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Google Ads

Score8.4 out of 10

1,391 Reviews and Ratings

What is Google Ads?

Google 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.

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Categories & Use Cases

Product Demos

Google Ads Key Features

Learn about the best (and worst!) features Google Ads has to offer, as determined by TrustRadius' reviewers.
Based on 1,391 ratings of Google Ads's features
View all Google Ads features

Top Performing Features

  • Ad campaign creation

    Allows users to programmatically create ads and build new campaigns within the tool.

    Category average: 7.9

  • Ad bidding

    Automated bidding based on budget parameters and the click or conversion likelihood of an ad.

    Category average: 7.8

  • Ad performance reports

    Allow users to generate reports comparing the performance of various ads or the performance of certain aspects of ads (like headlines, etc.)

    Category average: 7.5

Areas for Improvement

  • Sequence targeting

    Allows users to create ad sequences that have several stages covering different topics or products; individual viewers are shown ads in a particular order across websites. This provides very fine control over brand messaging and storytelling.

    Category average: 6.5

  • Ad forecasting and optimization

    Ad forecasting models predict campaign performance to assist with optimization.

    Category average: 6.6

  • Social advertising

    Advertising on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

    Category average: 5.7

Who Buys & Uses Google Ads

Google Ads Reviews

What users are saying about Google Ads.
View all Google Ads reviews

Pros

  • Detailed reporting and analytics for campaign performance
  • Ease of campaign setup and management
  • Effective lead generation and customer acquisition

Cons

  • User interface can be overwhelming for new users
  • Challenges with reporting data transparency and export
  • Concerns regarding cost volatility and rising click costs

Google Ads Has Improved

Incentivized
Aaron HendersonView profile
Marketing Specialist in Marketing at MK Marketing (11-50 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Google Ads is being used in our organization for generating leads for our service related businesses. The owners believe strongly in using the search engine ads to increase visibility among folks googling for a specific service. This has been heavily used now for about 4 months, and the numbers have increased over prior months when this was not as heavy.

Pros

  • Allows for quick ad creation
  • Customization of ads is easy
  • Changing of ads is also easy - can be done in a matter of minutes

Cons

  • Increased functionality in terms of mobile changing
  • Better App function in being able to change copy from a phone
  • More ability to sent up search ads on a mobile device

Return on Investment

  • Our visibility has increased
  • Sales have climbed 14% over the same period the prior year
  • More potential customers are finding our business

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Google Ad Manager, Google Analytics and Meta Business Manager

Other Software Used

Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Campaign, Adobe PhotoShop

Useful advertising too for high lead generation and revenue growth

Incentivized
Ash ShenkerView profile
General Manager in Corporate at Australian Fitness Academy (11-50 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Within my organisation, we use Google Ads to generate both brand exposure and acquire a high volume of leads. Through multiple Ad Campaigns and Ad Groups, we are able to target specific search terms that ensure landing page visitors and enquiries are relevant to the product and/or region we're promoting.

Pros

  • Campaign Targeting
  • Budget Control
  • Optimisation Startegies
  • Third-Party Account Access
  • In-Depth Reporting
  • Data & Analytics Integrations

Cons

  • User Accessibility & Experience
  • Streamline Campaign Creation Process
  • Custom Billing Thresholds

Return on Investment

  • Highest lead generation tool across our marketing channels
  • Largest contrubutor to revenue growth over the past 10 years
  • Assisted in driving 100% YoY growth in new market

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Advertising, Meta Business Manager and Instagram for Business

From clicks to conversions everything is easier with Google Ads

Incentivized
irfan shaikView profile
Technical Consultant in Information Technology at Numeric technologies inc (1001-5000 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Targeting local or specific audience based on the location,demographic and devices has been made easier now with Google Ads. We can show ads to the people who has visited to our site or visited in the past and push them to make the lead successful. Considering the scope of the Google Ads its always depends on the size , resource, product type and maturity of the business. In our organization we have used Google Ads for brand awareness and cross channel integration by using youtube video ads display network to reach wider audience. In cross-channel, we are integrating with offline channels, which means stores and tracking the store traffic on a real-time basis. Also, we use Google Analytics when integrated with Google Ads, which helps us to track the behaviour of store visits to unify the measurement and focus on scaling the capital.

Pros

  • Measurability and control
  • Flexible Targeting and segmentation
  • extensive Intent search traffic
  • Support Multiple formats of ad formats and multiple channels to integrate

Cons

  • Account ad suspension are very common without specifying which policy we have violated they perform the ad suspension even after the advertiser fixes the issue re-approval is delayed which is biggest pain point
  • Cost and transparency issue Rising cost of clicks with the competitive keywords for smaller business have very high CPC's or low ROI
  • We can observe the transparency issues which means its hard to see where exactly your ads are being shown especially on the display network unless you explicitly check them in regular intervals you may endup still paying for them
  • Geographic targeting sometimes feels like clunky or limited

Return on Investment

  • Revenue Growth Google Ads can scale revenue significantly when there is a huge demand when there is an increases in transactions and revenue and often multiple times spend.
  • Google Ads tends to deliver leads when well targeted. High close rates helps amplify ROI especially in service business
  • Reduction in CPC and CPA with better keyword sets bid and strategies and optimized account structure. This increases ROI because you are paying less for each conversion.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Advertising

Other Software Used

Amazon Web Services, Google Authenticator, Warmly Nametags

Great Ads Platform works great for my business Provides ROAS

Incentivized
Verified User
Professional in Marketing (11-50 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Google Ads is our primary lead generation tool for us, users Google for a solution to their problem and they find our product. In our market it very difficult to find our buyers and Google Ads provides coverage for us to be able meet our business needs. The additional tools in Google Ads also provides with information on our marketplace, intent data, search history and other metrics that help us to understand our marketplace and customers. Overall without it lead generation would not be easy for us.

Pros

  • Keyword Research
  • Ad copy
  • Bidding types
  • Locations to target ads
  • Budgeting
  • Campaign metrics
  • Lead Conversions
  • Data
  • User tracking

Cons

  • B2B only targeting would be great
  • More information on target audiences
  • Sector targeting
  • More information on who is clicking on ads

Return on Investment

  • ROAS Return on Ad Spend
  • Lead Generation / Conversions
  • Metrics and Tracking
  • Reporting and Lead Information

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Advertising, Meta Business Manager, Meta Business Suite, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Instagram for Business, X Ads, Capterra and Buyer Discovery by Gartner Digital Markets

Other Software Used

Microsoft Advertising, Semrush, PostHog, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Meta Business Manager, Capterra, Buyer Discovery by Gartner Digital Markets, Apollo.io, Intuit Mailchimp, Mailchimp Transactional Email (Mandrill), Figma, Secure Redact, Google Analytics, Google Search Console

Google Ads A

Incentivized
Verified User
Director in Marketing (1-10 employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Google Ads as a main form of marketing for our clients to gain new prospects and leads for each business we represent. The goal is for Google Ads to help grow our clients' businesses by providing quality leads in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The platform allows us to use wise budget setting measures which helps keep costs in line with our overall budget strategy.

Pros

  • Ad Delivery
  • Reporting
  • Lead generation

Cons

  • Difficult to import existing ads
  • Difficult to navigate
  • Report naming can be cumbersome

Return on Investment

  • call tracking is great
  • lead generation tool
  • other advertisers can cause keyword costs to jump dramatically

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Advertising

Other Software Used

Microsoft Advertising, Meta Business Manager