Google Ads
The most recommended of 7 advertising platforms
Recommended for reaching people who are already searching for what you offer, with several reporting returns on small budgets. Common caveat: bot clicks and wasted spend.
Recommended for reaching people who are already searching for what you offer, with several reporting returns on small budgets. Common caveat: bot clicks and wasted spend.
169 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 144
- approval share
- 15%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 16 years
Median of the 10 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 25 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reaches people already searching
“Their search monopoly just means it's the best place for ads on a limited budget.”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “Ask HN: How do you do marketing in the age of slop?” “Someone searches for what you offer and they see your ad.”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Google is dead. Where do we go now?” Good returns for small advertisers
“that's how I've been using Google Ads succesfully without wasting money”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots” “they work relatively well for our property leasing office”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots” “money in vs money out is working very nicely for us”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots” - Comment from 21 May 2026 in “"Don't Be Evil" Was a Lie from the Start (2024)”
Strong return on investment
“surprisingly effective, and much more cost-effective than FB for what they do”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Miasma: A tool to trap AI web scrapers in an endless poison pit” “who have seen not even a blip and make money hand over fist”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Google is dead. Where do we go now?” “The best ROI is generally google/meta”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “The A in AGI Stands for Ads” Still works for many advertisers
“there may still be people who can win with google ads”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Meta poised to surpass Google in digital ad revenue for first time” “I thought Google ads still worked fine”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Google is dead. Where do we go now?” “Google worked well for those.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Google is dead. Where do we go now?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Bot traffic and fake clicks
“An AdWords campaign worth its salt is going to cost a lot more money than some local advertising, and with plenty of bot fraud to boot.”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Anthropic to receive high 'junk' rating from credit agencies following IPO” “bots, or users who just (mis)clicked the ad and never did any action on my website, were counted as paid clicks in Google Ads”
Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Detecting scraper bots through scroll behaviour” “Except then they just don't run your ads unless you're willing to pay silly amounts like $3 per click for bot traffic.”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots” - Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots”
Complicated and hard to win
“Google Ads' admin console is basically a dark pattern app built to consume your advertising budget with no effect.”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Leak confirms OpenAI is preparing ads on ChatGPT for public roll out” “The AdWords platform is extremely complicated nowadays, and try as I might I can't get any impressions from it.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Google is dead. Where do we go now?” “Competition for Google AdWords is so strong that unsophisticated advertisers can no longer get a good return”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Google is dead. Where do we go now?” Poor support and no refunds
“It is absolutely ridiculous that you have been either victim shamed, blamed or simply neglected by Google into doing it yourself.”
Comment from 11 Sep 2026 in “I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots” “Even if you spend a crazy amount of money with them for advertising they will try to gaslight you if they make a mistake.”
Comment from 30 Apr 2026 in “HERMES.md: Anthropic bug causes $200 extra charge, refuses refund” “Google offers no refunds nor any recourse for overspend or spend on keywords you explicitly did not target”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Alphabet's cash burn raises alarm for Big Tech as AI spending climbs” Scam and malicious ads get through
“Google has let 2000 of these ads through without catching them and that they have not removed them after reports from weeks ago”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “EvilAI Operators Use AI-Generated Code and Fake Apps for Far-Reaching Attacks” “getting burned by a scam Google advertised to me just pushed me to cutting Google out of my life completely”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads”
Other advertising platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other advertising platforms, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google AdsThis page | 25 | 144 | 15% | 11 | 16 yrs10 owners | — |
| Meta Ads | 14 | 28 | 33% | 6 | — | — |
| Instagram ads | 12 | 4 | 75% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Google AdSense | 11 | 47 | 19% | 6 | 20 yrs6 owners | — |
| Facebook Ads | 7 | 23 | 23% | 5 | 10 yrs3 owners | — |
What people said
40 of the 188 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“An AdWords campaign worth its salt is going to cost a lot more money than some local advertising, and with plenty of bot fraud to boot.”
“Google, I hear, is very very good at Ads”
“you can get Google Ad Grants and get traffic via free Google Ads”
“I get calls and emails every single day from Google which I block or ignore because I helped a friend with their Google Ads account.”
“you usually get to have a dedicated, on-call support agent directly from Google”
“Around 80% of the installs just opened the app and closed it after few seconds without performing a single action”
“money in vs money out is working very nicely for us”
“It is absolutely ridiculous that you have been either victim shamed, blamed or simply neglected by Google into doing it yourself.”
“Except then they just don't run your ads unless you're willing to pay silly amounts like $3 per click for bot traffic.”
“Buys Google Ads to drive traffic to the app.”
“they work relatively well for our property leasing office”
“that's how I've been using Google Ads succesfully without wasting money”
“getting burned by a scam Google advertised to me just pushed me to cutting Google out of my life completely”
“bots, or users who just (mis)clicked the ad and never did any action on my website, were counted as paid clicks in Google Ads”
“People click on irrelevant ads. It doesn't cost them anything.”
“their core revenue driver (Google Ads) is very broken too. I'm trying to run some ads, but for a week they haven't been showing”
“Google offers no refunds nor any recourse for overspend or spend on keywords you explicitly did not target”
“Their search monopoly just means it's the best place for ads on a limited budget.”
“Pretty sure it returned more than it cost.”
“Even if you spend a crazy amount of money with them for advertising they will try to gaslight you if they make a mistake.”
“there may still be people who can win with google ads”
“Google ads can get results in a few weeks”
“surprisingly effective, and much more cost-effective than FB for what they do”
“you should try Google ads, and maybe a couple of linkedin campaigns”
“Google accumulated untold riches from those primitive ads yet they and Meta have tightened the screw a little bit more in each passing year.”
“I am never going to return the investment per conversion”
“The best ROI is generally google/meta”
“The AdWords platform is extremely complicated nowadays, and try as I might I can't get any impressions from it.”
“Google worked well for those.”
“who have seen not even a blip and make money hand over fist”
“I thought Google ads still worked fine”
“Competition for Google AdWords is so strong that unsophisticated advertisers can no longer get a good return”
“Google ads revenue in the US continues to grow every quarter.”
“all the ads suddenly became "adaptive" - meaning that they started to produce funky texts trying to lure the unassuming viewers”
“Someone searches for what you offer and they see your ad.”
“Google has let 2000 of these ads through without catching them and that they have not removed them after reports from weeks ago”
“Google Ads' admin console is basically a dark pattern app built to consume your advertising budget with no effect.”
“Countless studies have shown how to extract personally identifiable information from Google's monetization platform by giving them money.”
“Google Ads is the enabler of free internet.”
“use the $99 on Google Adwords to promote your app”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.