AdWords Voyeurism: How To Peer Into The Mind of Google & Turn That Into Cash

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Whether you know me personally or have just been browsing this site for a small part of today, it should be no secret that I love Google AdWords!

It’s been my secret world for 8-odd years now.

It’s what I make a living from, and it’s sort of my mistress (shhh… don’t tell Michelle that!) πŸ˜‰

Yet strangely enough, I recently discovered that my mother didn’t even know what I did for a living when a friend of hers asked her.

All she could say was that she thought I worked “with computers”…

To hear her say that was disappointing. After if, if your own mother doesn’t know what you do for a living after 8 years of you doing it, that’s either a sign of a uncaring mother (which is most definitely not the case) or someone who really has no understanding of what makes Google tick (&/or a son who doesn’t keep in good contact with his mother ;-)).

So, I thought if my own mother was in that position, just possibly there were a few other people out there in this big wide world who really didn’t understand the true significance of Google to nearly every business person in this world.

So, in this and future posts, I want to take you on a (very slightly) voyeuristic journey into the heart of Planet Google, where you’re going to learn what makes her tick, and more importantly, how you can take that “intimate” experience and turn it into cashola – LOTS of cashola if you play your cards right!

AND, more importantly, you – as a business person/entrepreneur – are going to learn WHY you should be excited about this digital “voyeur session”… πŸ˜‰

Now, before we get into the “voyeurism”, there’s one very important thing you should understand about Google, and that is that unlike MOST businesses “she” doesn’t give a damn about her advertisers (well, perhaps if you spend $1,000,000/month with her, you MIGHT get a little love, but not so much that you can be assured of getting to home base with her…)

You see, Google’s mission “is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

And, their ability to fulfil this mission as effectively as possible is their #1 goal. Because without this singular focus, they would be out of business…

Did you know: Google reported consolidated revenues of $13.97 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, an increase of 31% compared to the first quarter of 2012.

That’s $1.16 BILLION per month or approx $153.18 MILLION per DAY in revenues! Most of that revenue comes from people clicking on those little text ads in their search results pages or the banner ads they serve across the rest of the interest.

Hardly small change by anyone’s standards.

Yet there are people who are STILL ignorant enough to say (out loud even!) that “no one clicks on those ads – because I don’t!”

Yeh right! That’s just plain dumb to make a statement like that (and a little self-indulgent to believe the world revolves around you this much!), yet it happens more often than you might think.

So, if these little text ads and display/banner ads are so vital to Google’s business model, what’s the secret to their success AND why did I say that Google doesn’t really give a damn about most of her advertisers?

It’s simple really…

As part of their goal of “organizing the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” this also means that when someone does a search on Google, they WANT to find the exact perfect listing to click on that answers their question/s 100%.

And most of the time, it is Google’s ability to give the searcher this near perfect “answer” to their request for more information that sees their paid search ads (AdWords) come to the fore.

You see, those ads are often the best answer to the searcher’s request, and when people click on those ads, Google makes money!

And Google LIKES making money… πŸ™‚

In fact, according to WordStream, pay-per-click ads are taking over Google’s search engine results and that’s good for marketers!

64.6% of clicks for high commercial intent keyword searches were made on the sponsored ads. In other words, almost 2/3rds of clicks for high commercial intent search go to the sponsored results.

And, if you are looking to promote and market your business online, you NEED to understand just how important this is to you.

Because the SECRET that Google doesn’t really go out of their way to tell their advertisers is this:

If you help Google achieve their mission, they will reward you with more clicks at lower costs and (ultimately) give you more customers!

You see, Google’s REAL customer is the searcher, NOT their advertisers.

And, this is why Google doesn’t really give a damn about their advertisers (as I mentioned WAAAYYYYY up near the top of the page!)

Without searchers using Google to find the answers to their questions (because they get consistently poor results from searching on Google), Google has no place to run their advertising, which means no income, which makes Larry & Sergey very unhappy little campers! πŸ™‚

So, in other words, if you – as an advertiser using Google AdWords – give searchers a great user experience by the intelligent use of their ad system, you will be rewarded for helping Google further their mission.

If you design your ad campaigns to best meet the needs of searchers, and match that with a great website that does an excellent job of helping the searcher find exactly what they need (whether that is your products & services or information that helps them), they will associate that great experience with using Google.

And, if searchers keep having a great experience using Google, they’ll come back to use them again and again, and that’s how you get MILLIONS of people to click on Google’s ads every day of the year, 365 days per year! AND, that’s how they make $150 Million in revenues EVERY day! πŸ™‚

Of course, the flip side to this is that if you don’t give advertisers a great experience, Google will PUNISH you with less clicks, more expensive clicks and lower ad rankings until (if you’re doing a crappy job) they push you off page 1 and onto page 2, 3 or even 5. At that stage, say goodbye to your chances of getting much if any profits out of advertising with Google.

Google’s AdWords program is perhaps the ultimate “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” experience.

So, here’s the key again (just in case you missed it):

If you give Google searchers a fantastic experience (help them find what they need, when they need it and how they need it), Google will reward you with more clicks at cheaper prices than your competitors, which SHOULD make you more sales and more money!

That’s why it frustrates me to see people advertising with Google who don’t understand this “golden rule” and are suffering for it.

If you try to game the G machine, you WILL lose!

And the machine doesn’t get much bigger or more powerful than Google.

Which takes us back to our early subject of Google not giving a damn about their advertisers…

It simply means that UNLESS you – as an AdWords advertiser – give searchers a good experience, Google doesn’t really want your money simply because it is costing them customers (remember, the searchers are the customers, not you – the advertiser).

Customers are FAR more important to Google than advertisers. It’s EASY for them to replace advertisers (because nearly every business in the world wants what Google has – a cost-effective avenue for them to advertise to prospective customers), but if the word gets out with the general public that Google search results suck bad enough that everyone starts moving across to Yahoo or Bing, Google are DEAD IN THE WATER!

Google knows this 110% and that’s why they protect their advertising “ecosystem” by punishing the riff raff and scum, and rewarding the good citizens.

If you’re already advertising on Google, or are thinking of doing so at some stage, ask yourself the question “Am I scum or a good citizen?”

If your true, honest, bottom-of-your-heart answer isn’t “good citizen,” then perhaps it’s time to consider changing your ways.

Or not!

Your choice… πŸ™‚

And, what IS a good ‘Google citizen’?

Well, that’s a story for another day…

!

About the author 

Eran Malloch

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