Google Ads is Google’s advertising platform that allows businesses to display ads across Google Search, YouTube, partner websites, and mobile apps, paying only when someone takes a specific action like clicking the ad (Pay-Per-Click). Unlike organic search results, ads appear based on an auction that happens in real-time every time someone searches or visits a page eligible for ads. This lesson covers the basic concept of how ads are triggered, matched to relevant searches or audiences, and displayed — laying the foundation for everything else in the course.