Google Ads: A Fortune Made by Blindness

Google Ads is sneaky.

I'm amazed how they continue to make a fortune by capitalizing on the lack of awareness of advertisers.

Here's an example:

Let's assume you have 2 ad groups - one for your head term (say "sneakers") and one for your brand (let's call it "SneakStep").

Now, in most cases, your quality score and CTR for branded terms will be better.

That means you need to bid lower to rank higher.

But if someone searches for "SneakStep sneakers", it's very much possible that your ad group for the head term triggers instead of the branded ad group.

(Unless you have the brand term applied as a negative.)

So?

Well, the price you pay for the head term ad group would be notably higher, so you end up paying more, even though the search intent was clearly for your brand.

Those cents turn into thousands of $ when scaled up.

Yup. We collectively have made Google a fortune with our "take my money" blindness.