Updated

Technology · Business & Marketing

Google Ads

ads.google.com
SubscriptionPay as you go

Google Ads is Google's online advertising program. Your ad can appear when someone searches for terms related to your business, or when they visit a website with related content.[1][2]

Google Ads is a robust online advertising platform developed by Google, designed to help businesses of all sizes reach potential customers across the web. By leveraging Google's extensive network, advertisers can create highly targeted ads that appear on Google search results, YouTube, and other partner sites. With a variety of ad formats, including text, image, video, and interactive ads, Google Ads provides tools for precise audience targeting, performance tracking, and optimization to maximize return on investment.

Google Ads belongs toAdvertisingcategory.

Billing

You pay only when someone clicks your ad[2]

Budget

You set the average amount to spend each day[2]

Auction

A score called Ad Rank decides whether and where your ad shows[2]

Keywords

You choose the words and phrases that should trigger your ads[2]

140websites

use it — 5.5% of the 2,555 websites we scanned in the last 12 months

#3of 84

tools in its category seen in our scans (we recognize 243)

50public pages

on UptimeCard — open any of them to see how that site is doing

In short: a way to buy search ads with pay-per-click billing and a daily budget you set. Plan to check the account every week.[2]

6.56% of all websites we track run Google Ads▲ 0.04 points since 20 Sep

Should you use Google Ads?

The 10-second version, from the vendor’s own pages and what we see in our scans

Google Ads fits if…

  • You want to show ads to people while they search for what you sell[2]
  • You prefer to pay only when someone clicks[2]

Look elsewhere if…

  • You want to reach people searching on Bing and partner search engines[3]Microsoft Advertising sells search ads there, with no minimum fee.
  • You sell to professionals and want to target by job title or industry[4]LinkedIn Ads offers this targeting.
On busy days spend can reach up to twice your average daily budget[2]
Google advises checking the account at least weekly[2]

Google Ads next to two other ad networks

Other places to buy ads. Statements come from each vendor's own page; website counts are ours.

Google AdsMicrosoft AdvertisingLinkedin Ads
How you pay
BillingPay per clickwith cost-per-click bidding[2]Pay per click✓no minimum fee[3]Depends on objectiveyou pay when the chosen event occurs[4]
Budget controlDaily budgetyou set the average per day[2]Daily budgetcontrol your own budget[3]Any budgetstop your ads at any time[4]
What we see in our scans
Websites running it1405.5% of 2,555 scanned sites33713.2% of 2,555 scanned sites1756.9% of 2,555 scanned sites
Typical page load time4.3 s✓48 public sites4.5 s124 public sites4.4 s107 public sites
Typical page weight2.9 MB✓typical home page3.6 MBtypical home page3.4 MBtypical home page
Security grade B or better19%3 of 16 graded sites score B or better26%10 of 38 graded sites score B or better45%✓13 of 29 graded sites score B or better

Only what each vendor page states.

  • Microsoft Advertising: Search, display and video ads on Microsoft's network, with no minimum fee[3]
  • Linkedin Ads: Self-serve ads aimed at professional audiences[4]

Choose Google Ads if…

  • You want your ads next to Google search results[2]

Choose Microsoft Advertising if…

  • You want Bing and partner search engines at no minimum spend[3]

Choose Linkedin Ads if…

  • You want to target professionals[4]

Support and help for Google Ads

How the vendor says you can reach it, and the public help community

Training

Free training courses are listed in the Help Center under Skillshop[1]

Google Partners

Search for a Partner by name, location, budget or type of service[2]

How Google Ads sites protect themselves

Share of the 140 sites we scanned that run each protection

HSTS63% · 88 sites

HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) informs browsers that the site should only be accessed using HTTPS

reCAPTCHA29% · 40 sites

reCAPTCHA is a free service from Google that helps protect websites from spam and abuse

Cloudflare Bot Management15% · 21 sites

Cloudflare bot management solution identifies and mitigates automated traffic to protect websites from bad bots

Protections add up, they do not replace each other: a site can run all of them.

