Google Ads vs Google AdSense: What's the Difference?

Learn about the differences between Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) and Google AdSense - two effective ways to generate revenue with digital advertising methods.

Google Ads vs Google AdSense: What's the Difference?
In a nutshell, Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) is a system that allows businesses to bid on advertising space in Google search results and other Google-affiliated properties. AdSense is a system that allows publishers and website owners to sell advertising space to businesses. The main difference is that advertisers use Google Ads and publishers use AdSense. But how can you take advantage of Google's advertising opportunities? Knowing how each of your Google Ads and Google AdSense programs work and evaluating which one is right for you (or both) is key. Google Ads (both Search and Display) and Google AdSense are effective ways to generate revenue with digital advertising methods, the first as you drive traffic to your site and the second as you use your site to drive traffic to other places. Generally speaking, an advertisement is a means of communicating sponsored promotional messages to the general public. While in the case of AdSense, publishers are paid to allow advertisers to place ads on their website. Advertisers use Google Ads to drive traffic to their sites and publishers use Google AdSense to monetize their existing traffic. However, AdSense doesn't optimize the ads they show on publishers' websites for maximum return on investment, as does Google Ads for their search advertisers when they want to optimize their advertising campaigns. Basically, the amount of money a publisher can earn with AdSense depends on how well they place ads on their site and how well advertisers can create their ads. Google Ads advertisers have a lot of flexibility when it comes to the text of their ads, while AdSense publishers can't modify the text of the ads that appear on their site. On each of their pages, AdSense publishers can only place three content ads, three link ads, and two search boxes (which, when used, display targeted text-based ads). Now, Google Ads, or Adwords, if you want, is Google's platform that you can use as an advertiser or business owner to display your ads on Google search results pages, on the Google Display Network, which includes mobile apps, YouTube and Gmail, as well as Google Shopping. Advertising on Google and across its network is a great opportunity for companies and advertisers to showcase their businesses, products and services to viewers to a greater extent. The key difference between Google Ads and AdSense is that businesses use Google Ads, while publishers and website owners use AdSense. That's the most significant difference between these two advertising platforms; each platform is designed for a different user and use case. If you own or manage websites, blogs or forums, follow the webmaster guidelines and want to monetize your efforts, the Google Adsense program might be for you. However, if you don't want to monetize your web presence and instead find yourself on the side of business owners who want to advertise products and services, Google Ads could be more beneficial to you. Google Ads appear just like any other search results but they are actually sponsored ads and are usually displayed at the top. They help you increase traffic on your website and then helps to generate quality leads as well as increase sales. In short, if you're looking for an effective way to advertise online or monetize your web presence, both Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) and Google AdSense are great options. Knowing how each program works and evaluating which one is right for you (or both) is key.