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What Is Pay-Per-Click Advertising?

Pay-Per-Click Advertising or PPC is a digital marketing model in which advertisers pay a fee each time a user clicks one of their online Ads.

There are many different types of PPC Ads, one of the most common types is the paid search Ad. This type of Ad appears when a user googles a search term that an advertiser is “bidding” on. These Ads appear in the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Page) alongside organic results. You can spot these Advertisements by looking for the “Sponsored” or “Ad” tag. These paid search Ads usually appear at the top and bottom of the Search engine results pages.

Almost any search can trigger Pay-Per-Click Ads, for example someone may search for “Windows 11 License”, Alongside the organic results you may see Software or resale websites that have bid to have their Ad show with the intention of driving more sales or traffic to their website. When a user clicks one of these Ad links, the vendor is charged for each user that clicks through to the website.

A Google Search Engine Results Page for the search term "Windows 11 license" with arrows pointing out the Paid Ad and Organic results

Some other types of PPC Ads include Display Advertising, which typically serve banner ads, and Remarketing.

How does PPC work?

Pay-per-Click Advertising operates on a bidding system. Advertisers cannot simply pay more to ensure their ads appear more prominently than their competitors. Ads are instead subject to an “Ad Auction”, this is a completely automated process that google and other major search engines use to determine the relevance and validity of an advertisement to a user’s search query and the respective SERP.

Need help with PPC? Or want to start a new Ad Campaign? Click here!

How do keywords work in Pay-Per-Click Advertising?

As mentioned in the above section, an Ad Action is a bidding system. Advertisers must decide which terms they would like their ads to display for when a user makes a search. These terms are known as Keywords. Say, for example, that your business specializes in Office Supplies. A user looking to buy Printer Paper or Ink may enter the keyword “Office Supplies” into a search engine to find retailers offering these products.

A Search Engine Results page highlighting the PPC results for the search term "office supplies".

The moment a user submits a search query, the search engine performs a series of complex algorithmic calculations that the Ad Auction is based on. This determines which ads are displayed, in what order and by which advertiser.

Since you pay for every click your ad receives, its important to only bit on keywords that are relevant to your products or services. Bidding on irrelevant keywords would produce a poor return on investment (ROI) for your Ad Campaign. Specialized keyword research allows you to bid on terms that are more likely to have a high ROI and produce a successful campaign for your business.

Ready to take your visibility to the next level with Pay-Per-Click?

Pay-Per-Click Advertising is an extremely powerful tool that can produce exceptional return on investment for businesses. PPC can be applied to almost any sector and can help provide instant results when compared to Organic search techniques.

Here at Social+ our Paid Search Experts are here to help your business with its new or existing Ad Campaigns. With our dedicated Keyword research, Ad Copy creation, and Ad Optimization, we can help kickstart your paid search journey.

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