Boost your digital marketing skills by mastering Google Ads - a powerful tool that helps increase online sales and reach your target audience. From free resources to career options, this guide provides a comprehensive understanding of Google Ads, it's benefits, how you can learn it, and the different careers that utilize this tool.
Key Insights
- Google Ads is a paid online advertising platform launched in 2000 that allows businesses to create targeted ads by choosing specific keywords to increase traffic and revenue.
- Digital marketing careers that commonly use Google Ads include Digital Marketer, Digital Analyst, Email Marketing Specialist, Website Optimization/SEO Specialist, and Brand Strategist.
- Learning Google Ads can be achieved through watching tutorial videos, self-learning, or taking a class. Google Academy and Noble Desktop offer classes and bootcamps that guide learners through the process.
- Google Ads can be utilized to generate leads and sales quickly with its pay-per-click platform, allowing even small businesses to compete effectively in the digital market.
- Learning Google Ads requires a love for learning, creativity, and persistence. Although it can feel overwhelming at first, with time and effort, it becomes a valuable tool for digital marketing campaigns.
- Mastering Google Ads can significantly improve your chances of landing a job in the digital marketing field. Knowing how to run successful ad campaigns is integral for digital marketers, and Google Ads is an essential tool in their toolbox.
Google Ads is a tool on the Google platform that can help you increase online sales. Google Ads lets you specify your audience and create highly targeted ads that reach exactly the customers you want. If you’ve always wanted to learn Google Ads but can’t figure out how to get started, this guide is for you. Here, you’ll learn more about the various ways to learn Google Ads, free resources to take advantage of, and the types of careers that commonly use Google Ads.
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads is a paid online advertising platform that lets you create ads to reach people who are interested in the products and services you offer. Launched in 2000 as Google Adwords, Google upgraded and rebranded the service as Google Ads in 2018. Companies can use Google Ads to advertise and promote a business, product, or brand by choosing specific keywords. The right combination of keywords can lead to more traffic and more revenue.
Business is moving more and more online. Now is the time to develop a digital marketing strategy and create foundations for online business, and Google Ads should be a big part of that. Using Google Ads provides a chance to create highly targeted advertisements. You can reach more members of your target audience, and you’re also able to measure your success (and where you need to improve). Since any company can create a Google Ads account, this method of digital marketing levels the playing field, allowing businesses of any size to compete.
Additionally, there is a low barrier to entry: you can start advertising for a minimum amount and build as your company grows.
Read more about what Google Ads is and why you should learn it.
What Can You Do with Google Ads?
Google Ads lets you generate leads and sales very quickly. This pay-per-click (PPC) platform has a low barrier to entry, and you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Unlike organic search results earned through search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, PPC with Google Ads involves much less of a time commitment. The results are algorithm-based, and you can make real-time changes to your ads.
With billions of searches daily, using Google Ads to target your audience will drive profits. Google Ads lets you define your audience precisely, and you only pay when someone clicks your ad. You can also measure your success almost immediately and change your strategy when necessary. This levels the playing field to allow even small businesses to compete.
It doesn’t cost much to get started with Google Ads. You can set your budget as low as you need and increase the cap in time as you want. You only pay when a user clicks on your ad, and you can grow at a comfortable rate.
Careers that Use Google Ads
Knowing how to use Google Ads is valuable in many different digital marketing careers. Knowing how to get the most out of advertising dollars puts you in a good position as a Digital Marketer. You can choose from various specialties, such as social media, analysis, search engines, video, blogging, and email, or you can find a job that lets you use all of your talents. Here are some of the possible careers available in digital marketing.
Digital Marketer
Digital Marketers use digital channels and tools like email marketing, social media marketing, paid and unpaid search marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO) to promote products and services. Digital marketing has become one of the most critical ways to publicize a business and help it grow.
Digital Analyst
Digital Analysts use tools like Google Ads and Google Analytics to assist companies with their marketing initiatives by providing analytical support, developing strategies, working on finding the right audiences, performing competitive analyses, and optimizing channels. The primary responsibilities of Data Analysts are researching trends, collecting data, analyzing statistics, developing marketing strategies based on the data collected, and presenting the results to clients and co-workers.
Email Marketing Specialist
Email Marketing Specialists connect with subscribers and develop deeper relationships with current and potential customers. Email marketing can increase sales quickly and reach a large number of people at once at a minimal cost. Email marketing is a fast and effective addition to any business’s digital marketing strategy.
Website Optimization/SEO Specialist
A Website Optimization/SEO Specialist works to increase a website’s visibility in search engines. In search marketing, the goal is for website or online content to show up at or near the top of search engine result pages (SERPs) when using certain keywords. Effective SEO improves a website’s quality and quantity of traffic, generating sales and improving business.
Brand Strategist
A Brand Strategist tracks how a brand performs on the internet and develops strategies to build or improve that performance. They help companies or individuals create a clear message and put that out on the internet.
Why Learn Google Ads?
Learning to use Google Ads can help you get a digital marketing campaign off the ground quickly. You set your goals, which could be increasing sales or brand recognition, and then decide what kind of ad you want and how much you want to spend. As your campaign grows, you can increase your budget, change the parameters of your ad, or add something like a retargeting ad designed to reach people who have already bought from you.
