Top 15 Powerful Alternatives to Google Ads for 3x More Leads

Google Ads is undoubtedly one of the most powerful channels for driving website traffic and lead generation. Due to its unique search intent nature, it allows you to reach your audience at the moment that they are looking for a product like yours. However, since most companies are actively advertising on Google Ads, it can become really competitive and even expensive in some cases.

In addition, companies should be continuously testing new audiences and channels to see which one works the best for them. Today, we will see some awesome alternatives to Google Ads and Facebook Ads that you can try for your business.

1. Bing Ads

The first and most logical alternative to Google Ads is Bing Ads. According to Microsoft, the company behind Bing Ads, the Microsoft Search Network registers over 681 million monthly unique searchers, and brands can reach 250 million unique users through native advertising.

Some benefits of advertising on Bing includes:

• Cheaper costs per click;
• No minimum fee to get started;
• There is less competition than Google Ads;
• You only pay for clicks.

Additionally, if you are already using Google Ads of even Facebook Ads, Microsoft allows you to easily import your campaigns straight into Bing. To get started, just click here.

2. Quora

Next on our list of alternatives to Google Ads is Quora. You probably already know Quora as the most popular social question-and-answer website, the place where everyone goes if they have a very specific question in mind, no matter the topic. But did you know that you can also advertise on it too?

Quora is a very interesting advertising channel because it allows you to reach over 300 million people, many of which you can’t reach on other channels. You can target by behavior, interests, location, what users are reading on the platform, and more.

Some benefits of advertising on Quora include:

• You can reach a high-quality audience;
• Low minimum daily budget of just $5;
• Target audiences are more engaged than other channels;
• You can launch your ads in minutes;

Additionally, many companies report higher conversion rates than other channels, including Google Ads and Facebook Ads. According to Hanapin Marketing, “The number of marketers investing in Quora has grown nearly 4X since last year”, which means that more and more brands are leveraging its potential. You can get started here.

3. Capterra

Capterra is another great channel for high-quality lead generation, and an awesome alternative to Google Ads if you are a company that sells software. While this platform may not be suitable for non-tech businesses, it can yield excellent results at a very attractive Cost per Lead for those that can take advantage of it.

Capterra is a free online marketplace vendor that serves as an intermediary between technology vendors and buyers within the software industry. As an advertiser, you can select from hundreds of software categories to refine your audience and reach those who are looking for a solution like yours.

Some benefits of Capterra ads include:

• Niche targeting criteria that allows to reach high-quality audiences;
• It’s affordable, with bids starting at $2 for click;
• Easy to set up even for less experienced advertisers;
• Allow your ads to reach GetApp  and Software Advice as well;

In other words, with the same ads and a few tweaks to them in order to adapt them to each channel, you can advertise on Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice simultaneously. Which allows you to reach an even wider audience. Get started here. 

4. Waze

Google Ads alternatives: Waze. Image by medium.com

Next on our list of alternatives to Google Ads is Waze. If you are not familiar with Waze, it is a satellite navigation software that’s similar to Google Maps. It provides support to devices with GPS, allowing users to get driving directions, receive road alerts, and use a live traffic map to take on the best route.

Waze is perfect if you want to make use of geolocation. For example, if you have a local restaurant, hotel, shop, or a bakery, and you want to entice people who are driving nearby to come and visit you, you can use Waze to do so.

Some benefits of Waze ads include:

• You can track performance in real time;
• It’s great for boosting revenue for local businesses;
• You only pay for ads that show;
• Low minimum budget of just $2 per day;

With Waze, you can reach over 140 million monthly active users with 4 native ad formats – Pin ad, Search ad, Takeover ad and Arrow ad. You can get started by clicking here.

5. Amazon ads

If you are looking for Google Ads alternatives for your retail business, probably the best next option after Google and social media ads is Amazon. The platform has a wide variety of advertising products where you can showcase your inventory, including Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Video ads, Audio ads and more.

According to the company itself, “nearly 3 out of 4 Amazon customers use Amazon to discover new products or brands (74%)”, which means that it’s a great place for many businesses to show up on.

Some benefits of advertising on Amazon include:

• A high-quality, brand-safe environment for advertisers;
• You get valuable insights on customer habits;
• You can leverage remarketing to re-engage with your audience;
• Advertisers pay for clicks and not for impressions;

Another amazing benefit of advertising on this network is the moment during which you reach your audience. In other words, you reach them when they are actively looking to buy something – aka they already have a purchase intent. Which can result in higher conversion rates than other platforms.

