A Guide to PPC

What is PPC?

Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is a form of online advertising whereby advertisers are charged each time a user clicks on their ad. Assuming you’ve used Google or another popular search engine before, the chances are you will have come across or even clicked on a PPC ad before.

Search engines, such as Google and Bing, are used by customers to help find and locate various products, services, and information they require. The various search engines respond to user search queries with a list of relevant results, and advertisers have the opportunity to run an ad that appears at the very top of this results list when people search for a keyword.

PPC marketing can, therefore, allows advertisers to achieve the following campaign goals:

• Increase the visibility of their product/service and promote brand awareness
• Increase sales
• Generate leads

How does it work?

Advertisers must carry out the all-important keyword research before starting off any PPC campaign. This will allow them to pick out the words most suited to their business goals and analyse historical search data to identify search terms that will work for them. There are many tools available to help out with this, for instance, Google Ads’ built-in keyword planner tool.

Once keywords have been agreed, advertisers place bids on these keywords which they wish to rank for. Every time a user enters a keyword into the search engine and hits enter, the advertisers who have placed bids on those keywords will then automatically enter an auction in an attempt to secure the ad space at the top of that user’s search results. With only a limited number of advert slots available on the search engine result page (SERP), businesses have to battle it out to be in with a chance.

The cost per click is therefore determined by the level of competition for the particular keyword being targeted and how much competition there is from other advertisers. Advertisers could end up paying a few pence per click, or even tens of pounds. If lots of other advertisers are competing, then the keyword cost is going to be much higher.

Useful terms to remember

Cost Per Click (CPC): meaning the amount an advertiser is paying a search engine for a single click on an ad.

Click through Rate (CtR): the ratio of the number of clicks on an advertisers’ PPC ad after it’s been viewed.

Impressions: The number of times an advertisers PPC ad content is displayed on search results pages, regardless of whether the user clicked on the ad or not.

Ad Copy: A PPC search ad usually consists of a headline, description and URL link leading through to the website. This content is known as the ad copy and is important in persuading users to click onto the ad.

Ad Extensions: Extra information that can be added to a PPC ad, such an address, phone number, rating scores, or extra site links.

Daily Budget: The daily budget is the amount of money an advertiser is happy to spend on their PPC ads each day.

Keyword: The term (word or phrase) that the user types into the search engine and that advertisers place bids on in order to display their PPC ads to relevant searches.

Conversion Rate: The percentage of users that visit the advertiser’s site and complete the desired goal (a conversion) over the total number of visitors.

Keyword Bid: The highest amount of money an advertiser is willing to pay every time a user clicks onto their PPC ad.

How can we help?

The most important thing with PPC is to ensure you spend time focusing on your strategy and ensuring it is the best suited for your business goals. Businesses often find working with a digital agency who can manage their paid campaigns, provides them with more time to focus on other areas of the business. If you would like support with your PPC and digital marketing strategy, give us a call on 0121 369 5874 or email success@5874.co.uk.