Dynamic Search Ads: Are They for Your Small Business?
Small business owners are often overwhelmed with demands on their time and resources. They are constantly on the alert for ideas that will successfully address issues they face and relieve some of the time pressure they feel. Owners looking to use (or better use) Google Ads should take a close look at Dynamic Search Ads.
Google promotes Dynamic Search Ads as “the easiest way to find customers searching on Google for precisely what you offer.” (About Dynamic Search Ads, Google Ads Help). This is certainly true. However, as with most things, the Devil is in the details. These ads can work in certain business models, but inattention to the details can cause Dynamic Search Ads to be a massively expensive waste of time and a major disappointment for smaller businesses.
Dynamic Search Ads greatly simplify the process of setting up a Google Ads program. In fact, it is the default method, when you set up your account. In its simplest form, you complete the following steps:
Set up your Ads account
Give Google the URL of your website
Write a brief description to go with your ads
Enter your credit card number for billing
Watch the charges accumulate
Hope for positive results
Dynamic Search Ads use your website and Google’s artificial intelligence to create and drive your Google Ads campaigns. Google will create your ad headlines and the keywords on which you will bid. You will set a bidding strategy and targeting options.
Remember the flow for Google Ads: Keywords trigger Ads which lead to your Website.
Google’s artificial intelligence uses the information on your website to discern the keywords you should be using. It uses your website to intuit the intent of a potential customer who should be directed to your website. It monitors clicks and conversions to determine when it guesses right, so that it can improve your keywords and ads.
If you have an e-commerce site selling specific products from unique landing pages, Dynamic Search Ads may be a great solution for you. Each webpage features a product, such as Nike running shoes for men. Google can easily discern the keywords related to this product, write an ad, and generate website visits from people looking for Nike running shoes for men.
On the other hand, if your business is a retail store, professional services, software licensing and delivery, or data services, the connections may not be so easily discerned. This creates many opportunities for disconnects going from your website to keywords, to ads, and back to your website; like the children’s game of Whisper Down The Lane.
Artificial Intelligence has two drawbacks: it’s artificial and it’s not so intelligent. With a unique product page in e-commerce, it can exactly determine what is offered and match your product page to someone searching for a similar product.
Language can be a subtle, but powerful, filter to shape impressions and expectations. The exactitude of a unique product page simply does not exist in most other websites. Human intelligence and experience are often needed to discern the meaning of the words and intention of the website promoting your business.
Artificial intelligence can do this, but only with a large database of experiences. This database is built through each click in your ad campaign. Clicks that you pay for. You are actually paying to educate the artificial intelligence that runs your ad campaign. The more experiences in the database, the better the program works, but the more expensive it becomes. If the database needs 1,000 experiences to be effective and you are paying $10 per click, then you will have paid $10,000 tuition for the artificial intelligence program to go to school on your behalf.
If you’re confident that your website content perfectly reflects the product or service you offer, Dynamic Search Ads can simplify your Google Ads program. Otherwise, human intelligence is more likely to lead to an effective and less expensive ad program for your business, using search or display campaigns.
About The Author
Gene Wayne is President of Market Master and Author of Big Bang Marketing for Small Business: Growing Your Revenue with Google Ads and More, available at Big Bang Marketing for Small Business. Gene has more than 15 years experience managing, monitoring and improving ad campaigns to grow revenue. As a successful entrepreneur, he has a unique understanding of the marketing challenges faced by small businesses. Gene can be reached at Gene@mymarketmaster.com or through www.MyMarketMaster.com.
Market Master provides pay-per-click digital ad management and consulting services for small business. At Market Master, we work with you to clearly identify your target customers and the benefits most valuable to them. We then design a campaign centered on Google Ads to drive traffic to your website and encourage conversions. We will then implement the campaign for you and help you monitor its success and your return on investment.
You can arrange for a free consultation at www.mymarketmaster.com or contact Gene at gene@mymarketmaster.com.