Google Ads is an online advertising platform enabling businesses to place ads on Google search, YouTube videos, and third-party websites or mobile apps. It’s the first option most people think of when they want to advertise online. However, you can use many Google Ads alternatives to place effective ads.
Google Ads was formerly known as AdWords until a name change in 2018. Yet, many people still refer to it by its former name. We’ll show you the best AdWords competitors to advertise your products and services and get good results.
What is Google Ads?
It is an online advertising platform created by Google, the world’s most popular search engine. This platform allows individuals and businesses to place ads on Google search, YouTube videos, and a large network of third-party websites and mobile applications connected to the Google Ads ecosystem.
Google Ads is a self-serve platform, which makes it easier to use. Businesses can set up their ads without external help and deploy them immediately. You can pay per click or mille (for every thousand impressions). Pay-per-click (PPC) is the most popular model for Google Ads users, and you can pay with a credit or debit card.
What are some alternatives to Google Ads?
Google Ads is the most popular online advertising platform worldwide, but that doesn’t make it the best choice. Many Google Ads competitors exist, and you can use them to create and deploy ads effectively. They include:
Adsterra
Adsterra is a thriving display advertising network. It connects you to a network of over 28,000 publishers serving over 1 billion impressions daily. You can create different types of ads, including Popunders, Social Bar, Banner Ads, Native Ads, and Interstitials.
Adsterra connects you to legitimate publishers with high-quality traffic. You can target specific locations with your advertisements to court customers. You can filter your target audience by device type, web browser, operating system, and many other factors.
If you need help, you can contact an Adsterra representative anytime. Our support staff can help you create and deploy ads if you’re struggling with the process.
Adsterra makes it as easy as possible to launch and deploy ads. We provide over 20 targeting options, including country, language, device, operating system, etc. You can pay per click, mille, or action and deploy ads to a global audience.
To Contents ↑Social media advertising
Social media refers to online websites where people share content and communicate with each other. The most popular social media platforms currently include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter, and many more.
You can run advertisements on social media to reach the billions of people signed up on such websites. These websites let you target ads in a detailed manner to achieve the best results.
Facebook ads
Facebook is the world’s biggest social media platform, with 3 billion monthly active users. You can use Facebook’s self-serve advertising platform to create and deploy ads to global users.
A great thing about Facebook is that it lets you target ads in detail. You can filter your target audience according to location, interests, school, workplace, internet service provider, etc. Facebook has enormous data on its user base, which makes it easier to create personalized ads.
Facebook ads are perfect for online retailers because it lets them target users precisely. The drawback is that Facebook’s ad platform requires significant time and effort to understand. It has many complexities, so you may need several attempts before creating effective ads.
To Contents ↑Instagram advertising
Instagram is another popular social media platform, with over 2 billion monthly active users. It’s owned by Meta Platforms, the same company that owns Facebook.
Instagram is primarily a visual platform. It’s an ideal option to create and deploy visually appealing ads. You can filter your target audience by interests, location, device type, spending habits, etc. You can promote your Instagram posts or create ads that lead to your website.
Instagram is a great option to showcase visually appealing products, e.g., clothing, jewelry, furniture, food, etc. Competition for user attention is high, so ensure your visuals are as creative as possible.
To Contents ↑Reddit ads
Reddit is a news aggregation and discussion website with hundreds of millions of users. It revolves around “subreddits,” individual forums dedicated to different topics. Think of any topic, and you’ll likely find a subreddit for it.
You can advertise your products and services to Reddit users. This platform supports both text and image/video-based ads.
Reddit ads are ideal for businesses targeting young audiences because most users are between 18 and 29. The drawback is that Reddit’s self-serve advertising platform is not as sophisticated as what you’d find on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Reddit was late to the self-serve advertising platform and needed significant time and effort to catch up with competitors. Targeting options are limited compared to rival platforms, and you need to jump through more hoops to create and deploy ads.
Twitter ads
Twitter is another social media juggernaut, with over 300 million global users. It’s a micro-blogging service where users create posts called “tweets.” Twitter has been quite in turmoil in 2023 following its acquisition by American entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Under Musk’s directions, the platform has erratically changed advertising policies, e.g., introducing mandatory verification for advertisers. The company also recently changed its name to X, although it retained the Twitter.com domain.
However, Twitter remains a good place to advertise to global users. It offers a self-serve advertising platform for businesses to promote their products and services.
Twitter ads are suitable for businesses needing engagement and general public exposure. You can filter your target audience by location, interests, device type, and similar factors that you’ll find on other social media platforms. Twitter represents one of the best Google ads alternatives because of its massive popularity.
