Despite the recent news of boycotts, most businesses use Google and Facebook for their online advertising needs. And for a good reason. Google rakes in 3.5 billion searches a day. Facebook metrics aren’t far behind with an estimated 2.32 billion active users. With such a sizable potential reach, these are attractive options for most businesses, including your competitors.
The ad duopoly isn’t going anywhere soon. But for businesses that looking to experiment to find lower CPAs or opportunities to reach new audiences on mediums like SMS, video and audio, there are plenty of Google and Facebook alternatives.Â
Image credit: Statista
In this blog post, I’ll give you an overview of 21 excellent alternatives to Google and Facebook ads. I’m not going to cover Instagram or YouTube, since they are both owned by Facebook and Google (respectively).Â
Before we dive into the list, please note: putting all of your advertising eggs in a new basket probably isn’t wise. I recommend testing new channels while continuing to optimize your main channels.
In the same breath, if you find the honey hole, double down. The cost of ads on Google and Facebook continues to increase while impressions have gone down. You’re not going to find a better cost than today.Â
Skip Ahead:Â Â
- Search
- Social Media
- Online Forums and Communities
- eCommerce
- Retargeting
- Banner/Display AdsÂ
- Maps
- Streaming and Connected TV
- Other Ad Platforms
Best Google Alternative Search Ad NetworksÂ
SearchÂ
MicrosoftÂ
Formerly Bing Ads, Microsoft Advertising is one network you probably haven’t considered. Besides Bing, Microsoft Advertising includes the search inventory of AOL and Yahoo. Although AOL, Bing, and Yahoo don’t garner the same attention as Google, they still have a loyal fanbase that reaches millions.Â
Image credit: Microsoft
Yahoo (Gemini Ads or Verizon)
Yahoo (now Verizon, see more here) is the sixth most popular website globally and an attractive option for advertisers. With Yahoo, you can reach over 1 billion active users a month and target them based on age, location, and other demographic factors. Yahoo offers native and video ads across both web and mobile devices.
Image credit: Verizon
YandexÂ
Yandex, known as the biggest search engine in Russia, now has an English version (yandex.com). It reaches over 34 million users regardless of the type of device they are using — from laptops to desktops and every in-between. Yandex offers text and image ads, image ads, and video ads that fit most business needs.Â
Image credit: Yandex
BaiduÂ
Baidu is ideal for targeting Chinese customers. This search engine makes up 78% of the search engine market share in China. Baidu offers advertisers more options than just paid search, with in-feed ads and display ads being two other popular advertising options on Baidu.
The four most common ways to advertise using Baidu include:
- Baidu Tuiguang: a pay-per-click advertising platform which is similar to Adsense or Google Adwords.
- Pay for placement (P4P): allows you to bid on keywords to have your business website displayed prominently on the search engine results page.
- ProTheme: available to Baidu Union members and allows the display of promotional links on specific web pages
- Baidu TV: gives advertisers access to Baidu Union members’ websites.
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Image credit: Digiday
Best Facebook Ad Alternative Social MediaÂ
LinkedIn is the premier platform if you want to generate B2B leads. Nearly 610 million professionals use LinkedIn, and 80% of them are key decision-makers. LinkedIn offers excellent business targeting options, including targeting specific job titles and targeting using ABM (Account-Based Marketing) focused on specific businesses.
There are three ad types on LinkedIn to fit your unique ad campaign needs:Â
- Sponsored Content appears in your newsfeed, similar to what you’d see in Facebook ads.Â
- Sponsored InMail is where you pay to send a direct message to key decision-makers. This is LinkedIn’s version of email marketing.Â
- Text Ads are simple display ads that show above and to the right of the news feed.
