Google Ads
Google Ads is Google’s advertising system that lets businesses place paid ads in Google Search, on YouTube and on partner sites — usually billed per click.
With search ads you bid on search terms: if someone searches “web design Ingolstadt”, your ad can appear above the unpaid results. An auction decides which ad appears where, factoring in bid and ad quality.
The big advantage is speed: visibility is immediate and budgets can be controlled precisely. The downside: when the budget ends, visibility ends too — unlike SEO.
Success depends on fitting search terms, negative keywords against irrelevant clicks, a matching landing page and clean measurement of which clicks actually lead to enquiries.
What to look out for
- Define the goal and make it measurable: enquiry, call or purchase — not just clicks.
- Start with a few highly relevant search terms and regularly add negative keywords.
- Send every ad group to a matching landing page.
- Check geographic targeting if only a certain catchment area matters.
- Review the search terms report regularly: for which actual searches was the ad shown?
Common mistakes
- Campaigns run on broad search terms and burn budget on irrelevant clicks.
- All ads lead to the homepage.
- Success is measured by clicks instead of enquiries or revenue.
Frequently asked questions
You set the budget yourself. What a click costs depends on the competition for the search term and the ad’s quality — significantly more in competitive industries than in niches.
They complement each other: Google Ads delivers instant visibility, SEO builds long-term visibility without click costs. Starting with both often makes sense.