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Conductor vs. Google Ads vs. Google Campaign Manager 360

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Conductor

    Score9.6 out of 10
    N/AConductor is an enterprise AEO platform that provides unified AEO & SEO intelligence, scaled AI content generation, and real-time website monitoring. From tracking visibility in LLMs to technical health and content optimization, Conductor’s platform empowers teams to increase authority and visibility in AI and traditional search and accelerate digital growth. Conductor states its current customers include global brands such as SAP, e.l.f Cosmetics, FedEx, and Mastercard.N/A

    Google Ads

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google's pay-per-click online advertising program. With Google Ads users set their budget and choose where their ads appear in search listings, and on partner websites. Google Ads uses cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.

    $500

    in Ads credit in the first 60 days

    Google Campaign Manager 360

    Score6.8 out of 10
    N/AReplacing DoubleClick, Google Campaign Manager 360 is a web-based ad management system for advertisers and agencies, used to manage digital campaigns across websites and mobile. This includes features for ad serving, targeting, verification, and reporting.N/A
    Pricing
    ConductorGoogle AdsGoogle Campaign Manager 360
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Offer A
    $500
    in Ads credit in the first 60 days
    Offer B
    $1500
    in Ads credit in the first 60 days
    Offer C
    $3000
    in Ads credit in the first 60 days
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    ConductorGoogle AdsGoogle Campaign Manager 360
    Free Trial
    YesNoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    ConductorGoogle AdsGoogle Campaign Manager 360
    Considered Multiple Products
    Conductor
    Chose Conductor
    Used many platforms and tools over the years, current company had a contract with Conductor when I came onboard so was able to use it now.
    Incentivized
    Chose Conductor
    Conductor is able to offer unparalleled insights on top of raw data.
    Incentivized
    Chose Conductor
    We have tried a number of tools over the years. The biggest difference with Conductor has to be the integration, competitive analysis and recommendations that the software makes based on the current structure of the site, content and keyword discovery. Customer service is also …
    Incentivized
    Chose Conductor
    I actually love the competition between BrightEdge and Conductor. Once one tool gets ahead in an area, the other will quickly improve and surpass. For us, the relationships that we've built up at Conductor made the difference. They'll bend over backwards to help us out. Moz is …
    Incentivized
    Chose Conductor
    Conductor does what it does very well, which is tracks SEO in comparison to competitors and focuses on optimizing strategic pages for achieving market differentiation. I haven't seen this level of insight in any other tool.
    Incentivized
    Google
    Chose Google Ads
    Bing Ads is an indirect competitor to AdWords, which does much of the same as AdWords (with a reduced level of detail) on Bing searches. We mainly used Bing Ads to complement AdWords activity, meaning, if we have saturated the market via Google, we will then use Bing Ads to get …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Ads
    Against Bing, Adwords is the better platform, because many more users search on google instead of bing. This means the reach is quite restricted to Bing. As a whole, AdWords gives much better experience and support than Bing. Google Analytics is an additional tool to AdWords, …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Ads
    AdWords is obviously dominant in terms of lead generation compared to Bing due to the power and popularity of its search engine. Beyond this, it often leads the field in innovation and Bing is forced to follow to remain relevant. That said, Bing is much cheaper in terms of CPCs …
    Incentivized
    Google
    Chose Google Campaign Manager 360
    Marin takes a lot more time for everything, mainly for the campaigns setup. This also leads to many mistakes, which impact the performance. I've used Marin on a couple of previous clients and we've had many problems with it, mainly with correct conversion tracking and account …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Campaign Manager 360
    DoubleClick is the best tool to use for data management since it is fast, easy to use and provides everything needed for optimizing towards better performance.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Campaign Manager 360
    DoubleClick has been a great alternative to other DSPs because of the easy integration between the adserver and the DSP. It really cuts the work in half.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Campaign Manager 360
    DoubleClick allows to compile Google AdWords data with Bing data and allows for more bulk changes that on AdWords would be only possible via AdWords editor
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Campaign Manager 360
    I wasn't involved in the selection process however, but I was happy with the functionality because I had to update promotional ad copy on a daily basis.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    60 Answers
    81%
    Would buy again
    42 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    52 Answers
    76%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    63 Answers
    79%
    Happy with the feature set
    41 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    53 Answers
    69%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    34 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    51 Answers
    70%
    Implementation went as expected
    35 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    ConductorGoogle AdsGoogle Campaign Manager 360
    SEO
    Comparison of SEO features of Conductor and Google Ads and Google Campaign Manager 360
    Feature
    Conductor
    8.6
    282 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Google Ads
    -
    Ratings
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    -
    Ratings
