In this article, our digital experts at Eminence explain what PPC marketing is and how to effectively use this technique to increase your visibility and measure your campaigns.
What is PPC and how does it work?
PPC, also known as Pay-per-click advertising or Pay-per-click marketing, is a digital advertising method that generates traffic to websites. Each time users click on an ad, the advertiser will be charged, hence the term pay-per-click. The cost per click (CPC) can increase or decrease depending on the bids. Moreover, it ensures a high return on investment (ROI), because you only pay for your ads when there is a tangible conversion potential.
PPC ads are clearly labeled as an “Ad” on Google and appear above the organic search results. On social networks, PPC ads are often similar to standard publications in the news feed.
The two most common PPC bidding models are auctions and fixed rates. In both cases, you set a fixed budget and choose the keywords you want to target.
The PPC platform then suggests a bidding amount for your keywords. When someone does an internet search, an auction is triggered between different advertisers targeting similar keywords. The ads that win the auction appear in the top positions on the search engine results page.
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PPC helps you to achieve your business objectives
With PPC you have the opportunity to promote your brand, your website content, and reach your target audience at every step of your sales funnel. So, if you want to increase your leads, increase your online sales or improve your brand awareness and visibility, you can do it by using a paid search engine optimization strategy.
PPC is quantifiable and traceable
By using Google Ads in combination with Google Analytics, you can easily monitor and measure your PPC campaigns. You can also track the results and statistics of your campaigns in real time (number of impressions, clicks and conversions according to the business objectives you have defined).
When you create PPC campaigns using dedicated landing pages and track them all the way to conversion with Google Analytics, you can compare how much you spent against what you have achieved.
PPC campaigns are customizable
With PPC campaigns, keywords, ads, targeting and locations are all customizable according to your goals and budget. You can make changes to your campaign at any given time, even if it is already online.
PPC can target very specific audiences
With PPC, you can track your targeted users and their behavior at every step of your sales funnel. For example, you can track users who:
- Visited your website
- Search for specific keywords
- Are located in a specific geographical area
By combining these different targeting criteria, your PPC ads are more likely to reach the right audiences at the right time. You will be able to reach both your potential customers and also reach new users who don’t know your company yet.
How do you implement and optimize a PPC Marketing strategy?
Start by setting your goals and budget
One of the most important steps in creating your PPC strategy is to define what you want to accomplish. It is crucial to have a clear vision and defined objectives before launching a campaign. Indeed, a PPC campaign can have several different objectives, including:
- Brand awareness
- Product and brand consideration
- Leads
- Sales
- Repeat sales
Analyze the competitive landscape
Research your main competitors, identify the ones that perform best on paid search and implement a strategy to outshine them. Google Ads can help you do this by automatically increasing your bids to surpass your competitors.
Identify your Search Keywords
We recommend that you choose “general” keywords that are in line with the characteristics of your product. For example, if you have an online website that sells shoes, your starting point could be the generic term “women’s shoes“. From this you could build up a keyword strategy. For this, you can use Google Ads to generate other keywords associated with that search term.
If your website has a search function, export all the searches performed in the last 90 days, then categorize them by type. This will help you create content that meets the exact expectations of your users and it will also help you to find new keywords.
Furthermore, with Google Search Console, you can find the keywords that are as