What is PPC? Your complete guide to PPC (pay-per-click) advertising

Simply put, what is PPC?

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a model for advertising on the Internet. You may see pay-per-click (PPC) adverts on Facebook, Bing, and other search engines, although they are most commonly associated with Google. With pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, the advertiser pays a set amount whenever one of their ads is clicked.

Relevance

PPC ads rely heavily on relevance for success. People who are likely to be interested in your adverts are looking for something in particular. PPC allows businesses to compete for ad space on a search engine's sponsored links page.

The great thing about PPC is that ads may be shown right at the moment someone is doing a search for a certain phrase. In response to a query like "red dress," an advertiser may choose to have an ad for red gowns appear at the top of the results page for a price.

Primary Aims

There are three major objectives of pay-per-click advertising:

Lead generation
Get more money from your customers.
Build up your brand's reputation.
You will have to pay the search engine each time one of their users clicks on your ad. It's well worth it to pay for advertising if it's highly targeted and effective. The value of the visitor to your website far exceeds the cost of the service. If your cost per click is $4, but a visitor to your site ultimately spends $300, the cost per click becomes negligible.

Why choose PPC?

Both smaller and larger companies can benefit from using PPC. To fully appreciate the value of PPC, you must first grasp how it functions and how to construct successful advertising campaigns.

Benefits of PPC

Outside of setting your own budget and only paying when you have a visitor, PPC has a number of other advantages.

Track your goals

It's important for businesses to always strive for something. In the beginning, you may just want to focus on getting visitors to your site. Maybe you're advertising a service, and you want people to fill out sign-up sheets so they can begin using it. The progress toward your objectives may be monitored using programmes like Google Analytics. Find out how your advertising are doing in real time and make informed decisions about how to improve performance.

Gain rapid exposure

Faster exposure for your site and name faster. Ads are frequently approved on the same day they are submitted, allowing for quick maximum exposure on most platforms. The advertisement may be in the form of a text ad displayed in a Google search, an image ad on Instagram, or a video ad on YouTube. Your brand's exposure may be improved by using a variety of channels and presentation methods.

Reach your target audience

Using a platform like Google Ads, you can rapidly and efficiently communicate with your intended audience. Seeking Boston-based males in their late twenties with an annual income of $75,000 to $80,000. Pay-per-click advertising allows you to zero in on a specific audience for your marketing efforts. Advertising on social networking platforms like Facebook may be tailored to a certain demographic by the user's actions and interests, reaching the people most inclined to buy.

Experimentation

Pay-per-click advertising makes it easy to quickly identify and remove elements of an advertising campaign that aren't producing the desired results. To determine whether call to action (CTA) is more effective over time, you may split test it with other advertising. In essence, this is the same idea behind your call-to-action headline, meta description, and landing page.

Become more competitive

There is a lot of competition for keywords these days. It's more difficult for a company to attract its desired clientele and rank well in search engine results if it doesn't have high domain authority. Because of the abundance of advertisements today, natural search results are often shown in the centre of the page rather than at the top. That's because plenty of companies are turning to PPC to get noticed by customers they wouldn't otherwise reach.

Investing in advertising helps you stand out in highly competitive settings. Users who aren't familiar with your brand can be brought in. You may boost marketing efforts, rise in search engine rankings for competitive keyword phrases, and increase brand recognition among the general public.

With pay-per-click advertising, you may bypass your rivals and quickly get to the top of the industry. PPC will end up being a crucial element of your inbound marketing efforts if you do it well.

What’s the difference between SEM and PPC?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) are sometimes confused with one another, but they are not the same thing.

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a broad concept that includes pay-per-click (PPC) advertising but isn't restricted to it. That which is done to make a website more accessible via search engines is referred to here. Paid search (also known as pay-per-click or PPC) and organic search (sometimes known as SEO) are both part of search engine marketing.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a type of internet marketing that makes use of search engines and other online mediums, such as YouTube and social media photo and video sharing platforms.

