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I run a small software business and I know various other people who run small software businesses. We are all pretty much agreed that that Google Ads have been

I run a small software business and I know various other people who run small software businesses. We are all pretty much agreed that that Google Ads have been less and less profitable, year or year. Most of us have now given up on PPC ads.

aucisson_masque 10mo ago
Agree, ran a business for years and I’ve seen the slow but steady decline of Google ads. Ultimately I relied more on returning customer and mouth to mouth recommendations, kept lowering the Google ads budget.
theshackleford 10mo ago
And equally I know many people running non software businesses whose experience is the complete opposite of yours and Google ads has and continues to drive the majority of their revenue. I expected them to start seeing a hit or significant decline by now, and even told them as such but in what I honestly find surprising, it’s not come to pass.
qingcharles 10mo ago
I've run Google PPC on-and-off for 20+ years. It's definitely way harder to make money with them now, and the complexity is now through the roof, which makes it way harder for a novice to optimize their campaign. I steer small businesses away because it's too easy to screw up and lose your shirt on PPC without professional help.
mchaver 10mo ago
As a small software business, do you have other approaches to ads?
- hermitcrab 10mo ago
  I spend a small amount on Adwords and that is pretty much it. I gave up on Bing PPC. Facebook Ads aren't suitable for my market. Linked Ads ar too expensive. I tried Reddit Ads, but that was a disaster. See also: https://successfulsoftware.net/2025/12/22/is-the-golden-age-of-indie-software-over/ https://successfulsoftware.net/2025/12/22/is-the-golden-age-...
  - Eisenstein 10mo ago
    What about sites like bitsdujour? I get an email with deals from them every so often (that I subscribe to) and have spent money on licenses after finding software that I liked.
    - hermitcrab 10mo ago
      I did bitsdujour a number of times. Each time I got less sales than the previous time, until it wasn't worth bothering. I'm still doing: https://www.artisanalsoftwarefestival.com/ https://www.artisanalsoftwarefestival.com/ (25% off now!)

aucisson_masque 10mo ago

Agree, ran a business for years and I’ve seen the slow but steady decline of Google ads. Ultimately I relied more on returning customer and mouth to mouth recommendations, kept lowering the Google ads budget.

theshackleford 10mo ago

And equally I know many people running non software businesses whose experience is the complete opposite of yours and Google ads has and continues to drive the majority of their revenue. I expected them to start seeing a hit or significant decline by now, and even told them as such but in what I honestly find surprising, it’s not come to pass.

qingcharles 10mo ago

I've run Google PPC on-and-off for 20+ years. It's definitely way harder to make money with them now, and the complexity is now through the roof, which makes it way harder for a novice to optimize their campaign. I steer small businesses away because it's too easy to screw up and lose your shirt on PPC without professional help.

mchaver 10mo ago

As a small software business, do you have other approaches to ads?

hermitcrab 10mo ago
I spend a small amount on Adwords and that is pretty much it. I gave up on Bing PPC. Facebook Ads aren't suitable for my market. Linked Ads ar too expensive. I tried Reddit Ads, but that was a disaster. See also: https://successfulsoftware.net/2025/12/22/is-the-golden-age-of-indie-software-over/ https://successfulsoftware.net/2025/12/22/is-the-golden-age-...
- Eisenstein 10mo ago
  What about sites like bitsdujour? I get an email with deals from them every so often (that I subscribe to) and have spent money on licenses after finding software that I liked.
  - hermitcrab 10mo ago
    I did bitsdujour a number of times. Each time I got less sales than the previous time, until it wasn't worth bothering. I'm still doing: https://www.artisanalsoftwarefestival.com/ https://www.artisanalsoftwarefestival.com/ (25% off now!)