Want to reach new customers and increase online sales? It could be worth looking into Google Ads.
In this guide, we’ll show you how Google Ads works and crucially, how much it’ll cost your business.
And at the end, we’ll even leave you with some tips on how to save time and money as a business operating globally using Wise Business.
Google Ads is the search engine’s online advertising platform. It allows your business to create adverts based on the keywords your potential customers use when searching for products or services like yours. By matching your ad with these keywords, it makes it more likely that it’ll appear in searches - which should mean more clicks and more customers.
Google Ads works out which ads appear using a superfast ad auction, which happens every time a search is carried out. The ads with the highest ‘Ad Rank’ - the score given to every ad in the auction, including yours - are more likely to appear in the top position.¹
The following factors can affect how Google Ads calculates your Ad Rank:
There are three different kinds of Google Ads² to choose from:
Google Ads gives you full control of your online advertising costs. You can set a budget cap so that you never spend more than your monthly limit. There’s no minimum spend or long-term contract, and you can adjust your budget at any time. You can even pause your ads for a while³.
You can set an average daily budget, which is how much you’re happy spending each day during the month. You can also set a monthly spending limit, which is the maximum amount you’ll spend on the campaign over the month⁴.
One of the most important things to know about pricing with Google Ads is that you only pay when customers take action on your ads. For example, clicking through to your website. This is called Cost Per Click (CPC) or Pay Per Click (PPC).
| 💡 Here’s an example: |
|---|
| If 500 people see your ad but no one clicks it, you won’t pay anything. If those 500 people do click your ad and each click costs £5, you’ll pay £2,500. |
If you’re worried about getting more clicks than you can afford, you can manage this by setting your daily budget. Or if you want to take advantage of times when your ad is popular, you can set a monthly spending limit so that you don’t miss out on clicks on a particular day.
The cost-per-click (CPC) varies considerably depending on the keyword, industry and the competitiveness of search terms. However, the average Google Ads CPC for Search Network is £1,95.⁵
Worried about spending too much on Google Ads? Here are some tips to bear in mind:
You can pay for your Google Ads campaigns through a number of different methods, including⁶:
With all of the above methods, you can set up automatic payments⁶. This means that Google Ads will automatically charge your chosen bank account, debit/credit card or PayPal account when you reach a certain billing threshold, or every 30 days.
When you set up your Google Ads account, you’ll be asked to set your currency. But what if you need to pay in a different currency?
The perfect solution here is Wise Business. With an international Wise debit Mastercard, you can make both instant and recurring payments in multiple currencies. This clever card automatically converts currency for you at the mid-market exchange rate, and you’ll only pay a low, fair fee.
Do this same conversion at your bank, and you could face high fees and a mark-up on the exchange rate. Ultimately, this means losing money along the way.
If your business operates internationally, the Wise multi-currency account is ideal. It offers a secure, convenient and money-saving way to manage cashflows in multiple currencies across borders.
If you’re new to Google Ads, it may take some time to get your head around how it all works - as it’s quite different to other digital advertising methods.
But after reading this guide, you should have a better idea of whether Google Ads is right for your business. If so, you can get started, set a budget and hopefully get great results from your first Google Ads campaigns.
Sources used for this article:
Sources checked on 02-01-2023.
*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.
This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.
We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.
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