F.A.Q.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have questions,
we would like to hear about it.
Google Ads operates under a pay-per-click (PPC) model. That means marketers target a specific keyword on Google and make bids on the keyword — competing with others also targeting the keyword.
The bids you make are “maximum bids” — or the maximum you’re willing to pay for an ad.
For example, if your maximum bid is R40.00 and Google determines that your cost per click is R20.00, then you get that ad placement! If they determine that it’s more than R40.00, you do not get the ad placement.
Alternatively, you can set a maximum daily budget for your ad. You’ll never spend more than a specific amount for that ad per day, helping you get a better sense of how much you should budget for your digital ad campaign.
Marketers have three options for their bids:
- Cost-per-click (CPC). How much you pay when a user clicks on your ad.
- Cost-per-mille (CPM). How much you pay per 1000 ad impressions.
- Cost-per-engagement (CPE). How much you pay when a user performs a specific action on your ad (signs up for a list, watch a video, etc).
Google then takes the bid amount and pairs it with an assessment of your ad called a Quality Score. According to Google:
“Quality Score is an estimate of the quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. Higher quality ads can lead to lower prices and better ad positions.”
The score number is between 1 and 10 — with 10 being the best score. The higher your score is the better you’ll rank and the less you have to spend converting.
Your Quality Score combined with your bid amount creates your Ad Rank — the position your ad will appear in the search results page.
And when a user sees the ad and clicks on it, the marketer pays a small fee for that click (thus pay-per-click).
The idea is that the more users click on a marketer’s advertisement, the more likely they will accomplish the advertisement’s goals (e.g. become a lead, make a purchase).
Now that you know how Google ads work, let’s take a look at the different types of Google ads you can use for your campaign.
Video advertising on YouTube is different from other platforms like Google or Facebook Ads because of the way a view is counted: You only pay for a view if the user passes the 30-second mark or watches the entire video.
Since this is different and there are a lot of things to consider when starting a YouTube campaign, it might be worth going over what is required of businesses and what your options are.
Let’s take a look at some of the things you should know when looking to advertise on the video platform:
WHAT TYPES OF ADS YOUTUBE OFFERS
There are a few ways you can display your videos on YouTube. Let’s go over the different YouTube ad layouts you are able to run with:
Non-Skippable Video Ads
Non-skippable video ads must be watched before a YouTube video can be viewed. Long non-skippable video ads may be up to 30 seconds. These types of ads can appear before, during, or after the main video.
When a viewer watches the ad the advertisers have to pay and the creator gets paid. If your landing page is set up correctly and your videos are engaging, you will be able to capture leads.
The catch here is every time your ad comes up, you will pay for it. These will typically be used by businesses with bigger budgets!
YouTube TrueView Instream Skippable Video Ads
TrueView skippable video ads allow viewers to skip ads after 5 seconds if they choose. The ads can be inserted before, during, or after the main video.
Instream give the viewer the option to watch your ad or skip it. Once the viewer watches 30 seconds of your video, the creator is paid and the advertisers are charged.
YouTube Display Ads
Display ads appear to the right of the featured video and above the video suggestion list. Display ads may run across all areas of YouTube, except on the homepage.
If a view is interested in your product or service and they see your Display, you should get a click.
YouTube Overlay Ads
Overlay ads are a transparent advertisement that appears on the lower 20% portion of your video. This ad type only appears on desktop and laptop computers. Viewers can also exit the ad at any time. These tend to cause problems as there are false clicks and many YouTubers do not enjoy seeing them.
YouTube Midroll Ads
Midroll ads are currently available for videos over 15 minutes.
These ads are spaced within the video—similar to the way TV commercials roll out during a program. Viewers must watch the ads before they can continue to view the rest of the YouTube video.
Advertisers can insert ad breaks at natural pauses throughout the YouTube video for the better, more streamlined viewing experience. These ads only appear on desktop, laptops and mobile devices.
YouTube Sponsored Cards
Sponsored Cards display content that is relevant to the YouTube video, such as products featured in the video.
Viewers see a teaser for the card for a few seconds, then they can also click the icon in the top right corner of the video to browse the cards. This is available on desktop and mobile devices.
HOW MUCH DOES YOUTUBE ADVERTISING COST?
As a marketer, you are probably assuming that video advertising is expensive, but YouTube makes video advertising pretty affordable. Remember, with YouTube advertising, you pay per video view whether it’s for a full video or 30 seconds.
A typical video ad view costs between $.106 and $.30 per view, depending on your video quality, targeting, and marketing goals.
HOW TO FIGURE OUT IF YOUR ADS ARE WORKING
There are dozens of different metrics you can measure to gauge your video success, but it will truly depend on your business’s specific goals. That said, it’s generally worth at least quickly looking at these video metrics to see how your campaign is doing:
- Views: The number of times people watched or engaged with your video ad. This will help you see the audience you’re reaching.
- Clicks: The number of times people clicked on your video. This can help you understand how engaging your ad is to people who see it.
- Video viewership: This allows you to see what share of viewers completed 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of your video ad. It helps you understand where your audience is losing interest. This can also help you understand how you can improve your messaging!
Facebook ads now come in several varieties. You can promote your Page, posts on your Page, actions users took, or your website itself. Despite Facebook’s increasing focus on native ads and keeping traffic on its site, you can still be successful in sending users to your website.
There are also several ad formats, including images, videos, carousel (multiple images), Instant Experiences, and collections.
Facebook ads are targeted to users based on their location, demographic, and profile information. Many of these options are only available on Facebook.
After creating an ad, you set a budget and bid for each click or a thousand impressions that your ad will receive.
Users then see your ads in the sidebar on Facebook or in their newsfeed.
As marketers, our primary goal is to drive traffic to our own websites. Building your Facebook presence is great, but when you bring someone to your website, you control the medium, and this gives you the best chance of converting on your goals.
Facebook’s other ad options are great for driving engagement and brand awareness, but ads driving users off-site are still the best option for direct response advertisers looking to make a sale.
The answer is simple: Videos have emerged as one of the most popular content formats for lead generation (in fact, YouTube marketing performs better than television ads!).
Videos tend to have a higher level of engagement among viewers and thus provide better returns. Social videos are believed to receive nearly 1200% more shares than text and images. On top of that, Google claims that people who watch YouTube ads to completion are 23 times more likely to visit or subscribe to a brand channel, share a brand video, or watch more by the brand. Even those who don’t watch to the end are 10 times more likely to do one of those things.
Ask Me Anything.
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