Quick question…
Do you consider yourself a digital marketing professional?
Or do you own and operate a business that thrives on online marketing channels?
If you’re any of these, regardless of how much experience you have, regardless of the results that you’ve achieved in the past, you should know that there are a bunch of ways to boost your performance.
Social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), marketing automation, analytics, customer relations management (CRM), etc., all of these are good for your marketing and can have a big impact on your volume.
But, what if you had a company that provided tools for each of these and more channels all at no cost? I mean for FREE?
Amazing, right?
That’s what Google does for you and your business.
Love them or hate them, asides being the largest and most widely used search engine in the world, Google free tools cannot be ignored in the online marketing space.
While Google has come under immense criticism lately for their products overlap and other areas, the company has undoubtedly made marketers smile to the bank, most times, at no cost.
Google offers a lot of free tools to use with the convenience of being able to access them with one login.
Marketers, in particular, should take advantage of these tools to get more out of their search engine and social media marketing experience.
I personally love Google tools because, of course, they are free and functional for starters, basically come with no ads, and they help me get my marketing jobs done.
In our digital marketing training, for instance, we advise our students to start off using Google Chrome as their web browser among an array of free Google tools.
We also teach them how to use some of the tools in our Digital Marketing Tool Lab, and a few unpublished ones in our in-house toolbox to start, scale and grow their businesses.
The results?
Phenomenal!
However, in this post, I am only going to share with you 20 of the free Google tools that can give your business marketing a boost from starter to upgrade.
If you want a more comprehensive and premium compilation of Google tools (and many other platforms) that you can learn how to use, then you should register to attend our next digital marketing training to get inside scoop on all tools gist.
Click here to secure your limited seat.
Have you done that? Great!
Next, let’s get you started on some of the basic and free Google marketing tools for your business.
Free Google Marketing Tool #1: Google My Business
Formerly known as Google Places, Google My Business is a tool that every marketer should be using for their company and their clients.
What is Google My Business?
Google My Business is a free Google business tool that lets you list your local business easily. It’s a great way to build your web presence, increase brand identity and legitimacy and obviously generate more website traffic and leads.
Trust me, the traffic and lead generation potentials of Google My Business are out of this world.
Over 100 Billion searches are performed on Google every month. So, if your business is not discoverable on Google, you are definitely losing out on a huge business opportunity.
Fortunately, Google makes it easy for small business to list their business on Google products such as Maps, Google+ and on search engine.
Sign up your business for free, create a page, and your business information will look like ours below and will also be featured in local search results.
You’ll get your business on Google Maps and in search results for free, based on your location.
Signing up for Google My Business will also create a Google+ page for your business.
Click here to sign up for a Google My Business Account today.
Free Google Marketing Tool #2: Google AdSense
Ever created a niche website for linking purposes, affiliate marketing, content development, or another reason that never panned out?
If the website gets even a moderate amount of traffic, and you have no other use for it for the time being, why not earn a little income off of it using Google AdSense?
If you already own and manage a YouTube channel, don’t forget Google Adsense.
AdSense is the perfect tool for marketers who manage and create content for a growing internet property, but don’t know how to make money off of it.
If you apply to YouTube’s Partner Program and host ads on your videos, you’re actually required to have an AdSense account.
The tool connects your web property (website and co) with a network of advertisers who are looking to host ads on channels that appeal to their audience.
By simply placing some ad code in the header, content, and sidebar of the website, you can earn some passive income. The amount you earn will depend entirely on the topic of the website and the number of visitors it receives.
So, if you manage a blog, website, or video channel that matches the audience of an active advertiser, AdSense will place their ad on your property, bill the advertiser, and pay you for hosting it.
Click here to start earning for FREE on Google AdSense
Free Google Marketing Tool #3: Google For Retail 
I’m sure you haven’t heard about Google Retail yet. Well, lucky you today.
For a small business, it can be intimidating trying to compete with larger companies. Since your brand isn’t as recognizable as others, it can be easy to get lost.
That’s why Google is furthering its efforts to help small businesses attract new customers online with the launch of Google for Retail.
Google for Retail is essentially a resource center to help businesses make the most of Google’s retail tools. Google for Retail can help business owners learn how to upload their advertising inventory.
It can help them manage their products, advertise local inventory and become a trusted Google store. It can help them effectively use Google AdSense and more.
The new hub is a place to find other Google products like Google Shopping. It’s a comprehensive way to create campaigns for your products and services both on Google and across the Web. That’s a way to help your customers find you easily.
Click here to grow your business with Google for Retail
Free Google Marketing Tool #4: Google AdWords Keyword Planner
Need keyword ideas for your search engine marketing campaign or paid search advertising?
