Google Ads vs. Smarter Ecommerce (smec)

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is Google’s advertising platform that enables businesses to promote their products, services, or content effectively. Ads appear in Google search results, on YouTube, across the Google Display Network, and on partner websites.

With intelligent keyword targeting and various ad formats, businesses can reach their audience precisely. A key feature is the automated bidding and budget management system, ensuring maximum efficiency and full cost control. Advertisers only pay for actual clicks (CPC), impressions (CPM), or conversions (CPA).

Through detailed reports and AI-driven optimization suggestions, businesses can continuously monitor and improve their ad performance. Google Ads itself is free to use—costs only apply to displayed ads.

Smarter Ecommerce (smec) is a leading PPC software provider and performance marketing agency that helps ecommerce brands achieve better business outcomes through AI-driven optimization of Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising.

The smec platform connects and activates first-party business data - including profit margins, customer lifetime value (CLV), and other key business metrics - to deliver data-informed advertising strategies. Dynamic Segments allow retailers to optimize for business outcomes such as profitability (POAS), average order value (AOV), and revenue growth, maintaining control over business priorities even as advertising platforms become more automated and less transparent.

The platform's predictive AI adjusts Target ROAS and allocates budgets across all campaigns to improve overall performance and increase efficiency in achieving business objectives. Detailed product and campaign insights provide transparency into how automated campaigns perform, helping PPC teams govern AI effectively and see what's happening inside the "black box”.

By automating routine PPC tasks and centralizing management across Google and Microsoft Ads, smec helps retailers with extensive product catalogs maintain agility and efficiency. Teams can focus on strategic oversight, data quality, and profit optimization, while automation manages campaign execution aligned with live business goals.

In addition to its platform, smec delivers full-service agency support across Google, Microsoft, Meta, and programmatic channels, offering full-funnel strategy, data engineering, conversion tracking, and marketing analytics. This combination of technology, data, and expertise positions smec as a trusted partner for scaling ecommerce performance.

Founded in 2007, Smarter Ecommerce is recognized as a Google Premier Partner, was named a Google Ads Impact Award Finalist in 2025 and is a three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year. smec currently manages over €500 Million in annual ad spend, driving more than €5 Billion in ecommerce revenue for over 350 global retail clients, including THG, Snipes, REWE, Decathlon, EMAG and Intersport.