PPC Terms and acronyms

Keep in mind that if you are unfamiliar with the language used in PPC, some of the words used in this article may be difficult to understand. The same holds true for the lingo used in the world of sponsored advertising, which you should familiarise yourself with before diving in. To assist you, we have collected the most popular PPC terminology into a handy glossary.

Cost-Per-Click (CPC)

The cost that an advertiser incurs whenever one of their ads is clicked. Bidding using CPC is a lot like an auction. Bidding wars occur between advertisers for prime real estate on websites. If you bid more, you'll get a better spot.

The advertiser can determine a maximum cost per click. They will pay up to that much for a person to click on their ad. The ultimate cost-per-click is calculated using the following formula:

Ad Rank / Quality Score of Competitors + 0.01% = Real CPC

The pay-per-click (PPC) advertising model is distinct from the cost-per-click (CPC) approach. Conversely, cost-per-click (CPC) refers to the real amount you pay whenever your ad is clicked.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Getting your website at the top of search engine results for a certain (target) term is an important part of any digital marketing strategy. Multiple mechanisms exist for this sorting to take place. Advertisements on Google, Bing, and Yahoo are just a few examples of sponsored SEM.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a kind of "free" marketing (SEO). That's a good sign that people are finding what they're looking for on your site, since it indicates that the information you provide is pertinent to their needs. Organic advertising, as opposed to pay-per-click. But PPC isn't limited to only what happens in SERPs. PPC advertisements may also be seen on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.

Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

Ad, keyword, and free listing performance may all be gauged with a look at your CTR. The CTR measures how many times your ad is shown and how many times it is actually clicked on. Clicks divided by impressions equals clickthrough rate.

Consider the example of a click-through rate of 4% based on the numbers of 6 clicks and 150 impressions.

Ad Rank

The ad rank is what determines where your ad appears on the SERP. It is calculated as the Maximum Bid multiplied by the Quality Score.

Quality Score

The search engine calculates your quality score by looking at things like your click-through rate (CTR), the importance of your keywords, the usefulness of your landing page, and how well you've done in the past.

*Note that your CTR will be compared to the average CTR of similar advertisements.

Maximum Bid

The most amount per click on your ad that you are willing to spend.

Campaign

Select an advertising campaign when you initially decide to put up pay-per-click advertisements. When you make an ad, the campaign is the point you're attempting to make. This is the message you wish to convey to the listeners.

Cost Per Mille (CPM)

Cost per thousand (CPM) is another name for CPM. The cost per one thousand impressions. Typically, this format is utilised for display advertisements and social media promotions.

Ad Group

Naturally, not every advertisement will be appropriate for every term. Because they are one-of-a-kind, you will need to put similar advertisements together to form a cohesive whole for your campaign. The ad groups get based on highly relevant keywords. Each ad group that you make can have its own cost-per-click budget that you can adjust as needed.

Ad Text

Ad copy should be shaped by the keywords you choose to use. Keep in mind that your ad's relevance will determine its Quality Score. So, make sure the keywords you're using in your ads are also in them.

Landing Page

As part of your PPC campaign, the landing page is essential. Customers who have clicked on your pay-per-click ad will be sent here. Make sure your landing page uses conversion-boosting best practises (sales).

You can direct visitors to your homepage, a specific page that relates to the term you've chosen, or someplace else on your site. In either case, the most important thing is that it include information that will be of use to the readers.

Keywords

You may tell search engines which queries you want your ad to appear alongside by using keywords. In order for your ad group to be effective, it must focus on a narrow collection of search phrases.

PPC platforms

Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others are just some of the well-known sites that provide pay-per-click advertising. The two most prominent programmes are Google AdWords and Microsoft AdCenter, therefore we'll concentrate on these.

Google Ads

It's safe to assume that everyone has overheard the phrase, "Hold on, let me Google it!"
According to the data, it's clear that Google is clearly the most popular search engine available today. Because of this, the costs of sponsored ads tend to be greater.