Try the Google AdWords Keyword Tool.
When you enter a term that offers a wide range of ideas, like SEO, you will get groupings of keyword ideas that you can dig deeper into.
While the total of the global searches is not always spot on, it can give you an idea of whether one keyword is more or less popular than another.
You can also see an approximate cost per click (CPC) amount if you were trying to target the keyword and run an advert using Google AdWords, which leads us to the next free Google tool.
Click here to start getting high traffic keywords
Free Google Marketing Tool #5: Google AdWords
If you’re not getting good enough traction with organic search traffic, then you might want to consider a paid search campaign using Google AdWords.
By bidding for the right keywords, you can gain a considerable amount of qualified traffic where the conversions will meet or exceed the value you pay for your ads.
Be sure to use advanced targeting options for location, mobile or desktop browsers, and other criteria to get the target audience you want.
Click here to start running your ads on Google
Free Google Marketing Tool #6: Google Analytics
Google Analytics is probably one of the most powerful Google tools that you can use as a marketer. You can learn so much about your website’s visitors including, but not limited to, the following:
- Demographics – Learn more about your audience, including their location and language.
- Social Engagement – See what social networks visitors come from and how they interact with your website’s social plugins (custom coding must be implemented).
- Technology Used – Find out what browsers, operating systems, and networks your visitors are using to view your website.
- Mobile Information – Curious if you need a mobile website? Find out how many of your visitors are using mobile technology.
- Traffic Sources – Analyze what websites, keywords, search engines, and other referrers send traffic to your website.
- Top Content – Get a handle on how effective your content is by seeing your top entry and exit pages.
- What Leads to Conversions – Set up goals in Google Analytics to find out which visitors complete conversions such as purchasing a product or signing up for a mailing list.
So really, there is no excuse for not using this powerful and, best of all, free tool on your website.
Click here to start analyzing your website
Free Google Marketing Tool #7: Google Search Console
Previously called Google Webmaster, Search Console is very effective for monitoring your search traffic and other SEO metrics.
Similar in many ways to Google Analytics, the time you spend with this free tool is never a waste. There’s so much to learn from the Google Search Console. You could soon find yourself spending hours combing through data.
In addition to reviewing the overall health of your site, there are several other things that you can do with this tool.
For example, Search Analytics allows you to quickly analyze your performance on Google Search.
Click here to become a Google webmaster
Free Google Marketing Tool #8: Think With Google
Think With Google is a nice place where you can get industry insights, useful articles, research documents, case studies, various infographics and interviews of industry leaders.
This site is updated constantly with loads of useful content that you can use to grow your business.
It also has a collection of creative ad campaigns you can draw inspiration from.
Free Google Marketing Tool #9: Google Suite
If you collaborate with other team members or need to work while mobile, Google Suite is your answer to Microsoft’s Office Suite.
It includes:
- Docs for Word documents
- Sheets for Excel spreadsheets
- Slides for Powerpoint presentations
- Forms for easily collecting simple survey information
- And many more
This set of tools can help you collaborate on data analysis, ebooks, blog posts, and more. Projects are saved automatically and stored on the cloud.
Plus, you can access projects on any device with a quick download of the mobile app.
Free Google Marketing Tool #10: Google Alerts
Want to keep on top of the latest news, mentions of your brand, or other items in Google search?
Then set up your Google Alerts.
When you enter a search query, you will get a sample of the results you would receive and the option to have them delivered regularly to your email inbox or RSS reader.
You can use this to keep up with your competition as well to see where they are getting mentioned or are building profiles.
Click here to start keeping tabs on your business
Free Google Marketing Tool #11: Google Drive
With Google Drive, users get 15 GB of free online storage. This is an excellent option if you collaborate with others.
Share photos, files, PowerPoint presentations, designs, and documents online in real time. This makes collaboration easy and eliminates the headache of sending too-large email attachments.
You can currently store 5GB in Google Drive, 1GB in Picasa, and 10GB in Gmail for free.
Welcome to the Google cloud!
Click here to start storing your large files for free
Free Google Marketing Tool #12: Google Calendar
Want to keep up with important events in your daily schedule?
Then Google Calendar is the answer. You can share your calendar with other users or even to the public and embed it onto your website.
You can even set reminder alerts to be sent as a popup when you’re logged in to your Google account or via email.
Use it to keep track of guest posting opportunities, Twitter chats, advertising expiration dates, editorial calendars, and much, much more.
Free Google Marketing Tool #13: Google DoubleClick Ad Planner
Need some quick traffic or demographic information for a website?
