What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is a pay-per-click advertising platform, which means you pay a small amount each time a Google user clicks on your ad. (Each click is called an impression.) Your ad will only be served to people who search for relevant terms, products, businesses or services. So, if you’re a mechanic in Maryborough and someone searches for “car service in Maryborough” or they live in Maryborough and search for “best mechanic near me”, your business will appear in the results.

How do I advertise on Google Search?

There are lots of good tutorial videos on YouTube you can follow that can help you navigate setting up a Google Ads account and creating your first ad. We recommend this especially because the Google Ads interface is quite overwhelming the first time you see it. But stick with it. It’s incredibly powerful. Here are some of the basics to get you started.

1. Sign up for a Google Ads account and set up a campaign

   You’ll need to know what your goal is. Do you want sales, leads or website traffic? If you want people to jump on the phone and book a service, select “lead generation”.

2. Decide who you want to target with your ad

   You’ll need to choose the keywords you’ll use in your ad. These will help Google marry your ad to your audience. Your keywords might be your services (oil change, engine repair, brake services, tune-up), your location (Maryborough, Central Goldfields), vehicle type (European vehicle specialist, heavy diesel mechanic) or service type (mobile mechanic, 24-hours).

3. Set up your bidding

   Bidding determines what you want people to do once they see your ad. If your goal was lead generation, for example, this is where you can optimise your campaign conversions, like adding a clickable phone number and using call tracking to count how many calls your ad generates. It’s also here that you decide your ad schedule and rotation.

4. Create ad groups

   A campaign can be made up of many ads. Google asks you to group the ads. So, you might have a group of ads for general servicing, another for auto-electric and another for Toyota owners. These days Google can do this for you automatically, using the information on your website. You can create multiple ads for each group.

5. Choose your ad type and create your ads

   Google has a range of advertising options available. Responsive Search Ads are the ones that appear in search results with “sponsored” above them. There are also display, shopping and app ad options, among others. Investigate your options but the Responsive Search is the original search ad. You can then write your ad copy, using your keywords. (Google can write these for you, using AI, and it will test for the most effective options.)

6. Set your budget and press go!

   Work out how much you’re willing to spend on advertising and set your budget.

7. Monitor and optimise

   Once your ads are live, keep an eye on them to see which ones are performing well. You can tinker with your ads to improve their performance, deleting ads that aren’t working and boosting the ones that are converting well.

Google and Google Ads are trademarks of Google LLC and this article is not endorsed by or affiliated with Google in any way.