You can get started with Amazon ads here.

6. Adobe Advertising

Our list of alternatives to Google Ads continue with Adobe Advertising, a suite of advertising products that offer solutions for media buying, programmatic, TV advertising and Search Marketing.

Adobe leverages the power of data to help advertisers optimize their campaign performance. They also make use of Artificial Intelligence to allow companies to maximize their search, shopping and retargeting campaigns and drive the best results possible.

Some benefits of using Adobe Advertising Cloud include:

• Tools for campaign automation and optimization;
• 90-95% accuracy in forecast models;
• It’s highly data-driven to maximize performance;
• Unrivalled top-notch technology.

You can click here to get started with Adobe Ads.

7. Twitch ads

Google Ads alternatives: Twitch ads. Image from twitch.com

Another awesome way to advertise your brand that’s not Google or Facebook is Twitch. Twitch is an interactive livestreaming service that allows content creators to live stream their games, broadcasts, esports competition and much more.

In 2021, Twitch had an average of 2.84 million concurrent viewers, and more than 9 million users were streaming on the platform at least once a month. The platform has a variety of advertising products, including Homepage Carousel, Homepage Headliner, Medium Rectangle, Streamables, Premium video and more.

Some benefits of advertising on Twitch include:

• First Impression Takeover, meaning that viewers see the ad as soon as they enter Twitch;
• You can reach niche-specific audiences that you can’t find elsewhere;
• Higher ad view percentage due to a level of loyalty and trust with the streamer;
• Higher level of engagement than other platforms;

Many Twitch streamers earn money by getting donations from their viewers. However, since many viewers can’t afford to make donations, but they want to show their appreciation towards the streamer, they may feel more inclined to watch and engage with the ads in order to contribute as well.

You can get started with Twitch advertising here.

8. Brave ads

Google Ads alternatives: Brave Ads

If you are looking for Google Ads alternatives, you can also take a different approach by displaying in-browser ads with Brave. Brave Ads, as they present themselves, are the world’s first global ad platform built on privacy.

The company uses local machine learning with the browser profile of the user to only place ads when the user is matched with certain opportunities. As they explain, by doing this, they convert users into partners instead of targets, which is absolutely awesome.

Some benefits of using Brave Ads include:

• Ad formats for high impact branding and awareness;
• Click-through push notifications for more direct communication;
• Ads are more engaging and less intrusive because users can control frequency and scheduling;
• Machine learning helps to deliver the ads under the most optimum conditions;

Since Brave Ads not only take advertisers into account, but also care about user control and privacy, the final result are more impactful ads that users are more likely to engage with. You can get started here.

9. Pinterest

Google Ads alternatives: Pinterest

Next on our list of alternatives to Google Ads is Pinterest. Pinterest is an image sharing and social media service with over 400 million monthly users, and it’s very similar to Instagram because it’s driven by aesthetic images and videos.

According to the network itself, 89% of US pinners use Pinterest for inspiration on their path to purchase, and 83% of weekly US pinners have purchased something based on Pins from brands.

Some benefits of Pinterest ads include:

• Due to the nature of the platform, advertisers can spot emerging trends;
• They often have higher purchase intent than other platforms;
• Brands get 30% free engagement on average because of content sharing;
• Users on Pinterest are more open to new brands as they are constantly looking for new ideas.

As opposed to Instagram, Pinterest is a visual search engine, and it allows advertisers to use powerful targeting options based on what users are interested in or searching for. You can get started with Pinterest ads by clicking here.

10. Yahoo Gemini

Yahoo Gemini is Yahoo’s advertising platform, and it offers both search and native advertising all in one. It allows companies to reach a selection of premium owned-and-operated sites, as well as publishing partners such as ESPN, ABC News, Apple News and MSN.

Some benefits of Yahoo Gemini include:

• Being able to target a very specific audience, and collect first-party data for remarketing;
• Their native ads are contextually relevant and blend perfectly with regular content;
• Many companies have registered higher CTRs and lower CPC than other networks;
• Yahoo Gemini puts a very high focus on being mobile-friendly.

This native advertising network is great for brands that want to drive traffic, raise brand awareness and generate conversions for lower prices than traditional advertising platforms. You can get started here.

11. Spotify Ads

Google Ads alternatives: Spotify

Next on our list of Google Ads alternatives is Spotify. While it may seem like a very specific platform that not many companies can take advantage of, this is actually not the case at all.

