Google provides many platforms to the webmasters for their usage. There are lots of platforms in this list such as Google Webmaster Tools (now Google Search Console), Google Analytics, Page Speed Insights, Google AdWords and Google AdSense, etc. This article is all about Google AdSense vs AdWords – what is the difference between these two. Most of you might be well-known to them. This post is for newbies who are still confused about them. It is important to know what each platform is and when you can use both AdWords and AdSense on the same website.
Let’s start with this article.
Google AdSense vs AdWords
Below is a simple explanation of what each does and what makes them different.
Google AdWords
Every business requires certain marketing and promotions to attract customers to sell their goods or services. There are different ways of marketing products. Google AdWords is one of the prominent ways to advertise. It was launched in 2000. Basically, this platform is a service for advertisers. The advertisers are the people who are selling products or services and are ready to pay money to Google to attract traffic (users) to their websites offering the products/services. The Google AdWords program helps advertisers to create different types of advertisements. These adword ads appear on relevant Google search results pages and also on sites that participate in the Google AdSense network (We will talk about Google AdSense later on).
How Google AdWords Work?
Advertisers can open free accounts with Google AdWords and can run an adword campaign. But they will need to configure their credit card with their account in order to pay. AdWords provides lots of tools to create ad campaigns and setting budget etc. Advertisers can choose certain keywords relevant to their products. Based on these keywords, search engines (Google)shows their ads along with main search results.
For example, the above image shows the ads shown on SERPs (highlighted in red color).
Google AdWords is a PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising program where you bid on keywords and write ads. These ads then appear on Google when people type in those keywords and do searches. When someone clicks on your ad, you pay Google however much you bid on the keyword. AdWords has strict policies on what you can advertise on their platform.
But the question is – what is the guarantee that your ads will be showing. For instance, many advertisers can bid on the same keywords, right? There is no hard code rule for this. It depends on many factors such as competition, the quality score of your ads, quality of landing page, bid amount, etc. There are many flexibilities provided such as you set a daily budget that you are comfortable with (that you can change anytime). There is no minimum spend. It also allows you to select which keywords you want your ads to appear, what type of ad you want to appear and also for which areas, times, days, etc.
Before starting any ad campaign with Google AdWords, it is recommended to learn how to maximize your exposure otherwise, you will be wasting your money on these AdWords ads.
If you think you cannot optimize it yourself, you can hire an experienced AdWords Certified professional or Google AdWords experts to optimize your ad campaigns to get better results.
You can always manage and track your results through this Google AdWords account/service.
Note: You are not charged when your ad is displayed. You will only be charged when your ad is clicked.
If you want to sign up for Google AdWords, you can sign up here.
I hope now you are enough familiar with Google AdWords. Let us take another side of Google AdSense vs AdWords – What is Google AdSense and how it is different from Google AdWords.
Google AdSense
Google started the AdSense program in 2003. It is a platform for the publishers (in simple terms – blog or site owners). The publishers show Google ads on their websites. The ads for AdSense are provided by Google AdWords. This works on the CPC (Cost Per Click) campaign which means when any user/visitor clicks on an AdSense ad that is shown, publishers will get paid certain bucks. The CPC depends on many factors such as demographics, keywords, niche, and much more.
Google AdSense is free. But, Google also keeps some commission for providing the services. Generally, Google keeps a 32% share and gives 68% revenue share to the publishers. However, if you are using Google Search (configured with Google AdSense) also on your website, the share is 49:51 where Google keeps 49% and gives 51% to the publishers.
There is no doubt that Google AdSense is one of the best programs to monetize the website. But to get your blog approved for this is a bit difficult. There are certain guidelines that need to be fulfilled in order to run Google ads on our blog. Few of them are:
- You cannot place ads on sites that include incentives to click on ads
- You cannot place ads on sites with pornographic content
- You should be at least 18 years to join this program
- You cannot on your own Google ads that you’re serving through AdSense
- Accepting that you’ve read the AdSense Program Policies
- You should not already have an approved Google AdSense account
Once you have been approved you will be able to create “Ads”, and then be given a code to display that ad on your website. It is totally up to publishers where they want ads to be shown and how many AdSense ads units (mainly Google allows the maximum of 3 content ad units on a single page). If you are found guilty of any of the policy violations, your account will be suspended and all your pending revenue will be lost (Google is too smart in finding the culprits :p). But yes, you can always contact Google Adsense help. The publishers are paid once their revenue reaches the minimum threshold. Google sends out the payments to the publishers by the payment methods they have selected.
Also Read: How To Verify Google AdSense Account without PIN?
But if your blog is not getting approved by Google AdSense, do not get disheartened. Here are a few other monetization programs that you can try and earn money.
- Top 15 Ways To Make Money From Your Website
- ShareASale Affiliate Program : Affiliate Marketing
- Adversal Ad CPM Network
- How To Make Money With Infolinks
- Make Money with Chitika Ads
- vCommission Reviews – Indian Affiliate Program
I think now you are well known with AdSense vs AdWords. You can use these programs based on your requirements.
AdSense vs AdWords : Final Thoughts
Both AdSense and AdWords are great tools for Google’s advertising program. If you are looking to make money from your blog then AdSense is the best option to monetize your blog. On the other hand, if you are looking to advertise your products or services then AdWords is one of the most efficient ways to do so.
You can watch this video on the difference between AdWords and AdSense –
That’s all in this Google AdSense VS AdWords article. Do share your feedback or questions in the comment section below 🙂
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It is interesting how times have changed, Google Adwords is now Google Ads. The Google Ads platform is now streamlined allowing smaller businesses to also participate in paid search without the need for an agency. Even the way Google Ads is displayed in search is more subtle (simply mentioning ads without the yellow highlight).
Many of the fundamentals still reaming the same, but in order to optimise campaigns and reach specific targets is a full-time job. Using an agency can provide more results than someone who is inexperienced in digital marketing.
Thanks for sharing valuable information with us. I am also looking for the information which defines the difference b/w Adwords and Adsense. And then I found your blog and read this. This has such crucial information. Thanks once again.