Article Note: This article “Top 10 Google Ads Alternatives That You Should Try” was first published on 13th August 2013. We have last updated this article on 8th July 2020 with fresh information.
Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is a dominant force in paid search advertising but in recent years, advertisers are starting to experience an increasingly challenging and expensive experience on the platform with a lot of fierce competition and a highly saturated audience. Advertisers may find it more beneficial to explore other ads platforms and by finding new avenues for ads and diversifying paid media spend they will be enabled to reach new engaged audiences and bring down costs; competition is not as fierce and cost per click often lower.
In this guide, we’ll show you the Top 10 Google Ads Alternatives you should try for your online advertising campaigns.
1. Adroll
Although AdRoll is highly popular as a retargeting platform, it also has other products offered apart from retargeting such as Video Ads and programmatic display prospecting and both can be served in and out-stream.
Users report a 5-fold return on their ad spend and the platform reaches audiences not only across the most popular social media sites but also on more than 500 exchanges and networks. You can sign up for Adroll on their website.
Recommended for you: Applying Big Data to Advantage Your Social Media Advertising.
2. Amazon
Amazon has a wide range of ad products available. If you’re into eCommerce then Amazon can be a good choice. Amazon offers custom ads, video ads, sponsored products & brands as well as display ads to name a few. You can choose to sell directly to Amazon customers thru Seller Central or sell on Amazon, advertising through Vendor Central, who will then sell the products to customers.
By 2021, Amazon is forecasted to account for 50% or even more of the eCommerce market. Get started on Amazon Ads by going to their advertising page.
3. Bing Ads
Bing Ads can be considered a direct alternative to Google Ads with its own set of tools such as its very own tool for keyword research. This ad platform is a great choice for affiliate marketing and affordable search advertising.
As recently as 2018, Bing has become the 3rd largest search engine with 4.58% of searches online done on the site.
Bing offers paid search advertising similar to Google Ads where the ads are also shown on the search results page. Plus, your marketing strategies can benefit from Bing’s lighter restrictions on advertisements and more affordable cost per clicks.
Bing is also the power behind Yahoo’s search, incorporating it into its ad network. What this means is if you’re running ads with Bing, they’re also likely to appear on Yahoo search. Sign up for Bing Ads today.
4. Facebook Ads
Facebook is the largest social media network in the entire world right now. Digital marketers and advertisers have a plethora of very popular ad tools at their disposal on the platform to boost product engagement. Carousel, slideshow, video ads, and collections are just a few of the offerings. A giant in social media advertising, Facebook is constantly updating its algorithms, allowing for better audience targeting.
While it’s compatible with a lot of brands and markets, Facebook’s ads are mostly being used to target the millennial demographic with its familiarity and above-average use of the social media Titan. With its sheer volume of users that go up to the billions, you can find fresh new audiences and for literally every niche on the Facebook Ads platform whether you’re selling a service, a digital, or a physical product. Know more about Facebook ads by visiting their online guide.
5. Instagram Ads
Instagram puts a premium on advertising lifestyle products as well as viral & social advertising and is swarming with millennials and social media influencers with over 500 million active users per month. Take your pick from ads that can be shown within the app as videos, stories, pictures, and many more.
Founded in 2010, Instagram is a part of Facebook’s advertising network after being bought by the social media giant in 2012.
While its targeting features are based on Facebook’s own advertising system; including options such as lookalike audiences, interests, demographics, and location, Instagram’s ads tend to be more interactive with polls, sliders and buttons as well as call to actions that call for users to “swipe up”.
If your brand, services or products are related to fashion and beauty, Instagram is much better than Google’s search ads in letting advertisers get their products in front of buyers. Sign up for Instagram ads by heading over their website today.
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6. LinkedIn Ads
With over 630 million active business professionals looking to collaborate and network, LinkedIn is the ideal platform for B2B advertising.
Give LinkedIn ads a try if previously you had little success with B2B advertising on other platforms. It’s a great platform for getting your product or service right in front and noticed by a company’s important decision-makers. You can also target your prospective users with ease using, among other options, their position or job title, industry, and function.
Avail of the vast range of ads offered such as in-mail, text, and sponsored content and the varied pricing models (that includes CPM and CPC) & many advanced targeting options. With LinkedIn Ads, B2B advertising can become more accessible and budget-friendly! Get started with LinkedIn ads by visiting their website.
7. Outbrain
If your intent is to drive relevant prospects to your blog content with the goal of converting them then you must give Outbrain a try. Outbrain is, in a nutshell, a content discovery platform that helps you reach audiences to engage with your content. Launched in 2006, this platform can be taken advantage of by advertisers to promote their brand, services, and products using content marketing as well as native advertising.
With a huge ad network totaling over 100,000 websites that include big names such as CNN, you’ll see recommendations at the bottom when you read an article or visit these sites. They’re all powered by Outbrain and have a more affordable cost per click.
Outbrain has an up and coming merger with a similar content discovery platform named Taboola. Once the merger will be completed, it will have a colossal network of websites that will reach close to 2 billion monthly visitors. Get started with Outbrain by visiting their website.
8. Quora
Quora is the Q&A platform of the internet and people visiting the site are looking for useful information by asking questions, getting insightful answers, and sharing them as well. On the platform, you can reach out to customers as they try to evaluate and research products, companies, services, and industries. Advertisers are given an opening to influence prospects while they are still in the consideration phase of their customer journey.
With Quora’s ads, you have the ability of contextual targeting that enables you to target the content found in Quora. There is also behavioral targeting that allows you to target people based on their behaviors. Quora presently has a global audience reach of more than 300 million visitors per month. Sign up for Quora advertising today.
9. Reddit Ads
Touted as the “front page of the internet”, Reddit is a global discussion board with over 1 billion visitors a month and is constantly buzzing with discussions on every topic under the sun and is highly popular with the Generation Z & millennial demographics.
Reddit’s ad cost per click is substantially lower. It’s a great platform to reach out to fresh audiences that are often not given attention by other advertisers, enabling you to capture a bigger share of the market. Know more about Reddit ads on their website.
10. Twitter Ads
Famously known for its “tweet” character limit, Twitter was launched in 2006. Twitter is a microblogging website that advertisers can take advantage of for event and hashtag targeting. One of Twitter’s most popular features is the ability to target using hashtags. With it, you can specifically and accurately target trending topics and niches related to your market. It’s an excellent feature since it allows you to avoid paying for irrelevant clicks. It puts your brand, services, and/or products in front of the right audience.
You can also target your audience’s interests, location, and even their followers. You find plenty of business professionals on Twitter. If you’re involved in the B2B market, you can run Twitter Ads together with LinkedIn Ads for optimal exposure of your brand and services as well as grow your audience and following in social media. Create your Twitter ad account today.
You may also like: How to Use Twitter, Facebook & Instagram in Your Online Advertising Campaign?
Final Words
Now we covered the Top 10 Alternatives to Google Ads. You are now armed with the knowledge of plenty more places to grow and diversify your advertising efforts to reach more audiences and prospects, obtain more sales and create more awareness for your products, brand, and services.
This article is written by Saurabh Pandey. Saurabh is the founder of Brandveda, a digital marketing institute. He started his entrepreneurial journey instead of working in the corporate sector. His niche lies in lead generation, PPC, social media marketing, and is inclined towards all things digital.
This article is written by Saurabh Pandey. Saurabh is the founder of 
Web developer and SEO specialist with 20+ years of experience in open-source web development, digital marketing, and search engine optimization. He is also the moderator of this blog "RS Web Solutions (RSWEBSOLS)".