    Keyword analysis9.4267 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Backlink management8.394 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    SERP ranking tracking8.9252 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Page grader9.2133 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Competitive analysis8.2268 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Site audit / diagnostics9.5253 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Site recommendations7.7265 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Task management7.9102 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    SEO Channels
    Comparison of SEO Channels features of Conductor and Google Ads and Google Campaign Manager 360
    Feature
    Conductor
    8.7
    249 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Google Ads
    -
    Ratings
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    -
    Ratings
    Local SEO8.9200 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social SEO8.135 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile SEO9.6217 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Global SEO8.4210 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    SEO Platform & Account Management
    Comparison of SEO Platform & Account Management features of Conductor and Google Ads and Google Campaign Manager 360
    Feature
    Conductor
    9.6
    265 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Google Ads
    -
    Ratings
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    -
    Ratings
    Multi-domain support9.5235 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integration with web analytics tools9.6249 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Campaigns
    Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Conductor and Google Ads and Google Campaign Manager 360
    Feature
    Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Google Ads
    7.2
    11 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    8.8
    33 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Ad campaign creation00 Ratings7.911 Ratings8.033 Ratings
    Ad deployment00 Ratings7.510 Ratings10.033 Ratings
    Display advertising00 Ratings7.410 Ratings10.030 Ratings
    Ad display and retargeting segmentation00 Ratings7.511 Ratings9.031 Ratings
    Sequence targeting00 Ratings6.810 Ratings7.023 Ratings
    Contextual advertising00 Ratings7.210 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social advertising00 Ratings6.25 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Conductor and Google Ads and Google Campaign Manager 360
    Feature
    Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Google Ads
    7.3
    11 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    9.2
    33 Ratings
    17% above category average
    Ad dashboards00 Ratings7.511 Ratings10.031 Ratings
    Ad performance reports00 Ratings7.911 Ratings9.033 Ratings
    Ad conversion tracking00 Ratings7.311 Ratings9.032 Ratings
    Ad attribution reporting00 Ratings7.211 Ratings9.031 Ratings
    Ad forecasting and optimization00 Ratings6.911 Ratings9.025 Ratings
    Cross-channel ad management00 Ratings00 Ratings9.026 Ratings
    Ad Auctions
    Comparison of Ad Auctions features of Conductor and Google Ads and Google Campaign Manager 360
    Feature
    Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Google Ads
    7.9
    10 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    -
    Ratings
    Ad bidding00 Ratings7.910 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Network Integration
    Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Conductor and Google Ads and Google Campaign Manager 360
    Feature
    Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Google Ads
    -
    Ratings
    Google Campaign Manager 360
    9.0
    29 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Data Transfer00 Ratings00 Ratings9.024 Ratings
    DSP integration00 Ratings00 Ratings9.026 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    ConductorGoogle AdsGoogle Campaign Manager 360
    Small Businesses
    Serpstat
    Score9.9 out of 10
    WordStream
    Score6.9 out of 10
    AdRoll
    Score3.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Yoast
    Score8.5 out of 10
    WordStream
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Criteo Commerce Growth
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Google Trends
    Score8.6 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Criteo Commerce Growth
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    ConductorGoogle AdsGoogle Campaign Manager 360
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (283 ratings)
    8.7
    (126 ratings)
    9.0
    (45 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.7
    (15 ratings)
    9.6
    (21 ratings)
    8.0
    (13 ratings)
    Usability
    6.4
    (155 ratings)
    7.7
    (17 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.8
    (236 ratings)
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    3.7
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.6
    (2 ratings)
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    7.8
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    ConductorGoogle AdsGoogle Campaign Manager 360
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Conductor
    Conductor is a great tool to use when we're planning and optimizing content around specific trends. It also helps us track our on-going performance as well, which is great to help us improve. Conductor is less ideal for content that has a quick turnaround time or pieces where SEO isn't a priority, also if you're looking to manage content publishing directly. It's more useful when it comes to strategy and optimization for in-depth pieces.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Google Ads is a useful advertising tool to build brand exposure and generate lead volumes for your chosen product. Whilst it can be costly at times due to competitor bidding strategies and requires constant monitoring to ensure campaigns perform as expected, it typically provides the desired quality and quantity of leads for custom budgets.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    I feel pretty neutral about Google Marketing Platform. For the longest time, my company wasn't using it because each of the features (Data Studio, Analytics, etc.) could be accessed separately. In fact, most of the time, I don't even go into Google Marketing Platform because it's easier to directly navigate to the individual platforms. There are very few features about GMP that can only be accessed from the GMP UI. The Integrations Center is probably the main feature I utilize from the GMP UI, which allows me to see a summary of the integrations I have in place across all my client properties and accounts.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Conductor