Another reason to learn Google Ads is that it is an integral part of a Digital Marketer’s toolbox. Knowing how to run a successful ad can put you in a good position to get a job. Google has many free tools to help you get started once you have an Ads account. Google’s Keyword Planner helps you choose the best keywords and phrases for your campaign, and the Responsive Search Feature allows you to test possible ad content to decide what will work best for you. Google Trends can tell you about market trends and popular searches, and Google Analytics makes all kinds of data available for free. Mastering these valuable tools is important if you want to switch to a career as a Digital Marketer.
Read more about why you should learn Google Ads.
How to Learn Google Ads
You can learn Google Ads by watching tutorial videos and giving it a try on your own or taking a class. Google Academy offers free tutorials on all its products, and YouTube is full of videos to get you started. Still, many prefer to sign up for a class when learning new material. Google Ads can be overwhelming until you know what you are doing, and it is helpful to have an experienced instructor to guide you.
You can take live in-person classes or choose online instruction. Some people prefer to attend brick-and-mortar sessions when learning new information, but that isn’t always available. Live online classes have a similar set-up to in-person classes with a real-time, remote instructor who can answer questions and take control of your monitor—with permission—to answer questions and demonstrate techniques. You can sign up for part or full-time classes on weekdays, weeknights, or weekends.
Some companies offer asynchronous online classes that you can take according to your own schedule. You can watch the videos from work or home and move at your own pace. Skillshare offers a Google Ads Masterclass, and Udemy has a Google Ads class. One advantage to asynchronous video classes is that you can go back and watch the material as often as you need to if you are having trouble with a concept. If a multi-day class feels like too much right now, you can try Noble’s Google Ads in a Day and move on to a Google Ads Bootcamp later.
Read the full guide on how to learn Google Ads.
Free Introductory Google Ads Course Online
Signing up for a bootcamp or certificate course is a commitment of time and money. If you want to learn more about Google Ads first, free tutorials and online courses are available to give you an overview. Once you start there, you can decide if you want to go further.
Google Academy offers a series of tutorials on Google Ads through Skillshare. Many free YouTube tutorials are available, like Santrel Media’s Google Ads Tutorial 2022, WordStream’s How to Run Google Ads Tutorial, and Simplilearn’s Google Ads full course.
Read about more free Google Ads videos and online tutorials.
Level of Difficulty, Prerequisites, & Cost
While Google Ads can feel like a lot to learn at first, with time, effort, and persistence, you can master this helpful tool. If you are just starting and know nothing about pay-per-click advertising, it can feel like a bit much at the beginning, especially if you are trying to learn Google Ads on your own. However, it is important to keep trying. This is where classes can be a big help.
Some skills pave the way for a successful digital marketing career. A love of learning, curiosity, creativity, and persistence are personality traits that can make learning Google Ads easier. Some technical skills that will help you get a job in digital marketing are knowing how to set appropriate goals, choose keywords, design ads, and interpret data.
You don’t have to pay to use Google Ads. All you have to do is sign up for a Google account and get started. You can create ads to target a very specific audience and increase revenue quickly. If you decide to take a class, you could choose a free introduction or pay for a more in-depth course.
Read about how difficult it is to learn Google Ads.
How Does Learning Google Ads Compare to Other Applications?
Learning Google Ads is comparable to learning Google Analytics, another tool in the Google Marketing Platform. Google Analytics collects and tracks user data, compiles it into useful reports, and provides valuable insights to improve your website or app’s performance. The program works by installing a tracking code onto each page of your website, allowing Google to collect information about how visitors interact with the site. Learning Google Analytics requires an affinity for working with data and technology, very much like Google Ads. There is a steep learning curve, and it can feel overwhelming at first, but they are both powerful tools that can make a world of difference in your digital marketing campaigns.
Another comparable application to learning Google Ads might be learning to do keyword research with a tool like SEMRush. This powerful application includes numerous toolkits that generate SEO reports, Pay Per Click advertising, social media performance, keyword research, content marketing, and insights into competitors. The Keyword Magic Tool generates keywords and phrases to help find the most effective keywords for your site, and the Domain Overview Tool gives a picture of a domain and how it performs. Google Ads can do similar things. The most significant difference between the two applications is that SEMRush costs between $120 and $450 a month, and Google Ads is free.
How to Decide the Best Way to Learn Google Ads
There are several avenues through which you can learn Google Ads. You can open an account and dive in, learning as you go. You can watch free tutorials to get an idea of how Google Ads works, or you can take a class that meets in person or live online. You can choose the courses that work best for your schedule to learn about Google Ads.
A general overview is helpful when you are starting to learn Google Ads. A free introductory seminar, like Pillars of Digital Marketing from Noble Desktop, offers valuable information on Google Ads and other topics for digital marketing beginners. Once familiar with Google Ads, you can take a Google Ads workshop to explore this useful tool further.
When you are ready for a deeper dive, sign up for a bootcamp course that covers how to use the various features of Google Ads in more depth. You can take Noble Desktop’s Digital Marketing Certificate course if you are interested in learning the tools and techniques necessary to change to a career in digital marketing.
Learn Google Ads with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop
Learning Google Ads is useful for anyone who wants to sell anything on the internet, but If you want to change careers and become a Digital Marketer, you can sign up for Google Ads Bootcamp. This two-part class will cover how to set up an account, determine keyword strategies, control who sees your ads and when, bid successfully, create the best ads, and automate your campaign.
Another way to prepare for a career using Google Ads as a Digital Marketer is to take a digital marketing certificate course. Noble’s Digital Marketing Certificate includes the digital marketing, SEO, and Google Analytics bootcamps, plus Google Ads and classes on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter marketing, as well as content marketing with blogs.
Use Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me to find other courses in digital marketing in your area.