Google AdWrods

Are you familiar with the Google Adwrods pay per click advertising service?  Yes, this is a play on the words of the actual Google AdWords program.  Bare with us while we have some fun while explaining the basics of this Google advertising method.

AdWords started in the summer of 2000 improving on the model started by Overture (and formerly GoTo.com) in 1997.  Since then, Adwords has been the premier pay per click advertising service today riding the wave of the Google search engine juggernaut.

AdWords allows advertisers to bid on ad placement in the Google search engine and on a network of individual websites partnering with Google.  Advertisers can place ads targeted to specific keywords relating to their business.  For instance, a florist in Omaha might target the keyword "flowers" and the keyphrase "Omaha flowers".  The number of keyword phrases a company might target are nearly limitless.

Keyword bids can start at just one cent per click but to be effective it often requires a much higher bid.  Ads bid too low to not show up on the first page or two of results often receive few or no click throughs.  A big advantage of Adwrods is that you only pay for actual visitors and not for ad impressions.

Actual Adwrod ads consist of a heading, two lines of text and a URL.  Most appear like the Google ads near the top of this page and in the right column.  Google also places restrictions on certain words from appearing in ads that might be considered embellishment.

Ads are shown in the order that advertisers bid on specific keywords or phrases.  Generally, the higher the bid the higher the ad placement.  Placement is also determined by the click through rate (CTR) and other factors proprietary to Google.

Google provides several Adwords tools to help the advertiser select successful keywords, stay within budget, and monitor clicks and sales conversions.  For instance, the keyword tool allows advertisers to search keywords by popularity, performance, cost and predicted ad position.

The conversion tracking tool allows advertisers to track how many ad clicks turn into purchases or sign-ups.  Conversion data reports help measure return on investment and are available down to the keyword level.

So, if your website needs a promotional shot in the arm check out the Google Adwrods program for yourself.