Google Ads

Google Ads (previously known as Google AdWords) is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, and videos to web users. It can place ads in the results of search engines like Google Search (the Google Search Network), mobile apps, videos, and on non-search websites. Services are offered under a pay-per-click (PPC) pricing model. Google Ads is the main source of revenue for Alphabet Inc., contributing US$168.6 billion in revenue in 2020. Google launched AdWords in the year 2000. Initially, Google itself would set up and manage advertisers' campaigns. Google soon introduced the AdWords self-service portal to accommodate small businesses and those who wanted to manage their own campaigns. In 2005, Google started a campaign management service known as 'Jumpstart'. In 2008, Google launched the Google Online Marketing Challenge, an in-class academic exercise for tertiary students. Over 8,000 students from 47 countries participated in the challenge in 2008, over 10,000 students from 58 countries in 2009, about 12,000 students in 2010, and almost 15,000 students from 70 countries in 2011. The challenge runs annually, roughly from January to June. In April 2013, Google announced plans to add enhanced campaigns for AdWords to aid with campaign management catered to multiple-device users. The enhanced campaigns aimed to include advanced reports about conversions. In July 2016, Google unveiled "Showcase Shopping" ads. With this format, retailers can choose to have a series of images that appear in search results related to various search queries and keywords. In October 2017, Google revised AdWords' daily budget caps to a maximum of 200% of preset daily budget, instead of the previous 120%. This change was rolled out on the same day it was announced, prompting criticism from paid search professionals. However, Google later clarified that this change would only apply to short-term campaigns of less than 30 days and that for campaigns running more than 30 days, overage charges would be refunded.