What is Pay-Per-Click advertising?
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is a type of digital advertising whereby advertisers can pay to target customers with online ads using platforms such as Google Ads (formerly AdWords) or Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads).
Generally, advertisers only pay when a customer or lead clicks on their ad, hence the name ‘pay-per-click’, although some platforms charge based on the number of impressions (views) that their ads receive, In most of these cases, it’s Cost-Per-Thousand or ‘CPM’.
There are many various ad formats for targeting your customers online, some examples of Google’s ad and campaign formats include:
Text-based search ads
Text ads which appear on search engine result pages, relevant to the search made by your target customer.
Graphic display ads
Visual image ads which can be placed on websites that your customers visit, on YouTube videos or within Gmail.
Shopping ads
These ads promote individual products and include more product-specific info including a product image, title, price, store name and more.
YouTube video ads
Video ads can be shown on their own or within other streaming video content on YouTube and across the Google Display Network.
In-App mobile ads
Universal App campaigns allow you to promote your app across Google Search, Google Play, YouTube and the Google Display Network.
What are the benefits of PPC?
Here are just a few key benefits of Pay-Per-Click advertising and why it might be important for your business:
- Unlike other forms of digital marketing, paid advertising is highly targeted and gets your business right in front of your target customer(s)
- For new businesses where brand awareness and organic traffic is low, PPC advertising can help you to acquire instant targeted traffic
- Although PPC comes with a cost – the budget you chose to spend each month - that cost is easily manageable and can be stopped instantly if needed
- PPC allows you to create and execute marketing campaigns in a much shorter time, for example when compared to SEO, which is perfect for time-sensitive campaigns such as new product releases, events or seasonal-based businesses
- PPC allows to you test profitability of new products, business or markets before you invest in long-term campaigns such as SEO
- Detailed reporting means you’re in control to ensure maximum return on investment (ROI).
Attract more customers, locally, nationally or globally with a paid search campaign by a Google Partner
Why use Pay-Per-Click, remarketing and shopping campaigns?
Recent updates to the Google search results mean that paid ads are now dominating the top and bottom positions of the results page. First page positions are getting ever more competitive with decreasing space for organic listings and it is getting harder for businesses to be found organically.
If you want to reach new customers, whichever device they're on, a PPC campaign might be right for you. Here’s what a Search Ad looks like on a mobile device:
How can I target my customers with paid advertising?
With PPC platforms, such as Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising, you can:
- Target potential customers who are directly searching for your products or services online, at precisely the time they are searching
- Target your customer's wherever they may be in certain countries, cities or within certain miles from your business
- Target desktop or mobile users with device-specific advert options
- Target customers who have previously visited your website, purchased something, or even those who abandoned their purchase
Our team of PPC experts
Our PPC services are delivered by our in-house team of digital marketing experts who genuinely care about achieving the best results possible for you and your business.
Our Cambridge-based team have years of experience helping businesses optimise their ad campaigns and maximise their budgets with the ultimate goal of generating more enquiries and sales.
- Set up your campaign or take over your existing campaign
- Choose the most effective keywords
- Write your ads
- Monitor the performance of your ads
- Make regular updates to your ads, keywords and other settings to maximise performance
- Provide a detailed monthly report