Pros and Cons of Google Ads

If you are considering giving a boost to your PPC advertising campaign, chances are that Google Ads already included in your to-do list. However, Google Ads can be a double-edged sword – it can either bring profits your way or bring heavy losses and erode a sizable portion of your advertising dollar investment. So, before you jump into Google Ads, be sure to weigh in on all aspects:

Pros

Worldwide recognition with Google: Perhaps all of us know that Google is the leading search engine where people come to get their queries answered or check out products and services that they intend to use in the future. Using Google Ads will give you the chance to be seen on SERPs (search engine results pages) for Google search queries. This is surely a great way to maximize your exposure and increase your chances for visibility in the competitive world.

Quick to set and easy to change: You can set up your Google Ads account within a few minutes and start using it to give leverage to your business. What’s more important is that you can easily change your targeted keywords or adjust your ads setting for free based on how your customers’ behavioral trends change with time.

Track performance: Thanks to the availability of Google Analytics at your fingertips for free, you can track how well your ads are doing and make necessary adjustments, as and when the need arises.

Cons

Everything isn’t perfect when it comes to using Google Ads. Just take a look at the points mentioned below to understand the level of pitfalls:

Steep learning curve: You will need a good sum of money and lot of time to understand how AdWords can help your business. Though there are many self proclaiming tutorials and help books that promise to teach you everything, the real scenario is different. Unless you get into the field and learn mostly by trial and error method, you can’t become an Google Ads expert. The entire process is bound to be a costly experience.

Limitations: Google Ads alone can’t help your business. You have to devise an overall advertising strategy that includes other tools and methods like organic search engine campaigns, email and video marketing, etc along with Google Ad to get results. With 70 characters of copy space available, you would also need to select your words carefully to make the maximum impact with your Google Ads campaign. Another disadvantage is that people often ignore the advertisements at the top and right-hand side of the search engine results page as they know them to be advertisements. So, the odds of getting them to click on the links is difficult.

Click fraud: A major problem with Google Ads is click fraud, where fraudulent websites are setup and use software "hitbots" or employ low-wage employees from other countries to clicks on ads, and then collect the commission from these pay-per-click programs. So, click fraud hurts advertisers and deplete their pay-per-click account, thus leaving them with little or nothing to show for the expenditure incurred.