If you are asking yourself “is Google Ads worth it” then this article is exactly what you are looking for.
Let’s jump into the 17 pros and cons of Google Ads for your service business.
Pro 1: Instant Results
The first pro to understand is that Google Ads has the capability to generate instant results. This is significant because many other traffic generation strategies like content creation, blogging, and social media can take months or even years to get running at scale.
Google Ads can create instant results because it takes advantage of the way Google is set up. When you search for something with Google, you see ads at the top and on the side of your screen. They’re often very relevant to what you were searching for, so they’ll catch the viewer’s attention and then bring them traffic into your website — where you can make sales or get subscribers or leads.
Pro 2: Ability To Test & Experiment
Google Ads gives you the ability to test what gets results and what doesn’t in just days or weeks. This ability to test quickly is the second pro of using Google Ads.
Every ad experiment will yield different results since not all experiments are alike. For instance, you might try running an ad campaign for one set of service-based keywords one month and then the next month switch it up by running ads for a different service instead. Even with the same audience, these two experiments will generate different results because, most likely, different people prefer to buy different services. Google Ads allows you to find what works quickly through testing and gives you easy access to split testing tools like Google Optimize. This may just help you cut out months or years of trial and error at once.
Pro 3: Measure Results
Google Ads gives you the unparalleled ability to measure your results. After each ad campaign, you can use the dashboard to determine exactly how well your ads are doing. You’ll be able to see what keywords are giving the best results, which times of day have the highest number of click-throughs, what specific ads are converting best, etc.
Pro 4: Flexible Ad Budgets
We love Google Ads because you no longer need to have a massive advertising budget like was needed back in the mass media advertising days. Since Google Ads is pay-per-click, you only have to decide how much you want to spend and the system will automatically stop running your ads when you’ve reached that amount. For instance, if you set a $50/day budget, your ad won’t run if it isn’t generating clicks for less than $50/day. If it’s getting tons of traffic but no conversions yet, then your ad will only run up until the point where it has generated enough conversions to hit $50/day. This way, new companies can still get their name out there without having to wait years before seeing profits.
Pro 5: High ROI Potential
Any advertiser worth their salt should be able to generate a 2x Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) with Google Ads. Google makes it simple to see how many conversions you get for every dollar spent. Our data shows that the average ROAS with Google Ads is between 4x and 5x, but 2x is what most advertisers expect in their first year, which tells us that Google Ads definitely beats out other traffic generation strategies in terms of return on advertising spend.
Pro 6: Targeted Advertising
In the past, it was almost impossible to target your advertising. You might be able to choose a tv station, a specific radio show, or neighborhood to send fliers to. Google ads (and other PPC) advertising platforms give you the ability to target based on location, interests, keywords, time of day, age, device type, and so much more.
Hyper targeted ads allows you to reduce costs and reach only the audience who is interested in your products or services.
Pro 7: Geographically Diverse Reach
Google Ads gives you a geographically diverse reach by allowing you to choose what areas, cities, or certain countries to restrict your ads to. If you only want your ad to show in the USA but nothing outside that country, it allows you to do that. This makes it easy for companies in smaller markets or in local cities to make an impact on the audiences that matter to them.
Pro 8: Cost Per Click (CPC)
Another pro is that you get to pay by the click. This is a hugely advantageous payment system, especially for small service businesses. Many other advertising platforms like Facebook usually charge when someone views your ad (know as CPM payments). With CPC payments, you only pay when someone clicks your ad and is taken to your landing page.
This means you only pay when someone sees your service offering.
Find Out How We Can Help Grow Your Business
Let’s discuss your marketing needs, and we’ll help you put together a digital marketing strategy that will generate more leads and save you time.
Pro 9: High Intent Searchers
Google is a powerful advertising platform because of the intent of the people using Google. Unlike people on most social media websites, users searching Google are actively looking to solve a problem. Take yourself for example. You probably found this blog through a search engine because you are actively trying to figure out if Google ads are worth the cost for your business. If you decide that Google Ads are worth the cost, you will then ask yourself if you want to set it up yourself or if you want to work with a marketing firm. You are motivated to solve a problem which is why you found this article. The same is true with your customers. They are looking on Google for solutions to their problems. When you advertise on Google, you’re advertising to hundreds or thousands of motivated buyers!
