You’ve come to the right place if you’ve heard a little about PPC marketing and want to learn more about it or if you’re already aware that you want to use PPC to market your company but aren’t sure where to begin.
Table of Contents
This is the first of two blogs on PPC that will educate you on everything you need to know and show you how to use it to your advantage. We must first define PPC and get a fundamental grasp of how PPC advertising functions.
Move along! Find below all you need to know about PPC marketing and its benefits shared by the leading search engine marketing agency Singapore.
What is PPC Marketing?
PPC, a short form for pay-per-click, is an online advertising method that allows advertisers to place ads on platforms like Google Ads and pay a fee each when someone clicks on.
You can perform almost any search using Google (or Bing), and you’ll notice ads appearing in the middle of the page with results. Check out the product grid on the right. Some advertisements indicate the search results have a commercial purpose.
Companies use PPC to increase traffic and sales or get inquiries from their targeted customers. Most PPC platforms offer a wide degree of targeting, meaning that you can display ads to only those who meet your demographic.
Search engines are the most popular method people use to search for companies offering products and services. When there’s an active market interested in what your business provides, you have the chance to close a deal.
PPC will help you get your message in front of the people you want to reach with the exact degree of targeted advertising can’t provide. Do you want to contact those who live near San Francisco and are looking to purchase a second-hand Ford Mustang? This is a simple task.
PPC allows you to reach out to your target audience in a moment when they are searching for similar businesses to yours while collecting data that will aid in improving the method’s effectiveness over time.
Paid advertisements are a major business. For example, it is stated that Alphabet (Google) makes over $162 billion yearly via its advertising platforms.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
The aim of all kinds of digital marketing is to be ranked for a specific keyword, which you may achieve in various ways. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is any type of advertising or marketing (paid or unpaid) done through an internet search engine like Google, Yahoo, or Bing.
SEM is a broad term that includes paid advertisements and the process of optimizing search engines, which is organically ranking for certain keywords. It is important to remember it’s not the only way to use PPC is through search engines. Social media can also have PPC ads (think Facebook’s Ads).
- CPC
Cost-per-click (CPC) is the amount an advertiser charges for every click they receive from their advertisement. CPC is the bid you place in auctions determining where your advertisement will be displayed.
As you might imagine, the higher your bid is related to the higher placement of your ad. You decide to set the CPC at the highest price you’re ready to spend per user of your advertisement.
The amount is the amount you actually will pay is determined using an equation:
(Competitor’s Ad Rank/Your Qualitative Rating) + 0.01 = CPC as a real.
Let’s look at the various terms used in this equation to understand what you’re paying for.
- Ad Rank
This number determines the location of an advertisement on a search results page. It’s the same as the Maximum Bid multiplied by the quality score.
- Quality Score
It is the number search engines assign to your advertisement based on the click-through rate (CTR) (measured in comparison to the CTR of advertisements in the same place — the relevancy to your keyword, overall quality of the landing page as well as your previous performance within the results page.
- Maximum Bid
This is the highest amount you’re willing to pay per click on your advertisement.
Here’s a picture from WordStream which illustrates what I’m talking about:
The CPC can be set manually, which means you decide the highest bid you can offer for your advertisements or enhanced options, allowing search engines to adjust your bid according to your objectives.
One of these enhancement options is bid strategies which automatically adjust your bids in response to the number of clicks or conversions.
- CPM (Cost per Mille)
CPM also referred to as cost per 1,000, is the price per thousand impressions. It is most often used to describe paid advertising on display and social media.
There are various kinds of cost-per (s)… such as cost-per-engagement and cost-per-acquisition (CPA); however, to preserve your mind space, we’ll remain with clicking, a.k.a. CPC.
- Campaign
The first step in setting up your PPC ads is determining your advertisement campaign. Think about your campaign in terms of the primary message or message you want to convey through your ads.
- Ad Group
One size doesn’t fit all. So, you’ll need to create several ads within your campaign that are based on the most closely relevant keywords. Then, you can establish a CPC for every ad group you design.
