How does Google's AdWords system enable small-budget advertisers (long-tail) to precisely target their ads?

Sure, here is the translation in Markdown format, adhering strictly to your requirements:

Google's AdWords system is like giving small businesses a "precision sniper rifle"

Imagine back before Google Ads, you opened a small shop selling, say, "scissors for left-handed people." How would you advertise?

Hand out flyers? Maybe only a few people out of a thousand are left-handed; the rest of the flyers were wasted.
Place an ad in the newspaper or on TV? Too expensive, your small shop couldn't afford it, and the vast majority of TV viewers weren't your target customers either.

These traditional ads were like using a "shotgun" to hit a mosquito – reliant on luck, high cost, low effectiveness.

Google's AdWords (now called Google Ads) system completely changed the rules of the game. It doesn't make advertisers "find" customers; it makes customers actively "come to you." It relies primarily on the following key tools, allowing advertisers with small budgets to thrive.

Tool 1: Keywords - You aren't finding customers; customers are finding you

This is the cornerstone and the most ingenious part of the system.

Your ads aren't forced on people. They only appear when users search for specific "keywords."

For example: You sell "scissors specially for left-handed people." Your ad will only "pop up" in front of a user when they search Google for terms like "left-handed scissors recommendations" or "where to buy left-handed scissors."

This means that every person who sees your ad is a "precise potential customer" with a clear need. You don't waste a single cent on people uninterested in your product. It transforms "searching for a needle in a haystack" into "quality leads come willingly."

For niche, long-tail businesses, this is a blessing. For instance, if you sell "C# programming introductory online courses" or "weekend pottery classes in Hangzhou," you only need to target those searching for those exact keywords.

Tool 2: Auction Mechanism + Quality Score - It's not just about money

You might think, "If a big company and I both want to compete for the keyword 'scissors,' my small budget couldn't possibly beat theirs, right?"

Google thought of that too. So, it didn't design a simple "highest bidder wins" system. It introduced a crucial concept: Quality Score.

You can simply understand it as: Ad Rank ≈ Your Bid × Your Quality Score

Bid: How much you are willing to pay per click.
Quality Score: A comprehensive score (1-10) that Google gives your ad, keywords, and landing page. A higher score means your ad experience is better.

Quality Score primarily considers three things:

Is the ad appealing? (Expected Click-Through Rate): How well-written is your ad copy? Does it entice users to click?
Is the ad relevant to the search? (Ad Relevance): A user searches for "left-handed scissors," and your ad headline is "Ergonomic Scissors Designed for Left-Handed Users" – high relevance. If your ad says "All kinds of stationery, everything!" – low relevance.
Is the landing page experience good after clicking the ad? (Landing Page Experience): The user clicks through; does your page load instantly? Can they immediately see the left-handed scissors they were looking for? If the page is slow or the content is chaotic, the experience is poor.

This means, even if your bid (e.g., $0.50) is lower than a big company's (e.g., $1.00), if your Quality Score (e.g., 9) is much higher than theirs (e.g., 3), your ad rank could still be above theirs!

You: $0.50 × 9 = 4.5

Big Company: $1.00 × 3 = 3.0

See? You win. Google does this to ensure a good user experience; it wants users to find the most relevant results for their search, not just whoever pays the most.

This mechanism protects small advertisers who focus on good content and products, giving them a chance to compete with large corporations on the same stage.

Tool 3: Self-Service + Flexible Budgets - Extremely Low Barrier to Entry

Traditional advertising often has starting budgets of tens or hundreds of thousands. With Google Ads, the spend is completely "up to you."

Self-Service: You don't need an ad agency; register your own account and follow the prompts to create ads.
Set Daily Budgets: You can set a daily spending cap, e.g., "I will only spend $50 today." Ads stop when the budget runs out – absolutely no overspending. You can start advertising even if you only spend the equivalent of a cup of coffee per day.
Pay-Per-Click: You only pay when a user is genuinely interested and clicks your ad. Showing your ad is completely free.

This flexibility allows the smallest mom-and-pop corner stores or self-employed individuals to participate without any pressure.

Tool 4: Precise Targeting by Location, Time, Device, etc. - Make Every Penny Count

Beyond keywords, Google provides other targeting tools like a "GPS locator."

Location: You own a pizza shop in Shanghai? Set your ads to show only to people "within a 3-kilometer radius." Someone in Beijing searching for "pizza" will definitely not see your ad.
Time: Your pizza shop only delivers for lunch and dinner? Set your ads to show only during the "11 AM - 1 PM" and "5 PM - 8 PM" timeslots.
Device: You notice your customers mainly order via mobile? Set your ads to show primarily on mobile devices.

Combining these tools takes ad precision to another level, avoiding any unnecessary waste.

To summarize: Perfect Implementation of the Long Tail Theory

The "Long Tail Theory" simply states that the vast number of small, niche demands (the tail) can collectively form a larger market than the mainstream, popular demands (the head).

"Left-handed scissors" and "handmade leather crafting workshops" are classic long tail demands. In the past, it was hard for these small businesses to survive because they couldn't find customers.

Google's AdWords system is precisely the tool for serving the "Long Tail." Through the combination of "Keywords + Auction Mechanism + Low Barrier to Entry + Precise Targeting," it enables any niche business, regardless of budget size, to use minimal cost to find exactly those people around the world actively looking for them – like a sniper takes precise aim.

It doesn't force small businesses to compete with giants for hot markets like "sports shoes." Instead, it helps them securely occupy neglected but genuinely needed niche spaces like "large-size hiking boots" or "corrective shoes for children." This is its greatest value to budget-conscious advertisers.