Sometimes it feels difficult to compete against the big guys – brands that have a lot of money to spend on their marketing campaigns. But Google Ads can even up the playing field. 

Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers pay to reach web users with display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, video content and mobile application installs within the Google Ad network. 

Google Ads Auction is a function of Google Ads, and it levels out the field by making the user its number one consideration.  

Debby Jones, digital marketing advisor for The Brand Agency, says Google tries to find the most relevant content for its user, and by doing so opens a world of selling opportunities for businesses that may previously have been shut out of the game.  

“By taking that into consideration, small businesses can compete against the big guys and pay less per click if they make sure their content is aligned to what users are searching for,” she says.  

“So, this comes down to doing some quality research in the beginning and using tools that are available like the Keyword Planner and Google Trends.” 

Also, make sure you’re set up for success by making sure your website is structured and has good content. (needs link) Find out more about how to set up your website here. 

These tips will help your campaign:  

•  The best time: This is called Day/Geographic Parting. Once a campaign has been live for a while, an advertiser can see which times are best for a user to take the desired action. Google Ads will let you increase your activity in the hours when there is the most user activity or pause the action in slower times. It’s also possible to target demographics and control where your ad is shown.  
• A good experience: A user who has an excellent experience with your website will more likely return. Ad extensions can be used to help with this. For example, a Site Link Extension provides deeper links to a website and helps the advertiser to give the user options on which page is the most relevant to them. This is particularly helpful when someone uses really broad search terms.  
• Align keywords: It is essential to make sure that the query someone is typing into Google is very close to the keywords that the advertiser is targeting. This is aligned to the ad copy which is then aligned to the content of the website.  
• Options aside from Google: There are options apart from Google. The second most common option would be Bing, and the decision on whether to run Bing, Google or both, comes down to factors like budget. But Google is the most significant player in Australia.