Google Ads (AdWords) Workbook: Advertising on Google Search, the Display Network, and Video (2026 Marketing - Social Media, SEO, & Online Ads Books)

Google Ads has changed so much over the years. It’s hard to keep up! Here is help! Jason McDonald’s books have become my go-to for practical, down-to-earth guides when working with internet marketing. The guy knows his stuff, and he isn’t trying to sell it to you in a series of online seminars that will cost you several thousand dollars. In this books McDonald revisits Google Ads. I am sure that if you work in internet marketing you know the changes are endless and relentless. McDonald addresses the changes and informs readers about the importance of understanding the difference between Google’s Display platform and Google Search. He doesn’t just explain the difference. As always, he offers step-by-step action plans in bite size pieces. It’s like having Jason beside you teaching you how to improve your ad campaigns and, most importantly, the results. You’ll see how Google search network and google display can make or break your marketing campaign and budget. Jason readily admits that some of his ideas about the unknown and mysterious algorithms are just theories. The important thing for you to know is that he has put his ideas to the test and now shared his personal formula for success. This information could save your ad campaigns and help make the most of your tight advertising budget. My favorite aspects of this book include: -You will learn to fine tune your ads to get the most profitable clicks at the lowest possible price. -Discover nuanced differences in web behaviors and how these affect your click through rate and conversions. -Get caught up on how keyword and content marketing have evolved. -Find out how to access and use source code to brainstorm and evaluate keywords. -Understand and avoid negative costly keywords. -Work toward value instead of meaningless volume. -His to-do list will keep you busy, not with pointless exercises, but putting the information to work for your business. I’m keeping this book handy on Kindle for quick reference. If you are looking for a refreshing, clear instruction manual to maneuver through Google Ads, this book is for you. This book is packed full of phenomenal resources and links offering quick links so the reader can grow and learn more in the direction of their are of greatest need. There is so much packed in this volume. I am so glad I grabbed it. Whether you are starting out or have been in internet marketing for any length of time, this guy has information that will help.

Google Ads Workbook is a clear, practical guide to wisely using Google for advertising your business. In this information-packed workbook, Jason McDonald provides links to hands-on worksheets, example ads, free internet tools, and instructional videos from many different sources. He explains the overwhelming world of Google Ads in simple terms, with reassuring humor and lots of examples. His premise is that Google is a business, on the lookout for profit, so sometimes the advice it gives Google Ads users is what’s best for Google, and not what’s best for them. In this confusing new world of advertising, McDonald arms us with the knowledge we need to have more control, spend less and get better results. He starts with a gentle orientation to the overall world of internet advertising: How does Google determine the cost of your ad? How does it end up in front of the right people? Is getting the most clicks always desirable? Then we’re into the detailed, nitty-gritty of setting up an ad campaign on Google Ads. It’s one thing to teach us the difference between the search network and the display network, another thing entirely to take us straight into the program and show us what to click on to control which we use (and pay for). McDonald walks us through with detailed step-by-step instructions, along with highlighted screenshots and spreadsheets he teaches us to read. I love the worksheets, the free tools, the variety of videos. But most of all I love the navigational help. Google Ads is a vast, multilayered program, bound to be frustrating at times. But McDonald’s workbook is like having an expert right beside you as you try to input all the smart choices his worksheets have helped you decide on. This useful and easy-to-read book also includes chapters on shopping campaigns, YouTube and metrics. Highly recommended!

In an attempt to take my blogging to the next level, I bought this book (at the pleasant sale price), hoping to unlock the mysteries of Google Ads. The author's credentials attracted me. Anyone who teaches a technical subject in a continuing education program has my (former computer lab teacher) admiration. Jason makes good use of analogies in the introduction and throughout the book, making a somewhat technical web topic less puzzling. He also injects some humor here and there. This book starts out with a pretty compelling introduction, and explains why Google Ads can boost the earnings and performance of a web site. It goes on to explain why buying these ads can quickly become a money pit without the due diligence of reading up on the finer points and gaining a "proactive understanding". I appreciated that the book has plenty of examples like screenshots and hot links out to example web pages and videos. The book's format also chunks the information into a more readable hierarchy by using bulleted overviews and summary lists, boldfaced glossary words, and italics, headings, and indents. The chapters cover quite a bit of ground, though, so it helped me to focus on a chapter or two in one sitting. There are eight sections, starting with "Basics" or the overview, and continuing with Gotchas, Keywords, Search Network, Display Network, Shopping Campaigns, YouTube and Metrics. The last section is a "Toolbook", a pdf which requires registering the ebook with the author and also a list of helpful hot links. I am always disappointed when a non-fiction books only delivers a superficial overview and not some "meat" (good practical information). I definitely do not have that complaint with this book. I will probably be reading it a few times before referencing it to put the Google Ads program to work for me.