To Contents ↑Video advertising
You can advertise your products on popular video streaming and sharing websites. The key is to create engaging videos that hook the viewer’s attention and provoke a response. YouTube and TikTok are the most popular examples of such websites.
YouTube advertising
YouTube is the most popular video-sharing site and is owned by Google. Because they share common ownership, the Google Ads platform is integrated with YouTube; you can deploy ads to YouTube and other Google video partners directly from an Ads account.
However, you can also use the self-serve YouTube Ads platform to create ads solely for this website.
YouTube ads are effective because they play before a video starts and between intervals as someone watches it. They are perfect for increasing brand awareness. The key is creating engaging and exciting videos to capture viewers’ attention within seconds. You can pay for ads by the number of views or clicks.
To Contents ↑TikTok ads
TikTok doubles as a video hosting service and social media platform, representing one of the best alternatives to Google Ads. This app was released in 2016 by ByteDance, a Chinese company, and took the world by storm. It amassed over 1 billion users within a short period and continues to grow rapidly. TikTok launched its self-serve ad platform for businesses in 2020.
You can create TikTok video ads to promote your products and services. This app leans heavily on creativity and social trends, so your videos should incorporate popular trends, e.g., music, dances, social media challenges, etc. TikTok ads are ideal for generating buzz and engagement for your brand.
You can also partner with TikTok influencers to promote your products. There are many popular influencers across different niches, giving you broad options.
To Contents ↑Other alternatives to Google Ads
Amazon ads
Amazon is the world’s biggest ecommerce company. It sells its own products and also offers a marketplace for third-party sellers. Third-party retailers can advertise their products to Amazon users.
You can target specific keywords for your products to appear when people search for them on Amazon. Amazon uses competitive bidding to determine whose ads to show. Keywords with higher demand require higher bids.
The key to working with Amazon Ads is to target keywords relevant to your audience. Amazon Ads is a fast-growing advertising platform that continues adding more features to make it better for retailers.
To Contents ↑LinkedIn ads
LinkedIn is a business and employment-focused social media platform with over 750 million users. As the most popular business-oriented platform, LinkedIn represents a great medium to advertise your products and services.
LinkedIn is particularly great for business-to-business (B2B) companies. You can target ads according to workplaces and possibly reach the C-suite decision-makers of your target customers.
LinkedIn offers a self-serve platform for creating and deploying ads. Your ads can incorporate text, images, and videos. It costs significantly more to advertise on LinkedIn than on other social media platforms.
To Contents ↑Bing ads: Tapping into Microsoft’s search engine
Bing is the second-most popular search engine after Google. The search engine market is skewed toward Google, with a 92% market share, while Bing has barely 3%. However, you can still advertise and profit from Bing traffic.
Bing search ads are similar to Google Ads. You can place bids on specific keywords, and your ad may appear when people search for these keywords. Bing offers a self-serve ad platform that’s easy to use and understand.
To Contents ↑FAQs on Google Ads alternatives
It depends mainly on your type of business and your budget. If you run a B2B business, LinkedIn and Bing ads are suitable Google Ads alternatives. If you run a B2C business, you’re better off with ads on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms. Social media platforms allow you to advertise with low budgets and increase your spending as your business grows.
Most popular social media platforms provide viable alternatives to Google Ads. You can run visual ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat or text-based ads on Reddit and Twitter. You can also incorporate text and photos or videos into a single ad. These platforms offer self-serve systems that make creating and deploying your ads easy.
Facebook Ads are not better than Google Ads, nor vice versa. These two ad platforms serve different purposes, and the choice comes down to your type of business and objectives.
Google Ads is ideal for businesses wanting higher sales, while Facebook Ads is ideal for businesses seeking greater brand awareness. Google Ads helps you find new customers searching for specific keywords, while Facebook Ads helps new customers find you as they scroll through their feeds.
There’s no specific cost of advertising via Google Ads. You can spend as low as $50 monthly to tens or hundreds of thousands. The higher the demand for your targeted keywords, the higher you’ll pay for each click or impression. Some industries are notoriously more expensive than others because of intense competition, e.g., legal services and real estate.
Google Ads alternatives – Conclusion
Google Ads is a suitable online advertising platform for all kinds of businesses. But, many formidable Google Ads competitors also bring effective results. We have explained some of the best alternatives you can choose and what sets them apart.
Adsterra is one of the best Google Ads alternatives, giving you access to a network of high-quality publishers. You can target ads based on many criteria to make them as effective as possible. Adsterra supports different ad formats, including Popunders, Social Bar, Banners, etc.
