In this article, you will find the 11 best Google AdWords competitors and alternatives.
Previously known as Google AdWords, Google Ads is one of the leading ad networks for managing digital marketing campaigns. However, Google's advertising platform is not always the most cost-effective service for reaching your target audience with pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
If you are looking for the best Google AdWords competitors to compare for your marketing budget, the reviews and recommendations below can help you find good Google Ads alternatives.
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Google AdWords Alternatives
Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads are one of the best Google Ads alternatives. They have an average ROI of 152% higher and an average conversion rate of 9.21% than Google Ads which has an average ROI of 3.48% on the search network and 0.72% on the display network and an average conversion rate of 100%.
Facebook offers many different types of ads for you to promote your business to potential customers. Some of the most popular ad types include photo ads, video ads, story ads, Messenger ads, carousel ads, slideshow ads, and collection ads.
Microsoft Bing Ads
Microsoft Bing Ads is the second best Google Ads competitor, as it has the second largest market share for an online search engine (2.96%) and attracts over 1 billion visits per month. Ads created on the Microsoft Advertising platform can be delivered across all Microsoft Search networks, platforms, and devices, which can help you reach 724 million unique searchers per month and 97 million unique users via native advertising on brand-safe experiences.
Yahoo Gemini Ads
Yahoo Gemini Ads is another popular Google AdWords alternative with over 60 billion monthly native impressions across the Yahoo network. It lets you achieve a variety of premium websites as well as publishing partners such as ESPN, ABC News, Apple News, and MSN. You can also choose from a wide variety of ad types including image ads, video ads, app install ads, carousel ads, Yahoo Mail ads, and moments ads.
Amazon Ads
Amazon Ads is one of the best Google AdWords competitors and alternatives for businesses. Keep in mind that Amazon Ads uses a second-price bidding system in which the highest bidder pays $0.01 more than the second highest bidder. For example, if you bid $2 for an ad and the next highest bidder is $1.50, you will pay $1.51 for the click on the ad. Amazon offers several types of ads, including sponsored product ads, sponsored brand ads, sponsored display ads, audio ads, and video ads.
LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn Ads is the best Google Ads competitor for (B2B) business-to-business ads. The platform is full of working professionals that you can target for all types of business-related products and services. It has over 830 million users and 58 million businesses in over 200 countries. According to ad spend data, the average cost per click (CPC) for LinkedIn ads is $5.26 per click, $6.59 per 1,000 impressions, and $0.80 per send.
Reddit Ads
Reddit Ads is an inexpensive way to get your ads in front of a highly engaged audience. This platform has over 430 million monthly active users and offers two main types of ads: promoted post ads and display ads. The minimum bid required depends on the locations you are targeting. For example, rates for the US, UK, and/or Canada include $3.50 for CPM, $0.10 for CPC, and $0.01 for CPV. All other countries: $1.00 for CPM, $0.05 for CPC, and $0.01 for CPV.
Quora Ads
Quora Ads is another way to grow your business as a Google AdWords alternative. You can reach over 300 million people who use Quora every month to discover and purchase your products or services. With Quora Ads, you can select an ad campaign goal: Conversions, traffic, awareness, app installs, or lead generation, and set your specific budget, audience, and bid. But the minimum budget is $5 per day to run a campaign.
Twitter Ads
Twitter Ads are a great Google Ads alternative, as they allow you to target potential customers while amplifying your message through Twitter users sharing your ads and updates with their communities. Types of Twitter ads include promoted ads, follower ads, and trending takeover ads.
According to a study by Twitter Marketing, "For every dollar spent on Twitter ad campaigns, the four brands in the study achieved an average return of $2.70, an average ROI that was nearly 40 percent higher than the average ROI for all other media."
YouTube Ads
YouTube Ads is the dominant format for online video ads. The platform is owned by Google and offers advertising solutions to both publishers and advertisers. Publishers can earn money by allowing ads to run before, during, or after their videos and are compensated by Google AdSense. As for advertisers, statistics show that 70% of people have purchased a product after seeing it in a YouTube ad.
You can see this article on AdSense vs AdWords difference.
To get the best ROI from your YouTube ads, a study conducted by Nielsen shows that video ads that followed the ABCD principles (Attention, Branding, Connection, Direction) saw a 30% increase in sales compared to ads that did not. Check out this article on the ABCD principles from Think With Google for more details.
Instagram Ads
Instagram ads are one of the best Google AdWords alternatives for getting your brand out there and increasing your customer base through visuals. Owned by Facebook, Instagram is the leading photo and video sharing platform, with many ways to advertise your products and services through the app, including image ads, story ads, video ads, carousel ads, collection ads, explore ads, IGTV ads, and shopping ads. The average ad on Instagram costs about $0.50 to $1.00 CPC, with some competitive areas reaching up to $3.50 CPC.
Pinterest Ads
Pinterest Ads is one of the best ad platforms with the highest purchase intent from its users. Consider this: 89% of U.S. pinners use Pinterest for inspiration in their shopping journey and 83% of weekly U.S. pinners have made a purchase based on branded pins. If you want to reach over 400 million people online who are ready to discover and purchase your products or services, then Pinterest ads may be the best Google Ads alternative for your budget.
Who Is the Biggest Google Ads Competitor?
The biggest Google Ads competitor is the Facebook advertising platform. Facebook ads have an average return on investment (ROI) of 152% and an average conversion rate of 9.21%, which is higher than Google Ads (3.48% on the search network and 0.72% on the Display network).
Check out Search Engine Watch Facebook Retail Advertiser Report and WordStream Facebook Ad Benchmark Report for additional details.
Why Is Google Ads Better than Its Competitors?
Google Ads outperforms its competitors because it is faster to set up and has a wider potential reach than competing advertisers. Google owns over 90% of the global search engine market, which allows you to target your Google Ads to a wider audience.
Google's advertising options are also divided into two networks:
- The search network includes pay-per-click (PPC) ads served on Google's search engine, which allows advertisers to bid on millions of keywords and phrases to target potential customers.
- The display network covers about 98% of the Web to help businesses reach Internet users as they browse millions of websites, which is preferable for marketing objectives that are not as strongly conversion-focused as PPC ads.
You can see this article on how does Google AdWords Work?
What Is the Best Google AdWords Alternative?
The best Google AdWords alternative is Facebook Ads, followed by Microsoft Bing Ads and Yahoo Gemini Ads. These Google Ads alternatives have the largest audience reach for pay-per-click (PPC) ads targeting search engines and display networks.
Google AdWords Competitors List
Here is a summary of the main Google AdWords competitors that you can use to create and deliver ads that can be just as effective as Google ads:
- Facebook Ads
- Microsoft Bing Ads
- Yahoo Gemini Ads
- Amazon Ads
- LinkedIn Ads
- Reddit Ads
- Quora Ads
- Twitter Ads
- YouTube Ads
- Instagram Ads
- Pinterest Ads
Google AdWords Alternatives & Competitors Summary
This was a list of the best Google AdWords alternatives & competitors, and I hope you enjoyed it.
As you've discovered, there are many Google Ads competitors that can help you reach your target audience in a cost-effective manner. With any luck, one or more of the top Google AdWords alternatives listed on the page will meet the digital marketing goals and objectives for your company's PPC campaigns.
