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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    StackAdapt

    Score7.2 out of 10
    N/AStackAdapt, headquartered in Toronto offers their native advertising specialized DSP, supporting programmatic advertising with audience discovery, B2B targeting, and engagement analytics among other features.N/A
    Pricing
    Google AdsStackAdapt
    Editions & Modules
    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
    Google AdsStackAdapt
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google AdsStackAdapt
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    StackAdapt
    Chose StackAdapt
    With Google Ads you are able to set your budget and work within it. However, it is pay per click so the price does increase substantially. StackAdapt seems more budget friendly.
    Incentivized
    Chose StackAdapt
    We have evaluated Criteo because we have many eCommerce clients. But we decided against it because StackAdapt seems to have much better and complete targeting options and ways to optimize campaigns post-launch, whereas Criteo feels more like a "spray & pray" approach. …
    Incentivized
    Chose StackAdapt
    StackAdapt is significantly less expensive than The Trade Desk. StackAdapt doesn't have campaign minimums, unlike The Trade Desk, meaning you can experiment with a lower ad spend to gain client confidence before investing at a larger level. Plus they don't lock you into an …
    Incentivized
    Chose StackAdapt
    StackAdapt has better support, better integration, is easier to work with, and listens to customers. Other platforms serve up a take-it-or-leave-it attitude to all but the largest customers.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    81%
    Would buy again
    42 Answers
    92%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    76%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    79%
    Happy with the feature set
    41 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    69%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    34 Answers
    90%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    70%
    Implementation went as expected
    35 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    Features
    Google AdsStackAdapt
    Ad Campaigns
    Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Google Ads and StackAdapt
    Feature
    Google Ads
    7.2
    11 Ratings
    11% above category average
    StackAdapt
    -
    Ratings
    Ad campaign creation7.911 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad deployment7.510 Ratings00 Ratings
    Display advertising7.410 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad display and retargeting segmentation7.511 Ratings00 Ratings
    Sequence targeting6.810 Ratings00 Ratings
    Contextual advertising7.210 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social advertising6.25 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Google Ads and StackAdapt
    Feature
    Google Ads
    7.3
    11 Ratings
    6% above category average
    StackAdapt
    -
    Ratings
    Ad dashboards7.511 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad performance reports7.911 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad conversion tracking7.311 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad attribution reporting7.211 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad forecasting and optimization6.911 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Auctions
    Comparison of Ad Auctions features of Google Ads and StackAdapt
    Feature
    Google Ads
    7.9
    10 Ratings
    6% below category average
    StackAdapt
    -
    Ratings
    Ad bidding7.910 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google AdsStackAdapt
    Small Businesses
    WordStream
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Basis DSP
    Score9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    WordStream
    Score6.9 out of 10
    The Trade Desk
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Yahoo DSP
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google AdsStackAdapt
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (126 ratings)
    8.2
    (25 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.6
    (21 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    7.7
    (17 ratings)
    8.2
    (4 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google AdsStackAdapt
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    StackAdapt
    StackAdapt's programmatic buys are great for a quick awareness campaign to reach the most eyeballs. Solid user segmentation from 3rd party sources that is available almost immediately. The platform is less proficient at converting users, though I've never had sufficient volume to test if this works better for enterprise-level clients with more conversion data
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    StackAdapt
    • Audience targeting - there are so many options for both B2C and B2B audiences, from browsing behavior audiences to account-based marketing audiences to CRM lists. There's a way to find your ideal audience no matter their industry.
    • Pixel setup and management are pretty easy. It uses a universal pixel that you can easily place on your site. We use Google Tag Manager for this. Then, you can create any number of conversion events and easily implement them, also with Google Tag Manager, so we can trust we're getting good tracking.
    • It seems many display ad platforms lack optimization tools, but StackAdapt makes it easy to adjust, add, or remove audiences, pause certain website categories, exclude batches of websites, pause individual ads, and really fine-tune the targeting as you see what works and what doesn't.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    StackAdapt
    • There has been occasional slopping maintenance of the campaigns, and we have to follow up with questions about spending spikes or significant changes in delivery CPMs.
    • Account rep knowledge can sometimes be lacking. When we question our reps about performance, we sometimes get confusing or nonsensical answers.
    • The reporting UI is definitely clunky and unintuitive.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    StackAdapt
    The platform is easy to use and understand whether it is being used as self-serve or a managed service. The audience targeting is solid, and array of placements is versatile. With these, the level of engagement for video content is usually great
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    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
    StackAdapt
    It is very user friendly and if any team members need further help, we are able to easily access their customer service team for hands on assistance with an actual human being, not a robot. Their team has been incredibly kind, understanding and thorough. It is really a great all in one tool for a business who relies greatly on advertising campaigns.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    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
    StackAdapt
    Support has been exceptional. Our dedicated team is always available and ready to answer any questions that may arise. We receive updates from them on a regular basis and they go above and beyond providing assistance when needed. The team is absolutely one of the bright spots in our relationship with StackAdapt
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Google
    Daily use with advanced account structures. Familiarity with reporting/api and complex setups.
    Read full review
    StackAdapt
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    StackAdapt
    StackAdapt is significantly less expensive than The Trade Desk. StackAdapt doesn't have campaign minimums, unlike The Trade Desk, meaning you can experiment with a lower ad spend to gain client confidence before investing at a larger level. Plus they don't lock you into an annual contract or anything long term. It feels very similar to The Trade Desk but without the high contract.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    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
    StackAdapt
    • Excellent traffic from our ads. Traffic exceeded our forecast.
    • Excellent management of our budget. We did not spend near as much as we budgeted for the response we received through our test.
    • The lead conversion was not expected to be high due to the type of content we deployed, but we received zero conversions, well below anticipated when compared to other ads for the same content.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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