Google Ads

Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is Google's advertising system that displays paid ads in search results, across the Google Display Network, on YouTube, and in Gmail and Maps. It is one of the most important tools in search engine marketing (SEM), letting businesses reach people at the exact moment they are looking for a product or service.

How Google Ads works

The system is built on an auction model. Each time a user enters a query, an auction for ad slots plays out in a fraction of a second. Ranking, however, is decided not by bid alone but by the product of several factors:

• Bid — the maximum amount the advertiser is willing to pay for a click (CPC);
• Quality Score — an assessment of how relevant the ad, keywords and landing page are;
• Extensions and format — extra elements that improve the ad's visibility and usefulness.

Thanks to this design, a well-matched ad can win a high position even with a lower bid than the competition. The advertiser usually pays only when the ad is clicked, not when it is merely shown.

Practical application

Google Ads offers several campaign types matched to different goals: Search campaigns focused on conversion, Display campaigns for reach, Shopping campaigns for e-commerce, video on YouTube, and remarketing that re-engages people who visited the site.

In practice, marketers start by researching keywords in the Keyword Planner, define a budget and audiences, and then optimise campaigns based on data about clicks, conversions and cost per acquisition. The greatest strength of Google Ads is speed — results appear almost immediately after a campaign launches, unlike the long-term work of organic search optimisation.