Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences
EMSS 2023
Volume
23
(2023)
416
The Marketing Strategy of Google
Sumiha Tanabe
*
Cranbrook Kingswood School, Bloomfield Hills, 48304, the United States
*Corresponding author: stanabe24@cranbrook.edu
Abstract.
The form of advertisements has evolved drastically these past few decades, from printing
ads in newspapers and getting flyers to having personalized advertisements being displayed to
people on a convenient screen. People nowadays rarely look at any flyers or newspaper, without
something that they are interested in capturing their eye, they would most likely just look past any
kind advertisement. However, Google has been able to progress and lead the industry with their
innovative use of advertisement, capturing the attention of many. This paper explains how Google
is able to captivate their users with advertising whenever a user goes online onto Google’s search
engine. Google uses a marketing strategy that one of the aspects they focus heavily on is advertising.
Google uses their user data and uses different formats of advertising to their advantage. They
constantly find innovative ways to reach new audiences along different platforms. Through their wide
reach of networks and platforms, Google allows businesses of all sorts to have access to their
advertising platform. Google, through selling their own advertisement space and having a heavily
populated platform allows them to continue to dominate the field of marketing.
Keywords:
Advertisement; business; users.
1.
Introduction
Most companies desire to create a future where every customer‘s question is answered instantly,
where marketers can target their perfect audience accurately, and user experience is a constant priority.
This is the realm of Google, which has revolutionized digital marketing and the digital landscape.
With the revolutionary idea of democratizing advertising through Google AdWords, Google launched
its ascent to marketing domination. When Google introduced AdWords in 2000, the program changed
how businesses addressed their customers in 2000. Google unleashed the potential of pay-per-click
(PPC) advertising and exposed businesses of all sizes by letting them bid on keywords and display
personalized adverts alongside search results. Pay-per-click advertising was Google's mainstay,
serving small and large businesses, building a diverse customer base. As Google expanded its
horizons, so did its advertising strategies. The advent of the Google Display Network (GDN) marked
a pivotal moment, enabling advertisers to extend their reach beyond search results to partnered
websites. This expansion exponentially increased exposure, drawing more users to the products and
services being advertised. Furthermore, Google's proficiency in harnessing user data emerged as a
driving force behind its advertising strategy. By analyzing user search patterns, browsing behavior,
and interactions with ads, Google created a sophisticated algorithm that tracked intent and behavior,
facilitating the delivery of personalized and compelling ads at the optimal moment. The precision of
this analysis not only enhanced the user experience and empowered advertisers to tailor their
messages to attract specific audiences, thereby enhancing engagement. One of Google's greatest
innovations was its capacity to provide marketers with flexible targeting choices. Advertisers could
fine-tune their campaigns based on demographics, interests, devices, and locations, creating
personalized advertisements for distinct user segments. This approach, coupled with the concept of
remarketing, solidified Google Ads as a versatile and user-friendly platform. Remarketing allowed
advertisers to re-engage users who had previously interacted with their websites, fostering brand
loyalty and customer retention. Central to Google's advertising ecosystem, the Quality Score
evaluates ad relevancy and quality to improve user experience. A higher Quality Score translates to
lower costs per click and premium ad placement, incentivizing advertisers to create high-quality,
engaging ads that align with user intent. This strategy underscores Google's commitment to user
satisfaction and reinforces its status as a platform that values accessibility and relevance. Google's
Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences
EMSS 2023
Volume
23
(2023)
417
marketing power extends beyond specific platforms, reaching across a range of channels with ease.
Incorporating advertisements into platforms like YouTube showcases Google's dedication to a
seamless customer experience. By strategically placing advertising within videos, Google boosts
brand recognition and draws viewers' attention, generating traffic. Moreover, the company's usage of
interactive and immersive advertising, augmented reality, and virtual reality shows its innovative
thinking. These cutting-edge formats create memorable experiences that captivate users, enhancing
brand recall and fostering positive associations. In the pursuit of excellence, Google values strategic
relationships and cooperation. By aligning with diverse brands and companies, Google gains access
to invaluable user data, enriching its understanding of trends and consumer behavior. This data-driven
strategy helps Google optimize its advertising campaigns. Collaborations increase Google's audience
and allow it to test new technologies, making it a frontrunner in innovation. For instance, Google's
collaboration with Android smartphone manufacturers exemplifies its strategic approach. By pre-
installing popular Google apps on manufactured phones, Google creates an immersive user
experience that showcases its diverse services, such as Google Maps and Gmail. This partnership
strengthens Google's market position and widens its reach. Google's marketing philosophy is based
on customer pleasure. Simpleness, accessibility, and user input show Google's focus on meaningful
connections with its audience. Google provides compatibility with voice search and screen reader to
make its goods and services accessible to various users. Google wants user input to involve consumers
in the development and boost their value. Therefore, through an intricate interplay of innovative
advertising platforms like AdWords, personalized targeting through data analysis, cross-platform
integration, strategic collaborations, and unwavering user-centricity, Google has established an
unparalleled marketing strategy that amplifies brand exposure and engagement and also fosters a
symbiotic relationship between businesses and users in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
2.
