Google is a mainstay of the modern digital landscape. More than a search engine, Google offers countless tools from the world’s most popular web browser to its new generative AI assistant Bard. Savvy marketers understand that Google can be a powerful instrument for organizations to increase visibility and empower their marketing tactics. Paid tools such as Google Ads or Domains offer opportunities for brands looking to amplify their messaging. And it doesn’t stop there with the many free Google tools that marketers can take advantage of as well.
11 Free Google Tools Every Marketer Can Adopt
By harnessing these free Google tools effectively, brands can amplify their marketing efforts, connect meaningfully with target audiences and thrive in the dynamic world of digital marketing. Here are 11 free Google tools that every marketer can leverage in their marketing efforts.
1. Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile lets businesses create a free business profile connected to Google’s search engine and Maps. Companies can add core business information such as contact information, hours and services, but the platform can also be leveraged to share news, valuable resources, photos or videos, such as a short explainer video. Your business profile also allows public reviews and a Q&A option to interact with customers and prospects. Leverage the insights provided by your Google Business Profile to understand how users found you and the actions they took.
2. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a top tool for measuring website performance. It collects data via a JavaScript measurement code added to each page on your site to track how visitors interact with the page. From there, Google Analytics can generate custom reports about this information with specifics about user behavior, number of visitors, page views, bounce rate or average visit duration.
3. Google Alerts
Google Alerts lets marketers monitor the web for specific keywords or information by setting up an alert about new content. These specified alerts can be a helpful social listening tool for mentions of your brand, but also offer an automated way to maintain a pulse on the market by tracking keywords related to your industry, network and competition.
4. Google Merchant Center
Google Merchant Center is a valuable tool for businesses to list their products on Google Shop—a shop function built into Google Search, Maps, YouTube, the Google Shopping tab and Google Images. This is an excellent tool for promoting products to new audiences and is especially relevant for B2C and local companies. That said, marketers can still leverage it in B2B industries to set products and services apart from other results. To get the most out of Google Merchant Center, be sure to follow these specific practices for B2B companies.
5. Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a helpful tool for establishing, monitoring and maintaining your website’s presence in Google Search. When setting up a new site or page, it’s especially important to use Google Search Console to ensure that Google’s search crawler can find, crawl and index your site. If it cannot, your website will never appear in Google Search regardless of the keywords you use. Google Search Console can help troubleshoot any issues and give the option to request re-indexing after a problem has been resolved. It also offers Google Search Console Insights, a form of site analytics tailored to content creators and publishers that offers details about how users discover your content and how content is performing.
6. Google Search Central
Google Search Central is a valuable resource that offers suggestions of ways to improve your website’s SEO. On top of customized recommendations, there are blogs, updated guides and an active community of practitioners for keeping up with the latest best practices in searches.
7. Structured Data Markup Tester
Structured Data Markup Tester is a developer tool that can be used for websites or email marketing to help Google understand content better and faster. This tool can help define the type of content in search or provide actions or tags for users that use Gmail or the Google suite. For example, if your website includes articles, events, book reviews, products or a Q&A page, this tool helps you define that content in Google so it appears with a correct label or tag. It can also integrate the content with actions users take with Google, such as highlighting key information in search so the user is brought directly to that entry or automatically integrating appointments, deliveries, reservations or signups with the user’s Gmail or Google Calendar.
8. Mobile-friendly Test
Mobile-friendly Test is a tool that lives up to its name and helps you test the URL of your website in real-time to determine whether it is usable on mobile. If not, it can help troubleshoot how to fix it. Mobile devices account for over half of web traffic worldwide, so it’s important not to skip this step when developing or updating your website pages.
9. Google Certifications
Google Certifications offer a wide range of professional certificates in high-demand skills, including Google Ad Search and Analytics, or broader learning opportunities such as UX design, digital marketing and SEO. While some certifications involve a fee, many options are free and provide vital knowledge for marketers looking to build their skills and drive progress for their organization.
10. Google Trends
Google Trends allows marketers to search a keyword and see how it has trended over a particular stretch of time. It can also show you what searches are trending on certain days or in real-time. This is a valuable tool for keeping track of industry trends, news and buyer behavior, or to track brand recognition. Use this tool to maximize marketing messaging and stay on top of needs, interests and challenges of target markets.
11. YouTube
YouTube is powered by Google and has over 7 billion active users as of 2023. The site is more than a video hosting platform, with free tools, editing resources and community engagement opportunities. Videos on YouTube are especially easy to integrate into websites, emails and other media and can be a powerful tool for video marketing.
Leverage a Digital Powerhouse
Google’s mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” This mission aligns perfectly with the goals of any marketer. To accomplish this mission, Google empowers people and organizations with the tools, resources and knowledge necessary to make their websites and content reach the people who need it most. By taking advantage of the free tools Google offers, marketers can maximize their efforts founded on a mighty source.