The beauty of Jason McDonald's book is that it has something for anyone who sells anything. I've experimented with Google ads for years and had decent results, but I now realize I can do much better with a structured plan and the background knowledge McDonald offers in this book. People seem to have a love-hate relationship with Google Ads but that shouldn't be the case. In the Google Ads Workbook, an updated version of the author's previous book on this subject, there's a very high "information value" for marketers. The division of strategies between the search and display networks is a nice tough. Too many people have vague awareness about Google's display network, which can mean losing out on a whole different kind of advertising. A couple other pluses of this book: First, the final "toolbook" section contains the best shortlist of resources for those of us who want to learn more and dig deeper into this powerful marketing system. I've already used a few of the book's techniques to sell a diverse range of products online, including rare coins, sculputure and niche/rare books. Second, if you're not a math person, have no fear. The chapter on metrics will not overfill your number-crunching capabilities. Understanding Google Ads metrics is more of a vocabulary challenge than a math problem. Really, the author shows how anyone can harness the selling power of Google Ads for their own benefit, whether you have an MBA in marketing or have not yet gotten a high-school diploma. This is indeed a workbook, and if you work through it, you'll be at home with Google Ads. I've read one other book by this author. It was on SEO techniques and served as my introduction to that topic. McDonald clearly knows his stuff, has solid academic credentials along with the fact that he specializes in helping people become successful online entrepreneurs. The icing on the cake is his writing style. It's direct, uncluttered and contains zero fluff. I really felt like I got my money's worth with this book and it'll be one of a half-dozen or so that stays in my personal reference section for quite a while. McDonald's book easily earns five stars, for value, usefulness, ease of understanding and being able to hold the reader's interest on a topic that can be dry at times.

I won't even lie, this is a whole world that I never really thought about. Everyone goes into google on a daily basis and will see the Google advertisements immediately underneath the search bar. You don't really think about it until you are looking to start a business and potentially use this to get some interaction and truthfully, I never realized how much goes into these ads until now! Being completely honest, some of this seems very confusing. It is a whole different world-especially when you are looking to start a business or at least expand for more attention. Jason McDonald does an excellent job taking things step by step on what everything means, the lingo, and where your advertisements on different places of the internet can take you. It really is fascinating how much goes into Google Ads and what it all entails. He takes things step by step in regards to the consumer and how they purchase, how they search vs. browse, etc. He then helps explain how what you do with Google Ads and how it can help (or potentially not help) your business. He makes things much easier to understand. I know if I didn't read through this book, I would certainly not understand any of this and most likely give up! He really lays everything out to be easily understandable. He goes through Google Ads, YouTube, and the Display Network and discusses how your advertisements can benefit (depending on if you are going through with the correct standards) from using these platforms. He uses screenshots and links which is great when you want a visual! But the links help to understand more of what he is talking about. He provides plenty of examples as he goes along. If you are looking to help your business grow or are even just looking to start one and are in need of knowledge for the internet (which would be extremely smart as everyone uses technology nowadays) I highly recommend this book!