Marketers place bids to have their ads seen, services provided, products shown, or videos promoted on Google. Mobile applications, movies, and non-search websites are just some of the other places where Google advertisements can be displayed (search partners).

The most popular PPC system is Google Ads. Over 40,000 search queries are processed by Google per second. This number indicates that your ad has a high possibility of being viewed by its target demographic, which might lead to a sale or profit. When it comes to advertising, Google Ads works equally effectively for large corporations as it does for startups.

Microsoft Advertising

Microsoft Advertising on Bing, for example, reaches a distinct demographic. Bing is used in around 15 billion searches monthly all across the world, including 37.7 percent of desktop searches in the United States. It may come as a surprise, but Microsoft's search networks provide access to around 46.5 million users who aren't available via Google.

Windows 10, Microsoft Office, Cortana, third-party platforms, online results for Siri, Spotlight Search, and many more are all partner sites for Microsoft Advertising.

You may tailor your ad campaigns to reach specific demographic groups, geographic areas, and times of the week.

Targeting and retargeting in PPC

Paid search marketing relies heavily on targeting and retargeting. Both are necessary for a winning campaign. Methods of targeting and retargeting in paid advertising, and their respective advantages and disadvantages, are discussed below.

Targeting

In order to have a focused Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign, targeting is essential. Just who are you talking to, exactly? Whose requirements are you trying to fulfil? To "target" a group of individuals means to identify and consciously create content, connections, and platform usage that is directed toward that group.

This can refer to a targeted group based on their demographics, location, or personality traits. What matters most is what the target audience wants and needs. As an additional option, you may have content-specific advertisements. Various targeting options available to advertisers are outlined below.

Audience Targeting

Reaching people based on a complete profile of their interests, activities, and routines is possible with affinity audiences. "Affinity audiences have exhibited a qualifying enthusiasm in a certain issue, allowing marketers to contact the individuals who matter most with their products or offers," as stated in the Google Ads manual.

You may "target huge sectors of the population that share common qualities, such as college students, homeowners, or new parents," as the category's description puts it.

Advertisements using this method are shown to those who have recently performed a search for something related to what you provide. They may be interested in making a purchase, or have already done so, and this might prompt them to engage with your adverts.

By appealing to people whose interests are similar to but not identical to your own, you increase the likelihood that they will visit and engage with your website.

Using "custom intent audiences," advertisers may target advertising to people who are more likely to make a purchase or interact with the site based on the phrases or words they've entered, and they can also include links to relevant YouTube videos and other websites.

Content Targeting

Positioning: Give priority to the Display Network sites that are visited often by your target audience. Using this method, the web is combed for relevant content exclusively from the sites you choose. Managed placement is a method that doesn't need the use of keywords.

This sort of targeting is not the same as contextual targeting, which functions more like automated placement. It prioritises content that is highly relevant to the keywords you provide.

Advertising to many sites that cover the same topic is possible using themes. Using this method of targeting, you may view a wide variety of pages in a Display Network's search engine.

Google Ads, for instance, examines the language, page structure, text, and link structure of a website, among other things. Then, based on your preferences, it controls the overarching themes of each page and displays adverts related to those topics.

Extending the display for search helps a search engine like Google to locate users for you. Through strategic targeting and algorithmic bidding, the computer takes the reins and handles the tedious tasks while you reap the rewards. This kind of targeting is applicable to both Display Network and Search Engine marketing efforts.

Your content's keywords should be chosen such that they relate to your service or product and will be used by those who are searching for them. In order to target a certain audience or achieve a specific objective, you have the option of entering a series of keywords. You may, for instance, zero in on a single product for which you have an immediate sales goal.

Retargeting

In retargeting, you only show ads to people who have visited your site before. An interaction can take the shape of a simple visit or a successful conversion in which the target audience does the action you specified. Based on their behaviour, they will be sent a retargeting ad.

They might have visited the site multiple times, clicked on a specific product, filled out a form, added items to their shopping cart, or filled out a form. A cookie stored in the user's browser after these events allow firms to retarget the user. Based on the action they took, they will receive ads that are more relevant to them.

