A 12-year-old boy in Spain found out the hard way that the pay-per-clicks service can be successful but costly – accidentally racking up a €100,000 bill

In the small town of Torrevieja, south-east Spain, 12-year-old José Javier was looking to raise some funds for his brass band, Los Salerosos.

Hoping to garner some attention online, he set up a website highlighting the cause. And along with that, he decided to make use of Google AdWords – the pay-per-click service which shoots your website to the top of relevant searches.

What Javier hadn’t figured was which way round the pay-per-click deal worked. It was not Los Salerosos that would get money for each click, but rather the Californian multinational.

As people kept visiting the site, the bill kept totting up. Before long, Javier’s junior savings account received an invoice for €100,000. The bank called his parents to let them know what was going on. Thankfully, common sense prevailed and Google let the boy off the charges.

Choose the right words

Google AdWords campaigns let you show your content to people who are searching for relevant keywords. That means, as content marketers, you need a clear understanding of what keywords your campaign will benefit from and should include.

A person conducting a Google search is more inclined to be open to finding new content as they’re not likely to be searching for something specific. You can therefore capitalise on that openness by using keywords wisely and effectively.

The keywords tool within AdWords can also help you determine which words to choose when thinking about SEO – making your content more targeted and easy to find. For example, if there are high click-through rates for certain keywords, they can be used in content headlines.

Widen the net

Another benefit of AdWords is the Google Search Partner Network. This expands the placement of the advert for the content across Google partners such as YouTube – potentially a vital advantage, depending on the audience for your content. Joining the Network also gives you a place label on Google Maps, a useful piece of added visibility.

But for all the advantages of the service, Google has previously stated that trusted, high-quality content providers are favoured in searches and will automatically rise to the top. In which case, if you are already producing engaging, effective content, shouldn’t that be enough to push it up the search result tree?

Remain flexible

In the battle for top billing in the Google search result list, it is Google – clearly – which has the upper hand.

It can offer advice on how to get your content displayed more prominently while at the same time holding the keys to the kingdom.

Bearing all that in mind, the best course of action remains to continue generating the best content possible, and use digital tools where it seems that advantage can be gleaned.

This means the way you present your content requires as much fine-tuning as the famously shifting Google algorithm.

From the keywords you use and the type of content created to the audience and the look of the landing page, everything should be a-b tested frequently and have its effectiveness measured. That way you can keep up the pace and remain nimble footed in an ever-evolving marketplace.

Just make sure you’re fully au fait with the tools that you’re employing. Google’s top brass are unlikely to let someone off a €100,000 bill again.