I have been getting Google Ads offers for a while but haven't used them. I was wondering if anyone here has used them to make their website more prominent and what advantages you have found.

We had some free vouchers we used up, but all it brought us were brides wanting to spend £400 - £500 for all day weddings.

Hi Dave, yes, we get a few of those. Were the cost of Google Ads reasonable and what positioning of your website change? I've heard that some competitors can hit your ad many times just to increase your costs.

Hi Dave, yes, we get a few of those. Were the cost of Google Ads reasonable and what positioning of your website change? I've heard that some competitors can hit your ad many times just to increase your costs.

Everytime any one clicks on your add (including your competitors) it costs you money.

The positioning of your site depends on how much you are bidding per click. The more you bid the higher you go. But remember, this is totally temporary and within the yellow advertising box. It has absolutely zero effect on your regular search engine placement after your adds stop running.

The other thing the adds generated were more sales calls - i.e. people clicking on the add (costing me money) and then calling me to try to sell me stuff. That made me pretty mad. Bad enough they call me, but costing me money for them to call me is even worse!

Very good topic, moved to TCB as it's a more appropriate forum.

It's one of the quickest ways I saw money leave my bank account, and it didn't even wave goodbye.

It's one of the quickest ways I saw money leave my bank account, and it didn't even wave goodbye.

This was my experience as well. I wasn't finding a good return on the investment at all. I used it for about two months, so I realize my sample size was small, but I decided to that money elsewhere.

Hi Dave, yes, we get a few of those. Were the cost of Google Ads reasonable and what positioning of your website change? I've heard that some competitors can hit your ad many times just to increase your costs.

I've used (and still am using) Google Adwords. I don't know what business you're in. Some thoughts:

1. Adwords takes a long time to get used to. You can't learn it with a $100 coupon. Think of it as a stock market, with its own set of complicated rules.
2. On average, one should give every marketing campaign at least 3 months to know whether it has done its job or not. I strongly urge you to think in terms of six months or even yearly.
3. Do you click your competitor's ads? Then why should they? In any case, assuming you are in a neighborhood where this is practiced, make that part of your budget.
4. There are automatic bidding systems in place that always go one up over you. You need to find a strategy to stay on top.
5. In theory, Adwords should have no tangible benefit on Search. In practice, I'm not so sure.
6. The way you phrase your keywords (copy) is extremely important.
7. The demographics you target are equally important.
8. Try to design your website so it feels as a natural progression of your ad.
9. Don't shy away from strong calls to action.
10. If you're targeting a small demographic group or area, eventually you'll have to compare it with conventional advertising methods.

I have a colleague who is very enthusiastic about Google Ads & has been using them for some years. He has some pretty sophisticated ways to maximise the value of his budget e.g. only display ads later in the day when others will have burned their budget for that day.

Thanks for your advice, guys. I will give it a go using the pointers mentioned here and will get back in while to let you know how it's going. Nothing to lose except a little cash which may work or not...

I have a colleague who is very enthusiastic about Google Ads & has been using them for some years. He has some pretty sophisticated ways to maximise the value of his budget e.g. only display ads later in the day when others will have burned their budget for that day.I just spoke to him & asked about Google Ads & it turns out that he doesn't use them any more as he is on Page One of the search results for all his target keywords. He says quite rightly that there is no point paying to be on Page One when he is already there organically.

I've got extensive experience using Adwords for various businesses. There's only one important factor...

...does the cost of the ads convert into sales greater than what you're spending?

Most people fail with Adwords because they are unable to track this critical number and calculate it. Lots to learn, but it has to be treated like any professional advertising - don't just dump money into it.

Currently I'm not using it for anything because I'm either page 1 on Google or the numbers don't work on it.

I have been using Adwords for about a year now for a part of my business. I spend about $15-25 per month. It has brought in some customers. Honestly, I do not know what to think of it.

I told Google in a survey that Adwords is just too complicated to expect people to run their own campaigns properly. They need to offer some account management...like any real ad agency. That is what they are aren't they?

I would put more money if with the confidence that the ads were going to be priced & placed effectively. But I do not have the time or brainpower to become an Adwords expert.

The fact that I receive a fancy printed ad from them every month or so for the last two years tells me one thing for sure: it's a money maker for THEM, not for me... otherwise they would not spend money printing and mailing those out. Besides, my work field is so narrow, there is no general ad that works for me.

I'm pretty sure I posted about this somewhere on here before. A while back I tried it for about a month and a half. $15/day budget.

Got maxxed out almost EVERY SINGLE DAY. Got 0 inquries, ever. What the hell? Do they have spambots? Who was clicking the ads?

What was the ad you ran? I remember finding an ad for a Houston based videographer a while back that I hit about 20 times. Could that have been yours? I figured even though Houston is pretty far away from Arlington I could but the hurt on some competition. Sorry :)

Coulda been me. I thought a felt a draft this one time, but I guess it was the money being sucked from my bank account.

I was joking btw!

It's all good daddy. Your emoticon clued me in. Plus, having to wait for the ad to pop up twenty separate times? That's downright psychotic devotion.

I have been getting Google Ads offers for a while but haven't used them. I was wondering if anyone here has used them to make their website more prominent and what advantages you have found.

My problem with it is that it's now very expensive. When it's cheap, it's one tool in your box, when it gets expensive, you have to decide between tools.

I used them regularly years ago when it was 5 cents per click per keyword. Now minimum per keyword click is $2. And it goes up gradually and you don't notice unless you log in regularly (cost depends on keyword chosen; I'm quoting for my least popular keywords). You can set caps but the ads will just stop unless you increase your cap.

Because of all the variables, my advice is to experiment with it and see how it works for you.

But overall, I think you can achieve better ROI with other SEO methods.

FWIW, I've never used them, and don't intend to.

Personally, once I realized that clicking on Google ads cost the advertiser so much, and that most of the $$ was going to Google while doing little for the advertiser, I avoided clicking on ads on any page.
I certainly use Google for searching, but from the search returns, I go right to a page I think will meet my needs, rather than click on any ads.

With a billion in cash, Google certainly can get along without the paltry few bucks they'd get from me. Plus, I don't need more advertising/spam E-mail, notices of "mid-day sales", or more time-consuming phone calls.
Given that Google has made so much from their practices already, I'm both disappointed and a little surprised that they haven't lowered their prices, but instead continue their "greedy ways".

I'm not against making a profit, but I think they stretch that beyond being reasonable. Personally, I don't believe in/subscribe to what I'd describe as their practice of "getting as much as I can as fast as I can". Once I get that vibe from someone, I'm "out the door" and do my best to deal with them only when I absolutely must.

Anyway, that's my $.02.