Google’s Beginning
Google’s launch of their first advertising platform, Google AdWords began in 2000. The platform
focused on allowing advertisers to reach their target audience first without a payment. They had
advertisers bid on particular keywords that allowed them to display a certain ad along with the search
results [1].The platform’s primary focus on the pay per click (PPC) model allowed them to have a
wide customer base from small businesses to larger businesses. The platform soon became a hit to
many advertisers that hoped to get a cost effective and accessible way to promote and gain traction
on their products and services. As Google’s company expanded, their advertising strategies and
offerings also expanded. They expanded to video advertising, mobile advertising, remarketing, and
display advertising. They soon then announced a new advertising model that not only allowed them
to display advertisements in the search engine itself, but to extend beyond to partnered websites. The
system was called Google Display Network (GDN) [2]. The GDN allowed advertisers to gain access
to a platform that allowed them to reach millions more people, which significantly increased their
exposure, drawing more people to the advertised product and service. Additionally, Google values
their user’s data and uses the data to use as a determining factor for their advertisement strategy. They
focus on collecting the user's data through searches, browsing behavior, and interactions they make
with the ads targeted towards them through the use the Google services [3]. This analysis of the user’s
data allows advertisers to use that data to their advantage and to modify ads for the user’s specific
likings. They are able to tailor their ads to attract specific audiences through the use of user data,
increasing their engagement. Google uses an algorithm that allows the tracking of the user’s behavior
and search intentions. They track a user’s usage to deliver personalized and convincing ads to an
individual at the right timing, ensuring the most engagement. The precision of the analysis that
Google does on their users allows them to enhance a person’s experience when using Google’s search
engine. Furthermore, Google Ads offers an advertising strategy to advertisers allowing them to make
specific targeting options. They allow advertisers to target audiences based on the demographics,
races, interests , devices, and locations. Advertisers are able to make criterias for their target audience
Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences
EMSS 2023
Volume
23
(2023)
418
to make a custom audience and personalize each advertisement to each user and individual. This also
allowed advertisers to remarket to audiences that had interacted with their website before in hopes of
not only reinforcing the brand but also creating a repeating customer base. Google Ads is a key
component of Google’s advertising strategy. The efficiency of managing advertising campaigns for
businesses of all sizes makes it a simple and user-friendly platform. It provides multiple tools and
resources, allowing marketers and advertisers to customize advertisements and campaigns that best
fit their budgets, goals for performance, and company brand. Furthermore, Google has a system that
determines the cost of pay per click (PPC) and the placement of the advisement for each ad for the
company. Google's Quality Score ensures a better user experience by rating advertisements from 1 to
10 based on relevance and quality[4]. The higher the score, the lower the advertisement company
pays for the cost per click and the better the placement of the advertisement. This strategy entices
advertisement companies to create higher quality advertisements for better user experience. This
strategy highlights the importance of accessibility towards users and allows Google to continue to be
a platform that focuses on user satisfaction.
3.
Customer Involvement
Moreover, Google’s values on user satisfaction expands into their seamless incorporation of
advertisement in various platforms. The integration of advertisements through different platforms
gives users a cohesive and consistent experience [5]. For example, Google Ads uses YouTube Ads
as a source to reach an extensive audience. Throughout multiple points in a video, they display
advertisements allowing the repetition of the brand to be ingrained into a user's mind, therefore
increasing interest in the product, creating more traffic and interest for the brand. This cross-platform
integration is also incorporated during a user’s daily use of their device. Google displays multiple
advertisements for similar products across their multiple platforms, creating a wide coverage of what
the user views throughout their day. The reinforcement of the presence of the brand becomes apparent
to users, creating more interest in the brand for users. Google also experiments through a variety of
advertising formats. They have created interactive and immersive advertising which allows users to
encounter a memorable experience. The innovative use of interactive and immersive advertising
allows advertisers to create an interesting advertisement that would become a memorable experience.
