Keep this list in mind when you’re considering stopping Google ads to save money on your advertising budget!

An advertising budget might seem like the first thing that can go when business is slow. Small businesses have various options available to them when they want to market their product or service, and some feel more secure relying on word of mouth. 

Google Ads often receives the ax first since they command such a large amount of the advertising budget. The search giant is responsible for most of the internet’s traffic, and its advertising platform can provide as much volume–and associated spend–as a business can handle.

This article will dive into why continuing Google Ads is a good idea, even on a shoestring budget, when the advertising budget gets pulled back.

Saving money on advertising.

When revenues decline, expenses, like an advertising budget, are soon to follow. It’s an understandable response to the problem. 

Save money on advertising and ensure enough money for other, more pressing expenses.

Business can be slow for several reasons—a change in the seasons, an increase in competition, or just overall lower demand. Algorithmic Global is an industry leader in restoration marketing, and we often see lower demand for restoration services during mild weather.

Before you cut Google Ads altogether, know there might be some unintended consequences.

Continue advertising with a reduced budget.

The better way to save money on advertising is to reduce the advertising budget, not eliminate Google Ads. 

Here are some reasons why:

Free impressions

Google Ads only charge for clicked links; every impression is free. 

If someone is looking for a product or service in your niche, they could see your ads and associate you with their query without Google charging you a dime.

It’s free brand awareness. Think of it like a billboard, or a general print advertisement, except it’s free.

Additionally, Google is learning the type of traffic you want to drive to your website. This traffic is a powerful signal when it comes to optimizing your website for the world’s largest search engine.

Continued data.

One of the benefits of Google Ads is that it shows the terms your customers use when looking for you. This data makes Google Ads one of the most informative forms of advertising and arguably the best use of your advertising budget.

Completely pausing ad campaigns means this well of information dries up. 

A much better strategy is to reduce the advertising budget to a reasonable amount and then harvest this data about how people find your company. This information allows for informed decisions about future advertising and marketing strategies.

Campaigns aren’t like a water tap.

Comparing Google Ads campaigns to a water tap is the easiest way to relay the effect of turning them off to save money on an advertising budget.

Turning a campaign back on takes time to get back to a steady-state. The Google Ads platform needs to figure out spending rates, impression frequency, and click volume to decide how to meet your daily budget. There is a minimum required time to optimize based on this data before daily spend settles into a predictable pattern.

Cutting ad spend instead of reducing it means that whenever you want to turn your ads back on, the system needs to figure out the search volume all over again. It’s much easier to increase the spend compared to starting ads again from zero.

Is Google ads worth the money?

Google Ads is worth the money because of the amount of data you can gather from the searches. You can see the search terms your potential customers are using to find you and use the number of impressions to get a sense of how popular certain products or services are.

Google also finds out what terms your website gets clicked for and can serve the relevant organic traffic; this lets you shape the traffic based on what keywords and phrases you bid on.

Are Google Ads expensive?

Google ads vary in price. Some industries have clicks that cost less than a dollar, and some see clicks upwards of fifty dollars. 

Google Ads can be expensive if you don’t have a manager dedicated to finding quality traffic for your business. The volume of searches alone provides the potential to spend a lot of money.

A large part of factoring Google Ads into an advertising budget is figuring out how much each click is worth to you, measuring how often clicks convert into customers, and knowing the price of each click. Then, reaching a rational decision about daily spend is a matter of crunching numbers.

Do Google Ads work for small business?

Google ads are great for small businesses because they provide options to only display in specific geographic areas. That means you won’t pay for clicks outside your target locations.

If your business can ship nationwide, increased control of the keywords will be necessary. Making sure keywords that have high conversion rates will be the most important, and from there, daily spend can be controlled based on the cost per click and cost per acquired customer.

This level of control is unparalleled in other advertising mediums, such as print and commercials, and allows for control of the advertising budget with increased granularity.

Cutting your advertising budget.

If cutting your advertising budget is necessary, consider lowering it to a sustainable amount instead of stopping your Google ads altogether. This way, you can still take advantage of the free impressions, the continued flow of data, and the Google ads platform won’t have to go through a learning phase when they are turned back on.

There are still numerous benefits from reduced traffic. Plus, the spending can always increase again when business picks back up.
If you want to get the most from your advertising budget, reach out to us via our contact page. Our team of Google Ads managers would love to help you discover ways to unlock your website’s potential. They can help you get the most from every advertising budget and offer advice about the best path to take advantage of all Google has to offer!