Three Small Business Niches That Can Benefit From Google Ads In 2023

In our first Google Ads article, I reviewed the current advertising costs on Google Ads and how the cost jump could make this platform less appealing for small businesses with a tight budget. 

However, I did mention some cases in which small business owners can give Google Ads a shot and see good results, and that’s what we will talk about today. 

Small Businesses that Can Make Bank From Google Ads in 2023

Local Services

Think about cleaning services, plumbers, electricians, electrical appliance repair shops, or mechanical shops. If you have a business that serves your local area, Google Ads can be an excellent way to get customers, even on a tight marketing budget. 

The reason is that Google Ads allows you to target the ads to specific geographic areas when setting up your campaign. Your ads will appear to people in your service area who need your services immediately. Google allows you to go as granular as you want with your target area, targeting your entire city or specific areas by targeting their postal codes.

Target settings options on a Google Ads search campaign.

If you want your ads to show while you’re open, you can select the specific days and hours you want your campaign to work. On the other hand, you can let your campaign work 24/7 if you have that type of business. This feature allows you to optimize your budget and show your ads when you can serve potential clients.

On an ad level, Google allows you to add multiple ways to contact your business with the ad extensions; this includes links to your website, your phone number, and your address if you’re working with a responsive search ad. 

Moreover, Google Ads also has a location insertion feature, allowing you to customize your ad’s headlines to your audience’s location to make it more relevant. 

To add a location insertion, type a curvy bracket (‘{‘) and select “Location insertion” in the dropdown menu that will appear. You can select a city, a state, or a country as a location. I recommend sticking to your town if you want to target people close to your service area.

Responsive search ad setup with the location insertion feature.

Holiday Sales or Limited-Time Offers

Working with a Google Ads campaign whenever you have seasonal sales or limited-time offers is a great way to boost your sales for that period. Suppose you have, for example, a chocolate shop and want to attract customers for Valentine’s Day. In that case, you can separate some of your budget for online advertising and create a campaign that supports your marketing efforts during that date.

In seasonal campaigns, it’s essential to work ahead and prepare a dedicated set of keywords related to the products and services for the holiday, adapt your text ad copy, and a landing page associated with the specific holiday to have a highly relevant campaign and have higher chances of reaching the customers looking for what you’re offering. 

Seasonal search ad example for the Christmas holiday season (Debutify)

I recommend activating your campaign a few days before the holiday to test your ad’s performance and make the necessary adjustments. During that period, you can also improve your list of keywords and your landing page experience by reviewing the search terms report to know how your ad performed when real-life searches triggered them and get new keyword ideas, and check your landing page performance by analyzing its metrics on Google Analytics. 

To have a full scope of your campaign’s performance, it’s essential to have your Google Ads account and Google Analytics account linked.

Once you’re in the middle of the holiday attending clients, you might forget to pause your campaign after the sale. To avoid overspending on your campaign, you can set an ending date to pause it automatically.

Campaign start and end dates setting on Google Ads.

Restaurants

Local restaurants and cafés looking to increase foot traffic, reservations, and online delivery orders can use Google Ads to target local customers searching for nearby dining options. 

With Google Ads, they can increase their visibility online by showing relevant information to hungry customers, like their regular menu and specials. Restaurants can play with the robust segmentation and customization tools that Google Ads offers depending on their specific goals.
For example:

• Establish an ad schedule to generate demand for specific times (Lunch, Sunday brunch, happy hour;)
• Add images of the menu, the dishes ready to serve, and the inside of the restaurant to appeal to customers wanting to make reservations;
• Highlight the availability of menu options for specific dietary needs;
• Feature entertainment options and other amenities, like live music or a children’s play area.

Restaurant ad example (39 Celsius)

The Free Google Ad Option 

Yes, there’s a 100% free option to advertise on Google that is key for small businesses: a fully optimized Google Business Profile. Google Ads is a potent tool that can boost your marketing results, but small businesses should take care of their business profile first. 

This will save you money in paid advertising by bringing in clients that chose to contact you instead of the paid ads they see during their search on Google.  It will also support your paid campaigns too, the more your business name appears on someone’s search results, the more likely they are to click on it.

With clear goals and a strategy in mind, Google Ads can give great results to small businesses that fit these use cases. With a wide range of targeting and setting options, the sky’s the limit with the variety of campaigns you can create to be on top of your audience’s searches when they need you the most.