What is ppc in digital marketing?
Pay per click (PPC) advertising is a type of paid search marketing that helps you target potential customers.
Pay per click or PPC advertising is a method of content marketing used by companies who want to gain immediate visibility on search engines such as Google and Bing.
Pay Per Click (PPC) refers to all the advertising activities that involve the buying and selling of search engine keywords.
Also read: 5 Best Tools to Optimize Your Ppc Campaign
1. A Brief History of Search Ads
Paid search advertising is nothing new, as it has been around for the past few decades. However, in the last few years, it has gained more attention due to its increased usage in marketing and branding. If you are not familiar with it, then you might be wondering what paid search is, and how it can help you in boosting your sales and gaining traffic.
Paid search advertising has become a part of digital marketing today. The term is used to refer to an online advertising model in which advertisers pay to be featured when people perform a specified action on a website. In simple words, advertisers buy keywords and pay per click to be listed on search results.
There are different kinds of paid search ads that are available, and a lot of marketers are not aware of them. Some of the most commonly known include:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Pay per click (PPC)
- Display advertising
- Search ad formats
The history of PPC advertising started in the early 1900s, as newspapers and magazines used a pay-per-impression system. Advertisers could purchase keywords that appeared on a page and could also specify the size and position of the advertisement. Later on, newspaper companies also began to charge per line rather than per impression.
It was not until the 1990s that the first company began to use a pay-per-click system. A company called CompuServe decided to let people pay for keywords as opposed to impressions. The concept was so successful that it soon became an industry standard.
In the 2000s, Google started to show PPC advertisements in organic search results. While the concept was new at the time, people were skeptical about the effectiveness of such an approach.
However, the company changed its mind in the following years and eventually decided to run its own search engine, and later on a browser. Google soon became the market leader and dominated the market for a while.
Today, Google still dominates the market but there are other players like Bing, Baidu, Yandex, and Yahoo that are making a good name for themselves.
In 2013, PPC advertising has undergone a major transformation. The changes include:
1. A better user interface
The biggest change is that users can now create campaigns and control the ads from the dashboard. They can also select the desired keyword, ad format, and bid amount.
2. Ads that are relevant
The biggest change is that advertisers can now get ads that are relevant to their keywords. This means that the ads appear only when the users search for a particular topic.
This is a welcome change from before, as it makes the advertising process more effective.
3. Increased ROI
Another significant change is that advertisers can now track the cost per conversion. It is possible to measure different metrics including:
- Cost per acquisition
- Cost per click
- Return on investment
Well, this was a brief history of PPC advertising. As you can see, it is not that old a concept, as it has been around since the early 1900s. I am sure the advancements in the field of PPC advertising will continue to improve the concept and make it more effective.
2. PPC Basics: What Does Pay Per Click Mean?
Pay per click (PPC) is a type of advertising in which a user pays you each time he clicks on an advertisement. The price per click depends upon various factors like quality score, location, ad creative, etc.
Here are some basic definitions of PPC:
• Pay per click is an online marketing term that refers to advertising services in which advertisers pay the publisher based on the number of times a person clicks on an advertisement.
• Advertisers are the ones who place ads on search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Publishers are the companies or organizations that display ads on SERPs.
• Paid search is a type of PPC.
• Keywords are terms used by searchers to find relevant information on the Internet.
• Bid means the amount paid per click.
• Advertisers can pay to appear on the first page of Google, Bing and Yahoo.
• The quality score of the ad means how well the ad performs.
• CTR or click-through rate is the percentage of people who click on an ad.
• CTR is also known as conversion rate.
• Cost per conversion is a method of measuring the cost of a campaign and its return on investment.
• Cost per acquisition is the amount paid to advertise and acquire a customer.
• ROI or Return on Investment is the amount of profit gained from a single campaign.
• CPA (cost per action) is the money paid for a successful conversion.
Why AdWords is the Most Popular Platform for PPC?
• AdWords is the most popular PPC platform.
• A large number of businesses and brands use this platform.
• Most of the people searching for information online use Google search.
• AdWords is the most suitable platform for small businesses and startups as it is free to use and provides many features.
• Most of advertisers use this platform because of its affordability and ease of use.
Advantages of PPC
• You can easily reach a large number of people as compared to other types of advertising.
• You can also get instant results.
• You can monitor your campaign closely and can easily manage it.
• It is the most cost-effective way to promote your business.
• There is no need to maintain physical stores, as your brand can be displayed all over the internet.
Disadvantages of PPC
• It takes time to get the desired results.
• It is a very competitive market.
• It has a limited budget.
• There is a huge competition.
• You will have to keep a tab on the ROI.
AdWords is the most famous and popular PPC platform. There are various tools and plugins available that help you in monitoring your campaign. It is a time-consuming process and you need to be persistent to get desired results. You can also get instant results.
3. How Do People Use Search Ads?
The word advertising is something that is familiar to all of us. As soon as we heard the word advertising, the first image that comes to our mind is a commercial, billboard, or any kind of media advertisement.
Advertising is a type of communication where we share the message or product with others. The purpose is to attract customers or an audience and to increase the sales of the product.
1. What are Search Ads?
Search ads are one of the most popular forms of ads. This ad is used in various ways like, when a user searches a particular keyword, the advertiser has the right to show the advertisements related to that keyword.
In this method, the advertiser pays the company to list their ads in the search results. In this type of advertisement, the advertiser will pay the companies for the clicks on the advertisements.
In this way, the advertiser gets the idea to target the specific keywords that are related to their business.
