What types of Google Ads advertising are there?
When you build new campaigns in Google Ads, you can choose between several advertising channels:
Advertising in Google search
Search Ads let your advertisements appear at the top of the search results. Search advertising is valuable for brands in competitive markets: users actively looking for particular products or services are more inclined to click these ads.
GDN advertising
Google Display Network (GDN) campaigns show your business’s ads across thousands of websites and blogs enrolled in Google’s partner programme. This form of advertising reaches a broad audience visiting all kinds of platforms, reading news or product reviews.
YouTube advertising
YouTube is the most popular video-sharing platform there is, so well-prepared advertising on it can be exceptionally effective. Google Ads lets you show video ads before, during or after videos, as well as in the sidebar and in search results.
Which should you choose — Google Ads or SEO?
Google Ads and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are two distinct but complementary marketing strategies. Google Ads delivers results quickly, because your ads appear as soon as the campaign is built and approved. SEO, by contrast, is a long-term strategy that grows your site’s visibility naturally across search engines, Google among them.
- Google Ads – fast results, paid advertising, precise control over who sees your ads.
- SEO – long-term results, organic traffic, free of media cost, but requires investment in content and site optimisation.
Specialists advise combining the two: reaching users quickly while steadily building organic traffic. At the beginning, when you need visitors and prospects fast, Google Ads puts you straight into the first search results and onto other platforms, generating traffic and sales from day one. SEO, meanwhile, ensures that over time your site becomes more visible in organic results, which raises traffic without additional media spend. Following good SEO practice also improves the quality of your site and gives visitors a better experience — which in turn makes your Google Ads advertising work harder.
How do we work?
The Waymakers marketing agency makes sure every Google Ads campaign is effective, matches your business goals and uses the budget well. Work with us and you can stop worrying about:
- Setting goals – we define the objectives and metrics for your Google Ads campaigns.
- Market research – we carry out thorough market and competitor research to identify the best keywords and strategies.
- Building campaigns – we create effective advertising and set optimal budgets.
- Campaign management – we continually monitor and optimise live Google Ads advertising to get the best results.
- Data analysis – we provide regular reports analysing campaign results, with recommendations.
How is Google Ads advertising built?
It might look as though you need only log into a Google Ads account and launch a campaign with a few clicks, but marketing specialists have several important steps to work through if the advertising is going to succeed.
Keyword analysis
Choosing keywords is the foundational stage of building Google Ads advertising. It establishes which words and phrases are most closely tied to your business, products or services, and which have the greatest potential to bring in customers. The process covers market analysis and research into your brand’s competitors, to understand which keywords other successful campaigns are using. Tools such as Google Keyword Planner make it possible to identify which keywords have the highest search volume and how competitive they are. Well-chosen keywords raise the visibility of your ads and draw in the target audience, which increases the likelihood of conversion. It is also important to review and refresh the keyword list regularly, keeping the advertising relevant as the market shifts and user behaviour changes.
Creating Google Ads advertising
The next important stage in setting up Google Ads campaigns is content creation, which calls for both creativity and strategic thinking. First, you need compelling copy that stands out from competitors and conveys what is distinctive about your products in the space of a few sentences. Written ad content comprises a strong headline, the main description and the button text. Google Ads also lets you build visual advertising shown across partner sites. One good practice we recommend to every client is A/B testing. It establishes which written or visual content draws more attention, generates more conversions, or uses the budget more efficiently.
Optimising the landing page
Optimising the page visitors land on after clicking your Google Ads advertising is one of the main steps determining whether a campaign succeeds. The landing page must be clear and easy to navigate, and the products or services properly presented. Its content must relate directly to the Google Ads campaign, so that visitors feel they have found what they were looking for. It also matters that the page works well on every device, mobile phones especially, since the majority of users browse on mobile. Elements that drive sales — clearly visible buttons, the key product or service information — should be laid out according to good practice.
