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Google Guaranteed
Google offers two types of paid for advertising: Google Guaranteed and Pay-per-Click. In my experience PPC is very expensive and rarely achieves the desired results.
Google Guaranteed ads, however, are a reasonably priced way to get enquiries and at the same time always ensure that your company appears at the top of a Google search result for your line of business in your geographic area.
A Google Guaranteed ad appears as one of three small boxes at the top of a search results page. It does not say much and the exact wording is chosen by Google. Your company's phone number will appear in the ad and people can also enquire by sending a text*.
Pros: top of search results; relatively inexpensive (compared with PPC); helps reinforce your generic search entry which then appears further down the page so people see your company at least twice.
Cons: you can't say much; you have to bid to stay at the top of all the other companies who are paying for Google Guaranteed ads; Google imposes a number of requirements (see below).
Google changes the rules all the time. At the time of writing Google accepts only Limited Liability companies for Google Guaranteed ads. This is because, in the UK, in most types of business anyone can set up a company. In other countries licences and financial bonds are required. Google is attempting to keep out the 'hit-and-run- companies.
Other requirements include: Public and Product Liability insurances and a bricks-and-mortar address.
Because, on mobile phone screens especially, space is limited, Google will display three Google Guaranteed ads. However, you may find yourself in competition with 10 or 20 other companies. Google therefore operates a kind of carousel system. However, it is not as simple as that. It never is with Google. Companies can improve their position on the carousel by out-bidding the others. This is one of the things I monitor on your behalf. Phone me for more details of how the bidding system works.
