Did you know that there are two versions of Google’s advertising platform Adwords? There’s full blown Google Adwords and Google Express. They are both really similar but Adwords Express is designed to make it easy for you to set up your ads. Managing your ads easy is because you don’t have to – it’s all automated.

If you don’t have a website then Google Adwords Express is the way to go as it allows you to advertise your Google+ page on Google and Google Maps. It might also be the right solution if you have a small budget, want to spread a wide and targeted net and you don’t have a clue about (or don’t want to learn how) to manage your bids. But beware, with Express Google decides the keywords your ads show up for and you have no insight into how much bids cost.

Benefits of Adwords:

• Pay when someone clicks on your ad
• Full control in choosing keywords, bidding on those keywords, and how your account is structured
• Targeted by geography – can reach people anywhere
• Access different ad formats and reports on Google, Google Maps, and partner sites.

Benefits of Adwords Express:

• Pay when someone clicks on your ad
• No control in choosing keywords, bidding on those keywords or how your account is structured
• Advertise on Google, Google Maps, and partner sites.
• You can reach people anywhere

If you want full control over the search words your ads appear for, or if you want to manage how much you bid for those keywords then Adwords is the best option.

Adwords Express is a way to test the waters and to find out how Google’s advertising platform works but if you are serious about advertising on Google, full blown Adwords is the only way to go. Adwords can be quite complex but it’s easy to learn yourself if you have time to dedicate to it, if not consider outsourcing (hint – we do that!).

Switching From Express to Adwords

When you are setting up a new advertising account Google really wants you to set up an Express account so it is easy to set up Express accidentally. If you started out with Express and now want to move to the full blown Adwords to take advantage of full functionality, the best way to switch from Adwords Express to Adwords is by calling Google support.  Here’s a link that will help you with that.

If you set up Adwords Express by mistake you can cancel the account by clicking on the Settings Cog at the top right of your screen after login then clicking on preferences in the left hand sidebar and scrolling down to the bottom of the page where you will see the ‘Account Cancellation’ option. However if you do this then try to set up a fill blown Adwords account using the same email address you might not be able to. Best to call support!

Using Adwords Express and Adwords Together

Using both of these at the same time is not recommended, there are no benefits from doing so and it will make it more complicated to keep track of everything and to manage your campaigns.

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