    • When I need to quickly determine what Google features our keywords are ranking for: Featured Snippets, Carousels, Rich Snippets, Sitelinks, PAA boxes, etc.
    • The ability to create highly customizable dashboards that provide a one-page view of insights for the specific web properties you are tracking.
    • A content guidance tool that is unmatched by any other product available in the market.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • Automated targeting via Smart Shopping campaign. It's one of the best campaign types in Google Ads. In the beginning, you may see lower revenue and ROAS, but once you give some meaningful time to your campaign, it is most likely to perform well.
    • Smart bidding strategies: Google Ads has developed some really great bidding strategies such as maximizing conversion and maximizing conversion with ROAS settings. Based on one's requirement and their goal with revenue and target ROAS, they can choose the appropriate bidding strategy.
    • Reporting: A business owner and advertising must know about their audiences, how their campaigns have been performing, what's working and what's not, and for that reason, powerful, effective reporting is needed, and Google Ads provides rich details reporting that covers almost every aspect of a business.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • Bringing together data from multiple channels and engines and allows you to visualize the data in an easy to use platform. This saves time from using multiple logins for the different platforms.
    • Auto bidding tools save time from manual bidding, as it allows you to set the specific terms around what levels you want to cap your CPCs at. You then let DoubleClick adjust your bids to gain the most conversions from the cheapest CPCs. This frees up time to do other in-depth analysis and strategy.
    • DoubleClick also has the ability to track conversions and clicks on any page using their floodlight tags. This is good for tracking certain actions on yours or a client's site and is especially good if they do not use any other tools, such as Google Analytics or Adobe, to track conversions and user actions on site. You can also use these in conjunction with the auto bidding tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Conductor
    • Backlink tracking/reporting (would like to see backlinks more easily and maybe backlink opportunities if possible)
    • Custom content briefs (right now I move the brief from the platform version into our own in-house Word doc template because it is more detailed. Would love to be able to customize the brief that is set up within Conductor so that we can do it all in one place.)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • If you don't know what you're doing, it will be a costly mistake. You need to target ads, and it is difficult the first time to do that.
    • There isn't a feature to run an add for a couple set date spans, just hours you want to run them or a single date span.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • The process for on-boarding new users can be difficult if they do not already have a Gmail or Gmail-linked account.
    • Difficult to troubleshoot technical issues (with the platform, with tags, etc.) because of the lack of customer support. Unclear if the agency has a dedicated team or individual to assist, and often have to deal with out-sourced support teams.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Conductor
    Conductor enables high-value SEO activity. There are a lot of moving parts in SEO and I'm always open to products that fit our requirements, but Conductor has built a stronger argument for its value after we subscribed than it had when we subscribed -- that's rare.
    Read full review
    Google
    I think Google Ads is good for getting your company out there and becoming more visible to potential customers in general. However, for specific product launches, social media advertising might be a better fit. Also, our user base is younger so social media is a better channel for our target audience.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Due to its adapting behavior with industry ad formats and seamless integration with publishers and DSP's, I don't see myself moving away from DCM. As we see the display advertising is getting more programatic and automated due to the rise of DSP and concept of RTB, Double Click has evolved with new advanced best practices
    Read full review
    Usability
    Conductor
    I check features like the InsightStream every Monday to monitor any major losses or gains in performance. These are easily digested and save me tons of time searching for these insights manually. If there's anything "worth calling home about" I can easily add insights into a workspace and create a report to communicate these results. It's super easy to use Conductor with a team and across departments.
    Read full review
    Google
    This is more of a subjective rating, because I think it can be increased with how much our ad spend is. The more of an ad spend, the more visibility we can get, and therefore all features can climb. With an overall larger presence the usability is that where we can get messages out quick, and that's the main thing we try to do with our campaigns.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    The Doubleclick interface is easy and simple to get a hang of. The options are slightly limited compared to other DSPs. But, for a simple campaign, this is a great DSP to move forward with. They have a ton of data and can plug into a lot of different partners
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Conductor
    Always works when I've needed it
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Conductor
    Sometimes reports can take some time to load
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Conductor
    The Conductor support team is excellent, especially our Customer Success manager. Our monthly calls to review our wins, losses, and key takeaways for the next steps are incredibly helpful, and Conductor's platform provides not only an organic search tool for our company but also a learning resource via our Customer Success calls.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    We have not yet had an account rep who hasn't tried to bully me or other employees to raise our budgets. At the same time, several years ago, one attempted to help refine our ads and ended up changing the ads to be something we were not affiliated with