Examples of conditions that might lead to retargeting are as follows:

Visitors who have taken action on your site, such as clicking on advertisements or sharing material on social media or viewing videos, are considered engaged users.
A person's internet browsing history
People who use this phrase have recently been to a site very much like yours.
Customers that were open to receiving communications from you and responding to them
People that have similar interests to your present audience and who may be interested in the stuff you're providing
Ads that track your online activities and preferences might be displayed on third-party sites that are part of your preferred platform's Display Network. A good illustration of this is the fact that search engines like Google and operating systems like Microsoft let businesses to track users even after they've left your site to explore others.

By drawing the user's attention to sites they already frequent, you improve the likelihood that they will revisit your site.

The most common type of retargeting is attempting to re-engage consumers through on-site interactions, as we previously outlined.

Here are a few strategies for re-engaging site visitors who have previously stopped by:

It's important to follow up with email subscribers who have indicated interest but who haven't yet made a purchase or taken the required step by sending them relevant material.
Some site visitors can be re-engaged using the same channel they used to discover your site, such as social media.
One way to get people interested in what you have to offer is to target them with advertisements for products they looked at or clicked on while browsing your site.
Another kind of retargeting is through communication that occurs outside of the original website. Customers who have not yet engaged with your site can be reached using this strategy if their search engine behaviour suggests they may be a good candidate for conversion.

These users would have comparable interests (based on keyword searches) with those who have been prior clients of your services or products. They may also have had encounters with partner sites that offer comparable material as your website.

New leads and website traffic are easily attracted using this method.

Other aspects of your campaign

If you want to achieve your company goals, you may need to test out several forms of advertisements. Search advertisements, which appear in search engine results, are the most popular type of pay-per-click marketing. Images can be shown on other websites, such as media websites, through display advertising. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all host social media advertisements. Your adverts can appear in the news feeds of your target demographic for a price.

In order to reach people who have already shown interest in your website, you may employ a tactic called remarketing. After that, you may email them to get them to revisit your site and participate again. This may involve doing anything as simple as viewing a certain page on your website or as involved as filling out a form to buy a product.

How to structure your PPC account

Building an effective PPC campaign requires significant time and consideration. Conversion optimization requires conducting research on keywords, selecting the most relevant terms, grouping those terms into campaigns, and creating landing pages.

Search engines are more likely to lower CPC rates for marketers that have developed highly specific PPC campaigns. If your advertising and content are well-received and helpful to readers, Google will charge you less per click, increasing your earnings. That's why it's crucial to have a firm grasp on proper account organisation.

A brief outline of the layout is provided below.

Campaign Settings
Ad Group
Keyword Selection
Ad Copy
Ad Extensions

Different PPC settings

You may choose from three different campaign types: search network, display network, or search network combined with a display opt-in.

Search Network

In terms of targeting, this is the method of choice. Networked searches include results from Google as well as its search partners like Amazon.com and AOL. Microsoft also employs Yahoo! and other affiliates in its search engine strategies. The majority of these advertisements are displayed in response to specific search terms.

Display Network

The term "Google/Microsoft network" is used to denote the enormous group of websites that have come to an agreement to provide promotional content from Google and Microsoft. The adverts appear in many places on the site but don't make use of traditional keyword targeting. Instead, the target demographics and consumers are the main emphasis of these advertisements.

The study of marble, a material, is an example of such specificity. Even if the customer isn't actively searching to make a purchase, they may see advertisements for marble countertop websites. They have learned about your company and brand when they would not have before.

Search Network with Display Opt-In

This dual-network approach makes advantage of both of them. Google takes care of everything when you set up a search network campaign and choose the display opt-in. Instead of you choose the optimal time and place to promote your business, Google does it for you.

Keyword Selection

As a marketer, your first step is to settle on a central concept around which to build your many ads. You may be running a "Countertops" AdWords campaign. Ad groups are the subcategories within your campaign that you select to correspond with your theme.