- Keywords
Each ad in your group will be targeted by a group of keywords that are relevant or important phrases. Keywords tell search engines what phrases or search queries you wish your ad to be displayed within search results.
When you know which keywords are most effective, you can make a micro-CPC specific for the keywords in your advertisements.
- Add Text
The keywords you choose should be reflected in the text of your ad. Keep in mind that the relevancy of your ad will determine your Quality Score.
Hence the text on your advertisement (and your landing page, in general) must be in line with the terms you’re targeting with your keywords.
- Landing Page
Landing pages are an important component of your paid advertising strategy. It is the place where people are directed after they click on your PPC advert.
If it’s a dedicated page, your homepage, or a different location, follow guidelines for landing pages to ensure maximum conversion.
The Best PPC Platforms:
After you’ve learned the PPC fundamentals, I assume your next concern would be this: Where should I advertise? Many sites online allow you to spend your desired advertising dollars. However, the most effective way to evaluate them is to review your ROI for each one closely.
The most well-known advertising platforms are successful because they’re easy to use and, most importantly, highly rated. However, if you’re looking for a budget-friendly alternative, you may want to consider an alternative that isn’t as well-known to these major players.
When choosing a platform, the other factors to consider are the accessibility of keywords terms, where your viewers spend their time, and your budget for advertising. This is a short list of some of the best PPC platforms shared by the digital marketing company.
- Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords)
How often do you hear “Let me Google this” daily? Google Ads is undoubtedly the market leader in paid advertising for more reasons than you can fathom.
On average, Google handles more than 90,000 queries per second, giving you numerous chances to choose the right keywords to bring your target users to click.
The drawback is that the keywords you choose to target are highly popular on the platform, which results in a greater advertisement budget.
- Bing Ads
The benefit of using Bing Ads over Google Ads is that it has a lower cost per click. However, it is at the cost of a bigger audience.
- Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads is a popular and reliable platform for paying advertisements (more frequently used as CPM rather than CPC) mostly due to its specific targeting options. Facebook lets you focus your ads on users’ preferences, demographics, locations, and other behaviors.
Additionally, Facebook allows for native ads, meaning that they are integrated into the feeds of the social network. Additionally, you can also use Facebook Ads to promote on Instagram too.
- AdRoll
AdRoll is a targeted tool that allows you to advertise to those who have previously visited your site. For instance, suppose you have a reader who reads your cheese-making article.
You can target those on other websites they visit by displaying advertisements that promote your cooking classes online.
Retargeting is a possibility using Google Ads; the benefit of using AdRoll is the ability to show advertisements on Google and social media websites, giving the possibility of capturing more impressions or clicks based on your goals.
- RevContent
RevContent concentrates on promoting content using PPC. It’s the same as a guest blog post in which your content is shown on a different website but as an advertisement. You can still place bids on specific keywords.
Your ad will be displayed alongside articles that are relevant to the keywords. You’ll benefit from an affordable CPC and highly active visitors through this platform.
Check out our search engine marketing for local business in Mumbai.
What is the effect of Pay-Per-Click advertising?
As a marketing channel, PPC includes a range of advertising platforms; the most well-known are Google Ads and Bing Ads. Within every one of them, there are different types of ads, including:
- Search Ads
- Shopping Ads
- Display ads
- Video Ads
- Gmail ads
In general, you’ll discover that companies begin their PPC marketing with Google Ads because of the basic reason that it allows the most extensive number of potential customers and customers, in addition to numerous methods to create and run campaigns according to the goals you have set.
However, regardless of the platform and the ad format, how PPC is conducted remains the same and is an easy process to follow:
- Join an account for advertising on the platform.
- Create ads (and choose the best target by including keywords, audiences, etc.).
- Decide on the highest price you’re willing to pay per click.
- Your ad is put into an auction alongside other advertisers bidding on identical keywords.
- Auctions determine the sequence in which advertisements are displayed.
- Each time someone clicks on your advertisement, you are charged.
It’s fairly simple and easy to get to know. Even though there are some distinctions between the various advertising formats (and various bidding methods that may be utilized, for instance), the fundamentals remain the same.
