What is PPC? A Quick Guide to Pay-Per-Click Advertising

What is PPC?

Pay-per-click or PPC advertising is an effective online advertising where advertisers pay a fee each time their ads are clicked. PPC advertising is one of the most popular forms of paid media within the digital marketing sphere. Essentially, it provides brands and businesses with the opportunity to gain immediate traffic onto their sites rather than achieving it organically. PPC ads are seen in ad placements across search engine results pages and their networks i.e. other websites like blogs and news sites. They are used to drive traffic to a website, generate leads, and increase sales for companies in almost all B2B and B2C industries like retail stores or e-commerce sites etc. Every time there is an ad spot on a search engine results page (SERP), an instantaneous auction takes place for the keyword. If an advertiser is bidding on keywords that are related to the search query, an auction is triggered, and a combination of multiple factors, including bid amount and the quality of the ad, decides the winner who will appear in the top position. The query is what the user types into the search bar. The keyword is what you want your ad to show up for, so if you're selling a particular product or service, then your keyword should be similar or closely linked. A typical SERP consists of one or more paid listings, followed by organic listings that are relevant to the query. PPC keyword research is finding the most relevant keywords for a given campaign. It also makes up the cornerstone of any successful PPC campaign; choosing the best keywords to bid on that are most likely to result in clicks and conversions is the key to success. Keyword research is part science and part art. It’s about using the repertoire of tools at your disposal but also understanding your customers and predicting which terms they’re actually typing into the search box.

5 Benefits of using PPC?

PPC Powers Your Business Goals

The sheer power of PPC (if done correctly) can help you achieve a vast number of business and marketing goals. These goals range from high-level brand exposure, thought leadership, lead generation or eCommerce sales. PPC is a powerful tool for aligning website traffic drivers to end goals. PPC can support many parts of the sales funnel and the path that your prospects take from awareness to all the way to becoming a customer. Regardless of the identified goals, PPC campaigns can be set up effectively. Granular goals, KPIs and robust, insightful data to report on make it a highly successful channel for many.

PPC Is Measurable & Trackable

A major benefit of PPC advertising run through Google Ads is that it’s easy to measure and track. Simply use the Google Ads tool in combination with Google Analytics. You’ll see high-level performance details, including impressions, clicks, and conversions (based on the defined business goals).

You Only Pay When Someone Clicks Your Ad

With many types of paid advertising, you pay the same amount for your ad spot, no matter how many people see it or contact you because of it. One of the major PPC benefits is that you pay per click. This means you only pay when someone interacts with your ad, providing a chance for conversion. With a full host of features, you can set a maximum cost per click, budgets and bid modifiers, so you can remain in full control of your ad spend.

You’re Able To Reach Your Target Customer

Another one of the top PPC advertising benefits is that you can target your ads directly to the people most likely to become customers. By conducting keyword research, you can determine which keywords potential customers are searching when looking for information about your industry, products, or services. Then by bidding on these keywords you can get your ad in front of those users. You can find immediate customers based on the intent of keywords and have control of different audience segments based on the intent (informational, consideration, purchase etc.) You can also target your ads to users based on characteristics such as their demographics, interests, past online activity, and more.

Not Reliant On SEO Or Algorhymthic Changes

SEO is a fantastic attribute for your website and for long-term success you need to have an SEO-friendly website and also comply with SEO best standards and practices. However, one of the key benefits of PPC is that once you create profitable/successful campaigns you don’t need to worry about Google and the changes they are doing to their ranking algorithms. Your PPC is a standalone channel so whilst you work on your SEO (or not) it will have zero impact on campaign performance. Hoever any good performance marketing agency will help you understand the benefits of using your PPC and SEO consultancy in tandem to generate the best possible results for your business.