The engagement of users through games related to the brand, virtual try ons for products, and
exploring features of the product provide customers with a valuable and long-lasting image of a brand,
creating a positive outlook of the brand. [6] Similarly, Google’s approach on using augmented reality
and virtual reality as advertising tools allows advertisers to captivate users through a new and unique
method. This modernized advertisement form also displays Google’s commitment to innovate and
advance their marketing strategy through advertisement.
4.
Collaborations
Another marketing strategy that Google values as an element to the company's success is their
collaboration and partnerships with other brands and companies. Google creates partnerships with
brands and companies that allow Google to access these companies’ user data. They are able to gain
valuable insights on trends and consumer behavior. Google is then able to analyze the shared data
from companies to improve their advertising strategies, overall product, and user experience. They
are able to improve on their algorithm with every source of new data. Moreover, Google’s
collaborations with different brands and companies allow them to expand their reach of audience.
They are able to diversify their audience through different types of companies and target a different
audience and market with each collaboration. Collaborations not only allow opportunities to diversify
their audience, but it also allows them access to experiment with new technological advancements
provided by the companies they work with. This access to experimentation for various technologies
allows Google to invest in the ventures and allows Google to maintain a lead in technological
Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences
EMSS 2023
Volume
23
(2023)
419
advancements. By keeping up to date with the latest technologies and tools, Google is able to
continuously provide users with the best products and services while remaining competitive in the
market. A successful example of one of Google’s partnerships is the collaboration they have with
Android smartphone manufacturer companies. Google has the manufacturers decide on a certain
number of Google’s most popular apps to be pre-installed into the manufactured phones, so when
users first receive and open their phones, those are the first apps they encounter. Through this
partnership, Google creates an experience that showcases their best and most useful apps to the users,
allowing them to explore the variety of services offered by Google: Google Maps, Google Search,
and Gmail [6]. This allows Google to expand their market presence into a diverse audience, further
making Google a hard competitor compared to other companies and their lack of reach. Another
notable collaboration Google had was with Apple. Despite the similar market Google and Apple
compete in, Google and Apple were able to create a collaboration for the default search engine for
Apple’s web browser [7]. Even though Google had to pay a substantial payment towards Apple to
become Safari’s default search engine, Google was able to reach a significant number of search traffic
of Apple users, who otherwise would have less opportunities to use the Google platform since they
do not use Android systems, in which Google dominates. Moreover, Google has collaborated with a
variety of industries, for example, car manufacturers, education, healthcare, and more.
Along with all the partnerships and collaborations Google creates, it is able to create a network
among different companies and can obtain a reputation of being reliable and trustworthy. The
credibility of Google from its reputation allows Google to not only continue to collaborate with well-
established corporations but also allowing them to attract new and potential partners to further expand
their network. Google through these strategic marketing with collaborations and partnerships has
allowed Google to dominate the field of marketing, which will contribute to Google’s future growth
and success.
5.
User Satisfaction
Furthermore, Google’s fierce commitment towards providing users with the best experience of the
digital space is another marketing strategy that Google puts a lot of effort into. Google's commitment
to create the best experience gets translated onto the customer as a personal connection since it’s as
if the company cares for the individual customer. This care that the customer feels from Google
creates a loyal and engaging audience. Google approaches the user experience with simplicity. The
simplicity creates an easy to use yet satisfying experience for users. When a concept is simplified by
Google, customers are more likely to be satisfied as they are able to easily grasp and apply the
concept[8]. The cleanliness of the search experience allows customers to quickly find information
they were looking for without distractions. Google also dedicates their resources to provide fast
results. The fast results prevent a user from easily getting frustrated thus not giving the users enough
time to create a negative opinion on Google. In addition, to allow easy use of the systems, Google
prioritizes the accessibility of their products and services to a diverse audience with different needs
and backgrounds[9]. They created features such as voice search and screen read that simplified the
way individuals with disabilities and needs to search for information. Google success is also heavily
credited to user feedback. Google actively puts in effort to receive user feedback on their products
and services. They want customers to voice their concerns, report issues, and make suggestions for
improvement. Google also offers beta testing programs to customers. Customers are able to try new
features along with the newest product before they are launched. This allows Google to get valuable
feedback from customers while identifying potential problems they may face with the product or
service. The involvement of Google users allows them to feel valued and important from the company,
enticing them to continue to stay loyal to the company [10]. For Google, the involvement and
feedback from the customers allow them to ensure that the product or service aligns with user
expectations while enhancing their overall experience while using products of Google. Google invests
their time and money to understand user needs and struggles they face so they are able to innovate to
Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences
EMSS 2023
Volume
23
(2023)
420
ensure that Google provides users with the best experience. This user centered value that Google
values has allowed them to continue to stay a valuable source of not only being a search engine but
also a source that simplifies a user’s life. They have obtained a loyal and engaging audience through
this value.
