What is Google Ads (AdWords)? Complete 2026 Guide for Marketers

Adwords was Google's former name for Google Ads. When they gave the advertising tool a new look, they also renamed it, as the platform had expanded over the years to include banner advertising via Google Display Network (GDN) and video advertising on YouTube. Adwords' core product was keyword advertising and remains the core of Google Ads.

AdWords is called Google Ads today

The rename happened in July 2018. Google AdWords became Google Ads, and the DoubleClick products were merged into Google Marketing Platform at the same time. The core model is unchanged: you choose keywords, write ads, set a bid and pay per click (PPC). What has changed is everything around it: automated bid strategies, Performance Max campaigns, AI-generated ad copy and a much heavier dependence on accurate conversion data.

Plenty of people still search for "adwords" and "google adwords". That is a perfectly good search, but every interface, help article and certification is now called Google Ads.

The campaign types in Google Ads

• Search: text ads in Google's search results. The classic AdWords product, and usually where B2B companies get the best return, because the buyer is already looking for a solution.
• Performance Max: an automated campaign that shows ads across all of Google's channels. Powerful for e-commerce with good product data, but risky when conversion tracking is weak, because the algorithm then optimises toward the wrong things.
• Display and Demand Gen: image and video ads on websites, YouTube and Gmail. Best for remarketing and building demand, rarely for closing deals directly.
• YouTube: video ads for reach and brand. Best measured by how search volume for your brand develops, not by direct clicks.

How much does Google Ads cost in Sweden?

Google Ads has no fixed price. You pay per click, and the price is set in an auction every time someone searches. There are three costs to keep apart:

• Cost per click (CPC): In the Swedish accounts we run, B2B keywords usually cost SEK 10–60 per click. Competitive industries such as legal, insurance, recruitment and SaaS often land at SEK 80–200 per click, sometimes more. Local services and e-commerce are often under SEK 10.
• Media budget: What you pay Google in total. To get enough data to optimise, most B2B accounts need at least SEK 15,000–30,000 a month. Below that, every test takes too long to give an answer.
• Management: The time it takes to run the account, in-house or through an agency. Agency fees for a single paid channel usually start around SEK 15,000–25,000 a month. Traditional agencies often charge SEK 50,000–100,000 a month for one channel.

What drives the click price?

Two things decide what you pay: competition and your Quality Score. Quality Score (1–10) is Google's assessment of how relevant your ad and landing page are to the keyword. An account with a Quality Score of 8–10 can pay half as much per click as a competitor scoring 4 in the same position. That is why a well-built account is often cheaper than a higher bid.

For the full cost picture, including agency vs in-house vs freelancer, see our breakdown of what a marketing agency costs.

How to tell if you need a Google Ads agency

An agency is not always the right answer. Here is an honest decision list.

You probably do not need an agency if

• Your media budget is under roughly SEK 15,000 a month. Management would cost as much as the ads. Learn the basics yourself or bring in a consultant for a one-off setup.
• You have someone in-house with the time and interest. A small search account with around ten campaigns can be run in 2–4 hours a week.
• You sell one product with a few clear keywords. The account stays simple, and most of the optimisation happens on the landing page.

An agency usually pays off when

• Your media budget passes SEK 30,000–50,000 a month. At that point every percent of waste costs more than the fee to find it.
• You do not know which clicks become deals. If conversion tracking only counts form fills, not qualified leads or revenue, Google is optimising toward the wrong goal.
• The account has grown without structure. Overlapping campaigns, broad keywords without negative lists and Performance Max cannibalising brand search are common signs.
• You run several channels and need someone who sees Google Ads, LinkedIn and SEO as one whole.

What a Google Ads agency actually does

Good agency work rarely shows in the ads themselves. It happens in the structure underneath. Here is what you should expect:

Account structure

Campaigns are split by business logic: service, margin, geography or buying stage. Brand search is kept separate from generic keywords so you can see what is genuinely new demand. A clear structure puts the budget where the return is highest.

Keyword work

The keyword list is built from search term reports, not guesses. Negative keywords matter just as much: every week we find search terms that cost money without converting. In most accounts we take over, 15–30 percent of the budget goes to irrelevant searches.

Quality Score and ads

Ad copy and landing pages are matched to the keyword, and ads are tested continuously. A higher Quality Score means a lower click price, so this work cuts cost without cutting visibility.

Measurement and attribution

The most important and most neglected step. Without accurate measurement, neither you nor Google's bidding algorithm knows what a good click is. We set up conversions in GA4, connect them to your CRM so Google learns which leads become customers, and store the raw data in BigQuery so ROAS and customer acquisition cost can be tracked per campaign.

What the first 90 days look like

A serious engagement follows a clear order. If an agency wants to start with new ads before measurement has been checked, treat that as a warning sign.

• Weeks 1–2, audit: a review of the account, search terms, conversion tracking and landing pages. You get a list of where budget is leaking and what is working.
• Weeks 2–4, measurement: conversions are fixed in GA4, connected to the CRM, and qualified leads start flowing back into Google Ads.
• Month 2, structure: campaigns are rebuilt around business logic, negative keyword lists are set up and the first ad tests start.
• Month 3, optimisation: the bid strategy moves to target CPA or target ROAS once there is enough conversion data, and budget shifts toward the campaigns that produce deals.

Most accounts we take over have a clearly lower cost per qualified lead after three months. It rarely comes from cleverer ads. It comes from no longer paying for the wrong clicks, and from Google finally learning which clicks became customers.

Why Growth Hackers

• 10+ years of experience running Google Ads for Swedish and Nordic B2B companies.
• Google Premier Partner, a status held only by the top 3 percent of agencies in Sweden.
• Measurement first: every engagement starts with GA4, conversion tracking and BigQuery, so optimisation is based on business data rather than clicks.
• AI-driven management: the account is analysed daily and a specialist approves every change. Read more about our Google Ads service.

For more on the day-to-day work, read our guide to AI-driven Google Ads optimisation.