Google AdWords: Pros and Cons

The Google AdWords program is an innovative approach to online advertising. With the pay per click (PPC) approach, you pay only when your ad was clicked on. This program allows you to advertise your site on Google’s search result pages. Your ad will show only when relevant keywords are searched. This advertising method is called search engine marketing or SEM.

Q: Should I use search engine marketing?

A: Not always. Although some people do very well utilizing this program, some only lost money.

Q: So how can I know if it’s right for me?

A: Try answering the following questions:

• What exactly are the pros and cons of search engine marketing?
• Are you planning to use SEM in addition to organic site promotion? – OR
• Are you planning to use SEM instead of organic promotion?
• Do you have the time and expertise to successfully manage an AdWords campaign?

If you’re not sure about the answers, this article contains a more detailed explanation of these subjects. After reading this article, you should have enough information to make the decision for yourself – SEM or no SEM.

What is SEM advertising good for?

SEM is a great shortcut to quickly reach the first page in the search results. SEM campaigns are most necessary in highly competitive fields, where your chances of getting into the top organic results are slim. You may also want to use it for phrases of which your site doesn’t yet appear in the organic results.

SEM is most appropriate for sites looking to draw in potential customers. It would not be recommended for sites whose business model is based on pulling in a mass of traffic, or sites that and do not sell a product (for example portals, forums, content sites).

The pros of search engine marketing

• More focused advertising – You can decide where your ads will appear. You can choose the search terms for which your ad will show, advertising only for people already interested in your services.
• Profitability tracking – Using the tracking and statistics tools provided by Google, you can make sure that the advertising campaign makes financial sense. At any given time you can check your advertising expenses and compare them to the income from these ads, cancelling or modifying the campaign immediately if it’s not profitable.
• Maximal exposure – Millions of people will be exposed to your ads. Your web presence will be quite strong.
• It’s cheaper – The cost of internet advertising will be significantly lower than the cost of advertising in conventional media such as TV, radio, and newspapers. The AdWords program can save money for businesses of all sizes.
• More control – You can decide if you want to pay for every time your ad is displayed or for every time your ad is clicked. You can also set a ceiling on the per hit fees, so you can actually get lucky – if there are not too many other sites willing to pay more than you, your ad will show.
• Endless flexibility – There is no minimum budget for an AdWords campaign. You can test the water with as little as a few dollars a day. After testing the success rate of your campaign, you can then decide if you want to increase your budget or stop your campaign altogether.
• When and where to advertise – You can set what days, what times of the day, and in what locations you want your ad to show.
• Control your budget – You can set a daily budget ceiling for each campaign, and have full control of how much you spend.
• Flexibility – You can start, stop, and edit your campaigns whenever you want – 24/7, with changes taking effect almost immediately.
• Speed – Your ad will start showing within 15 minutes of setting up your AdWords account.
• Statistics – Google provides you with full statistics and information about your campaign. Analyzing this data can help make your campaign even more efficient and maximize your profits.

The cons of search engine marketing

• User preference – Users are more inclined to click on organic results and not on sponsored results, especially when the targeted audience is more intelligent and tech savvy. Someone with a decent technological understanding will easily spot the difference between organic results and sponsored results, preferring the organic results, which are usually considered more reliable and objective.
• Campaign management – Though Google provides you with all the statistics and tools necessary to manage a successful campaign, if you don’t use these tools properly your campaign might not be so successful. You need a professional campaign manager to optimize the campaign and find ways to pay less for better ad placements. This manager will also help you convert your incoming traffic into customers, optimizing your site and creating proper landing pages.
• PPC is not the right choice for some sites – If your site’s business model is based on a large amount of traffic with a low conversion rate it would probably not be worth it to pay for every visitor that enters your site. For this type of site you should rely on organic SEO where you don’t need to pay for your traffic.

In Summary:

Search engine marketing with AdWords can provide great leverage to your site and business. The instant accessibility and full control of your campaign make Internet advertising highly desirable. All that said, you must take its limitations into consideration, and use discretion when managing it. We would like to provide you with two important tips for managing a successful campaign:

• Cover all the bases, and don’t leave them for your competition – Use your advertising campaign as a complementary measure to organic SEO. The immediate results from the advertising campaign will make your site visible before the organic SEO effects start showing a few months later.
• Let a professional handle your campaign. Campaigns managed DIY-style will rarely have the same results as a professionally managed campaign. Leave the job to the pros.

One of the chief reasons for Google’s success is that they make sure that online advertising will be financially worthwhile. Internet advertising is Google’s main source of income, and they understand that without satisfied advertisers they will have no customers. Here at SEO Jerusalem we aim to make you a partner in Google’s success. We will be pleased to provide your site with our professional SEO and SEM services. We promote sites in English, German, and Hebrew. Contact us now, and you can have your campaign up and running within a few days.

SEO Jerusalem is a premium search engine optimization company, promoting websites in English, Hebrew and German SEO. Our SEO expert team provides worldwide SEO services and we serve as one of the leading companies in the Israel SEO market. Our search engine marketing strategies and our innovative SEO web development techniques are ideal for Google SEO or any other organic SEO needs. Locally – We offer Israel-wide SEO services including the cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Kiryat Shmona , Haifa and Eilat. Worldwide – we offer global campaign services to companies and organizations from all over the world. We look forward to working with you, so please feel free to contact us.