6.
Conclusion
Ultimately, Google has advanced to the forefront of the digital environment thanks to its complex
and dynamic marketing strategy. The AdWords platform launched in 2000 introduced the pay-per-
click model, making it easy for businesses of all sizes to reach their desired audience. Google
expanded into video, mobile, retargeting, and display advertising throughout time. The Google
Display Network (GDN) expanded marketers' reach to linked websites, vastly enhancing visibility
and user interaction. Google's prowess in harnessing user data and employing sophisticated
algorithms has enabled personalized and compelling advertising. By analyzing user behaviors and
intent, Google delivers tailored ads at the optimal moment, enhancing user experience and
empowering advertisers to target specific audiences effectively. The platform's emphasis on Quality
Score underscores Google's commitment to user satisfaction, promoting higher-quality ads and
fostering a symbiotic relationship between businesses and users.
Moreover, Google's cross-platform integration, seamless incorporation of advertisements, and
innovation in interactive and immersive formats have solidified its brand recognition and drawn users
into memorable experiences. The company's strategic collaborations and partnerships with diverse
brands enrich its understanding of consumer behavior and facilitate experimentation and
technological advancements, keeping Google at the forefront of innovation. Google prioritizes
customer pleasure in its marketing. Google has made people feel appreciated and involved through
simplicity, accessibility, and user input. This devotion has led to devoted customers and an ever-
changing range of goods and services that simplify and improve consumers' lives.
Google's marketing strategy stands as an exemplar of innovation, personalization, and user-
centricity. Embracing the evolving digital terrain, integrating cutting-edge technologies, and forging
strategic alliances, Google maintains its market dominance while fostering profound user
engagements, seamless interactions, and unparalleled utility. Google's unwavering commitment to
excellence ensures its ongoing influence in shaping the dynamic interplay between enterprises and
individuals amid swiftly evolving times. In a landscape marked by rapid transformation, Google's
adept approach reaffirms its role as a trendsetter in the realm of digital interactions.
References
[1]
Damian Davila. Google's Primary Lines of Business (GOOGL). [EB/OL]. (2022-01-31)[2023-08-22].
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/030416/googles-6-most-profitable-lines-business-
googl.asp.
[2]
Bart Weller, Lori Calcot. The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords. Create Versatile and Powerful
Marketing and Advertising Campaigns, 2012, 34(01): 15-16.
[3]
Leslie K. John, Tami Kim, and Kate Barasz. Ads That Don’t Overstep. Harvard Business Review,
[EB/OL]. (2018-01-01) [2023-08-22]. https://hbr.org/2018/01/ads-that-dont-overstep.
[4]
Shikha Goel, Sunita Yadav. An Overview of Search Engine Evaluation Strategies. International Journal
of Applied Information Systems, 2012, 1(4):7-10.
[5]
Andrew Beattie. The Story Behind Google's Success. Investopedia, [EB/OL]. (2023-02-12)[2023-08-
22]. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/042415/story-behind-googles-success.asp.
[6]
Benjamin Edelman, Damien Geradin. Android and competition law: exploring and assessing Google’s
practices in mobile. European Competition Journal, 2016, 12(23): 159-194.
[7]
Maurice Stucke, Ariel Ezrachi. When Competition Fails to Optimize Quality: A Look at Search Engines.
Yale Journal of Law and Technology, 2016, 34(02): 105.
Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences
EMSS 2023
Volume
23
(2023)
421
[8]
Richard L. Gruner. Strategies to Simplify the Customer Journey. Harvard Business Review, 2021, 05(14):
33-54.
[9]
Patriza Andronico, Marina Buzzi, Carlos Castillo, Barbara Leporini. Improving Search Engine Interfaces
for Blind Users: a case study. Harvard Business Review, 2011, 34(45): 5-11.
[10]
Mariska Wouters, Ned Hardie-Boys, Carla Wilson. Evaluating public input in National Park Management
Plan reviews. Department of Conservation, 2011, 45(7): 17-20.