Your ad groups could include:

Granite Countertops
Marble Countertops
Quartz Countertops

Every ad group has to contain keyword variations that match the theme. View the following example:

Marble countertops for sale
Countertops marble
Marble countertop companies

You must then pick a match type for a keyword. Here are the match types that you can choose from:

Exact: Keywords must be typed in verbatim (“Marble countertops”)
Exact with a Close Variant: Keywords must be typed exactly, but there can be variations or misspellings (“Marbul countertops”)
Phrase: Keywords have to be typed in the right order, even in the presence of additional words before or after the phrase (“Nice marble countertops”)
Phrase with a Close Variant: Keywords have to be typed in the right order, even in the presence of additional words before or after the phrase; there can be some misspellings or variations (“Marble countertops that are nice”)
In February 2021, Google expanded phrase match to include broad match modifier traffic.

Microsoft Advertising announced that they will do the same beginning in May 2021.

Negative Keywords

You may filter out unwanted site visitors by including a list of "negative keywords" in your campaign's settings. Say, for argument's sake, that your firm deals in high-priced goods. Include the word "cheap" in your negative keyword list to prevent your ad from showing up for searches that include the term.

Location targeting

Unless the product or service being advertised is only available online, advertisers must be very selective about where their advertising are shown.

Time Targeting

You can schedule when your adverts appear, just like you can schedule when they appear on certain devices or in a specific place. More money might be made over the weekends, for instance, when demand is stronger and prices tend to go up.

Budget

Try to keep your spending to a reasonable level. Account and performance targets should inform your budgeting process. See what works best for your business by taking baby steps initially.

Delivery Method

When creating your campaign, you have the option of normal or expedited delivery. If you choose standard delivery, your adverts will be broadcast at a consistent rate throughout the day. Advertisers on a tighter budget may want to consider this option. Since your adverts will be sent out at a rapid pace, they will be displayed repeatedly until your whole advertising budget is used up.

Types of ad copy

Ads may be written when ad groups and keywords have been established. Keywords, value claims, and a call to action are all necessary components of effective advertising.

Expanded Text Ads

For an example of a Google Ads (text) search ad structure, see below.

Headline 1 – Including spaces, up to 30 characters
Headline 2 – Including spaces, up to 30 characters
Description Line – Including spaces, up to 80 characters
Path 1 – Not including spaces, up to 15 characters
Path 2 – Not including spaces, up to 15 characters
*No excessive punctuation, capitalization, or misleading statements are allowed. Ads cannot contain excessive capitalization, punctuation, or misleading statements.

For the sake of experimentation, you must also include at least two advertisements in each ad group. Make sure the ads look good on mobile devices as well as desktop computers.

Product Listing Ads

Advertisements like this may be seen in search engines and feature photos, product names, and pricing for goods sold online. These advertisements are linked to a Google Merchant Center Account and make use of Google's product feeds. Microsoft Advertising offers a comparable service, dubbed Product Ads; setting this up calls for a Bing Merchant Center Account

Dynamic Search Ads

These are advertisements that appear in search results and are tailored to the information found on your site. When Google crawls your site, it looks for keywords that are closely associated with the content. The landing page and title are then built on-the-fly to best suit the inputted keywords.

Image Ads

Advertisers that select Display Network campaigns have the option of using visual adverts. Millions of sites will host and display these advertising. You have the option of setting your image to automatically resize itself for optimal viewing in different contexts.

The 19 most common picture dimensions are as follows:

200 x 200
240 x 400
250 x 250
250 x 360
300 x 250
336 x 280
580 x 400
120 x 600
160 x 600
300 x 600
300 x 1050
468 x 60
728 x 90
930 x 180
970 x 90
970 x 250
980 x 120
320 x 50
320 x 100

General types of ad copies:

Included in the category of "short-form ad copy” are social networking postings, Google AdWords advertisements, and other forms of online advertising. consisting of a headline and a prompt to read further. Ad text of this sort has to be direct and compelling, but it also needs to be succinct. The language you employ must be concise, convincing, and centre on one key advantage.

