Today I sat on a Google hangout with Google to learn about AdWords Express. So what is AdWords Express?
AdWords Express is a super fast way to use Google AdWords without having any knowledge of keywords. It is designed for small local businesses who want to get online but who don’t have a website or for those businesses who only have a small website with only a couple of pages on it. It is a starting point for businesses who may not be ready for Google AdWords.
To access AdWords Express you need to access it from Google Places. Some key points:
- The smallest area you can target is at a city level.
- The only things you can really change is the category, the ad text and the budget.
Google see Google Places as an SEO product not a Google Adwords Product but it is attached AdWords Express because many of the businesses suitable for AdWords Express do not have a website. You can tell the difference between Google Places listings and Google Express Ads because the ads show a blue pin rather than a red pin.
The key benefits are:
- You target local areas only and reach users who are nearby to you or who are searching for a specific product or service
- It’s simple – you don’t have to understand keywords as Google picks them for you
- You control the costs and set a monthly budget (Google will recommend a few options)
- It can be measured from your place page
- You don’t have to have a website to advertise in Google. You can send traffic to your Google place page or your Google+ page for business
- The ads are also displayed on smart phones
The key downsides are:
- You cant add negative keywords or delete keywords. This means that as good as Google’s algorithm might be, you are going to get people click on ads that may not be relevant to you and you can’t do anything about it.
- You can’t control bidding options
- You can’t use local extensions like you can in AdWords
- You can’t advertise on YouTube or Google Partner sites
- You can’t have more than one ad text for the same category (but you can add another category by adding a new campaign and budget)
- You can’t send to more than one destination URL.
- You are more than likely going to pay more to advertise but you are still bidding in the same auction system – it is just that it is more automated.
So there is the low down on AdWords. It’s probably not the best option for managing your campaign but it is a viable option for smaller businesses who don’t have a website but who effectively want to advertise their business online.