There are over 3 billion searches worldwide every day. A portion of that includes potential customers looking for your product or service. We bridge that gap between those searches and your brand, connecting the consumer to producers like you through PPC and SEM. It’s a tricky landscape though, filled with your competitors bidding to serve ads to that same group of consumers. That’s why working with a digital marketing professional is so important. We leverage search engine marketing to provide you with cost-effective solutions to rapidly build your business. Potential buyers are out there right now. You just need a smart way to introduce them to your company.

When it comes to PPC (pay-per-click) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) the big players, Google and Bing, make it easy to set up campaigns. However, to optimize those campaigns is exceedingly difficult for someone unfamiliar with the platform. We work on PPC and SEM campaigns like yours every day. We will make sure you’re getting a positive ROI through your digital marketing campaigns.

Unlike organic search and SEO, PPC and SEM campaigns will put you on the front page of Google and Bing instantly. However, if you’re not using the right keywords and strategies, those ads will not serve your target audience. To be most effective, this takes testing over a variable period of time. Understanding the nuance of such optimization techniques is something only a digital marketing professional can accomplish.

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PPC

Pay-per-click advertising is defined in the form of paying for advertising based on clicks as opposed to conversions, views, or impressions. Businesses utilizing PPC show ads for free on places like Google and Facebook. Businesses only pay based on clicks. So in this game, cost-per-click (CPC) is the prime metric for measurement. Some of the most competitive keywords can cost upwards of $10 or $20. So it’s imperative that your landing pages are optimized and you have a digital marketing firm who knows what they’re doing. If you’re willing to pay that kind of money for a keyword, then you better make sure it fits into your ROI.

Of course, Google, Facebook, and Bing are not the only companies out there. That’s why we’ve listed PPC and SEM in separate categories. Companies like LinkedIn, Ebay, and Amazon offer PPC advertising options. Contact us today to see how we can help tailor our skills to your digital marketing needs.

What is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising?

An advertising model that lets advertisers pay ad hosting platforms every time their ads are clicked on.

How Does Paid Search Work?

When a user’s search query matches a keyword that advertisers are bidding on, an ad auction is triggered behind the scenes.

The ad that wins shows up on the users Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

Advertisers uses accounts like Google Ads to create Ads and place bids.

What are the Benefits of PPC Advertising?

You’re investing money in this and obviously it’s important to weigh the benefits against possible risks.

• Pay-Per-Click Contributes to Business Goals.

High-level brand awareness and exposure. You are guaranteed that millions will come in contact with your Ad.

If you’re a B2C then this is right for you. PPC will increase your sales once it’s done right.

Expect high lead submission if that is primarily your goal. It can either be a newsletter sign up or a free trial or anything.

• Pay-Per-Click is Measurable and Trackable.

It’s easy to track your progress and performance with PPC. Tools like Google Ads and Google Analytics are freely available.

This enables you to see high-level performance details like impressions, conversions, clicks, etc.

With this kind of information you are able to compare the amount spent in your PPC Ad campaign and results achieved in terms of your end goals.

Most importantly, you have the power to stop the campaign if it’s draining you resources and not producing desirable results.

• Quick Entry.

The other reason why PPC is off the charts is how it simplifies the process of joining the competition.

PPC gives you the chance to enjoy traffic and positioning same as your competitors even if you are new. With other types of advertising tactics it takes you time to start enjoying the benefits.

You are also able to target uninformed people about your brand compared to other advertising tactics like email marketing and social media.

It offers you a great chance of getting new customers and prospects with ease.

What’s more interesting is that all work is done within an advertising platform. This can be anything from research, campaign build-up to Ad creation.

• You’re in Control.

When it comes to Pay-Per-Click advertising all the power to do something substantial and meet marketing goals belongs to you.

You decide how much you want to bid. You also decide how you want to reach your potential customers. You choose which keywords to target, what search queries to block, etc. for maximum results.

The cool thing is that you can easily scale up your campaign if you’ve noticed positive results and the opposite is also true.

There’s also a short cycle from edit to deployment compared to other mediums. This saves you time if you decide to optimize a campaign or test new ideas.

• PPC works well with content marketing.

There’s a direct link between PPC and content marketing from conversion to the sales funnel to the purchase.