However, let’s take a closer look at how auction functions since it’s often the portion that is the most difficult for people who are just beginning to learn about PPC
What are the steps to take? PPC auction’s function?
If a user searches, an auction occurs that can be used to evaluate various factors like:
- The eligibility of an ad account to bid in the auction.
- The order in which the eligible ads will be displayed in the advertising space on the result pages.
- How much will a single click cost each advertiser whose ads are displayed?
The primary influencer in this auction can be described as the highest CPC (cost-per-click) that an advertiser can set in their ad account for a particular keyword or ad group is the highest amount they’re willing to pay per click.
However, it’s not necessarily a guarantee that this is the amount they’ll have to pay; it’s just the maximum amount.
Another factor is the quality score (QS), which is a measure that includes several different elements, including the anticipated CTR (click-through rates) of an advertisement and the relevance of an advertisement to the topic that is being sought, and the experience on the landing page the advertisement will direct visitors to.
We’ll be diving deeper into Quality Score shortly.
The position of an advertisement on the page of results will be determined by its Ad rank, which can be described in terms that are simple as:
Ad Quality score = Rank x Max CPC
Google’s real formula is more complicated, but it is an excellent method of looking at the formula to get a basic understanding.
What is the basis for how much an advertiser is charged per click?
Ad Rank plays a big role in this, but it’s not the only factor contributing to CPC. It is easy to understand the price that an advertiser has to pay to display their brand in the following manner:
Cost per Click is the AdRank of the advertiser lower than / Quality score plus $0.01. Get in touch with us to know more about packages for search engine marketing for small businesses in Mumbai.
The benefits of PPC
- PPC advertisements are economical.
With PPC ads, you completely control the amount you’re willing and able to spend.
Since you pay only when people click on the link that takes them to your site or landing page with a good chance of conversion, you’ll get the most value for your money.
- PPC ads yield quick results.
Although organic ranking is fantastic, it can take several months or perhaps years before getting to the top of the list on SERPs.
If you’re a start-up or a small company, you probably don’t have time to wait for the effects of social, organic, or even direct traffic to begin. This is the place where PPC ads are found.
With the help of optimized PPC ads, you could climb up the SERP in just a few hours after the launch of your campaign.
- You can easily manage and test PPC ads and control them.
It’s simple to manage the keywords you’re targeting, the ad placement, or the budget using PPC ads.
It is also possible to run A/B split tests using different advertisements to find which can provide the highest ROI. Then, you can scale the ads that perform well until they do not produce satisfactory results.
- PPC ads let you focus on your ideal clients.
With PPC advertisements, you’ll avoid the cold crowds and target an enthusiastic audience willing to purchase your goods and services.
You can make bids on terms that people with a solution-orientated mindset would look for on the internet. In addition to the keywords, PPC ads also offer the possibility of targeting, such as previous activities on the internet or demographics.
Another great use for PPC ads is to develop Retargeting campaigns that target customers who didn’t buy after visiting your website.
- Changes to algorithms do not affect PPC advertisements.
Between the many Google algorithm modifications and 200 rank factors, attempting to gain free traffic from search engines is unsteady compared to PPC advertising.
With PPC ads, you don’t need to be concerned about algorithm changes; instead, concentrate on how your campaigns perform.
- PPC ads allow you to get ranked even with poor domain ratings.
Keywords are now becoming more competitive. This makes it harder for businesses with lower domain authority to reach the top positions in a search engine or even in front of their intended public on a social platform.
Using PPC advertisements, you can rank quickly for the keywords your users are looking for, regardless of the domain’s rating.
- PPC ad data can improve your SEO approach.
It’s not a good idea to abandon all SEO efforts completely. Your paid advertisements should be a part of an SEO plan rather than replace it.
Conclusion
We hope this blog helped you in creating a perfect PPC campaign. If you want to read more on such topics, check out our blog customer loyalty program: definition, importance, how to retain & measure it.
Great Article, Very well and nicely explained.