Over the last couple of years, music streaming and podcasts have been increasingly growing in popularity. In fact, according to a study, podcast listeners have grown by 29.5% in just 3 years – which is a huge increase and has been highly influenced by the global pandemic.

This growing popularity means that many companies can take advantage of audio content and podcasts to sell their products and services across many categories and industries. Of course, it may imply the creation of very specific content only for this platform, but the efforts may result quite effective in today’s digital era.

Here are some of the benefits of advertising on Spotify:

• You can impact over 381 million monthly active users;
• And reach unique audiences on the Spotify Audience Network that are not found elsewhere;
• You can start Spotify Advertising with as little as $250 per month, or less than $10 per day;
• Targeting precision across devices, locations and formats – reach users at the right time;

If this hasn’t convinced you yet, Spotify has some interesting statistics to share with potential advertisers. According to the company, “Nearly 60% of listeners say they pay more attention to ads they hear on Spotify than on the radio.”, which is definitely impressive.

On top of that, 61% listeners say that Spotify helps them find new brands and products. You can start advertising on Spotify by clicking here.

12. Reddit

If you are wondering how to advertise without Google, we have another alternative for you – Reddit. Reddit is a US-based social news aggregation, web content and discussion website with over 430 million monthly active users.

In some sense, it is similar to Quora, but has a different approach when it comes to topic discussion. Reddit is more forum-like while Quora revolves around questions and straightforward answers without actual discussion.

Here are some benefits of Reddit ads:

• Reddit influences purchase decisions as it helps people get informed;
• You can reach +430 million monthly users and +100K active communities;
• Stronger brand advocate – Reddit has the highest NPS* than other social networks;
• Conversions are more valuable as buyers make purchase decisions 9x faster;

*NPS, or Net Promoter Score, is a market research metric that evaluates the likelihood of a user recommending a company, product, or service to their family & friends.

To get started with Reddit ads, click here.

13. Eskimi

Next on our list of awesome alternatives to Google Ads and Facebook ads is Eskimi. Eskimi is a full-stack programmatic advertising solution that allows your ads to show up on 2.5 million sites and apps across the Internet.

Some benefits of using Eskimi include:

• Ability to target users across 26 general categories & 280 sub-categories;
• Geolocation targeting and footfall tracking for local businesses;
• Real-time campaign reports with in-depth data about your audience;
• Reach 1.5 billion profiled users across 2.5 million sites and apps.

This programmatic platform is great for companies that want to increase their brand awareness through personalized ads, intelligent optimization and rich media. You can get started by clicking here.

14. eBay ads

Google Ads alternatives: eBay ads

If you thought we were done with our alternatives to Google Ads and Facebook Ads, we aren’t! Next on the list is eBay, one of the largest multinational ecommerce platforms based in San Jose, California.

eBay ads prides itself in being able to deliver data with real intent to help companies connect with customers on a scale that no other network can. They assist brands in identifying their perfect customer from billions of intent signals across different audiences – including in-market shoppers, lifestyle audiences and eBay sellers.

Some benefits of eBay ads include:

• The ability to reach over 187 million shoppers on eBay;
• 101K hours of shopping data collected monthly allow for an optimized audience;
• A variety of ad formats to choose from;
• You can use contextual or audience targeting – or a mixture of both.

The company focuses on discovering real shopping intent behind users’ behavior, which can drive a lot of conversions for retail businesses. Get started with eBay ads here.

15. Adroll

Adroll Google Ads alternatives

We finish off our list of Google Ads alternatives with Adroll, an AI-driven Marketing software that allows companies to leverage sophisticated audience targeting, cross-channel engagement, advanced attribution and measurement, and more.

Adroll is great for ecommerce businesses that are looking to drive more purchases by converting abandoned carts into checkouts, generating more brand awareness or reducing bounce rates.

Some benefits of Adroll include:

• Sophisticated audience targeting, a result from over +10 years of collecting data;
• Advanced retargeting based on trillion of data points across the Internet;
• Contextual targeting to attract the ideal customers in relevant categories;
• Lookalike targeting to find more customers similar to your existing ones;

You can get started with Adroll by clicking here.

And that was all from me for today! I hope you enjoyed my article on the best Google Ads alternatives, and I hope to see you in the next one! In the meantime, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave me a comment below, or send me an email to mktoolboxsuite@gmail.com

Also, if you need help with your advertising strategy or trying out any of these platforms with an expert, you can check out my Marketing agency Marketing Toolbox.