Do Google Ads Work for Small Businesses?

Yes, of course. Google Ads is a great platform for both big and small enterprises. If done right, Google Ads can help you reach more people no matter the product/service you offer.

Paid ads can be a great way to boost your brand awareness. You can track the paid traffic so you can plan the campaign ahead and make adjustments when necessary.  

Once you find the right combination, this is a great way to have a lot of conversions and enjoy sales growth. 

Be there when you’re needed

The very nature of google ads is to find potential clients based on their google search queries. If you target the right keywords, you can be in front of your potential clients exactly when they are looking for your product/service. 

This can be really helpful for local small businesses to target and find potential buyers online. Just being at the right place at the right time can make a huge difference. 

Target based on location

You can also use specific location-based ads to target clients and increase your conversion rate. People usually prefer to buy things closer to them. That’s why if you have multiple ads prepared for each targeted location, you’ll get more clicks.

Combine your local SEO with location-based google ads to get the best results. The more you research, the more you can get out of Google Ads.

Target multiple audiences

You have the option to break up your ads and reach multiple groups of potential clients simultaneously.

If you break your ads into different formats, not only does it increase your chances but also helps target people that are interested in your product/service.

For example, imagine you sell shoes online. You can create specific ads for different kinds of users like students, working officials, and field workers that may be interested to buy from you.

Send people to specific landing pages

PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns give you the opportunity to drive your customers to a specific part/page of your website.  Now if I search for leather shoes online, I would usually not be much interested in your “about us” or homepage, right?

Directing potential leads to specific landing pages that contain most of the related keywords and information can not only improve your Google rankings but it can also help you gain more conversions using the search intent of your client base. 

Track results easily and quickly

The key to getting the most out of your Google ad campaigns is testing the performances for different formats and finding the optimum solutions that work the best for you. Google ads work on a trial and error basis. 

With PPC ads, it’s really easy to keep track of your ad’s performance and adjust where necessary. Try out multiple formats and track them to find the best solution for increasing conversions. 

Google lets you keep track of your clickthrough rate, ad spend, conversion, and a bunch of other PPC metrics for each of your campaigns. Keep testing until you find the sweet spot that maximizes your Return on Investment (ROI). 

Faster Than SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the way to make sure your website stays on top of the google search results for related keywords. 

This might be true that SEO will help you to gain a lot of conversions, but the process takes time. Many of us simply can’t afford to invest a large amount of money without any visible ROI. 

Google ads can help you here as well. Not only is this platform highly scalable, but it also works a lot faster than SEO. The data you’ll get from your ad campaign can also help you improve your ranking for specific keywords.

Builds Your Brand Awareness

You aren’t the only one that knows about google ads. There are a lot of PPC nerds that work with PPC every single day. With google ads, even if a buyer searches the name of your competitor, you can display your ads to them.

Even if you come in rank #1 in Google results, there are 3 more spots before your URL where you can put your ad using google ads and that will increase the possibility to create a strong brand impression to your clients. 

You can also use ad extensions for providing more info about your business and direct more clients to your website. 

Drives More Sales

Google knows what you want the most. That is why even if users search for products from renowned sellers, Google will showcase your ads more if your business is located near the user. That way, it drives more sales towards the small and medium businesses. 

Additionally, Google has given the sellers complete control over their campaigns. You just have to find your sweet spot that generates the most sales for your small business. 

It’s Cost-Effective

PPC campaigns are cost-effective as you’ll have complete control over your budget and Cost Per Click (CPC). For example, with Google ads, you have the opportunity to spend $5-10 on a particular conversion and earn around $60-100 from that particular client.

However, you’ll need to guide Google on where you want to spend your money and how much. If all the conditions are met, this is by far the cheapest way to get conversions online. 

Things to Consider Before You Use Google Ads for Small Businesses

It has a learning curve

Google ads are getting easier to use day by day. However, just being able to use google ads is far different from getting the best results. It takes a bit of trial and error practice to find the right combination that works perfectly.  