Sponsored messaging on LinkedIn. Image credit: LinkedIn
Even with a smaller budget, you can attract substantial traffic and get a good return on investment (ROI) on Twitter.Â
Twitter ads help you achieve these three main goals:
- Grow your Twitter following
- Drive traffic and conversions to your website
- Generate leads
Promoted tweets. Image credit: Twitter
Snapchat
Snapchat is ranked as the sixth most popular social media platform in the world. If your target audience includes Generation Z and Millennials, Snapchat is the perfect channel to reach them alternative from Facebook and Instagram.
The three main ways to advertise on Snapchat include:Â
- Creating branded lensesÂ
- Having your own branded filter.
- Having full-screen video Snap Ads
Image credit: Snapchat
Advertising on Snapchat can help you drive traffic to your website, increase app installations and drive views for long-form video content
TikTok
TikTok is probably the most talked about media platform where users share short-form videos. The social media site brings in 1.5 billion users worldwide, 60% of whom belong to Generation Z. TikTok’s advertising platform reaches people in more than 20 markets around the world. The platform lets you create ads in various formats, targeted to specific audiences.Â
Image credit: TikTok
A word of caution before you dive in. It has been reported that US citizen data has been accessed Chinese government. FCC commissioners and US lawmakers have called for further investigations.Â
Pinterest is a social media site where users can ‘pin’ their favorite images across the web. Nearly 55% of Pinterest users say the platform influences their shopping decisions.Â
Image credit: ClickZ
Ninety-eight percent of Pinterest users say they’ve tried new things they found on Pinterest, versus 71 percent on other social media platforms.
Online Forums and CommunitiesÂ
RedditÂ
Reddit is a forum-based website with an engaging community of users of different interests. This forum has more than 330 million monthly active users, mostly within the millennial and Gen-Z age groups, and primarily male.Â
Advertising strategies include:
Brands can contribute to discussions or start subreddits.
- Paid options include sponsored posts that show up higher on threads, subreddits, or feeds of targeted users.
- Another paid option is native ads that will show up on Reddit feeds or on Reddit’s sidebar.
Sponsored post on Reddit. Image credit: Reddit
Reddit users (called Redditors) are notoriously against marketing. That being said, here are some critical tips before advertising on this platform:
- Strive to build a genuine connection with users by sharing content that helps the community.Â
- Always avoid being spammy.Â
- Read all community guidelines before posting and sharing content. Â
QuoraÂ
Quora is a unique, high-intent platform you can use to target customers while customers are in the research stage of making a purchase decision.Â
With Quora Ads, you can target customers based on the content they read on Quora (contextual targeting), or you can target people based on their shopping behaviors (behavioral targeting). Make sure your ads and promotional activities on Quora provide real value to the readers.
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Image credit: Quora
eCommerce
Walmart
Walmart’s online platform has 100 million monthly shoppers. Walmart Marketplace offers several advertising options to qualifying sellers. This way, you can create ads that appear when users browse relevant categories and search results.
Image credit: Walmart
AmazonÂ
Amazon made up 43% of all online purchases in the US in 2016. By October 2021, Amazon accounted for 41% of the eCommerce market, making it the leading online retailer in the country.
Amazon’s ad products include sponsored products, sponsored brands, and multi-page stores. On the Amazon DSP (demand-side platform), you can experiment with display ads, video ads, custom ads, and ads.
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Sponsored brands on Amazon. Image credit: Amazon
RetargetingÂ
SharpSpring Ads (Perfect Audience)
Formerly Perfect Audience, SharpSpring Ads is another retargeting solution for Facebook, Twitter, and web display ads. It works by targeting the most recent visitors to your site, who are highly likely to convert.Â
You can try SharpSpring Ads for free for two weeks and receive a $100 credit to cover your costs.
Retargeting types. Image credit: SharpSpring Ads
AdRollÂ
Adroll is a widely used retargeting platform that reaches audiences on Google, Facebook, Instagram, and 500+ leading networks and exchanges. According to Adroll, their clients get nearly 5xs the return on their ad spends.
Adroll’s additional services include prospecting (programmatic display), email retargeting, and AdRoll Video Ads. Video ads can be used for retargeting and prospecting campaigns and can be served in-stream and out-stream.
