What is PPC marketing?

What is PPC marketing?

Search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo allow users to find what they are looking for online. PPC marketing, also known as pay-per-click or cost-per-click marketing, harnesses the searches that take place on search engines to deliver relevant traffic to advertisers’ websites.

Advertisers are able to bid on relevant search queries (keywords) in order to display their advert within the search results, but they only pay the search engines when a user clicks on their advert. Put simply, PPC offers the ability to display your advert at the exact moment that potential customers are searching for your product.

Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter (recently allied with Yahoo! Search Marketing) are the largest platforms for running PPC marketing campaigns.

Where will I see PPC ads?

PPC ads appear above and adjacent to a search engine’s organic results (aka the “free” or “natural” results).  Paid results are typically marked as “ads” or “sponsored links” so that users can differentiate between the two types of results.

How much does PPC marketing cost?

PPC marketing operates using an auction-based system. Advertisers enter a bid for each of their chosen keywords, representing the amount they are willing to pay for a click to their website. Advertisers’ adverts are ranked by the search engine based on their maximum bid for the keyword in question. So, the amount you will need to bid to get your ad on page one will depend on the amount your competitors are prepared to pay for the click, meaning that prices can range from a few pence to several pounds. Google also take into account the "quality" (i.e. relevance) of the competing adverts so that the most relevant adverts get an advantage in the auction.

What’s so good about PPC?

Quantifiable results

Search engines supply conversion tracking codes so you can record the number of online sales, leads or sign-ups your ads generate.

Immediate traffic

Competitive keywords can be very difficult to rank naturally. PPC campaigns can deliver relevant traffic to your website almost immediately.

Geographic targeting

Specify the locations that your business services so your ads don’t show to users outside of your locale.

Control of budget

Specify daily campaign budgets so you never spend more than you are comfortable with.

Control of message and landing page

Tailor your ad’s message and landing page depending on the keyword the user has searched for.

What now?

Interested in finding out more? At SilverDisc we are experts in pay-per-click marketing. If you need help with your campaigns, get in touch with us!