Are Google Ads Still worth It?

When looking to achieve more cost-effective leads, Google Ads has likely crossed your mind.

Search engine giant, Google, offers an enormity of internet-based services with the most successful being its advertising platform, Google Ads. With a constant increase in marketing strategies, we thought it was worth investigating whether Google Ads are still worth using in 2019.

Are Google Ads effective?

Over recent years, the effectiveness of Adwords has become substantially recognised which has led to the great increase in Google Ads popularity. In fact, the advertising platform now rakes in the majority of Google’s annual revenue, turning over a whopping $116.3 billion US dollars for 2018.

So can Google Ads be effective? Yes. However, the rise in demand means the price to use them has steepened accordingly. Which begs us to question; does the rise in cost change the worth of using Google Ads?

The pros

Reach the ultimate audience

Unlike traditional advertising, Google Ads provides advertisers with complete control over targeting criteria. From specific search terms, age, location, all the way down to interests and hobbies. Google Ads knows people and will help you reach your ultimate audience. With this advantage, your advert has the chance to be seen by those that matter most to your business. The results? More cost-effective leads and smarter marketing. With search queries exceeding 3.5 billion each day, it's no question that having access to Google’s audience is powerful for your business’s marketing.

Smarter spending

Google Ads uses the cost-effective advertising model Pay Per Click (PPC). This means that advertisers are only charged if a user clicks on the advert. So despite the growth in Google Ads popularity leading to an increase in cost per click, the PPC model continues to regulate effectiveness.

Advertisers are also completely in charge of their spend as they can set daily budgets for their campaigns with the flexibility to change them at any time. How much is a click worth? The average cost ranges between $1 - $3. However, it's officially determined through Google’s auction system. Here Google rewards low costs and prime ad placement to businesses with high-quality ad campaigns. This means smarter spending and encouraged excellence.

Performance tracking

Google Ads continues to allow clear and insightful performance tracking, which can’t be done as well with traditional advertising methods. With it you can see how many leads are generated from campaigns as well as discover detailed information on who exactly is clicking on them.

This allows advertisers to examine what is and what isn’t working with their campaign so that it can be further developed to achieve optimal results. This performance information is key to stay on top of as, when implemented strategically, it can be the difference between hitting and missing targets.

The cons

Competitive keywords and big companies

Despite Google Ads having helped even the playing field for small businesses, they are still left to compete against bigger organisations who are also fighting over the same keywords. The downfall? The bigger the organisation, the bigger the marketing budget. Because of Google Ads' rise in usage and cost, smaller businesses have less opportunity than the big guys who can afford highly effective keywords that set them ahead of the game.

Not for the faint hearted

PPC advertising is known to cost a lot less than traditional advertising due to its cost-effective nature. However, if not managed correctly, Google Ads will burn through your marketing budget. It is vital that you set up performance tracking to keep on top of campaign analytics and use them to your advantage.

Google Ads is designed to support advertising, but is only effective when campaigns are constantly customised to align with the analytics outcomes.

High maintenance

The hard work isn't over once you’ve created a campaign - it has only just begun. Campaign performance rates need constant and thorough checking. Then, once you've pulled the analytics, strategic adjustments can then be made according to performance results.

This is all necessary to ensure your business is taking full advantage of the money that is being put into Google Ads. There's good reason why massive companies continue to pay agencies specialising in Google Ads hundreds of thousands of dollars to run their ad campaigns; it takes a lot of time and knowledge to run effectively. Google Ads is not a set and forget advertising method, it is high maintenance.

So, are Google Ads still worth it?

If you’re looking for a cost-effective way to market your business while remaining in control of the audience you’re reaching, Google Ads remains to be a safe bet. We can back this claim up with some outstanding client results. However, it's essential to ensure that any and all campaigns are strictly monitored and managed in order to establish success.

Though it is a competitive and time-consuming method, with a good marketing budget and when used correctly, Google Ads can provide a great return on investment.

Tips to help you win

• Create a plan - Going in blind without a plan of attack will have you throwing away bundles of money from the get-go. You need a strategy which includes a planned budget, keywords, ad groups, and landing pages.
• Conversion tracking - Only 57.7% of Google Ad accounts have their tracking set up properly. Don’t fall into the 42.3% that make the killer mistake of skipping this step. Set up conversion tracking in Google Ads to track crucial movement on your campaigns and websites.
• Attention and adjustment - Although you can do it yourself, we recommend investing in a skilled and knowledgeable agency (such as N4) to manage your Google Ads. In the hands of experts, not only will you be stress-free and gain higher quality leads but you will also save money in the long run.