Image credit: AdRoll
Banner Ads
BuySellAds.com
BuySellAds.com is one of the largest alternative to Google networks you can use to promote your banner ads effectively. It caters to over 4,500 advertisers using native, display, email, and sponsored content placements. The platform is ideal for targeting internet and tech niches.
Image credit: BuySellAds
Maps
Waze
A relatively new ad format is local advertising on maps. The most prominent is Waze (owned by Google).
Their ad platform is super simple to navigate and affordable for businesses of all sizes looking for alternatives to Google.
For example, Waze estimates if a business spends $2/day they’d be able to reach 30,000 drivers.
Ad Formats
1. Pin Ads: Add a pin of your business on the driver’s GPS route.
2. Search: Bid on businesses like yours to show up in the search bar first.
3. Takeover: Essentially a digital billboard ad on their GPS while they’re at a complete stop. Imagine the possibilities here!
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Image credit: Waze
Streaming and Connected TV Ads (CTV Ads)
If you haven’t thought much about video and TV advertising outside of YouTube, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Today you can target users across different streaming platforms and networks.
Using a Connected TV ad platform like Vibe, you are able to build an ad campaign in a similar setup as Facebook. Reach viewers based on socio-demographic characteristics, interests, and intent-to-buy.
And/Or target platforms and channels – from Hulu to live sports.
If you have a list over 10,000 contacts, you can match the audience across channels.
Take it a step further by installing their pixel, so you can track site activity and begin tying your spend to results. Expect a CPM of $15-$35 with a minimum $500 spend.
Other Ad Channel AlternativesÂ
Podcast Ads (Podcorn)
There are more than 700,000 podcasters, but just 15% are monetizing their content. Podcorn allows advertisers to create ad campaigns based on budget, ad creative and podcasts that align with their brand. Podcorn gives brands the ability to run native podcast ad campaigns at scale.
Image credit: Podcorn
Programmatic or Dedicated Email Newsletter Sponsorships (Paved)
Paved is an email newsletter ad unit that connects publishers to advertisers without having to go through an affiliate network. This is one of my favorite discoveries. It allows you to target your audience by company size, job title, industry and more through their marketplace.Â
Ad Types:
- Sponsored Email: Your content appears with regular newsletter content
- Dedicated Email: An email that exclusively contains ad contentÂ
- Sponsored Content: A blog post that offers standalone valueÂ
Image credit: Paved
Quantcast Â
This platform is known for delivering AI-driven audience insights. Quantcast looks at users’ behavior across websites to build unique profiles. The program traces over 100 million online interactions, including website, video, widgets, blogs, and advertising campaigns.
With the free data and audience insights tool, Quantcast Measure, you can build your strategy, understand your audience’s behaviors and personas, and learn about competitor audiences.
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Image credit: Quantcast
Navigating Ad Alternatives
While I gave you a quick overview of 19 significant ad network alternatives, you must do a bit more research on each.Â
Pay attention to the platforms that your ideal client will actually be on. Then, determine what ads are most interesting to them. Be sure to set the right goals for each network and ad unit. Using this information, you should be able to create the best media mix for your omnichannel strategy.
Conclusion and Closing Thoughts
The digital advertising world is larger than you think, and I’ve barely scratched the surface! You know digital ads channels aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Be sure to do your own research into the best advertising for your business objectives.
To wrap up, 20 alternatives to Google and Facebook ads include:
- MicrosoftÂ
- Yahoo
- Yandex
- Baidu
- Snapchat
- TikTok
- Quora
- WalmartÂ
- Amazon
- SharpSpring Ads
- AdrollÂ
- BuySellAds.com
- Waze
- Podcorn
- Paved
- Quantcast
By integrating more channels into your online advertising strategy, you will reach a larger audience, gain more sales over time, and have touch points across different networks on the web. Alternative ad networks build your reach on search engines, app stores, marketplaces, display, social media, and more.
