8 useful Google tools for business owners

Enter Google. It offers a range of free and paid products for business owners to run effective marketing campaigns that get results. From making your website more usable and tracking site traffic to performing Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google has tools to help.

Let’s look at 8 of the best Google tools that can get your business off the ground with relatively no hassle.

Uplift your business with these 8 Google tools

The smart way to attract new customers, organize your business efficiently, establish a digital presence and get ahead of your competitors is by taking the help of marketing tools that Google offers. Let’s look at them:

1.Google Workspace

Google Workspace, formerly G Suite, is a collection of innovative productivity and collaboration technologies. With the help of different communication and collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, and Sites, teams and businesses can get more done at a quicker pace.

Features:

• Create and operate a secure custom business email.

• Utilize integrated online calendars that are shareable and designed for teams.

• Store, access, and share your files in one secure place with the Drive feature.

• Conduct interactive meetings with your team using Google Meet, an enterprise-grade video conferencing software.

• Collaborate and work with several people simultaneously on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations across devices.

Best suited for: Team communication and collaboration.

Pricing: Free but offers some paid plans starting at $8/user/month.

2.Google Ads

Google Ads, previously Google Adwords, can help you reach more relevant customers, thereby driving more sales without burning a hole in your pocket. This is because it offers pay-per-click pricing (PPC)—you only pay for results that include clicks to your website or specific call-to-actions set by you.

Here’s how it works: You find out the keywords your target audience uses to search for the problems you solve and you bid on them. You then create simple four-line text ads related to the keywords you choose. You can set a budget for your PPC advertising campaign and then track your progress using the Ads analytic tools.

Features:

• Grow online sales or mailing lists with online ads and direct more traffic to your website.
• Drive customer calls with ads that feature your phone number and a click-to-call button.
• Increase visits to your shop by getting your ads in front of the right people.

Best suited for: Advertising and growing your business.

Pricing: You set your monthly budget and follow the PPC pricing model.

3.Google Keyword Planner

Before you can start creating Google Ads, you’ll have to identify which keywords people are using that are relevant to your business. Google Keyword Planner helps you find the right keywords for your campaigns by showing you the total number of times these keywords have been searched and giving you accurate keyword bid estimates.

After you’ve selected the keywords that work for your business, you can create an advertising plan and estimate a budget for your Ads.

Features:

• Search for new keywords that are relevant for your business with Google’s keyword research tool.
• Discover search volume trends and historical data of different keywords.
• Analyze the competition level for each keyword to rank in the paid search result.

Best suited for: Finding relevant keywords for your Google Ads campaign.

Price: Free.

4.Google Analytics

Google Analytics helps you monitor how much traffic your website attracts and where your visitors are coming from. With the help of detailed reports, you can analyze what is working and what needs to be tweaked by closely tracking visitors’ behavior on your site.

Features:

• Get a better idea of your site and app users to accurately evaluate your marketing performance.

• Leverage data to reach the right customers.

• Process and share your data quickly with shareable reports with Data Studio.

• Google Tag Manager helps you manage all your website tags without coding.

• Custom surveys provide reliable insights into the minds of your target audience.

Best suited for: Measuring your advertising ROI as well as getting a deeper understanding of customer behavior.

Price: The standard version is free. Google Analytics 360 offers paid plans starting from $150,000 (billed annually).

5.Google Search Console

As a business owner, you will want to know about your website’s traffic and performance in detail to optimize your content better. Google Search Console helps you understand and improve how Google sees your site.

You can discover which search terms your target audience is using to find your site, which devices your site is being viewed on, and which pages are most favored.

Features:

• Ensure that Google can find and crawl your site.
• Manage indexing problems and request re-indexing of new or updated content.
• View Google Search traffic data for your site to analyze visitor behavior.
• View which sites link to your website.

Best suited for: Optimizing your site for search engines.

Price: Free.

6.Google Trends

To keep up with the constantly changing business landscape, you have to know what’s new and trending and what is no longer in fashion. Google Trends shows you what people worldwide are currently searching for in real-time.

It can also be a valuable tool for SEO keyword research and content creation as you can analyze keyword performance in your target countries.

Features:

• Identify and monitor the latest industry trends.
• Evaluate the search volume of your desired keywords and compare them against other keyword variations to formulate a relevant content strategy.
• Conduct extensive market research.

Best suited for: Making smarter and informed keyword choices.

Price: Free.

7.Google Alerts

In addition to Google Trends, Google Alerts is another excellent tool that enables you to get notified about mentions, news, or updates related to your chosen keywords or phrases. Once set up, you'll receive either email alerts or results via RSS in real-time whenever these phrases have been mentioned online.

This PR tool is a great way to stay on top of your business's online reputation and react to online mentions of your brand promptly and stay up to date on the current trends in the industry.

Features:

• Get an email alert whenever someone mentions your company, products, executives, or your competition.
• Choose the frequency at which you receive alerts, be it hourly, daily or weekly.

Best suited for: Email notification service with real-time updates and helps in PR management.

Price: Free.

8.Google My Business

For greater visibility, Google My Business makes it easy for small businesses to list their products on Maps, Google+, and so on. Since over 8.5 billion searches happen on Google daily, this is a fantastic way to increase discoverability for your business and cash in on this massive search volume.

Features:

• Easily connect with customers on Google Search and Maps with your business profile.
• Provide your contact details so more customers can reach you.
• Collect user reviews on your product

Best suited for: Listing your business details on Google to reach a wider audience.

Price: Free.

Conclusion

Grow your business with these easy-to-use, free Google tools. Not every business needs every Google tool on this list, but even the most basic products—when used the right way—can make your business more streamlined, smarter, and more efficient.

While all of these tools are quite feature-packed, identify your major requirements and choose the tool that works best for your needs.

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Alex Garcia is a content editor and writer at Writers Per Hour. She enjoys writing (and reading) about small business marketing, entrepreneurship, and design. When she's not writing, she's probably learning a new skill.