What Is Google Ads & How Does It Work? A Comprehensive Guide

When you Google something, you may see an ad at the top of the search results. Like this:

That’s a Google ad.

But that’s only one type of Google advertising, appearing in just one place.

In this article, we’ll talk about different types of Google ads, how they work, and how you can launch your own campaign.

Let’s start with the Google Ads basics.

What Is Google Ads?

Google Ads (previously known as Google AdWords) is an online advertising platform that lets you advertise your products or services across Google’s online properties. Such as its search engine, partner websites, and YouTube.

Here’s what the Google Ads overview dashboard looks like:

Note: When we say “Google Ads,” we’re referring to the advertising platform. When we say “Google ads,” we’re talking about the actual advertisements on Google properties.

You pay a fee for your ads to appear on Google. A process called “bidding” determines the cost.

Think of bidding as an auction where a business decides the maximum amount it’s willing to pay for someone to click on its ads.

But why pay when there are free listings on Google?

These free listings are called organic results. They appear based on their relevance to users’ search queries. And Google uses hundreds of factors to rank them organically.

This is entirely different from how Google decides which ads to display. (We’ll discuss this in the How Does Google Ads Work section below.)

Why Use Google Ads?

The benefits of Google Ads include:

1. Immediate Visibility