What sites use Google Ads for

An estimate from UptimeCard's technology map of 41 public sites

Runs the whole site34 sites

accredible.com · advapacs.com · akamai.com

Runs the marketing site4 sites

fuse2.net · octadesk.com · piano.io

Runs a shop or catalog3 sites

depict.ai · intuitiveshipping.com · multivende.com

Rough guide, not a measurement: each description is written automatically from the site’s technology stack and the site has not confirmed it. A site is counted once, in the first group its description fits (shop, help and docs, blog, marketing site; otherwise the whole site). Descriptions that only guess (“likely”, “may”) are left out.

At a glance

UptimeCard's own scans and tests of 2,555 websites · refreshed weekly

How Google Ads sites scoreout of 100 · hover or tap a score for details

53PerformanceLowaverage site: 5086AccessibilityGoodaverage site: 8993Best practicesGoodaverage site: 9392SEOGoodaverage site: 92

Page load time

Loads about as fast as the average site

Google Ads sites
4.3 s
All sites
4.3 s

Most Google Ads sites load in 3.3–5.9 s. Home page weight: 2.9 MB vs 3.3 MB for all sites. 48 public sites measured.

Where are they hosted?

Mostly Cloudflare and Amazon Web Services

  • Cloudflare34%
  • Amazon Web Services22%
  • Google Cloud8%
  • Incapsula4%
  • Other32%
United States 52%Canada 24%CL 2%

Who uses it?

Technology and Software is the biggest group

Technology and Software62%
Business Services10%
Cybersecurity6%
Software as a Service (SaaS)6%

Share of 50 classified public sites. “× average” compares with all 961 public sites.

How Google Ads sites are built

Closest partners. The number says how many times more often the tool runs on Google Ads sites than on an average website. Hover a partner for its share of sites.

Adobe Experience Platform Launch4×DoubleClick Floodlight3×Linkedin Insight Tag2×jQuery UI2×HubSpot2×

Stacks we see most. Tools that tend to run together with Google Ads on the same websites. The percentage is the share of all 140 Google Ads sites that run the whole stack.

11 stacks · swipe, drag or use the arrows
#1

Google Ads + Google Analytics + Linkedin Insight Tag + Facebook Pixel + DoubleClick Floodlight

10.7%15 of 140 sites
#2

Google Ads + Google Analytics + DoubleClick Floodlight + Microsoft Advertising + Piwik PRO Core

7.1%10 of 140 sites
#3

Google Ads + Google Analytics + WordPress + HubSpot + Yoast SEO

5.7%8 of 140 sites
#4

Google Ads + Google Analytics + Linkedin Insight Tag + WordPress + Linkedin Ads

5.7%8 of 140 sites
#5

Google Ads + Linkedin Insight Tag + Facebook Pixel + Microsoft Advertising + Piwik PRO Core

5%7 of 140 sites
#6

Google Ads + Linkedin Insight Tag + DoubleClick Floodlight + HubSpot + Linkedin Ads

4.3%6 of 140 sites
#7

Google Ads + Facebook Pixel + DoubleClick Floodlight + jsDelivr + Piwik PRO Core

4.3%6 of 140 sites
#8

Google Ads + WordPress + Bootstrap + Yoast SEO + cdnjs

3.6%5 of 140 sites
#9

Google Ads + Facebook Pixel + Adobe Experience Platform Launch + Adobe Analytics + Adobe Experience Manager

3.6%5 of 140 sites
#10

Google Ads + WordPress + jsDelivr + Google Hosted Libraries

2.9%4 of 140 sites
#11

Google Ads + jsDelivr + Adobe Analytics

2.9%4 of 140 sites

Usually installed alongside

The bigger the bubble, the more of the 140 Google Ads sites also run the tool. Colour shows what the tool does. Hover or tap a bubble for details.

