Do Google Ads Really Work?

There are lot’s of reasons for clients to ask this question. To the uninitiated the art of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and its partner in profit Google Ads can feel like a complete unknown, so it’s understandable for companies to fear a loss of return on investment. There are many common misconceptions companies use to talk themselves out of commitment to a Pay per click (PPC) strategy. In this article we are going to walk through each one, in order to break down some of the false arguments and assumptions around Google Adwords and paid search marketing.

What exactly are Google Adwords?

We fear what we don’t understand, so the first thing is to make sure we have established what Google Ads are and how they help increase traffic to a businesses website. AdWords is an online system of advertising developed by the search engine platform Google. It was created to help businesses use their search engine platform and partner sites to reach online target markets. 

Google Ads appear both at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) or on partner sites which host an image or text ad following a search by users including specified keywords and phrases related to your businesses services or products.

Are Google Ads Too Expensive?

The first argument against Google ads often raised is that return on ad spend (ROAS) is very difficult to obtain and that the cost and risk to profits outweigh the benefits. It can feel hard to justify spending money on Google ads when organic SEO growth or social media marketing can feel less expensive upfront. It may also be that businesses get their fingers burnt by allocating the bulk of their marketing budget into the wrong place, causing them to lose confidence in the Google Ads platform. 

Often this loss of revenue is down to inexperienced third party organisations running your Google Ads account, or that an account has not been maintained, being left to run itself. Google Ads is a specialist tool and so the more you educate yourself in it the better your successes will be. This is true for practically any area of digital marketing though and does not mean that Google ads have to be too expensive. 

There are a lot of mistakes which can lead to overspending on google ads and seeing little profit in return, which is why finding an experienced specialist to advise you is key. We will share our own expert tips on how to improve your ROAS in more detail in a later blog, but just know that with the right help, Google Ads don’t have to cost the earth.

If I Have Great SEO, Do I Really Need to Pay For Clicks?

Increasing your SEO organically is a great idea and should definitely be one part of your digital marketing strategy. Increasing your rankings naturally through technical audits, effective metadata and keywords are all great steps towards increasing your rankings, but clawing towards the top of Google SERPs can be a slow process. Google Ads is not a replacement for good SEO, it compliments your SEO to increase profitability overall.

If you are only focused on organic growth you may be missing out on cheap wins that your competitors are not. Realistically it won’t matter how amazing your SEO is if your nearest competitor is bidding for clicks that pertain to your brands and services. Whilst SEO is brilliant for informational searches with low commercial intent, targeted commercial queries often result in SERPs with much higher ad content. This means that your page may well be buried as PPC ads swipe the clicks from under you and take their traffic with them.

How Can I Make My Traffic From Google Ads Convert?

This is a genuine issue that many companies face. The most high profile example of this being eBay, who very publicly denounced google ads all the way back in 2013. However there are some reasons for this which can be easily addressed by the right team.

We will be writing a more detailed look at ways to convert traffic to your site from google ads in future, but for now we can suggest some simple fixes.

Firstly make sure your account is structured effectively, using targeting keywords that are relevant, specific and have great quality scores. Your account should also be using negative keywords in order to block irrelevant searches.

If you are unclear on what it is and how to use it well it’s best to steer clear of tools like dynamic keyword insertion. Instead focus on making the ads you do create relevant to your keywords and the pages that any clicks will land on. It’s maddening to click a link in google to find yourself in an unclear and inhospitable landing page that just isn’t giving you what you need, so if that is your customers reality, you need to fix it.  

How Time Intensive is Managing Google Ads?

We will level with you, having a well run paid search campaign strategy can take some time. But anything worth doing well, will take some measure of time. What is more important is that you are seeing a good ROAS for the time spent. By using a company like CWS you know that the time you're paid for is going to achieve results, and ultimately increase your revenue. As with all digital marketing strategies results will build over time. Any time spent setting up your accounts can therefore feel disproportionate to initial results, but stick with it! Once established, campaigns can be maintained through specific tools and systems built to reduce time spent on maintenance of campaigns.

If you would like help with your SEO or SERP ranking, or are seeking advice on how you can improve your digital marketing strategy we are here to help. It may be that you aren’t even sure where to start with getting more traffic to your site, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our digital marketing team.