Having an online presence in today’s world is necessary for businesses to be successful. One great way to start getting new leads or sales is through pay-per-click advertising. Though there are many online advertising platforms, one of the most popular is Google Adwords.

Google Adwords has a lot of benefits, but with such a big platform comes some negative sides as well. Is Google Adwords the best choice for your business? Here are some pros and cons to consider before making the decision.

Is using Google Adwords a good choice for your business?

PROS:

Quality of Leads

Users see ads on Google that relate directly to their specific search query. Because of this, each ad is shown to a user who is specifically searching for that product. That makes each lead that Google Adwords creates a highly qualified lead.

Other advertising platforms, like Facebook, allow for business’ to specifically target their markets, which is very helpful but leaves the possibility of missing unknown markets. Having ads available to anyone searching for your products/services will allow any potential markets to see them.

Location/Time Adjustments

Google Adwords also allows for location and time adjustments for each individual ad. These can be very helpful for local businesses or businesses with offices only open for certain hours. For example, ads can be set to appear from 9am – 5pm on weekdays within 25 miles of your business to ensure that consumers can only see your product or service when you’re available for them.

High Market Share

With over 40,000 search queries per second and 3.5 billion per day, Google is by far the most used search engine in the world. According to New Market Share, Google occupies about 75% of the market for search engines and Baidu, a Chinese search engine, comes in second with just over 10%… big difference. Since Google is such a big presence online, it’s easy to understand why advertisements on Google can be so valuable. 75% of the market may not reach every single one of your potential consumers, but it’s a large enough chunk to be well worth purchasing adwords, especially in the United States.

Search & Display Options

Google offers two potential platforms for advertising, search and display. Each have their own benefits and disadvantages. Search is the more basic option and display is a bit more complicated.

Search advertising encompasses the text-only ads that appear when users search on Google. These advertisements show up amongst the query’s result pages. Search ads have optional extensions, such as a phone number, or spots to highlight certain products or services.

Display ads, on the other hand, do not show up on Google’s search results page. These ads are featured on the 2 million websites and 650,000 digital apps that are affiliated with Google. Display ads require some type of imagery, whether it be a picture, logo, video, etc. Using its own algorithm and collection of data, Google determines relevant websites on which to showcase your ads so that the ads can reach the correct market.

CONS:

Saturated Markets

Since Google is such a big name online, a lot of businesses want to advertise on it. Due to Google’s “bid” pricing strategy, certain markets can be very expensive to advertise in. Terms like “wedding planner” or “real estate” can be pricey, especially in highly populated areas. Though the lead that you get from a Google link click is a good lead, some small businesses might have trouble affording them.

Highly-Targeted Keywords

If you are looking to advertise for generic items like “women’s clothing,” it might be hard to get good results without spending a ton of money. Google Adwords highly prefers targeted keywords such as “black long sleeved dress” or “women’s leather belt.” It is safe to assume that highly targeted keywords are less expensive than their generic counterparts. This can be good for specific products, but may be a hassle to create and update over time.

Relevant Landing Pages

One of Google’s strong points is how easy it is for users to find valuable results to their queries – a direct result from Google prioritizing relevant content. This means Google prefers extremely relevant landing pages on ads. Business’ whose landing pages are not deemed relevant get punished. This means you may have to edit a current page to add specific keywords, or create an entirely new page to serve as a landing page for ads.

Timely Set Up

Due to Google’s preference for highly-targeted ads and relevant landing pages, it can be very timely to set up proper Google Adwords campaigns. Organizing ads in a way that is easy to edit and manage is important. This often includes a lot of trial-and-error, especially for beginners. Setting up an Adwords account can be difficult, but it is well worth the effort to have an account that is organized and easily manageable.

Updating Platform

Google is constantly working to better the platforms available for users, including Google Adwords. Often times, Google will update the interface and other aspects of Adwords. Existing campaigns or advertisements may even require editing after certain updates. Having a successful Google Adwords account means checking it on a weekly basis and editing it when necessary.

Google Adwords could be the reason your business starts booming.

Pay-per-click advertising is an effective online marketing platform. It is a necessity in any successful business. The huge market that Google encompasses is reason enough to use Google Adwords to reach potential customers. Though there are a few negatives to starting a comprehensive Google Adwords campaign, it is well worth the success that will come with time.