Pro 10: Remarketing Capability
Google Ads gives you the ability to also show your ads to people who have already visited your website but who haven’t yet taken action. This is called remarketing, and it’s a great way to remind people of all the products or services they left behind that you are now willing to give them again.
It’s not always best to begin with remarketing ads, but it’s powerful when used correctly.
If you would like to learn more about Google Ads check out this article: An introduction To Google Ads
Con 1: Alone Do Nothing
Like any advertising system, the ads by themselves are useless because it’s the website structure and landing pages that ultimately convince the potential customers to make a purchase. If users perceive your website to be confusing, untrustworthy, or frustrating, they won’t buy anything from you.
This means you can have a perfectly curated advertising account and still not sell anything. It’s important to understand how to create the full marketing system before tuning on your ads. This is where most businesses get hung up.
If this sounds like a lot of work, you may want to look into marketing firms who are able to help get you started with a comprehensive advertising system.
Con 2: High CPC Potential
Highly competitive industries often have a high cost per click, and this can make it difficult to make any money off of your clicks if you don’t have a large company’s marketing budget.
With that said, many industries that have a high cost per click can justify it because their product or service sits at a very high price point. Consider the education industry. If a college student is going to spend $50,000 a year or even more for college, it may be justified to spend $50 or even $100 per click.
This most likely won’t apply to you though. The average cost per click for most services business will be between $1.50 and $3, usually closer to the lower end of that scale if your Google Ads account is set up well.
Con 3: Detailed Settings
Google Ads can be very cumbersome for those who don’t have prior PPC training. There are hundreds of settings that you can choose to have on, off, or somewhere in between. These settings are necessary for optimization, but it could be very overwhelming if you don’t know what each setting does. Some settings – like conversion tracking can be very confusing to set up, and if not done properly, can make the ads and data in your account essentially worthless.
Con 4: Time Investment
Like anything that produces results, Google Ads can be time-consuming, even for the experienced user. If this is a problem for you, you may want to have a designated person on staff to handle all the digital marketing. Many times, it’s less expensive to work with a marketing agency.
Con 5: Data Buying
While Google ads can generate a profit fairly quickly (in the first few months of being active) they can do so much more after a year or more of active optimization and testing.
During the early phases of your advertising, you are essentially buying the data that will be required to truly optimize the account. The data you purchase early on is what will enable you to crete a 3x-15x Return On Ad Spend.
If you’re not sure if you should start with Google Ads or Facebook Ads you’re going to love our post: Facebook Ads vs Google Ads: Boost Your ROI
Con 6: Keyword Intent
Those who don’t have experience with digital marketing often end up spending large amounts of money on their Google Ads accounts because they don’t understand keyword intent.
If you don’t understand how people search, and what kind of products or services they expect to see when doing so, you will continually overpay for clicks that produce little or no results. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to get accurate data on your keywords unless you’ve been spending money on the account for a while and have gotten enough conversion tracking set up to gather this data.
This means that by the time you have enough data to realize you are getting no results, you will have already spent a fair amount of money. Make sure you understand the intent behind your advertising before you begin advertising.
Con 7: Results Of Emotion
Another con when it comes to advertising on Google is human emotion. Many business owners aren’t sure if the expense of advertising is right for them, and as soon as the cost of doing so begins to be felt, they stop advertising. Make sure you don’t overreach when you begin your advertising campaign.
This is a dangerous approach, as it can drastically limit your potential business, not to mention waste all of the time, resources, and money you spent to set up your advertising campaigns. Before you start working with an advertising firm, fully understand the full cost of getting started and be sure you are comfortable with the numbers.
___
Is Google Ads Worth It?
Now asking the experts “is Google Ads Worth It?” We believe the answer is YES – if you know how to use them correctly and have all the information up front!
That about sums it up for this article on is Google Ads worth it.
Let us know if you think Google Ads is worth it down in the comments!
