Google Ads, formerly AdWords, is an ever-changing beast. With new features being added regularly, Google is finding even more unique and innovative ways to reach your target audience and increase your brand exposure across its network.
Despite often achieving a lower click-through rate than organic results, Google Ads can deliver in other areas, such as bringing you more leads, especially when users search with a commercial intent (i.e. they want to inquire, contact or buy your product/service). In fact, Wordstream suggests that 65% of all clicks for search queries with commercial intent are attributed to Google Ads.
So we know that ads are a great opportunity to generate more revenue… but with so many features, how do you know which type of ad is the right one for your business?
Let’s take a look at the different types of Google Ads that you could run:
Search:
The most commonly used Google Ads are search (or text-based) ads, which show at the top and bottom of search pages. They have three main characteristics: a headline, a URL and a description, all of which can have variations depending on the search term and the landing page. Other additional characteristics include extensions such as site links, locations and snippets, which are two- to three-word descriptions of the product or service you’re advertising.
The new addition to the search element of Google Ads is Responsive Text Ads, which will test different combinations of your headlines and descriptions to find the perfect one. This will allow you to match closely with the user’s intent so that your ad stands out above others as the most relevant. It also ensures that you’re bidding on ads that are most likely to get you leads.
Recently, Google expanded text ads to ensure there is more space for headlines and descriptions so you have the opportunity to include all of your relevant messaging.
Display:
Display Ads are visuals that appear across the Google Display Network, which is comprised of more than two million third-party websites and over 650,000 apps that have partnered with Google to serve ads. There are two ways to use Display Ads, one of which are banners that can run across a range of platforms, the other of which are ads that run in Gmail.
Banner – Responsive Display Ads:
These combine the text and image ad setup processes together into one. You provide assets such as headlines, images and a final URL. Once approved, these ads will run across the Google Display Network and automatically adjust their format, size and appearance to fit various ad spaces. Responsive ads can appear as text, native or image ads.
The size, appearance and format of the ad will be tailored to match the look and feel of the web page, your targeting and the campaign goals that you have set up. This will mean a more natural and visually-appealing ad experience for the user, and better campaign performance for you. A win-win situation.
You can also introduce unique ad copy, such as monthly offers or seasonal sales, to each individual display ad to make your advertising campaign unique. You can target your ads either via remarketing (as we explain below); affinity audiences which are users who Google deem will be potentially interested in your business; in-market audiences which are users who have actively searched for similar products/services; and demographic targeting which allows you to customise your demographics such as age, gender, location, etc.
Responsive ads have been found to have higher engagement and conversion numbers than regular display ads. Naturally, they will also appear on more sites given the flexibility of the ad formats.
Gmail Ads:
These are interactive, paid ads that you can serve in your prospects’ email inboxes. Ads in Gmail are displayed at the top of a user’s inbox within the social or promotions tab.
Once any part of the ad is clicked, it opens the full email ad. From here the user can click-through for a potential conversion, save to the user’s inbox, forward to someone else or close it without taking any action.
The great thing is that all of those events can be tracked and measured for deep engagement metrics. Gmail Ads can also be targeted by keyword selection and geo location.
Remarketing:
Remarketing is common across several different areas of advertising, and Google Ads is no exception, where there are two types of remarketing features, one for search and one for display.
Search – Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA):
RLSA is a feature that allows you to target your campaigns to users who have previously visited or interacted with your website. Once that user leaves and then decides to come back or search again for a similar term, you can then display them the text ad at a cheaper cost per click then what it initially was.
It’s an effective way to maximise your Google Ads budget without having to double your spend to achieve double the amount of leads, which can ultimately result in a much larger number of conversions.
Display – Dynamic Remarketing:
Google’s new feature will dynamically create ads for you that include your price, image, and text of your choice, all based on the behaviour of your website visitors.
For example, if you had an e-commerce shoe site, and your potential customer looked at a specific pair of Converse sneakers, it would be best to serve an ad with the image and price of the exact product they were viewing, and throw in a free shipping offer to entice them to return.
You can reach your customers with laser-focused messaging based on the products or content they were interested in when they visited your site, rather than the old format of supplying generic branding ads to an “all users’ remarketing list.
This is an essential feature for any business using an e-commerce website. You will require a Google Merchant Center to run Dynamic Remarketing Ads. Here is how the process works:
Local:
If you have physical locations in and around Melbourne, then running ads in local packs and Google Maps will give you the best opportunity to be seen by customers in critical areas for your stores.
The way Local Ads work is by displaying your relevant Google My Business (GMB) page in green at the top of the listings in Maps with an “Ad” label.
The main purpose of running Local Ads in listings and Maps is that it can result in more shop visits, especially when people are searching nearby, as well as calls to your associated phone numbers and general exposure in areas where you want to drum up the most amount of business.
Shopping:
Also known as Product Listing Ads (PLA), Shopping Ads can appear at the top of search results, in image searches, on YouTube and on third-party websites. They are image-based ads that include important information about your product such as the name, your business name, price, reviews and any offers such as “free delivery”.
Shopping Ads can lead straight through to your product page, ensuring the user doesn’t have to search from your categories or a long list of other products to land on the one they are looking for. They provide a great opportunity to not only increase your leads, but to do so with a much higher conversion rate.
Video/YouTube:
Video campaigns let you show video ads on their own or within other streaming video content on YouTube and across the Google Display Network. These are really great for building brand awareness and can often be significantly cheaper than search ads.
Available video ad formats include:
Trueview In-Stream Ads:
These run before, during or after other videos on YouTube or across the Google Display Network including websites, games and apps. These ads may also run on YouTube videos that are embedded on other sites. After 5 seconds, the viewer has an option to skip the ad.
Trueview Video Discovery Ads:
These only appear on YouTube and reach people in places where they’re discovering content. The appearance will vary, depending on the ad sizes and ad formats that content publishers support. When a viewer clicks the thumbnail for your ad, the video will play on your YouTube watch or channel page.
Bumper Ads:
These are a short video ad format, designed to allow you to reach customers broadly and increase awareness about your brand by using a short, memorable message. Bumper Ads are just 6 seconds or less, and viewers can’t skip the ad.
Outstream Ads:
These show on partner sites and are only available on mobile and tablet. They are designed to help make it easier for users to tap to play your video. Outstream Ads can help increase brand awareness by extending your reach beyond YouTube.
It’s an extensive collection of resources, we know! The key is to develop a Google Ads strategy that is tailored closely to your business goals and will result in the most number of conversions.
Often businesses attempt to run Google Ads on their own, and although you can achieve some results, partnering with an experienced digital marketing company will allow you to fine-tune your Google Ads campaigns even further to deliver the best results possible.
Ready to take the next step with your Google Ads? Get in touch with our Digital Strategists today!
