5 FAQs to Help You Understand Google AdWords Better

“Hello, I’m from a digital marketing agency. I noticed that you don’t seem to be running Google AdWords for your company. Would you be interested to run a Google search ad campaign?”

Cold calls like this can be difficult when it involves business owners that are new to Google AdWords, and they often have plenty of questions about it. This guide will answer the top 5 FAQs about Google AdWords if you are completely new to it.

When you are using Google AdWords’ services, you’re basically showing your ads either in text, image (GIFs too!), video or other formats across the Google network. Depending on your business type and objective, we will suggest a different AdWords campaign type to you.

There’s generally four types of Google AdWords ads or campaigns that you can run.

Google Search

Your text ads can be shown at the premium slots of Google search results.

Google Display

Your images & animated GIFs can appear on Google-affiliated or partners’ websites, Gmail inbox & more.

Video Ads

Your videos can show up before or during a YouTube video’s playthrough.

Shopping Ads

Your products will be showcased with their brands, pricing & your company name above Google organic search results.

Universal App

Advertise your mobile app or game on Google Play, search results & more.

a) Do you want to be found when people need your services or products?

E.g.: As a plumber, your customers might have leaky pipes at home. When they search for ‘leaky pipes repair’ on Google, you want them to see your ads.
If you said yes, you need: Google AdWords Search

b) Are you intending to do a branding campaign?

E.g.: You have a new product line that does not cater to a narrow target market segment. We’re talking about food chains, clothing, home furnishing, etc that can be used by everyone.
If you said yes, you need: Google AdWords Display

c) Do you have an e-commerce website where customers can purchase online?

E.g.: Websites such as Amazon, Taobao, Lazada, or Shopee. Your products could have specific model names with several color and size selections.
If you said yes, you need: Google Shopping Ads

d) Do you have a creative video production team whose finished videos you’d like to show off?

E.g.: Imagine TV ads & advertisements ran before a movie starts in a cinema, and bring that to YouTube before other videos start. That’s how simple it is!
If you said yes, you need: Video Ads

e) Looking for more downloads for your mobile app or perhaps involved players for your new mobile game?

E.g.: You might see a ‘sponsored’ sign next to some apps while you’re browsing Google Play Store or App Store.
If you said yes, you need: Universal App Advertising

Here’s the best part - Most of the time, you get charged only when people click into your ads. We say ‘most of the time’, because some ad formats such as video ads or app downloads are charged based on views and number of downloads.

This means that your ads can show frequently on Google search results, but if no one clicked on it, you don’t have to pay a single cent! As such, you might only need a small budget to get your first Google AdWords campaign running. However, a bigger budget can help you to reach more customers later on if you decide to run a consequent AdWords campaign.

You can also set different budgets for products with different priority levels, which we will talk about in a later guide.

Let’s use Google AdWords Search as an example, since it’s one of the most common Google AdWords campaign utilized by businesses.

Here’s an overview: You have your account, then you have your campaign(s), and you can categorize your products or services into different groups. Then, under these groups, you have different text ads and keywords that will trigger the ad to launch when people search for it. Let’s give you a better idea by having an example.

You are from Travilla Traveling Agency and you provide 3 tour packages for Bangkok, Vietnam and Malaysia. Perhaps you have a 20% discount promotion for Vietnam tours for the entire year, while your Malaysia tour package features a local tour guide & free accommodation. Maybe there’s no ongoing promotion for Bangkok tours, so you’d rather promote your tour packages for the other two countries. You plan to allocate RM100 in total as your daily budget.

So, we will structure your account as below:

Account Name: Travilla Traveling Agency
Campaign 01: Promotion-Enabled (Daily Budget of RM85)
Campaign 02: No Promotion (Daily Budget of RM15)