Google Ads Conversion Tracking100%Google Analytics84%Linkedin Insight Tag36%Google Tag Manager65%Adobe Experience Platform Launch15%DoubleClick Floodlight28%Microsoft Advertising19%HubSpot20%Yoast SEO18%OneTrust14%Cart Functionality13%
AnalyticsTag managerAdvertisingMarketingSearch visibilityCookie consentOnline store

Similar tools in its category

Advertising: 243 tools known, 84 seen in our scans

Microsoft Advertising337 sitesAlternativePrebid125 sitesAlternativeAmazon Advertising108 sitesAlternativeGoogle AdSense101 sitesAlternativeCriteo60 sitesAlternativeTaboola58 sitesAlternativeAppNexus54 sitesAlternativeAdRoll43 sitesAlternativeLinkedin Ads175 sitesUsed togetherReddit Ads140 sitesUsed togetherTwitter Ads127 sitesUsed togethertheTradeDesk70 sitesUsed together

How websites combine Google Ads with other tools

Relationships found on the websites that use it, from the same map status pages show.

Needs another tool 36Complements another tool 29Integrates with another 26

Websites using Google Ads

140 websites use Google Ads: 5.5% of the 2,555 websites we scanned in the last 12 months. A selection is shown below.

Scores are out of 100: P Performance · A Accessibility · B Best practices · S SEO. Green 80+, yellow 65–79, orange 50–64, red below 50. The dot shows whether our last scan found the site failing (red) or not (green); Red, amber or blue: an active incident on the site's status page (outage, degraded, maintenance) or a failing scan; amber also means a certificate ending within 30 days. Hover the dot for details.

Who is behind Google Ads

From its own pages and public records, with sources

Google Ads

since 2000[5]

Its story

  1. 2000

    The program began in 2000[5]

  2. 2018

    On 24 July 2018 Google AdWords became Google Ads. The new name covers Search, Display and Video, and the account and Help Center addresses changed with it.[6][7]

  3. 2021

    Performance Max campaigns launched in November 2021. They let advertisers buy and optimize ads across Google's channels from one campaign using Google's AI.[8]

  4. 2022

    Google said Smart Shopping and Local campaigns would upgrade to Performance Max in 2022. Advertisers kept the core features and gained new inventory and formats.[8]

  5. 2025

    In October 2025 Google announced the deprecation of call ads (call-only ads). Advertisers had to move to call assets in responsive search ads to keep generating phone leads.[8]

  6. 2025

    Google's December 2025 recap highlighted AI Max for Search, the Meridian measurement tool and agentic workflow tools. It showed the product's shift toward AI-driven campaigns.[8]

Questions about Google Ads

How does Google Ads charge?
You pay only when someone clicks your ad and goes to your website. You set the most you will pay for a click, but you could be charged less.[2]
Can I set a budget?
Yes. You decide the average amount you want to spend each day. On busy days Google Ads allows up to twice that amount, and over a month you are not charged more than your monthly limit.[2]
What decides which ads show?
An ad auction runs each time someone searches on Google or visits a site that shows ads. Your Ad Rank, a score, decides whether your ad is eligible and where it shows.[2]
Can I get help managing campaigns?
Google lists Smart campaigns, which manage your online ads automatically, and a directory of Google Partners you can search by location, budget or service.[2]
How many websites use Google Ads?
We found Google Ads on 140 of the 2,555 websites we scanned in the last 12 months (5.5%). 50 of them have a public status page.
What is Google Ads often used with?
Among the websites we scan, Google Ads is often found alongside Google Analytics (83.6% of its sites), PHP (44.3% of its sites), Linkedin Insight Tag (35.7% of its sites).
What are the alternatives to Google Ads?
Other advertising tools we recognize include Microsoft Advertising, Linkedin Ads, Reddit Ads, Twitter Ads.

Is your website built with Google Ads?

UptimeCard checks it around the clock, tells you the minute it stops answering, and gives your visitors a status page.

Monitor my site freeCreate a status page