Over the years, Google has been an integral part of the way people use the Internet. I’m quite certain that at least one or two readers will have “Googled” a business using the Google Chrome web browser, and looked up their location on Google Maps. We’re so accustomed to using these services on a daily basis, that we rarely stop to think about the great “kindness” the Google gives us every day.
The extremely broad question at hand is about the extent by which Google shapes the way we use the Internet, therefore potentially affecting the decisions that we make.
However, this isn’t a philosophical essay on the terrible large multinational corporations that control our lives and store our most sensitive personal data.
This is an article about how you, a business owner, can utilize this for your own gain.
And of course, how LeverageIT can help you get there.
Google: Organizing the World’s Information
Google has two major functions, the first of which is to make sure that you keep using its services for everything you need. The more synonymous it becomes with the Internet, the less of a chance there exists the possibility of you switching to one of their few competitors. For now, you have parody videos like this one to show the current state of searching online:
Google: $60 Billion in Revenue
The second function is to make some cash to pay their kids through college.
That’s why, when I speak to clients about running Google AdWords for their business, I’m often disappointed at the current performance of their accounts. Tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars of annual spending are being wasted by managers who think that working with Google is as easy as using its search engine.
This is where Google’s two major functions come back in. Google needs to maintain its set of standards each time someone uses their search engine. They don’t want people to search for “coffee beans” and get advertisements for “real estate.” If that were to happen, Google would lose the reputation that it has worked so hard to build up, and then you may even stop referring to Googling for information as “Googling,” and you may call it “searching.” It’s a scary thought, indeed.
That’s why, you shouldn’t be shocked that you’re being over-charged for your sub-par ad, or if Google assesses it with such a low “quality score,” that it doesn’t even want to display it.
The second function of Google explains why they aren’t exactly helping you out. They constantly create new ways for AdWords account managers to have a more difficult time correctly utilizing their marketing dollars by making it difficult for them to figure out why their revenue hasn’t gone up this quarter. And then, once managers do begin to discover ways to improve your account, Google catches on, and then changes settings to either make it impossible to fit Google’s own standards at a low cost, or makes it so time-consuming for the average business owner, that they grow accustomed to wasting large percentages of their budgets.
Google essentially filters out the good from the bad, and then somehow profits even more from the bad.
At LeverageIT, we dedicate our time to making the most of your ad spending. This includes making both big and little changes that you don’t have the time to make, or didn’t even know about.
We perform research to understand your business, its industry, and Google’s plans to shape your potential customers.
You can do it yourself if you want to pay higher for each click, and pay for clicks that have nothing to do with your business.
Or you can contact us.
