What is the name of Google's flagship advertising platform?

Google's flagship advertising platform is Google Ads. It is an online advertising system in which businesses create campaigns and bid for opportunities to show ads to potential customers.

Google Ads began on October 23, 2000, as Google AdWords. The original service focused on text ads displayed alongside Google Search results, but it later expanded to include display advertising, shopping listings, app promotion, and video campaigns on YouTube. Advertisers can target audiences by factors such as search terms, location, language, device, interests, and previous interactions.

Google renamed AdWords to Google Ads in 2018. The change reflected how much the platform had grown beyond keyword-based search advertising. Its auctions consider both the advertiser’s bid and factors such as ad relevance and landing-page experience, so the highest bid does not automatically guarantee the top position.

A common mix-up is confusing Google Ads with Google AdSense. Google Ads is primarily for advertisers buying promotion, while AdSense helps publishers earn money by displaying ads on their websites. DoubleClick was also an important Google advertising brand, but Google retired that name in 2018 as part of its broader rebranding.