Get it using Google DoubleClick Ad Planner. The larger the website, the more information you will be able to find about it including the average visitor’s age, gender, education, household income, other sites visited, interests, and keywords searched for.
Free Google Marketing Tool #14: Google Trends
Every business needs to evolve with the changing times.
You need to determine what kind of marketing language and descriptive terminology to use for your sales materials, website copy, and search engine optimization.
In addition to the Google Alerts, Google Trends can be a great tool for helping you monitor industry trends.
It enables you to evaluate the popularity of certain terms, compare them against other keyword variations, analyze how their popularity varies over time and in different regions/languages, and shows related keywords, which can be helpful in getting new keyword suggestions.
Free Google Marketing Tool #15: Google Keep
There are numerous tools to manage notes like Evernote and OneNote. However, Google Keep is lightweight and super easy tool that comes handy while managing daily chores.
The best part of Google Keep is its native integration with other Google services. It has a spectacular system for setting reminders that tie directly into other Google services.
For example, you can create a note in Keep and then tell the app to remind you about it at a specific date and time or even when you are at a certain location (say, at a client’s office or the grocery store).
When the appropriate time or place arrives, you’ll get a notification on phone as well as in your Inbox.
Keep your ideas with Google Keep
Free Google Marketing Tool #16: Google Groups
Google Groups is one of Google’s oldest services but still unknown to most people. It is a collaborative space for online discussions around any topic.
Each group has its own email address, and members can share information using this single email address instead of emailing each member separately.
Discussions are threaded and you can join a conversation on Google Groups or via email if you are part of a group’s mailing list.
A Google Group can be a forum, a Q&A website, a customer support center, a knowledge base, a shared platform for all of Google’s tools, and much more.
Any small and big organization can use Google Groups to facilitate communication. You can even embed a group on your website to build up user engagement with your site visitors.
Free Google Marketing Tool #17: Google Resizer
As more and more devices are coming up with different screen sizes, crafting a user experience for a website or app that’s intuitive and powerful is a tricky proposition.
To help Web designers achieve a balance, Google has introduced a useful utility tool called Resizer.
With this tool, designers can test their designs across platforms, and see where the breakpoints are. Rather than hope for the best when designing a Webpage, Resizer shows you — in real time — if the site is responsive for mobile.
Free Google Marketing Tool #18: Google Digital Garage
Digital Garage is a fantastic resource from Google where you get free tutorials on everything from your website to online marketing and beyond.
Choose the topics you want to learn, or complete the whole online course for a certification from Google.
Topics range from building an online presence, improve search engine rankings, using social media, selling online and lot more.
I’m sure, you didn’t know about this hidden gem from Google. Well, now you do.
Free Google Marketing Tool #19: Google Voice
Google Voice allows you to create a phone number to make and receive phone calls and text. You can view your messages in an interface similar to your Gmail.
It’s a good alternative if you don’t want to give out your office or cell phone number for particular contacts!
Another cool little trick with Google Voice is that you can set up a Google Voice number specifically for tracking how effective your phone number placement on your website is.
Every time someone calls in using your Google Voice number, you can count the calls in your Google Voice account. This will allow you to test the size, location and color of your website phone number.
Free Google Marketing Tool #20: Google (Owned) YouTube
Last, but not least, if you want to dominate the video market, then start with Google-owned YouTube.
Google has owned YouTube since 2006, so if you’re looking to dominate the video market, Google can help! Not only will you have access to millions of viewers, but your videos will also show up on Google search results under the video section.
Even if you can’t get your website on the first page of search results through traditional SEO, you might be able to get there with video!
Final thoughts…
Google is awesome and it offers many useful tools to grow your business. Whether you are a developer or a business owner, there is something for you.
Personally, I enjoy every tool developed by Google. Some are more effective and powerful than others, but each one deserves a second look.
The best thing is that not only are they free, but they are also popular for their functionality.
To get the best functionality and efficiency out of these tools, then your best bet would be to register for our upcoming digital marketing training, where you will have access to many other SEO, email marketing, content marketing, marketing automation, social media marketing, and many more tools.
Ready?
Click here to secure a limited seat
FAQs
What is your favorite tool from Google that is free?
Personally, I find Google Analytics to be one of the most valuable free tools offered by Google. Its robust features and comprehensive analytics capabilities make it indispensable for understanding website performance and user engagement.
How much does Google marketing cost?
The cost of Google marketing varies depending on several factors such as the advertising platform (Google Ads, YouTube Ads, etc.), target audience, bidding strategy, and campaign objectives. Google Ads operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, allowing advertisers to set their budget and bid for keywords, with costs determined by factors like competition and ad quality.