Beyond Google: Top 5 Other Ad Networks For Profitable PPC

In terms of digital advertising revenue worldwide, Google dominates with a 39% market share.

That said, Google’s popularity has made actually made it a bit more difficult to succeed, especially for beginners. You must be willing to spend more money and compete with companies with deeper pockets, especially for highly competitive keywords.

So it’s worth looking at other advertising networks to promote your brand. While you may not get the same exposure, those ads can still be highly profitable.

Top 5 Alternative Ad Networks (Not Including Google)

Here’s a five different ad networks that you can use instead of Google, or jointly with your Google ads.

Facebook and Instagram

Facebook ranks behind Google with an 18% market share in digital ad revenue. With more than 3.065 billion active Facebook users and another 2.4 billion active Instagram users, it should come as no surprise to see Facebook on this list.

That’s right, since Facebook is Instagram’s parent company, you can kill two birds with one stone by advertising on two of the most popular social media sites in the world.

Instead of using search terms to generate ads, both of these networks use demographic targeting to trigger the ad display. Don’t expect the same results if your strategy and approach have been cut and pasted from Google.

There’s a bit more trial and error when it comes to Facebook’s ad network. Particularly early on. But it’s definitely a place where you run profitable and successful ads in addition to Google.

LinkedIn

Similar to Facebook, your approach to LinkedIn ads requires more testing of different customer demographics rather than finding the right search terms.

With LinkedIn, it’s more critical to create compelling ad copy with text and graphics that will pique a prospect’s interest and curiosity. But your business objective with this advertising should not solely focus on creating sales or leads, but on building your brand.

As you might expect, LinkedIn’s ad network works better for B2B products and services. People aren’t on there to find a new shirt or gadget.

But I definitely recommend jumping on the LinkedIn ad train sooner than later. We’re still in a phase where it’s poised for serious growth in the coming years. In fact, data shows that LinkedIn should generate 10.35 billion in ad revenue by 2027, nearly double the 5.91 billion generated in 2022.

Amazon

Amazon only controls roughly 7% of the global ad revenue worldwide. But what’s more impressive, is that Amazon has surpassed 40% of all ecommerce sales in the US.

Let that sink in for a moment.

4 in 10 ecommerce sales in the US come from Amazon. Wild stuff.

With that said, you need to be advertising on Amazon if you sell online. It’s where millions of people are actively searching for products you sell. Why not them with a sponsored ad?

I also like the way Amazon displays sponsored results mixed in with organic results. It doesn’t feel spammy, and buyers can easily click on those ads without thinking twice about it.

Bing

Don’t overlook advertising on the Yahoo and Bing websites, since they are the second and third most popular search engines on the Internet (after Google/YouTube).

The ads you place in Bing Ads will appear both at the Bing and Yahoo websites using the same PPC management interface, or you can use Yahoo’s ad center. If you haven’t advertised before with Bing or Yahoo, you may want to consider using Bing Ads as it offers a richer feature set for managing your ads.

Trying the Bing/Yahoo network is a logical step after you have established success with Google. Many advertisers have found cheaper clicks and higher ROI using the Bing/Yahoo network, but this is obvious only after testing. In many scenarios, the actual CPC costs are the same and yet the conversion rate is higher or vice versa. This does make the point that search marketing is not always an exact science. Setting up ads for the Bing/Yahoo network follows a process similar to Google AdWords and most of the topics covered in this post will apply. There’s even an import tool that allows you to transfer Google ads into Bing Ads to get you operational very quickly. If you find success with the Bing/Yahoo network, your only disappointment will be the low search volume. As Google continues to dominate as the number one search engine website, getting modest results from the Bing/Yahoo network will likely continue.

Final Thoughts and Pro Tips For Running Ads Outside of Google

With paid ads outside of Google, there are two key points to consider before launching campaigns:

• Who would be interested in your message?
• What call to action makes sense?

The obvious answers may not be the most successful. For example, if you sell Harley-Davidson motorcycle accessories, you may think promoting a special sale to a Facebook demographic of 40- to 60-year-old males who love Harleys seems like a logical choice. The call to action is a graphic promoting a one-day sale with an image of a Harley “babe” posed on a bike. You picked the right demographic and created an attractive call to action, but in testing, the sales register did not ring too often. Before you give up, you may want to experiment with other approaches to finding the right audience.

It’s important to recognize that people using social media websites are not looking to be sold something; they are spending time at these sites to connect with others. Instead of using a call to action to announce a sale, try instead to land them on your Facebook page and promote a “Like Us” action. Then when you post a new special or deal via your Facebook business page, it will be quickly broadcast to all community members (those who have “liked” your page). Facebook ads can generate sales, but often these are the ones created by testing with a demographic that does not have a direct interest in your product or service. Continuing with our special Harley sale example, you may want to test a market segment of 40- to 60-year-old married females, based on the wives’ interests instead of their biker husbands’. Think out of the box here, and try to find an angle that interests this indirect influencer. Targeting “off demographic” has produced great results for many Facebook advertisers, and in this example, there was a higher conversion rate to actual sales. The ad resonated with the “Harley widows” looking for a deal on a gift for their husbands, who love to ride on weekends.

A portion of your paid search budget should involve testing various approaches on these sites, since doing so will help you discover the right demographic to target with your messages.