Most people despise clickbait since it usually isn't the most trustworthy or honest advertising text. It does, however, hold the audience's interest for the time being. To be more trustworthy, clickbait should include statistics, FAQs, and facts that can be independently verified.

Long-Form Ad Text: This style of advertising copy allows you to provide more information to potential clients, such as the company's background, customer testimonials, and the perks they'll enjoy as a result of working with you. Users may not always want to read extensive explanations. It helps individuals have a deeper familiarity with your company, which is in your benefit.

Customers are far more likely to buy or take the necessary action after reading positive reviews of your product or service, often known as testimonials. It bolsters client confidence in your business and its products or services by providing independent confirmation of their high quality.

Ad extensions

An ad extension is a supplemental link that provides further details about your company. This improves foundational PPC advertising strategies. There are both manually created and automatically produced ad extensions.

An ad extension's primary value is in increasing the click-through rate (CTR) of the ad's headline by making the advertising more noticeable on the results page. The number of ad add-ons is rather large.

Sitelink Extensions

These augmentations are supplementary hypertext that readers can follow to explore your site in greater depth. You may manually add sitelink extensions in the editor or in the Microsoft or Google and Microsoft interface. Always keep in mind that your site's links should be keyword-relevant.

Location Extensions

Extensions like this work wonderfully for traditional stores. Both Microsoft and Google offer location extensions that may be used to publicly show a company's physical address.

Call Extensions

Call extensions provide businesses with a selection on both Google and Microsoft platforms. Clicking on an ad on a mobile device with a call extension installed will initiate a phone call. Customers will appreciate how simple it is to interact with your company.

Users can choose between clicking the ad and calling your business if it is a desktop ad and the phone number is posted next to the ad.

App Extensions

Google's app extensions are ideal for businesses who wish to grow in order to encourage app downloads and user engagement.

Automation in PPC

Consider AI when contemplating pay-per-click (PPC) automation (AI). In this function, advanced technologies like ML and AI are employed to fine-tune SEM tactics. Due to the proliferation of networks and platforms, automation is now essential for most businesses. If you run a huge firm with several PPC advertising, it will be next to impossible to keep track of everything.

Using PPC automation, you can increase conversion rates, attract targeted visitors, and fine-tune your advertising efforts using the information at your disposal right now.

Benefits of PPC Automation

When automated services are used, marketing managers have more time for internal operations and strategic planning at the enterprise level. Common advantages of automation include:

Intelligent Ad Copy: The data stream is ideal for large PPC accounts with many ad groups.

In the event that you require any certain piece of information at any given time, you may quickly and easily get it using our reporting features. Without manually sorting through the data, these technologies will generate information that can be used to influence strategic decisions.

The management of bids is a time-consuming process that may be greatly facilitated by PPC automation. Since the automatic system has already done the math for you, your bids will be managed in the most efficient and profitable way possible.

Benefits to Efficiency and Productivity: Freed up time for marketing strategists means they may focus on other tasks that move the organisation closer to its technological objectives.

PPC tools and software

When using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, there are a plethora of metrics that must be monitored. You may save time, effort, and frustration at every stage of the process by using the right PPC tools and resources. The platform provides ad tracking, spreadsheet management, and more.

Choose hardware and software that allows for monitoring, scheduling, reporting, collaboration, grading of advertisements, and administration across several platforms.

Several top-tier PPC apps and programmes:

Google Keyword Planner
Google Ads Editor
Bing Ads Editor
WordStream AdWords Performance
WordStream
HubSpot
NinjaCat
Optmyzr
Semrush
Spyfu
Ad Badger (for Amazon)
Adzooma
And more!

PPC can help businesses small and large

Hopefully, this PPC guide has helped you begin to understand pay-per-click advertising. How to properly structure your PPC account is daunting at first, but eventually, it gets easier.

There are numerous benefits associated with using paid ads to boost your search engine results. Exposure and brand awareness can help small and large businesses to reach their goals for consumer satisfaction and profit.