The Nine-Word Wisdom I Learned from Google's Official Ads Optimizer

Google Ads is Definitely the Best Paid Traffic Channel for Independent Site Sellers (Especially Beginners) - No Contest

Jokes aside, Google is definitely the strongest paid traffic channel. Here's why:

Search engines themselves are extremely user-demand oriented tools and products. Unlike interest-based e-commerce on social media, when you run ads on social platforms, you're really testing your creative assets.

Let me show you the difference with three real examples:

• Yesterday on Douyin, I was scrolling and somehow ended up ordering 3 pounds of starfruit. But at the moment of ordering, did I really crave starfruit? Not really. It was just because that blogger is someone I follow - I figured at minimum, he wouldn't scam his audience, right? Plus, his livestream and short video content was very enticing - in that moment, it temporarily triggered my desire for starfruit.
• At the same time, I also ordered disposable rain shoes for my dog on Taobao. Because Shanghai has been rainy lately, I had an extremely clear user need. So I directly searched for related products on Taobao and placed an order.

Google is equivalent to Taobao in the domestic environment. Domestic friends might have a cognitive barrier here: What? International users still use Google for shopping?

Indeed they do. You can attribute this to Google being too powerful, or to international e-commerce apps being too weak - they haven't formed a joint monopoly like Taobao/PDD/JD domestically. Of course, this also gives independent site sellers some breathing room. If everyone overseas used Amazon or Temu, independent sites wouldn't need to exist.

But that's not important. I'm just telling you that at this stage, there are still massive numbers of overseas users using Google search engines to find products they want, and ultimately place orders on independent sites.

When a user generates an accurate, real user need, their conversion value is enormous. Like when I bought dog rain shoes - I absolutely needed to buy them, right? But starfruit? Not necessarily. You should know that while scrolling Douyin yesterday, besides starfruit, I also saw spicy strips, cream puffs, durian mille-feuille, lamb spine, and countless other products. These contents flashed by - I might have had some purchase thoughts, but with slight hesitation, I just passed on them.

From a methodology perspective, this is because the user's conversion path is too long, leading to drop-off. Social media requires going from discovery to consideration to selection before conversion.

Here's a third example: I also ordered preserved eggs on Taobao yesterday, but it was because I saw a livestream on Douyin that reminded me I was out of preserved eggs. But for some reason, at the "selection" stage, I went to another platform and chose a different seller to complete the conversion.

But Google search, Taobao, Amazon and similar platforms have much less invalid traffic. When users search on these platforms, they've almost always already generated clear shopping needs - they're directly in the "selection" stage, just picking which product is better, cheaper, or better meets their needs.

The above is the biggest trap e-commerce newcomers face with social media channels: The Viral Traffic Trap. You see someone selling starfruit going viral, so you think social media is easy to do. But you don't realize that thousands of small merchants selling spicy strips, cream puffs, durian mille-feuille, preserved eggs, lamb spine, etc., can't make it work at all. Behind this are complex factors: timing, location, people, and your understanding of creative content.

It's even more true for global selling. Every day you scroll social media and see those "guru" bloggers breaking down how this person went viral on TikTok, that person also went viral on Facebook. Try it yourself - you'll fail every time.

Social media is heaven one moment, hell the next; Google is steady happiness (or steady losses).

For beginners, social media depends on whether your copied creative assets happen to hit the mark. If you get lucky, you get a thrill, then you keep gambling; if not, you're done for (I haven't even mentioned those who want to build their own brand with original products on social media - you'll face an even harder start because you don't even have creative assets to copy).

Of course, social media can definitely be played and won! But it tests your content capabilities and medium-to-long-term operational abilities!

Google, on the other hand, relies on your gradual understanding and refinement of user needs and products. Since users clicked through because they actually have a need, you'll start analyzing: is my targeting precise? Can my website and product hold up?

The Nine-Word Wisdom

The core methodology learned from Google's official optimizer:

Find the Right People, Say the Right Things, Do the Right Things

Find the Right People

Precisely target your potential customers. Don't try to sell your product to everyone - find the group of people who actually have the need.

Say the Right Things

Your ad copy and landing page content should match the user's search intent. When users search for something, speak to that - don't be off-topic.

Do the Right Things

Continuously optimize your targeting strategy, test different ad combinations, analyze data and make adjustments. Don't stay static, but don't change randomly either.

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