Additionally, it isn’t free. The PPC model can drain your budget like crazy if you are not careful. Google will keep spending your money unless you instruct it where and when to stop. 

It will take a little bit of time and patience to get familiar with Google ads and find the optimum balance for your small business. Don’t worry though, Google itself will provide you with the necessary info on how you can get the most out of your ads. 

Use your value propositions

Google gives a wide selection of tools that you can use to track your client’s online behavior and change your strategy accordingly. 

Learn about your value proposition before you start spending money on paid traffic. This will help you eliminate the wastage of money and effort. 

Make sure you convey a direct value proposition to your clients when they see your ad or when they get to your landing page. Avoid directing leads to your homepage or any other irrelevant page. 

Additionally, Create a dedicated landing page with minimal distractions and clear messages. Provide as many reviews as possible since many people rely on reviews for making a decision. 

Select your keywords wisely

Keywords are the most important factors when it comes to PPC campaigns. Use your keywords wisely to get the most out of your ads.  Look for keywords that are high in search volume but low in difficulty. Focus your efforts on long-tail keywords instead of general keywords.

Doing this will not only reduce your cost but also give you specifically targeted clients that are ready to buy your product/service right now. Entice the right people and repel the wrong ones.

Unqualified traffic

Not using the powerful google ad tools properly can make you end up with a bunch of unqualified traffic. Use tools like negative keywords and demographic filters to get exactly the type of lead you are looking for. 

If any search query has a below-average conversion rate/click-through rate, or an above-average cost per conversion, that query will not be considered a good keyword. Exclude unwanted traffic for a more fruitful result.

What Are Google Ads?

People usually search google when they need answers to their questions. Over time, Google has become an inseparable part of our digital lifestyle. Today we make 5.4 billion Google searches every single day.  If you have the solution to what people are searching for, you can take help from google to advertise your product/service to the person that is looking for answers. In return, google will charge you money every time a user clicks on your ad. 

That is, in a nutshell, google ads. It was previously known as google adwords and is one of the most popular ways to get paid traffic onto your website. 

How do Google Ads work?

The process of google adword is pretty simple. Let me give you an example to make you understand better. 

Imagine you are a google user and you want to buy a pair of nice work boots near your area. I am a shoe manufacturer in your area and want clients like you to visit my website and buy shoes from me.  I also make work boots. Now, with the help of the Google ads campaign, I will select one or multiple keywords you might search on Google and place a bid on them.

If the quality of my ad is good enough and the competition is thin, google will showcase my ad whenever you search for work boots near your area.

Once you click on the link placed on my ad, the link will redirect you to my website/landing page from where you can buy your favorite pair of shoes. Google will charge me for every click on my advertisement, including yours. 

Simply put, this is the work process of google ad campaigns. This is a great platform to showcase your product/services and attract potential leads. 

Types of Google Ads

Search Campaign

These are the most prominent type of google ads. Whenever you google something, you’ll see some text-based ad suggestions on the top of the result page.

You can identify them by the distinctive “Ad” symbols placed before the URL. These text-based ads are highly specific and can give you more targeted conversions. 

Display Campaign

If you’ve ever purchased or searched something on google, you’ll come across GIFs, text, images, or video ads related to your recent inquiries on almost every website you visit afterward. These targeted ads are part of google’s display campaign.

These ads are notoriously persistent and can be effective in remarketing to the people who visited your website or searched about what you are selling a couple of times. 

Video Campaign

You see these tenacious video ads before, during, and after you watch videos on youtube and the Google Display Network. This is a great way to remind your targeted customers about your product/service while they enjoy their favorite videos.

There are a bunch of variations about how you want your clients to perceive your ads. Video campaigns are effective and you get between 5-15 seconds to convey your messages. 

App Campaign

These ads are targeted to make you download and use apps from google play. A number of apps with different purposes get released every day and google app campaigns are a great way to find potential users for your new app.

With app campaigns, you can find potential users who search for similar apps, actively look for new apps, or just simply browse the google display network. 

