Why Google Ads works differently in B2B than in B2C

Google Ads in B2B works differently than in B2C, because a business buyer searches and decides in a different way. There are fewer searches, more people are involved and a click turns into revenue months later. Set up a B2B account like a webshop, and you pay for traffic that rarely leads to a sales meeting.

What is the difference between Google Ads in B2B and B2C?

In B2C the person searching usually buys, often on the same day. Google sees that purchase straight away and quickly learns which click pays off. In B2B there are conversations, quotes and internal sign-off between the first click and the order.

The platform itself is the same. You work with the same campaigns, keywords and bidding strategies. The difference lies in the choices you make within that platform, and in what Google gets to see of the outcome.

Four differences that shape a B2B campaign

Less search volume

A webshop selling running shoes attracts plenty of search traffic. A supplier of industrial cooling equipment may see only a handful of relevant searches a week. With so little data an automated bidding strategy learns slowly, and every wasted click weighs heavily.

More decision makers

A business purchase rarely goes through one person. An engineer searches for specifications, a buyer for suppliers and a director for certainty. The person who clicks is not always the person who decides.

A long sales cycle

In B2B there are often weeks or months between the first search and the order. A conversion in Google Ads is therefore usually a form or a phone call, not yet revenue. Google can only steer on what it measures.

A higher value per customer

An expensive click is easy to defend when one customer is worth a lot. That only holds if you can see which click brought that customer in. Otherwise you cannot tell which part of your budget pays off.

What this means for your Google Ads campaigns in B2B

Keywords and negative keywords

Choose keywords with business intent, such as a product combined with an application or with words like supplier and quote. Negative keywords matter just as much. They stop your ad from showing on searches that will never produce a customer.

Job and application terms, such as vacancy and careers.
Study and information terms, such as thesis, meaning and course.
Consumer terms, such as cheap, second hand and for home use.

Measurement and lead quality

In B2B a form is not yet a customer. Have sales record in your CRM which enquiry became a meeting, a quote or an order. By importing offline conversions you send that outcome back to Google Ads.

Enhanced conversions for leads make that link more reliable. Google then learns from lead quality instead of from the number of enquiries alone. That also decides which bidding strategy makes sense.

Ad copy and landing page

Write your ad for the role that is searching. An engineer wants to see an application or specification, a buyer wants lead times and terms. A line such as for businesses only filters up front, so consumers click less often.

Make the landing page follow on from that. Ask for the company name in the form, so sales can place an enquiry right away.

Audiences and scheduling

With the default settings you often reach too broad an audience in B2B. These settings help you advertise in a more targeted way:

Customer Match, to exclude existing customers or approach them differently.
Ad scheduling, if you see that enquiries outside office hours rarely lead anywhere.
Location settings, so you only advertise where you actually deliver.

What we saw

In our campaigns for Van der Valk Hoogkerk the cost per enquiry only dropped once we steered on companies from the ideal customer profile. Not on more clicks. The keyword list barely changed, the list of negative keywords did.

strong increase in business enquiries online

Van der Valk Hoogkerk · Google Ads aimed at decision makers for business meetings, conversion optimisation

How we set this up for other companies is on our page about Google Ads for B2B.

Read the Van der Valk case

When Google Ads in B2B is not the right fit yet

Search ads catch demand that already exists, which we call demand capture. If that demand is not there yet, there is little to catch.

Nobody searches for what you sell yet, for example with a new kind of product.
Sales has no room to follow up an enquiry within a day.
The value of a customer is too low to earn back expensive clicks.

In those cases you build demand first, for example with LinkedIn ads for B2B and content.

In short: in B2B you steer on customers, not clicks

Google Ads in B2B uses the same controls as in B2C, but with less data and a longer road to revenue. Sharp negative keywords keep your budget on business searchers. Feedback from sales makes sure Google learns from customers instead of from forms.

Frequently asked questions

Does Google Ads work for B2B companies?

Google Ads works for B2B companies as long as people search for your product or service. You then reach businesses at the moment they are looking for a supplier. With hardly any search volume, you build demand through other channels first.

Which bidding strategy suits Google Ads in B2B?

Automated bidding strategies need enough conversions to learn. With low volume you therefore pick a conversion goal that happens often enough and still means something, such as a qualified enquiry. As the data from sales grows, you can move towards goals closer to the order.

How do you measure Google Ads in B2B when the sale happens offline?

You measure an offline sale by sending the outcome from your CRM back to Google Ads. You link an enquiry to the click it came from and report whether it became a meeting, a quote or an order. Google then sees which searches produce customers.

Is Performance Max suitable for B2B?

Performance Max can work in B2B, but only if you feed Google good conversion data. The campaign looks for more of whatever you measure as a conversion. If you only measure forms, in our view you mainly get more forms, not necessarily better enquiries.