The Difference Between AdSense and AdWords

Adwords,adsense

The Difference Between AdSense and AdWords

The first thing to understand is that Google’s search engine makes no money on its own, at least not directly. The search engine may have redefined, for a whole generation, how information is researched and retrieved. But it’s Google AdWords that helps Google make all the money that enables that free search tool to operate.

Meanwhile Google AdSense helps Google distribute the ads for those AdWords campaigns to online publishers (anyone with a website and AdSense code) and to its partner networks. Google AdSense is also available on mobile, tablets, and on YouTube — Google’s premier video network. Gradually, the company has even started showing its ads via its other products like Gmail.

But how, exactly, do Google AdWords and Google AdSense work?

Google AdWords

There was a time when businesses and everyone else who needed to promote or market anything had only a few choices. One was to approach leading newspapers (local, national, or global – depending on what customers they needed to reach) and buy an ad. Newspapers decided what to charge for their ads based on circulation — how many thousands or hundreds of thousands of readers they had. Generally, the greater the circulation the higher the cost for running the ad.

Enter Google and now the game has changed.

The search engine doesn’t simply charge for the number of people reading a page. Instead, it displays your ad on a page next to information specifically relevant to your product or service. And it charges either when your ad is displayed on users’ screens or when a prospect actually clicks on your ad and sees your offer.

The company even allows businesses and others to open free accounts with Google AdWords without obligation and provides tools to create ads. These tools help advertisers choose relevant keywords. And the keywords allow their ads to appear alongside Google’s main results each time a user searches for something related.

For instance, if you search on Google for “New York Service apartments”  (as pictured above), you’ll see both organic results and paid ads associated with those keywords. Users then choose the content most relevant to their search. That could be websites or news stories related to the topic or ads offering related services like moving or rental.

Google gives businesses the benefit of reaching a huge number of users seeking information related to their products or services. But it also allows users to find what they are looking for quickly and efficiently.

Google AdWords is simple and efficient. It allows businesses to promote their products, services, or brands for as long as their budgets allow. Google gives businesses the option of paying for their ads on a CPM (Cost per Thousand Impressions) basis or on a PPC (Pay Per Click) basis. It also allows businesses to run, maintain, measure, and track results from their paid campaigns.

Google AdSense

Think of Google AdSense as a distributor for the ads Google AdWords sells. For all the businesses who pay to promote themselves on Google, Google AdSense helps place those ads in the most relevant locations. These locations might include the sites of individual bloggers who write about a related topic. They might also include an online publication, forum or online community where AdSense is displayed.

Google AdSense is free for online publishers. Once publishers sign up and submit their websites, Google evaluates the sites based on the overall quality of content. Approved publishers are then provided a code allowing them to display ads on their websites.

It’s up to the publishers how and where they display Google ads. Once they embed the code on a page of their website, Google starts automatically “serving” ads consistent with the site’s content. That’s where the “Sense” .

Social media marketing

Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites.

Social media itself is a catch-all term for sites that may provide radically different social actions. For instance, Twitter is a social site designed to let people share short messages or “updates” with others. Facebook, in contrast is a full-blown social networking site that allows for sharing updates, photos, joining events and a variety of other activities.

Why would a search marketer — or a site about search engines — care about social media? The two are very closely related.

Social media often feeds into the discovery of new content such as news stories, and “discovery” is a search activity. Social media can also help build links that in turn support into SEO efforts. Many people also perform searches at social media sites to find social media content.
Search & Social Media Marketing News, Strategies & Tactics

Here at Search Engine Land, we provide social media marketing information and news in a variety of ways:

How To: Social Media Marketing is our section that is devoted to practical tips and tactics about social media marketing. Also see the related How To: Facebook and How To: Twitter sections.

Social Media Marketing Library Archives: This area of Search Engine Land provides a collection of all stories we’ve written on the topic of social media.

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•     Delicious
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Social Media Tips At Marketing Land

Marketing Land is the sister site to Search Engine Land that covers all facets of internet marketing, including social media marketing. At Marketing Land, you’ll find regular news coverage about social media marketing. It also offers three dedicated columns on the topic:

•     Social Media Marketing
•     Facebook Marketing
•     Twitter Marketing