Google offers a variety of web tools. if you’re a webmaster, you probably use at least one of their services. Google AdWords is one of their advertising platforms. It allows you to take advantage of your search engine traffic through PPC (pay per click) advertising. While advertising is the key to AdWords, they also offer great research tools. Below are three ways you can use AdWords in your search engine marketing.
1. PPC (Pay Per Click) Ads – This is the basis of AdWords, basically you can pay to have your website appear at the top of Google rankings for any keyword. Your site will appear in the “Sponsored Links” section of Google. This section is located at the top of the listings or on the right hand side.
PPC ads are great because you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Cost is based on competition and varies widely. For some terms, you will only pay pennies. You can also target certain geographic areas with these ads, so only people searching from a certain area will see them. This is great for businesses that want to tap into their local market.
The main benefit of these PPC ads is that you can get to the top of Google for your chosen search terms (keywords) without taking on the lengthy process of SEO.
2. The Display Network – Appearing in Google search results is not the only type of PPC ads available. Google AdWords also makes it ridiculously easy to advertise your website on other related websites and blogs across the internet.
The Google AdWord Display Network allows you to place your banners on sites related to yours. It allows you to get your offer in front of the people who care about it. You can let Google select the sites for you, or you can even choose the sites yourself.
You can use your own banners or the easy-to-use templates provided by Google. Another benefit of the Display Network is that these ads are often cheaper per click than the search engine results ads above.
3.Investigation – AdWords includes a free to use keyword research tool. Even if you don’t want to use your paid advertising options, this simple tool can help. It’s the first place you should go when doing keyword research. It allows you to enter your keyword and see an approximation of how many people search for that term each month.
This information is perfect for people who are about to start a search engine optimization or search engine marketing plan. Why invest time and money in terms that are not sought? The results will also include variations of your search term that you may not have even thought of.
These results also show local search volume, so it’s a good way to gauge your offline activities as well. If you have a shoe store that is thinking of offering a new line, you could research how often people in your local area search for that product online.