Shopping Campaign

You will come across these types of dynamic ads when you are searching for products to buy. Whenever you google a product, you’ll be shown a bunch of product suggestions along with product images and a short, attractive description.

Shopping campaigns are a great tool for retailers to showcase their products to potential clients. These are intent-based ads and can help you gain more clients that are actively looking for your product. 

Tips for limited budget Google Ads

Use ad extensions

Using ad extensions can help you grab the attention of your potential clients easily. State the problem you are solving, or provide more info about your business. Extensions help to increase your chance of conversion by a fat margin.

You can use maps, provide an easy way to contact you, option to schedule an appointment, or any other call to actions that will intrigue your potential clients to visit your landing page. 

Get as much exposure as possible

Just like how ad extensions work, you want to expose your ads to the potential clients as much as possible. Be open about the costing and try out different ad formats. The more your clients see your ads, the chance of them visiting your website increases. 

You can also target your competitor’s brand name for your specific ads. That way, whenever a user is searching the name of your competitor, your ads will be shown to the user and eventually you may be able to convert some of them into your clients. 

Use keyword variations

Long tail keywords help to be more specific about your product/service. Additionally, many people search products using wrong keywords (Spelling mistakes mainly). You need to account for that and include keywords with spelling mistakes to get a bit more traffic. 

Whenever someone is searching something on google, they are either looking for information or a product. Learn user intent to provide your clients with exactly what they want. Create multiple ads for different keyword phrases and find out what works the best for you.   

Optimize the landing page

Once a potential customer visits your landing page, the conversion game begins. The goal is to hold your visitors to your website for as long as possible. Make sure your specific landing page is exactly where your clients should be. 

If the clients don’t like what they see on your landing page, if your page is slow, or if there are a lot of distractions, your bounce rate will go higher, meaning people will leave your page after a few moments. 

To be on top of your game, you need to optimize your landing page to the fullest. A well-optimized landing page will not only rank higher, it will also increase your conversion rate, letting you earn even more. 

Break down the budget

Another great tip is to break down the budget. If you don’t set a budget, Google will continue to display your ads and charge you even when your products are out of stock. 

Google mainly uses a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) method for charging, meaning the more people clicks your ad, the more you’ll be charged. You have the option to control your overall and daily budget. 

Take your monthly budget and break it apart in small daily budgets to get the most out of your campaign. Also, spend more on well-performing ads rather than splitting the budget equally. 

Be specific

If you run a flower shop in your area that only sells different kinds of roses, choosing “best quality roses in X(area)” will perform much better than “flower shop in X(area)”. One-size-fits-all doesn’t work in the marketing sector.

You may get a bunch of leads using the later example, but a client looking for tulips will not buy from your flower shop. That’s your money wasted on a click. We recommend you to do extensive research before you start investing on google adwords. 

Use remarketing

Even if a visitor leaves your website, you can use google’s remarketing feature to target them and display your ads at whatever website they visit afterwards.  

If a visitor visits your website multiple times, It means they are interested in what you have to offer and it’ll be easier to retarget them with more specific ads that will bring them back to your website. 

Keep an eye open

Always keep an eye on your PPC metrics. This will help you to make necessary adjustments to your ads whenever needed. Try out different ad formats, times, and locations and find out what works the best for you.

Your PPC metrics will show you everything you need to know to run a successful campaign. If the results are not up to your standards, change the ad and see what works better. 

FAQs 

1. What are Smart campaigns?

Ans: Smart campaigns are dedicated ad campaigns designed for small businesses. With this module, small business owners can create attractive and effective ad campaigns within minutes. 

That way, google will showcase your product/service/brand whenever people search google for similar product/service/brands.

2. How much should a small business spend on Google Ads? 

Ans: The cost of Google ads depends on two things, your bid amount and your ad quality. The minimum you can budget on google is $1000 and the max limit is $10,000. The average cost per click is $1-2, so you’ll get approximately 500-1000 clicks for the lowest budget.  The rate also depends on the competition. The more competition there is, the more you’ll need to spend per click.