Google Ads: Is it time for an alternative?  

If you’re a marketeer looking to retarget users who have visited your website, or interacted with your online advertising, Google Ads would usually be your first port of call. 

The best-know platform for online advertising, Google Ads displays your adverts on Google’s websites, YouTube, and thousands of partner sites too. 

Regardless of size or reputation, most businesses are advertising on Google. However, the fierce competition for clicks has seen costs skyrocket; Google advertising is getting expensive.  

At Drew + Rose, Google Remarketing is a key channel within our conversion funnels, but it isn’t the only one we use. We always explore alternatives to ensure we’re maximising value for our partners.  

We thought we’d let you in on a secret and share our top Google Remarketing alternatives. These platforms include everything you’d expect from Google – a variety of retargeting options, showing your adverts elsewhere online, reaching the people who are most likely to convert – and more. 

Here are our top 3 alternatives to Google Ads: 
 

1. LinkedIn Retargeting 

It may not have been your first choice of remarketing alternative, but LinkedIn is actually a great place to test your adverts. This is especially the case if you are promoting a product or service to the B2B sector, raising awareness of a SaaS business or advertising an event. 

LinkedIn has a wide range of options to build your Matched Audiences (essentially your retargeting audiences) within the platform. You can target based on users who have visited your website, or who have engaged with your company page. The options are endless, including a feature where you can upload a list of specific companies and target them directly. Now that isn’t available with Google!  

2. Microsoft Remarketing 

Google is thought to have the monopoly of online searches but, in the UK, Microsoft (Bing) has about 25% of the market share. That’s over 900 million searches performed each month!  

Remarketing with Microsoft has the benefit of your adverts showing up on their platforms – Cortana and Office for example – as well as on their Search Network. This means your ads could appear on popular sites like The Wall Street Journal. 

The cost of advertising with Microsoft is lower than it is with Google, and there is less competition with each search. Microsoft also provides one-to-one support from their advertising experts, which is something that Google lacks.  

This platform is best for targeting audiences who are 35 years old or older as it isn’t as commonly used by younger generations. 

3. Facebook Remarketing  

As well as the most advanced algorithm currently on the market, Meta’s advertising platform has the biggest selection of ad types available. This makes it a great alternative for any brand with a social presence, with the opportunity to target Meta’s user base of 2.8 billion people. 

Their retargeting is especially popular due to their Meta’s retargeting of website visitors is known to work well, especially for e-commerce businesses.  

Meta’s retargeting is especially popular as retargeting website visitors is known to work well, especially for e-commerce businesses.  

Although it has great outcomes, their terminology and dashboard will take some time to get accustomed to, especially if you have never advertised digitally before.  

Which of these will you be utilising in your next remarketing campaign? Or will you be sticking with Google ads? 

If you need to add a bit of magic to your digital advertising, get in touch. We’d love to help! 

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