While Google Ads offers a robust platform for digital advertising, it has notable limitations compared to Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs). Advertisers often struggle with precise targeting, high costs, and click fraud. In contrast, DSPs provide advanced targeting, real-time reporting, and better fraud prevention. This article explores the disadvantages of Google Ads and how DSPs address these challenges, offering advertisers a more efficient and effective advertising solution. Discover deeper insights into DSPs and explore their benefits by visiting the comprehensive resources here: https://teqblaze.com/white-label-ad-exchange
Disadvantages of Google Ads vs. DSPs
The biggest disadvantage of Google Graphical Ads is that advertisers cannot choose the industries, companies, or jobs they want to target. Some PPC managers are using “interest” and “topic” targeting in Google’s settings to serve their ads on specific sites that are likely to have their target audience as visitors. Yet, more often than not, their ads do not reach the desired audience and the traffic comes with a high bounce rate.
Google Ads may not be the best solution for precisely targeting an audience, as it is difficult to narrow down the settings and show ads only to a very precise audience. Many advertisers struggle with the quality of Google traffic because they receive clicks from irrelevant audiences or audiences that are too broad for their offer. This problem occurs especially with predefined audiences in the Google marketplace. The Teqblaze team has a bright example of the Boeing company, by targeting ads by topic or interest, a company trying to reach aviation executives will receive many clicks from aviation enthusiasts or travelers.
Cost per acquisition (CPA), as well as the cost of advertising in search results and display, is another major issue facing advertisers. To acquire highly sponsored search positions, advertisers must outbid their competitors and, in some industries, the price of a single click can range from $20 to $200. On display, competition to appear on the top networks can be high. Advertisers trying to keep their display ad bids lower get traffic from lower-quality sites that also generate more fraudulent clicks.
“Click fraud” is another big concern in Google Display. It certainly exists in Google Search when competitors click on ads, but Google Display suffers the most from fraudulent activity. There are several ways to detect click fraud by looking at ad placement performance; too many clicks from websites with little content, no content, or unrealistic click-through rates that can even be over 100%. Google AdSense is the main culprit of “click fraud” because it allows anyone, no matter how small, to sign up and make money by running ads on your sites.
Your landing pages must be top-notch to meet Google’s standards. Before approving your campaign, Google checks the quality of your landing page and if you are not following their requirements, they lower your quality score, which means you pay more per click or they don’t approve your campaign at all.
Speaking of reporting, Google Ads requires an extended period for data to be presented as a report, whereas DSP advertisers can access campaign data in real-time reporting functions.
In addition, mastering a Google Ads account, and setting up, optimizing, and tracking ad campaigns can be a complicated and time-consuming process. Therefore, it is recommended that companies work with an agency or have an experienced in-house digital marketing professional. The final cost of running Google Ads can skyrocket and lose the desired CPA otherwise. Not to mention, some companies never see real conversions or leads coming from Google.
Why is “click fraud” less of a problem for DSPs?
Some might ask, “DSPs are running banner ads just like Google Display does, so why doesn’t “click fraud “affect DSPs as much as Google?”
- DSPs work primarily with big-name publishers and content providers that can generate enough web traffic volume. Small publishers do not generate enough revenue for independent DSPs and programmatic advertising platforms.
- Therefore, it is highly unlikely that someone can cheat the system by serving ads on their low-quality sites.
- In addition, to keep traffic quality high, DSPs are integrating third-party fraud prevention and brand safety solutions such as Double Verify, Fraudlogix, and Integral Ad Science.
These solutions filter bot traffic so that only clean, real human traffic ads are served. This means that DSP users are less likely to be exposed to security or quality threats.
Customer service is another reason DSPs detect click fraud faster, act on it, and make adjustments for their clients. Programmatic networks are more selective in terms of companies to work with and don’t have millions of accounts like Google. Unlike Google Ads, it is easier for marketers to contact their DSP customer success representative and file a complaint.
Disadvantages of DSPs vs. Google Ads
DSPs may be easier for campaign management and better equipped to identify the right target audience, but there are also several disadvantages of DSPs.
- First, although the ads appear as banners on various networks and websites just as they do with Google Ads, dishonest publishers may engage in “click fraud” activities to increase profits.
- Second, it is difficult to control where ads will appear and which networks will display banners unless you whitelist the websites on which you would like to run your campaigns. Many of those publishers have a large portfolio of sites and networks, including affiliates, that may have questionable pieces of content.
- In addition, for security reasons, more companies have IT departments that use tools and techniques to clean up the online activities of their employees. As such, DSPs cannot show ads to companies that periodically clean up browsing histories, delete cookies, block IP addresses, change settings, etc., on employees’ mobile or desktop devices.
That’s why you should choose the right DSP or agency that handles Programmatic Advertising and has the knowledge and experience in technology and artificial intelligence, as well as the creativity to drive the campaigns and achieve the end goal.
To sum up
While Google Ads provides a well-known platform for digital advertising, it has significant drawbacks such as imprecise targeting, high costs, and vulnerability to click fraud. In contrast, DSPs offer advanced targeting, real-time reporting, and robust fraud prevention. By leveraging DSPs, advertisers can achieve more efficient and effective campaigns, ensuring better use of their budgets and higher-quality traffic. This shift highlights the growing importance of sophisticated AdTech solutions in the evolving digital advertising landscape.