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    They do not have strong support team. It is tough to get answer when I need it. They always refer you to an online guide and not an actual person. If so, the person is based out of an offshore team in India and does not know the specific client goals .
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Conductor
    Our in house SEO manager trained everyone. It was easy to learn and he was well versed with the product. Any questions we had he was able to answer or reach out to support to find the answer
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    Conductor
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    Daily use with advanced account structures. Familiarity with reporting/api and complex setups.
    Read full review
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Conductor
    I definitely recommend their professional services for getting started. It got our account 90% of the way to where we needed to be in order to gain value from it. In fact, I'd suggest that with few exceptions (such as, you have a staff that is already familiar with the platform and doesn't need any help), the quick start services over the first 30-90 days should be a standard part of onboarding with any new client. It definitely got us to the point of gaining ROI from the solution and, in turn, will make it easier to justify renewal and continued investment in it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    I would highly recommend asking clients to provide 3PAS tags or use an internal 3PAS
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Conductor
    We didn't use another product previously, we used an agency that did everything for us, so bringing Organic SEO in-house was why we went with Conductor. I have used other products in other roles and at other companies and each has its strengths. Conductor is good for large enterprises
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Our agency invests heavily in Google Ads (particularly paid search advertising) on behalf of our clients relative to competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo because Google is the top search engine in the world. Google collects the most search data which enables the company to improve its AI to drive better performance for agencies and brands. As such, our paid search and app install campaigns always start with Google. If a client has a large budget, we will allocate media dollars to other search engines, but in some cases, the entire search budget goes to Google because we see the best returns.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    Marin takes a lot more time for everything, mainly for the campaigns setup. This also leads to many mistakes, which impact the performance. I've used Marin on a couple of previous clients and we've had many problems with it, mainly with correct conversion tracking and account optimizations. Besides, Marin is behind all the new features available on AdWords, which makes the tracking also not very flexible.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Conductor
    Many features
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Conductor
    • Conductor helped us aim at low hanging fruits for quick wins, which increased our traffic
    • With Conductor's tool, it was easy to look at general keywords where we were already ranking, but not good enough, and then focus around what we could do to increase our positioning
    • All this extra traffic, gave us more leads, therefore more sales!
    Read full review
    Google
    • Google Ads is often one of our highest ROI channels, especially when you factor in branded ads.
    • Depending on the stage your business is in, search ads can be really powerful from an ROI perspective, providing an investment with a very high spend cap.
    • If you do not manage the campaigns well though, you can quickly spend a lot of money on nothing. So make sure someone is keeping an eye on your account.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Google
    • DS3 has improved ROI considerably due to its ability to make the work of a team of digital marketers to go further and improving internal efficiency.
    • There is a notable improvement in account performance for those integrated with DoubleClick as opposed to not, with better tracking, new bid strategy options, and a more responsive interface.
    • The additional fee on top of media spend is a considerable expense for a large advertiser, but the necessity of a product/solution such as this means that there is always likely to be some comparative cost.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Conductor Screenshots

    Screenshot of Conductor's AI search performance metrics. Conductor helps to ensure a brand appears everywhere audience searches—from ChatGPT and Perplexity to Google AIO and AI Mode.Screenshot of website performance analytics that tie AI and search performance together and create visibility into how search impacts business goals. Viewers can analyze AI traffic alongside engagement and conversion metrics.Screenshot of an example of the available competitive intelligence. Viewers can analyze the competition's strategy and compare market share in both AI and traditional search to identify opportunities.Screenshot of the AI Topic Map, used to automate content strategy. As AI generation becomes a commodity, knowing what content to create becomes an competitive advantage. The AI Topic Map can be used to spot where to create or optimize content for the biggest impact.Screenshot of the AI Writing Assistant. The Writing Assistant orchestrates personalized content that fuses brand guidelines, competitors, knowledge sources, and real-time search insights to produce content that’s strategically designed to win with audiences and AI answer engines.Screenshot of AI Bot Crawling Analysis, used to find and fix the errors that make a site invisible to AI. Viewers can diagnose the technical errors that make the best pages invisible to LLMs. This dashboard transforms complex server logs into a simple workflow where viewers can monitor crawl frequency, optimize the crawl budget, and ensure that a brand's most valuable content is discoverable.