Your PPC Questions Answered

PPC stands for pay-per-click. Whether you’ve just published your website and want to get noticed straight away, or you are stuck in a rut and looking for some quick results to make some money. PPC is what you need to be looking into! Here, we’ve decided to answer the top 10 questions about PPC. 

How does PPC work? 

Before diving into how PPC works, we should determine what it is. PPC is a form of internet marketing where advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads has been clicked. It is a quick way of putting your products and services to your visitors and earning them organically through other SEO techniques. There are different formats of PPC advertising, including search, shopping, display and video. 

The format is no different, whether it be Google Ads or another search engine. The advertiser signs up to the platform. You create the advert considering the target audience and the keywords. There are two options for cost: fully automated ads or manually setting up your costs. A manual campaign sets the maximum price you are willing to pay for each click or per 1,000 impressions if you are using display ads.

In contrast, a fully automated campaign looks at conversions, how much you are willing to pay per conversion and how much return on investment is needed on the ad spend. Your ad will then enter an auction with other advertisers bidding on the same keywords. The auction then determines the order in which the ads are shown depending on varying factors. Finally, the advertiser will pay when someone clicks on the link. 

You are probably thinking about how search engines rank the ads. Well, here is the answer! 

Google enters all the relevant keywords and associated ads into the auction. The search engine will give your ad a quality score from 1 - 10. Factors such as the landing page user experience, relevancy to keywords and expected click-through rate determine the score. Now it calculates the ad’s rank by using the quality score and how much the advertiser has set as the maximum bid. 

What advantages are there to PPC? 

PPC is used to drive highly targeted traffic to your website through a range of techniques.

It’s great for businesses who want something quick to implement and trackable conversions. It could immediately bring results by getting your website on the front page of Google’s search enquiries. 

Another advantage is that the branding of your website is accessible. Yes, you are paying for your ads; however, these can be seen at any point along the customers’ touchpoint with your brand. PPC can lead to organically or directly returning visitors, increasing your SEO and improving organic results. 

How much does it cost? 

Costs are variable. It’s like asking how long is a piece of string. No one knows the answer. It is all based on your budget. How much are you willing to spend? Think about the return on investment. It all depends on the quality of your ad, the relevancy of keywords, and your maximum budget. Other factors include the products and services you try to promote and the competition in the auction.  

Are results guaranteed?

We wish we could sit here and say that results are guaranteed, but like with other marketing strategies, they aren’t. As long as the proper research has been completed and the metrics you want the advertisement to meet have been explored, you should get the result you require.  

How quickly am I likely to see results? 

We are all aware that PPC promises fast results. It is a quick way to increase website traffic and develop online sales more or less straight away; however, a PPC campaign should still be carefully monitored. For fully optimised results, Google recommends three to six months to understand the conversion. Google requires that period to learn about the ad and its true potential.

What’s the ROI? 

ROI stands for return on investment. 

It is crucial to see what is happening with the money you are putting into your PPC campaign. 

The most effective way is to determine the return on investment to prove what campaigns impact your business most.

Take the cost of the PPC ad from the revenue you have earned and divide it by the cost again. Change it to a percentage by multiplying that number by 100. 

For example, if sales increased to £1,000 and the PPC ad cost £500, your ROI would be 100%

You can also work out the profit per click or per 1,000 impressions by dividing the total profit by the total number of clicks or impressions. 

Are Google Ads targetted? 

Yes, massively! Google Ads target a specific demographic and people searching for those terms. 

Are Google Ads the same as other web ads? 

Google pioneers PPC, but that doesn’t mean it is exclusive to Google. Microsoft Ads are practically identical by using the same format. 

The difference is that Microsoft Ads generally have higher conversions because there are more concentrated, older buyers. 

Is it all automated? 

Most of the time, it is; however, there still needs to be human eyes looking over the ad and ensuring that everything is still in its place. 

Do I need PPC? 

If you ask any of our PPC experts, they will tell you that if you have a marketing budget and don’t know what to put it into, then PPC will be the way forward. As we’ve mentioned before, it targets the people you want to see your products and services and generates leads immediately. 

However, we would suggest pairing it with other marketing forms, such as SEO, Social and Video.

PPC is available at multiple touchpoints along the customer journey. You can gain interest at the start, middle or end when they are considering buying the product/service, and that’s why we believe it is important to consider PPC in your strategy. 

PPC Glossary

Advertisers

The business or organisation that is wanting to display an Ad campaign on Google, Microsoft Ads or social media platform. 

Ad Campaign

The advertisement that you are using to promote a particular product or service. There may be more than one advertisement for the same campaign as it can be displayed on multiple platforms but will generally target related keywords. 

Automatic Bidding

Google and Microsoft Ads place your bid amount for you to gather the highest amount of clicks possible whilst staying within your budget. Your amount will automatically increase after a competitor bids higher than you for the same keyword.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

The number of clicks against the number of times the Ad has been shown on the results page. This is also called impressions. It is used to measure the performance of the advertising campaign.

Conversion 

The action that the advertiser wants the user to take when interacting with the advert. For example, you may wish the user to call you, fill in a form, sign up for a newsletter, or purchase a particular product or service. An effective PPC campaign would usually have a specific type of conversion as the overall goal.  

Cost-per-Click (CPC)

Cost-per-click is the advertising bidding model in which advertisers pay every time a user clicks on their Ad. 

Cost-per-Impression (CPI) 

The average cost for the advert when it appears on the search results page and an alternative bidding option to cost-per-click.

Cost-per-Thousand-Impressions (CPM)

The maximum price you are willing to bid for every thousand impressions you receive. 

Impression 

The total number of times your ad has been shown in the search. 

Keywords 

We use words and phrases in SEO, PPC and social media to increase search engine rankings after a user types in the query that matches or is relevant to the keywords. 

Landing Page

The page on your site you want the user to find themselves on after clicking the PPC advert. 

Manual Bidding 

Another form of bidding, however, this option allows you to set and adjust custom bid amounts without automatic bidding being activated. It lets you have greater control over cost-per-click.

Pay-per-Click (PPC)

Pay-per-click is a digital marketing strategy that allows advertisers to pay a platform to display an advertising campaign. This strategy enables businesses to gain highly targeted traffic to their site. It’s great if you want something quick to implement with trackable conversions and immediate results. 

Quality Score 

The search engine uses the ranking system to determine how relevant the keywords are compared to their accompanying advert and landing page. The more relevant keywords your bid has to your campaign, the higher the advert ranks and the less the bids cost.

Return-on-Investment (ROI) 

The percentage determines the amount of money gained (or lost) compared to the money spent on the PPC campaign. It measures the success of the campaign and whether it was worth the investment. 

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) 

A set of techniques used to improve organic traffic to your site, pushing your website to rank higher on the relevant search engine results page. 

[H3] Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

The page that Google returns to when users have entered a search query into the search bar. The page contains a list of links to relevant sites related to the query where both organic links and paid ads are displayed. 

Search Query

The search term or phrase that users enter to find out information about a particular topic or subject. Your ad will appear on the results page if the query contains the keywords you have placed bids on. 

So now you know a little more about PPC and why it’s essential. Reach out for a chat about how our PPC services can help your business. 

At Breakout Media, we’ve got a team of experts who can do all the hard work for you. All you need to do is watch your site sprint to the top of Google. 

Feel free to drop us a line; contact us today!