We get it, spending your hard earned money on marketing your biz is scary, especially when you don’t really have any idea what you are doing! Unfortunately, more often than not the cliche “you have to spend money to make money” runs true, and you need to be spending money on your marketing campaigns in some way, shape or form.
When you spend your money, you want to be spending it in the right place. How does somewhere with 4.8 billion daily interactions sound? Cue Google.
Honestly, to the untrained eye, Google can look like an absolute rabbit warren. It is hella confusing! Our Google Ads experts at DDM live and breathe Google Ads, so you can safely leave your paid advertising in our capable hands, but sometimes you just want to know the basics! We have put together a little guide to help you navigate the different types of Google Ads campaigns.
Search Ad Campaigns
Search ads are the text ads that appear on the main Google Search Results Page (or SERP). They sit in amongst the organic search results (the ones that are gained through SEO efforts and are free positions), usually a few at the top, a few in the middle, and a few at the bottom of the SERP. You can always spot the ads from the organic search results because they will have a little “Ad” written beside them. Here is an example of a search ad:
Search ads are great for getting in front of people who are actively wanting to buy. With search ads you target specific keywords, so say for example if someone searches for “website design nz”, our ad has a chance of showing up. People searching for “website design nz” are actively looking for the New Zealand website designer, so we want to be front and center of that search.
Display Ad Campaigns
Google has a network of a whole range of websites in various different audiences that opt in to displaying Google Ads, known as the Google Display Network. Google Display Ads are image-based, and allows you to target people based on their habits and interests. Here is an example of a display ad:
Display Ads are mostly created to generate brand awareness, and they often don’t generate the same ROI like the other types of ads would. Display Ads allow you to get your brand in front of your target audience, and allows you to reach more people compared to search ads.
Shopping Ad Campaigns
Google Shopping Ads are product-based ads and are displayed specifically for product-based searches on Google. You will often see some Google Shopping Ads at the top of the SERP, to the left of the SERP if you are on desktop, or on the Shopping tab. Shopping Ads show the product name, product image, price, store name and reviews. Here is an example of a shopping ad:
Shopping Ads are great for boosting traffic to your ecommerce store, and increasing sales. Shopping Ads allow your target audience to see a snapshot of your product without even having to click through to your website, as well as compare your products with other alternatives extremely easily.
Video Ad Campaigns
Video Ads are played before, after or while a user is watching a video on Youtube or another Google Video Partner. These video ads come in a variety of formats such as skippable in-stream ads, non-skippable in-stream ads, in-feed ads and more. Here is an example of a video ad:
Google Video Ads allow you to get your product or service in front of the right audience. You can target your ads based on interests, age and gender to ensure you are getting your bang for buck and talking to the right people.
App Ad Campaigns
If you have a mobile app for your business, this type of campaign is likely the one for you! Google app ad campaigns promote your app across Google Play, Youtube, SERP & the display network. Here is an example of an app ad:
App ads encourage your target audience to install or take an action within your app. With this type of ad campaign, you don’t need to design and create the entire ad set, Google will automatically pull this together for you. All you need to do is provide some assets and let Google do its thing!
Google can reach an insane amount of your target market, and can bring you in a lot of sales and enquiries, so Google Ads should definitely be a consideration when creating your paid marketing strategy. If you would like to have a chat about whether Google Ads is right for you and your biz, get in touch!
