Should your business advertise on Google?

Most small business owners I speak to have already made up their mind about Google Ads before we've even had a conversation. Either they've written it off as too expensive and not worth looking into, or they're convinced it'll work for them without having thought through whether it actually fits their business.

Both assumptions are worth questioning.

Google Ads works really well for some businesses. For others, it genuinely isn't the right fit — and spending money on it won't change that. Knowing which side of that line you're on before you commit to anything is one of the most useful things you can do.

What we're actually talking about

Before anything else, it's worth being clear on what Google Ads actually are as well as the specific kind of ads this is about.

When you're searching online and type something into Google, the first few results you see with a small "Sponsored" label next to them are paid search ads. The ads are triggered by the specific words and phrases your potential customers are typing into Google – for example, "emergency plumber Reading" or "family solicitor near me." If an ad uses those as the trigger keywords, when someone searches for exactly that, your business can potentially show up at the top of the search results. Get the keywords right and your ad can reach the right people at the right time. Get them wrong and your budget gets spent on searches that have nothing to do with what you offer.

It's not the same as the Google verified badge listings you might have seen, or Local Services Ads, which are a separate product with its own application process (we'll save that for another blog). Just the sponsored results at the top of the page when someone searches.

The reason paid search works the way it does

As an example, think about the last time something went wrong at home. A boiler that stopped working, a leak under the sink, an electrical fault you couldn't fix yourself. What did you do?

You probably didn't scroll through Instagram and hope a plumber happened to appear in your feed. You might have asked for a recommendation in a Facebook group before heading to Google to check their reviews then searching for something like "emergency plumber near me" or "plumber in Reading." You already knew what you needed. You just needed to find someone who could help.

That's the moment paid search ads exist for. The plumber who appears at the top of those results is more likely to get the call. The ones who don't appear can miss out.

And the key thing about that moment is intent. The person searching isn't browsing. They're not vaguely interested. They've got a problem and want it solved. That's a fundamentally different kind of attention to someone scrolling past a post on social media.

The same logic applies to any service where people search when they have a need. Electricians, solicitors, dentists, therapists, accountants – if someone in your area types what you do into Google, paid search gives you the chance to be the answer.

Where it's a harder fit

Google Ads doesn't work well for every business, it's worth being honest about that.

If you sell something that relies on people discovering something they didn't know they needed, paid search is a harder route. Nobody types a search for something they've never heard of. This is where organic social media steps in – it puts things in front of people who had no idea they needed it.

Businesses with very low margins or low average order values can also struggle to make the numbers stack up. If you're selling something for £20, you'd need a lot of conversions to justify even a modest ad spend.

And then there's the website question. If your site is slow, unclear, or makes it difficult for someone to get in touch, ads will send people there and they'll leave. The ads aren't the problem in that situation. The destination is. It's worth being honest about whether your website is ready for paid traffic before you spend anything, which is something I covered in more detail in an earlier post.

One question worth sitting with

Before deciding whether Google Ads is right for your business, ask yourself this: when someone needs what I offer, do they use Google to search for it?

If the answer is yes, it's probably worth exploring. If the answer is no, or you're genuinely not sure, that's a useful indicator before you spend anything.

A note on your Google Business Profile

If you do decide Google Ads is worth pursuing, your Google Business Profile becomes more important than most people realise. It's the listing that appears when someone searches for your business by name, or when Google shows local results alongside a map. A well-maintained profile works brilliantly alongside your ads – it builds trust at exactly the moment someone's deciding whether to get in touch.

That's a topic worth its own post, so I'll cover it properly another time. But if you haven't claimed and filled out your Business Profile yet, that's a good place to start regardless of whether you end up running ads.

Not sure if Google Ads is the right fit for your business?

That's exactly the kind of conversation I'm happy to have before anything else. Get in touch and we can work it out together.