FAQ

Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords and Google AdWords Express) is an online advertising solution that businesses use to promote their products and services on Google Search, YouTube, and other sites across the web. Google Ads also allows advertisers to choose specific goals for their ads, like driving phone calls or website visits. With a Google Ads account, advertisers can customize their budgets and targeting, and start or stop their ads at any time.

Google AdWords and Google AdWords Express are the previous names for the new, improved Google Ads.

Google Ads works by displaying your ad when people search online for the products and services you offer. By leveraging smart technology, Google Ads helps get your ads in front of potential customers at just the moment they’re ready to take action.

1. Start by selecting your goal, like getting more visitors to your website or more phone calls to your business.
2. Next select the geographic area where your ad should be shown. It can be a small radius around your business or much broader, like cities, states, or entire countries.
3. Finally, craft your ad and set your monthly budget cap.

Once your ad is approved, it can appear whenever users in your target area search for a product or service like yours. You only pay when users engage with your ad, like clicking your ad or calling your business.

Your Google Ads cost is determined by your budget settings. Google Ads can work with almost any budget. You’re only charged when users interact with your ad, like clicking to visit your website or to call your business. With Google Ads, there is no minimum spend requirement and you can stop your ads anytime. The cost of a click or call can vary based on a few factors. Learn more here.

Smart campaigns are the new campaign type for Google Ads, designed to help small businesses improve the way they promote their products and services online. You can choose your goals – whether you want more calls, actions on your website, or store visits – and setup an advertising campaign in minutes. These campaigns use smart technology to monitor and improve the performance of your ads continuously, so you can spend more time on other business tasks.

Smart campaigns on Google Ads are designed to be low maintenance, but they do require oversight from you to see best results. We recommend spending at least 30 minutes per week reviewing your ad results and making adjustments as needed. To save time, you can also manage your campaigns and get recommendations to improve them right from your smartphone with the Google Ads app on iOS and Android.

Probably not — it takes time to see which ads work best. To help, Google's Smart campaigns use technology to monitor and improve your ads automatically as you go. With Smart campaigns, businesses usually hit their stride in the first month, so we recommend you budget at least that amount of time for best results. Your exact ramp up time may be shorter or longer than that depending on various factors, like your ad copy and the amount of competition in your local area.

The three most common Google Ads campaign types are:

• Search campaigns - usually text form, these ads can show on Google Search results pages when someone searches for a product or service that’s similar to yours
• Display campaigns - usually image form, these ads appear on websites or apps that your customers visit
• Video campaigns - usually 6 or 15 second videos, these ads show right before or during YouTube content

Learn about additional advanced campaign types, including Shopping campaigns, App Campaigns, and more here.

CPC (Cost Per Click) or PPC (Pay Per Click) means you only pay for an ad if someone clicks on it.

Other advertising models include:

• Cost Per Impression, where you pay based on how many times your ad was shown (not clicked)
• Cost Per Engagement, where you pay when a user completes a predefined engagement (like watching your video ad)

To get started with Google Ads, click here to sign up. Our guided setup process will walk you through creating your first ad in just a few steps. If you need help signing up, our Google Ads experts are available to set up your new account and even assist in creating your first campaign at no additional cost.