Now the question is why do people use this? Let me tell you about some advantages and disadvantages of using search ads (PPC model).
4. Advantages of Using Search Ads
As we have already seen, this is one of the most popular ways of advertising. There are a number of advantages of using this type of advertisement.
1. A higher ROI
The ROI is the ratio between the cost and the gain. The more clicks you get, the more your profits will increase. As the ROI is high, you will get higher profits.
2. It is very targeted
With this type of ad, you get the chance to target the specific keyword that you want to promote. You will get the opportunity to display your ads in the search results for that particular keyword.
3. Higher visibility
In this form of advertising, you will get more visibility than in normal advertising. Your ad will appear at the top of the page in the search result. So, you will get more visitors.
4. A better brand awareness
Search ads are very effective for branding. As it is targeted, it will help you to gain more brand awareness.
5. Disadvantages of Using Search Ads
There are a number of disadvantages as well that can affect the success of your campaign. So, here is a quick list of the disadvantages.
1. It is difficult to estimate ROI
The main disadvantage of this type of advertisement is that it is difficult to estimate the ROI. The reason is that you cannot know the exact number of visits that you will get.
2. Low conversion rate
One of the most significant problems is that the click-through rate is low. So, the conversion rate will be lower and it will not provide you with the desired results.
3. Risky to trust Google
If you trust the ads that are shown in the search engine, then you will lose your money. You will not get the desired results as Google might change the way they display the results.
So, the above-discussed points help us to understand the uses of search ads. The use of these ads will lead to a great benefit for your business as the ROI is high. You will also get better brand awareness.
So, if you are looking to make your online business successful then start with using search ads.
6. Ad Grouping PPC Ads?
Ad Grouping is the key to making PPC ads more effective. The main aim of ad grouping is to show relevant ads to the users and improve the click-through rate.
In PPC advertising, when we place the ads then we have to pay more for the impression. But ad groupings can help us to save our money by showing the ads that are more effective for the audience.
If you are promoting a product on Google, Yahoo, Bing, or other search engines, you will have to create a campaign with a budget for each keyword you wish to target.
If you want to increase your conversion rate and increase your revenue, you will have to optimize your campaign and make it as perfect as possible.
In order to optimize your campaign, you will have to understand which keywords are performing well and which ones are not.
By doing so, you will be able to make better decisions regarding the keywords and the type of ads that will perform best.
This is where Ad Grouping comes in.
1. Ad Grouping
Ad Grouping is the process of grouping together different types of keywords and ads to form ad groups.
Ad Grouping can be created manually or automated.
2. What are the Ad Groupings?
There are different types of ad groupings, but we can make it simple to understand the most common types of ad groupings. These are the types of ad groupings:
1) Bid type
2) Cost per action
3) Cost per conversion
4) Conversion
5) Quality score
6) CPA bid
7) CPC bid
8) CPC
Ad Grouping is the best way to optimize your campaign. If you are looking for a better ROI, this is the most effective method.
In short, Ad Grouping can help you to improve your campaign, and if you have been using the wrong keywords then this is the perfect time to change them.
3. How does Ad Grouping work?
Here is a simple example;
Let’s say that you are promoting a product and you want to use the keywords ‘Best Product’, ‘Cheap Product’, ‘Good Product’, and so on.
- You will have to create four ad groups.
- The ads will then be grouped together depending on the keywords used.
- How do I know which ad group will perform better?
- You will have to run a split test.
- As soon as you split your test into two parts, you will know which ad group performs better.
7. Campaign Settings in ppc ads
If you are a newbie in ppc ad campaigns then you might be thinking about the best settings in ppc campaigns, but before you start planning about the campaign settings, let me tell you the importance of these settings.
There is no doubt that the quality of ppc ad campaigns depends upon the setting. The ad settings define how the ppc ad campaign will be run. It is because not all ppc ads will be created equally and not every setting can work as well as the other.
So, let’s discuss the six important points to consider before choosing the right campaign setting for your ppc ads.
1. Choose your campaign goals
It is obvious that you will start a campaign and you will set your campaign goals for it. So, make sure you choose the goals wisely. Your main goal should be to reach your customers and to increase the awareness of your product.
2. Choose the right audience
The PPC audience is the people who are interested in buying the specific products you are selling. So, the right audience is the people who are your customer and if you are targeting the wrong people then you won’t see any benefits.
If you are a beginner, then it is better to target the right audience. Otherwise, you will get the data but you won’t be able to understand why the ads are not working.
3. Set up your budget
Budget is an important factor to consider when starting a ppc campaign. It defines your overall expenses for the campaign. You can increase the budget as per your requirements.
It is better to start with a low budget and you can raise the budget if you are able to meet the required number of clicks.
4. Check out the competition
Before starting a campaign make sure that you check the competition and the keywords which are similar to your products. You need to know what the competitors are doing and what are their campaign settings. It will help you to plan and make changes in your campaign if required.
5. Set up the right ad copy
Ad copy is the most important part of your campaign. It defines the performance of your ads. If you don’t set up the right ad copy then it is better to start again with a different campaign.
6. Start with the keyword
You need to start with the right keyword, but it is not easy because it is not enough to go with the most popular keywords. You need to find the keywords that have the best traffic and that can convert easily.
These are the most important factors to consider when choosing the best ppc campaign setting. I am sure you will agree with me that these factors will make a huge difference in your ppc campaign.
This is all about introduction to ppc compaign. Have any question in mind let us know through contact us page.