I found this to be an excellent, wonderful, and exceptional book. Jason McDonald has taken a subject that few of us understand (but often pretend to) and breaks it down, literally, click by click, for those of us who are confused by Google Ads, however, his book also serves as guide for those experienced and familiar working with this. I found that what drew me to this book was Mr. McDonald's quick wit, which made this an entertaining read, and his use of wit in the explanations of Google Ads just made the process all the more clearer. In addition to wit, his straightforward style made this a book that was a pleasure to read as well as understand the very technical, finite, subject matter. There are several explanations on this where I've had trouble getting through the first page, much less through an entire chapter, but McDonald's writing style backed up with unsurpassed knowledge in this field, made this book a page-turner. As you go through the book, you'll see how every aspect of Google Ads is broken down piece by piece, and not only will you receive an undisputed explanation of the process, you will get a better, much deeper understanding of how Google Ads can benefit you, no matter the size of your business or the product you are trying to promote. While it is an entertaining read, it’s not designed (in my opinion) to be read only once. This book can serve as a guide for anyone marketing with Google Ads (or has intentions to do so in the future). Having a book like this that you can use as a reference when you want to check something quickly, not to mention the vast glossary of terms that is included. An incredible book. A definite must-have for anyone marketing (or planning to market) with Google Ads. I found this to be an excellent, wonderful, and exceptional book. Jason McDonald has taken a subject that few of us understand (but often pretend to) and breaks it down, literally, click by click, for those of us who are confused by Google Ads, however, his book also serves as guide for those experienced and familiar working with this. I found that what drew me to this book was Mr. McDonald's quick wit, which made this an entertaining read, and his use of wit in the explanations of Google Ads just made the process all the more clearer. In addition to wit, his straightforward style made this a book that was a pleasure to read as well as understand the very technical, finite, subject matter. There are several explanations on this where I've had trouble getting through the first page, much less through an entire chapter, but McDonald's writing style backed up with unsurpassed knowledge in this field, made this book a page-turner. As you go through the book, you'll see how every aspect of Google Ads is broken down piece by piece, and not only will you receive an undisputed explanation of the process, you will get a better, much deeper understanding of how Google Ads can benefit you, no matter the size of your business or the product you are trying to promote. While it is an entertaining read, it’s not designed (in my opinion) to be read only once. This book can serve as a guide for anyone marketing with Google Ads (or has intentions to do so in the future). Having a book like this that you can use as a reference when you want to check something quickly, not to mention the vast glossary of terms that is included. An incredible book. A definite must-have for anyone marketing (or planning to market) with Google Ads.

The book explains in clear language and numerous screenshots from the Google Adwords site itself what to do, what not to do, how, and why. This book will enable the readers to initiate and manage a campaign by themselves, all for less than 5 bucks (Kindle version). I don’t know that it can get any better than that! Furthermore, the author includes a PDF version with hotlinks (not sure why he didn’t include them in the Kindle version, which was what I purchased), and several very useful worksheets that help to organize your campaign, brainstorm keywords, and more. This is really a great value. That said, the book isn’t perfect. The order of the chapters is a little confusing and things are not explained in the order I would expect them to be. I suggest reading the entire book and then organizing the material in a sequential manner that is consistent with the sequence of starting a campaign. Chapter 4 - "Search Network" is a good place to start when beginning a campaign. Also, there is a lot of repetition in this book. I thought it was useful to get the same things hammered at me because it helps learning, but perhaps not everyone will enjoy this style, or the numerous, unnecessary "jokes" that the authors peppers his text with. But that's really nitpicking. If you're new to Adwords, this book is a great help and a great value. Prior to reading the book, Google Adwords seemed like an extremely confusing jumble of data that I had no chance of understanding. Personally, it took me a day and a half to read the book, do the work, and get a campaign up and running, and another 24 hours to get my ads approved and my first leads (though to be honest, this timeline is based on work that I had already done to understand my product and market). In other words, this book helped me a lot.

Not recommended for people who've gone and created at least 1 campaign in their life. It's very basic, not much strategy involved.

I am reading many books about Digital Marketing and SEO because I am doing a tough research. I have been doing this for 10 years. Jason is right about not trusting Google's AI and representatives to manage your Ads Account. What I disliked the most? There are some broken links in the book and the author invites very much the readers to write him asking questions but he does not reply. I find it very unrespectful and a waste of time for us.

Great product, fast delivery. Very happy!

Whether you’re a newbie just starting out with Google Ads, or you’re a pro who has worked with Google Ads for years, this book will take your Google Ad skills and knowledge to another level. Jason has an easy-to-read writing style that makes it easy understand the intricacies involved with setting up and running effective Google Ad campaigns. This book is full of tips and wisdom Jason has accumulated over the years with links to even more information organized throughout the book. In my opinion, this book is in the top three books I’ve read on Googles Ads so far.

Excellent Book !!! clearly states exact procedure for performing each task.Full of resources which are readily available to kick start your journey towards being AdWord professional. So many PRACTICAL ASPECTS mentioned and discussed in too much detail. I'd also like to to mention that it really caters the need of a mentor especially when you are new to Ad words and Digital marketing. Super, easy to understand language and honest approach without flattering Google people.... This is the very first book i have of Jason McDonald however I have become big fan of him now and would like to have all his books in my library.

Very useful book for anyone wanting to learn about Google Advertising - I highly recommend this book. The book is full of useful knowledge on how to make your campaign successful and also comes with masses of online resources making it insanely good value for money. The book is not only informative but also wonderfully written - the author balances seriousness with a great sense of humour perfectly, making the book engaging and fun to read.