So, what are Google Ads?

Google’s pay-per-click platform, Google Ads, allows you to place ads on a search engine results page by paying for specific keywords. You bid on keywords that are related to your products and services to improve your website’s position on the Google search results page.

The great thing about PPC is that you only pay when people click on your ads, hence ‘pay-per-click’. This means it’s incredibly important to get your Google Ads strategy right because you want to avoid wasting money from people clicking on your ad, only to click back off because they didn’t find what they searched for. 

However, you can rank highly through organic search results by optimising your site for SEO. Google Ads aren’t your only option. The difference between Google Ads and organic search results is you pay to appear at the top of the search engine results pages for specific keywords. Whereas SEO or appearing in the organic search results doesn’t require you to spend money, it involves optimising your website for relevant keywords and creating relevant and helpful content.  

Are Google Ads worth using for small businesses?

If you’re searching for a one-word answer… yes! Google Ads work for small businesses for a multitude of reasons. They benefit huge corporate companies as well as smaller ones - but only if they're used correctly. For example, Google Ads must target the right keywords, audiences, and locations and ensure that landing pages and general user experience is prioritised. 

They are great for smaller businesses to reach targeted audiences globally, but most importantly, Google Ads will drive relevant higher converting traffic to the website of your small business.

Here’s a comprehensive list of why Google Ads work for small businesses…:

Target the people who are looking specifically for the products or services you offer

PPC has the power to place your products and services in front of potential customers at the exact moment they are making a buying decision. This not only drives high-quality traffic to your website but also increases the possibility of converting this traffic into sales for your business. 

Bidding on the correct keywords is, therefore, essential. For example, if you sell lawnmowers, targeting the keyword phrase ‘buy lawnmowers online’ will drive relevant search traffic (of people who want to buy lawn mowers) to your website.

Ultimately, by targeting the right audience with the right keywords, your small business is more likely to convert more leads into sales.

Location-specific

If your small business aims to boost its relevance and engagement within a local area, Google Ads is a great tool. You can produce ads that are geography-specific. Your ads are purposefully placed in front of potential customers in the specific location you chose for your ad campaign. 

For example, if you own a pre-owned laptop store in Wolverhampton, you will generate more relevant traffic by bidding on the terms ‘pre-owned laptop store in Wolverhampton’ than ‘laptop store’. Because the first keyword phrase is the most relevant to what your business offers, The people who click on this ad are, therefore more likely to convert because they found what they searched for and you provided a solution to their need. This example demonstrates that location-based keywords are crucial to converting leads into sales for location-specific ads. 

Additionally, geography-specific ads combined with local SEO enhances the chance of success for local marketing campaigns. You can opt for a solo Google Ads campaign or work with local SEO to drive even more high-quality leads to your site.

Send people to specific landing pages

When customers click on your PPC ad, it sends them through to your website - you choose the page they land on, and if you customise landing pages specific to the products and services you offer, it’s more likely to create conversions. Don’t make visitors search around for the product you’ve advertised once they reach your site - make it as easy as possible for them to make a purchase.

Optimising landing pages specifically to the products and services you offer positively impacts user experience. It makes it easier and faster for customers to find what they want. This is a crucial aspect of PPC for small businesses because if an ad sends a customer to an irrelevant page, it’s possible they’ll just click off your site and lose you a conversion opportunity. Plus, your competitors gain a potential customer! 

You control everything

If you’re worried about wasting money or reluctant to try a new marketing channel, remember that you will be in control of everything. You choose the daily budget and ‘cost per click’ for each campaign, you determine when to run ads and when to pause them, and you run the ads however you want to. Google Ads has room to do whatever suits your business best, small business or not.

Easy to track results

Google Ads is a wonderful tool that can track a number of elements, including ad clickthrough rate, ad spend, conversion rate, and ROI (Return On Investment). These elements are there to help you determine your marketing budget based on how well the ads are performing. Without this, you’d struggle to know what ads were doing well, which ones weren’t, and where you could improve certain aspects.

As a small business, every penny counts. This element of Google Ads will ensure you keep on top of your spending and alter any ads that are underperforming but still spending your budget. 

You will need to optimise your campaigns by checking the keywords you bid on, how conversion rates are performing, and which ads are performing well and which are underperforming. This will allow you to take action and make any necessary changes 

See it as a watchdog, overseeing the keywords you bid on and checking if the conversion rates have increased or decreased. That’s when you can take action and enact necessary changes.

Results for PPC also show much faster than other marketing strategies, such as content creation. You don’t have to wait long to see results, which means you won’t be wasting money on ad campaigns that aren’t doing well - you’ll be able to spot them and adapt or remove them pretty quickly!

For your Google Ad campaigns to be as successful as possible, you will need to monitor and optimise them continuously to ensure you’re getting the most from your spend - especially if you’re on a small budget! 

Here are our top tips for using Google Ads for your small business:

• Performing keyword research is crucial. It’ll help you determine what potential customers are searching for so that you can create ads that use these relevant keywords. As a by-product, it’ll help you outline which keywords and ads NOT to spend money on.

• As well as bidding on keywords, you can also block any ‘negative keywords’ to prevent search engines from showing irrelevant results that aren’t related to, or compete against, your ad. For example, if you’re selling Nike shoes, your negative keyword would be ‘Adidas’.

• You control your Google Ads budget - how much you spend on each click and specific keyword is up to you. Be mindful that more popular keywords will demand a higher bid. So, as small business owners, targeting keywords that have a relatively high search volume but little competition is worth your investment. Remember that you can monitor and manage your Google Ads as little or as often as you like - though we recommend not to plunge your entire marketing budget into PPC all at once.

So, yes, Google Ads do work for small businesses. They can target a specific audience and drive high-quality conversions. The key elements to achieve this include optimising your landing pages to match the ad campaigns, keyword research, and consistent management over how ads are performing.

Just because your business is small doesn’t mean that its opportunity for sales, conversions, and ROI is limited! PPC is a wonderful tool that, when used correctly, can transform a small business!

If you’d like to know more about how Google Ads could work for your small business, why not contact our team on hello@logica-digital.co.uk.