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Discover mobile ads with Google Ads

Back to all resources

Discover mobile ads with Google Ads

Key take-aways

Google mobile ads allow you to reach potential customers anywhere, right as they’re conducting a relevant search on their smartphones. 91% of people have reported that they look up information on their mobiles when they want to know about, find, do or buy something1, and 51% have discovered a new company or product while searching on their phones2.

Using mobile ads, you can easily connect with your customers on-the-go. So, how do Google mobile ads work?

1. Show up on-the-go

2. Reach your ideal customers on mobile

3. Test and tweak for success

1 According to Google's "Consumers in the Micro-Moment" survey

2 According to Google's "Consumers in the Micro-Moment" survey, Wave 3 

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is an advertising service by Google that allows businesses to display ads on Google search results and its advertising network.

Try Google Ads now

With Google Ads, you pay only when a potential customer clicks your ad to visit your site, or gives you a call.

1. Show up on-the-go

Google Ads mobile ads come in multiple formats, including text and image ads that are mobile-friendly and look great on smaller screens. This helps you better cater to consumers who are browsing their mobile devices on-the-go.

You can choose different goals for your ads, from “Call your business” to encourage people to call you with one click, to “Visit your business” to drive foot traffic. Google Ads will also show you how many customers interacted with your business on Google Maps as a result of your campaign.

Remember: Google Ads is pay-per-click (PPC), meaning you pay only when a potential customer clicks your ad to visit your site, or calls your business. Additionally, how much you spend is completely up to you–you can change your advertising budget at any time.

What are mobile ads?

A mobile ad is a type of Google Ads advertisement that can appear on phone apps or web pages that are viewed on a mobile device like a cell phone or tablet. There are several types of Mobile Ads, including text ads, image ads, app promotion ads, and more.

2. Reach your ideal customers on mobile

To show your ad on searches done on a mobile device, identify a list of keywords that are relevant to your potential customers. When someone searches on their phone for a keyword that you’ve selected, your ad may show up in their search results.

For example, if you own a cafe that offers delivery in Jakarta, in addition to more specific terms like your restaurant’s name, you might include keywords such as ‘Marunda cafe coffee' and 'coffee delivery in Jakarta’. To come up with a list of keywords to target, use our free Keyword Planner tool.

There are other options for where your mobile ads can show up on people’s smartphones, such as websites related to what your business offers. You can also target your ads to specific geographic locations to reach customers close enough to visit your business.

How to write successful mobile ads

A good ad tells your potential customers what value your business brings to them. Include a compelling call to action that appeals to users across devices.

Read more

3. Test and tweak for success

Your Google Ads account comes with conversion tracking tools that house important data about how your ads are performing, including:

  • How many people clicked on your ad
  • What actions they took after that

Using these tools, you can easily figure out what’s working, and what needs to be improved. Is one of your keywords leading to more phone calls than the rest? Are you getting more mobile visits from a location you didn't expect? Should you widen the locations that you’ve targeted your ads to? Find out more about conversion tracking with Google Ads here.

The bottom line? Google Ads makes it simple for you to get actionable insights about how your mobile ads are performing. This allows you to reach today's smartphone-savvy customers at the perfect moment – right when they want to visit, call, or buy from a business like yours.

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Sign up to advertise on mobile today

  • 1. Create an account
  • 2. Set your budget
  • 3. Write your first ad and decide where it's going to appear