Google Ads
With its advertising system Google Ads – Google AdWords until 2018 – Google opened up a new way for businesses to attract visitors in a targeted way in 2000. At the same time, the search engine gave up being ad-free. Today, ads appear above and below the organic search results and are labelled “Sponsored”; the former ads on the right-hand side have not existed since 2016. Google Ads are also shown in Google Shopping, on YouTube, in Gmail, in Google Maps and on millions of partner websites. Google Ads is the most important tool in SEA, search engine advertising.
How Google Ads works
As in the organic results, ads have a ranking order. An auction decides on the position for every single search. It takes into account the bid – i.e. the maximum an advertiser is willing to pay per click (cost per click, CPC) – and the quality of the ad: the expected click-through rate, the relevance of the ad to the search query and the user experience on the landing page. A highly relevant ad can therefore outrank the competition even with a lower bid. Today, most advertisers rely on automated bidding strategies (Smart Bidding), in which Google controls the bids itself based on conversion data – for example towards a target ROAS. This makes clean conversion tracking all the more important, because the algorithm only learns from the data it receives.
What campaign types are there?
Google has continued to develop its campaign types over the years. A brief overview:
Search campaign
Text ads that appear above or below the organic results for matching search queries. They are labelled “Sponsored” and controlled via keywords and ad copy.
Display campaign
Display ads appear as image or text ads on millions of websites and apps in the Google Display Network. They are suitable for building awareness or re-engaging previous visitors (remarketing).
Shopping campaign
Almost everyone knows Shopping ads: product images with price and shop name appear for a search. For online shops, they are among the most important campaigns. They don't need keywords but are based on a product data feed in Google Merchant Center – the quality of which largely determines success.
Video campaign
Video ads appear before, during or after YouTube videos as well as on partner websites and in apps. There are various formats – from skippable spots to short bumper ads.
App campaign
App campaigns promote apps to increase downloads and engagement. Google automatically serves the ads across Search, the Play Store, YouTube and the Display Network.
Performance Max
Performance Max is a fully automated campaign type that covers all Google channels with a single campaign: Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps and Discover. For online shops, Performance Max is one of the most important campaign types today. It is managed via goals, budgets, product feeds and creative assets; Google takes care of bidding and delivery. For smaller businesses without their own expertise, there are also simplified Smart campaigns with few settings.
Demand Gen campaign
Demand Gen campaigns (Discovery campaigns until 2023) serve visually rich ads on YouTube, in Discover and in Gmail. They target users who aren't actively searching yet and are suitable for creating demand. Delivery is based on audiences rather than keywords.
Important: keyword research
As in search engine optimisation, keywords are decisive for search campaigns. They should have search volume, match the advertised offer precisely and indicate purchase intent. Competition also plays a role: highly competitive terms have high click prices; more specific long-tail keywords are often cheaper and bring visitors with clearer intent. Keyword match types (broad, phrase, exact) and negative keywords control which search queries an ad may appear for.
Click fraud and criticism of the advertising programme
One point of criticism is click fraud: clicks without genuine interest, for example from bots or competitors, use up the advertising budget without leading to conversions. Google automatically filters out invalid clicks, based on IP addresses and behaviour patterns among other things, and doesn't charge for them. The increasing automation is also criticised: with campaign types such as Performance Max, advertisers have less insight into where and for which search queries their ads appear. This makes a clear account structure, good product data and reliable conversion data all the more important.