More than 4.1 billion people use the internet each day accessing 342 million registered domain names. What’s more, there are over 4 billion blog posts and 500 million tweets sent every day as well.
With all this content, how do you ensure your website and your content is found - especially considering there are billions of Google searches a day? It’s clear that the internet is now “pay to play” so if you haven’t considered paid search, or pay-per-click (PPC), you may want to. And when it comes to PPC, Google Ads remain the powerhouse in the market.
What Should I Know About Google Ads?
Launched just two years after Google.com, Google Ads are paid search ads that fall under the popular PPC category. They’re also your best bet for reaching your audience.
Why? For starters, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t use Google. Google is the most popular and most used search engine, receiving 3.5 billion search queries a day. Google also has 246 million unique visitors every day, and an estimated 700% return on investment, according to Statista.
Not to mention, Google Ads have been around for nearly two decades – so they’ve had ample time to adapt and adjust. And because of their seniority, they have no problem being transparent with their platforms. Google reports on its economic impact in a detailed report each year, revealing:
- Advertisers make $8 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads
- Google Ads have an average click-through rate of 8%
- 43% of consumers have bought something after seeing a Google ad on YouTube
Likewise, thousands of businesses use Google Ads daily to promote their products and services. So, even if you’re organically ranking on a search term, you’re likely being pushed down the page by an ad. It only makes sense to consider Google Ads in your PPC strategy then.
What Kind of Ads Do They Offer?
You can select from three campaign types on Google Ads: search, display, and video. Here’s a brief overview of each, and why you’d use them.
Search
You’ve probably seen a search ad at some point in your life. These ads are text ads that are displayed on Google results pages. Google shows them in the same format as a regular search result but denotes it with an “Ad” label in the top left corner. Search ads are useful because you’re displaying your advertisement where people go to first when looking for information: Google.
You can either set one static ad or use Google’s responsive search ads. These allow you to enter multiple versions of headlines and copy with Google selecting the best-performing ones to display. With responsive ads, you’ll ultimately be left with the best performing version of your advertisement which means more clicks. And for PPC, more clicks at a smaller price is a good deal.
Display
Display ads are banner images that appear in designated areas of a website, hoping to draw the users’ attention away from that web page's content. You can create them in a variety of sizes and even opt for animated banners. However, the top performing ad sizes are:
- 300X250
- 336X280
- 728X90
- 300X600
- 320X100
These ads are beneficial because they are either pay per click or pay per impression.
Video
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, with over 3 billion searches a month. With video ads, you can have your ad displayed before, during, or after a YouTube video. With the right keyword strategy, you’ll be able to grab your target audience’s attention.
Like other Google Ads, you only pay when people take action, like clicking your ad or visiting your site.
Why Should I Use Them?
Besides getting your ad in front of your target audience when they’re most likely doing research, using Google Ads has numerous benefits such as:
- Increasing Brand Awareness. The more people see your ads and connect them with your company, the better brand awareness you’ll have.
- Outrank Your Competitors. If one of your goals is to beat the competition, you can use “Target Outrank” to adjust your bids automatically to outrank a specific competitor in a bidding auction.
- Testing Landing Pages. With Google Ads, you can split and direct your traffic to various landing pages, then determine which pages have higher conversion rates. Once you have this information, you can revisit your landing pages to make them more useful.
- Finding New Keywords. Google Ads can generate a search term and keyword report that displays all of the keywords for which your ad has been displayed. The information from this report can inspire your next keyword research project.
How To Track Your Ads in HubSpot
If you can’t track your ads performance to see if they’re driving the results you want, what’s the point of paid search? Luckily, HubSpot has several methods to ensure your Google Ad strategy pays off.
HubSpot Ads Tool
You can manage your Google Ads by connecting your Google Ads account to HubSpot in a few simple steps.
- Log in to your HubSpot account and click the settings icon in the main navigation bar.
- Click on “Marketing,” then “Ads” in the left sidebar menu.
- Hit the “Accounts” tab then click “Connect Account.”
After that, you’ll enjoy the benefits of creating and targeting your audiences, tying your Google Ads performance into your sales data, and seeing how your ads influence your contacts at every stage of the buyers’ journey.
If you only have a Basic HubSpot Marketing Hub account, you can achieve the same results by using UTM parameters or tracking URLs in HubSpot. Be sure to add your UTM codes at the campaign level when you set up your ads. According to HubSpot, doing this will bucket visits to the Google ad's destination URL under paid search and display the Google ad or HubSpot campaign name in the sources report.
Google Ads and HubSpot Integration
By integrating Google Ads within HubSpot, you can completely embrace your paid search strategy. Running this integration is done by attaching your Google Ads pixel to HubSpot. After that, you can run your paid search ads directly within HubSpot and benefit from things like:
- Creating audiences off any interaction you have with leads or customers on your website
- Using other CRM data to create more targeted audiences
- Reporting that directly links clicks on your ad to contacts, deals, and more – proving the ROI of your paid search
The Bottom Line
While we’ve harped heavily on Google Ads, you should be sure to do your research to identify where your audience lies positively. For some marketers, that could be Bing, Yelp, or Facebook.
However, there is no doubt Google Ads are worth investing in as the most popular search engine and resources for gathering information in the world. Chances are, your audience is there and using Google Ads can help you connect with them. If you need help getting your paid search strategy off the ground, contact us today.
