once your Google Ads campaign is matured and performing, it becomes easier to navigate the Google Auction House and run ads regularly. Google Ads are a wonderful way to drive leads for most businesses and it’s easy to prove the strength of performance. The trouble we’ve often seen business owners fall into is they run Google Ads without focusing on improving their foundational services too.
Here’s a quick image to paint the picture clearer:
As we’ve mentioned before Search Engine Optimization is a foundational strategy that helps improve your website and brand presence over time. It’s like a savings account building up interest and good faith with the bank of Google over time. Since SEO takes time, often when people are waiting for the SEO growth they invest in Google Ads to help bridge the gap and start generating leads right away. Yet if SEO is like a savings account, Google Ads and PPC advertising is the equivalent of a credit card. While a credit card does have it’s benefits, if you use it too much the price and budget can get out of hand. What’s more, as years go by, if you have not been working on your “Google savings” as well, you’ll have nothing to show for it.
Let Deviant Help Today
Google Ads can be an exciting and effective element to your digital marketing strategy, but it should not be your only priority if you want your business to continue growing over time. If you’re ready to planning your Google Ads campaign with effective strategizing, talk to the professionals at Deviant Digital Services today. We are Google Certified so can help you earn the best investment and results from your Google Ad campaign while also ensuring your foundation is improving as well. Give us a call or send us an email today and don’t forget to follow us on social media.