Google Ads campaign settings
The campaign settings are the final and arguably the most important stage of building Google Ads advertising, covering budget, demographics and other parameters. First comes the budget, which needs to match what your business can afford and what it is trying to achieve. This keeps costs under control and makes sure the advertising budget is distributed effectively. Demographic data such as age, gender and interests narrow the target audience further, so that ads are shown only to those most likely to be interested in what you offer. Other parameters, such as time-of-day and day-of-week settings, let you optimise when the advertising runs.
Google Ads advertising: analysis and reporting
The formula for successful Google Ads advertising is continuous analysis and optimisation. Our team of professionals monitors campaign performance regularly and provides detailed reports that help you assess and improve your overall marketing strategy.
Click volume shows how many users clicked your ads in the search results. A high number can mean the ad is appealing and attracting attention, but it is worth checking whether those clicks lead to conversions.
Conversion volume is another key metric, showing how many users completed the actions you defined — buying a product, say, or filling in a contact form. Conversions are the point of the advertising, so it matters to analyse which ads and which keywords bring the most benefit. Once you have identified the most effective Google Ads advertising, you can optimise the campaign by concentrating on the strategies that work and stopping the ones that generate no revenue.
Cost per click (CPC, Cost per Link Click) shows the average price paid for each click on an ad. It is calculated by dividing the amount spent on your advertising by the number of clicks on it. Knowing this figure lets you judge campaign effectiveness and establish whether the budget is being used well. If CPC is too high, you need to find ways to bring costs down — improving the ad copy, for instance, or reviewing the keywords. That said, it is worth remembering that every market has a different average cost per click. In 2024 the average ranged from €3.14 to €4.28. Below we also give the results of research by Wordstream on average cost per click.
| Market |
Dental services |
Car repair |
Insurance and legal services |
Home repair and household goods |
Travel and flights |
Furniture and manufacturing |
Real estate |
| Average CPC (€) |
6.26 |
3.11 |
8.21 |
6.39 |
1.76 |
3.02 |
1.93 |
Cost per acquisition (CPA, Cost per Acquisition) is another important metric, showing the average price paid for each conversion. It lets you judge effectiveness against how many of the desired actions the advertising generated. If CPA is too high, it can mean the campaign is not effective enough and changes are needed. Usually that means adjusting the ad content, optimising the landing page or changing the target audience.
Beyond these, other metrics are worth watching. CPM (Cost per Mille) is the cost of 1,000 ad impressions. It lets you assess advertising efficiency and performance — which campaign, for example, is shown more often or brings more visitors to your site while using less budget. CTR (Click Through Rate) is the percentage of clicks against impressions, used to judge what proportion of people who saw the advertising went on to take a particular action. That action varies with your business goals: for an online shop it might be a new order; in the service sector, a call, a booked consultation or a completed contact form.
The Waymakers marketing agency works out which action or goal suits your business best and, with your business goals and the marketing results you want in mind, our Google Ads specialists apply the most effective solutions available. Using the data we gather, we make the changes needed to improve campaign performance — adding new keywords, refining written and visual content, reallocating budget or adjusting campaign settings.
Google advertising: the cost
Giving an exact answer on what Google advertising costs without knowing anything about your business is, unfortunately, impossible. The price shifts constantly and is driven by many factors, including your sector, the competition, your keywords and your budget. In markets with a lot of advertisers — insurance or groceries, for example — CPC can be considerably higher. In less competitive sectors, on the other hand, CPC can be lower, letting you reach more people even on a smaller budget.
Keywords also have an enormous influence on what Google Ads advertising costs. The more expensive keywords are usually those with high search volume and strong conversion potential. The Waymakers team will help you settle on the optimal set of keywords, so your advertising is shown to the right users while costs stay under control.
Budget is another important factor. Drawing on considerable experience, the team can set the optimal budget for you, with your business goals and marketing strategy in mind. Together we will establish not only how much you should put towards Google advertising, but also how to distribute that budget for the best results at the lowest cost.
So it is worth understanding that the cost of Google Ads advertising is flexible and can be adjusted around your business goals, the budget you have and the results you want. The Waymakers marketing agency will make sure your Google Ads advertising is not only effective, but reaches your marketing goals at a sensible price.