For example, if your goal is to increase conversions then PPC Ads will drive in traffic and your content marketing efforts will translate to conversions.

PPC works hand in hand with SEO. It takes good SEO efforts for PPC Ads to succeed.

If you are into remarketing. You can target people visiting your site through PPC Ads with remarketing Ads based on your specific conditions.

• A Wealth of Marketing Data.

In this day and age the real currency is data. Whoever has the most useful and up-to-date data controls the market.

Pay-Per-Click campaigns provide lots of data and performance information available in Google Ads or any other advertising platform you are using. Each platform will give a clear report on impressions, clicks and conversions data for each keyword in your campaign.

For starters, you can use this information to devise killer SEO strategies and content marketing efforts.

Major PPC Ad Networks Worth The Money

When it comes to PPC ads what first comes to your mind? of course it’s Google.

There are actually more Ad networks out there than you previously thought. We’ve have saved you time and the arduous task of researching these networks one by one.

Here are eight of them.

• Google Ads

Arguably the most popular one with more than 3.5 billion searches happening on Google search engine every day. Your Ads will appear on over 2 million websites and over 650 000 apps. These include Google search engine and a huge number of websites on the Google Display Network(GDN).

These numbers are absolutely overwhelming. In terms of pricing, Google uses the Cost Per Click model based on competition and Ad quality. GDN also allows Cost-Per 1000 impressions (CPM).

• Bing Ads

Just so that you should know, Bing search engine has a high desktop share of searchers with over 145 million searchers not reached on Google.

Also to spice things up, there are tools to help you import your campaigns from Google Ads. You also get to enjoy Microsoft’s advantage of powering several voice searches and it’s access to LinkedIn data.

Tip: Even though Bing Ads will allow you to import campaigns from Google Ads, not optimizing for Bing Ads platform is a mistake. You must optimize bids, match types and add Bing Ad extensions.

• ADROLL

Adroll is a targeting platform using more than 34 million signals to make marketing predictions for targeting. It also leverages Facebook Exchange, Google emails, etc.

It uses numerous Ad formats such as web Ads, dynamic web Ads, native web Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads and email Ads.

This is a must have for any serious e-commerce marketer. It gives you a chance to retagert shoppers who previously visited your site with products and enticing deals.

• Yahoo Gemini

Ads are served on Yahoo, Yahoo properties and Oath Networks .i.e YahoozL, AOL, Huffpost, Tumblr.

Ad formats include text, images, videos, app install, Tumblr posts,Mail Ads etc.

• Facebook

This is probably the most popular social network in the world with over 2 billion monthly users.

Facebook offers you the flexibility to effectively target people with demographics, intent, and behavior.

As if that’s not interesting enough, your Ads will be shown all over Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience networks on mobile apps.

• LinkedIn

Owned by Microsoft with information to target over 500 million professional individuals.

You have an absolute option to target pepple you want to reach by proffessional criteria such as job title, seniority, company etc.

Tip: In order to get results you must offer valuable tips, white papers and useful content directly relating to users’ industry.

• Twitter

Enjoys over 530 million active users each month.

You can roll out your campaign through promoted tweets with flexible Ad formats. It can either be text or any other media format.

Tip: For you to succeed with advertising on Twitter you need a solid Twitter engagement strategy.

• Pinterest

It is a large platform with over 200 million monthly users who are constantly researching trends, ideas, and products. Most of the users are decision-makers and with a higher buying intent. 70% of Pinterest users are women and 40% of the users have a $100,000 yearly household income.

You also have a wide range of ad formats to choose here like promoted pins, one-tap promoted pins, promoted video pins, cinematic pins and promoted app pins.

Useful Tip: Search queries on Pinterest, in general, need proper keyword research before you get started.

Keywords

Keywords are literally the basic foundation for everything in your PPC journey. They are important if you’re doing lead generation, eCommerce, or promoting a podiatry practice.

You’ll use keywords to define where you want your ads to appear. There’s nothing you can do without a solid keyword understanding.

Keyword Types Used in PPC

There are up to numerous types of keywords in the PPC world. Your success in PPC starts from where your keyword understanding ends.

Let’s explore them below.

• Branded Keywords

These ones include company names .i.e Apple or Nike.

• Generic Keywords

These are the ambiguous type also referred to as short-tail keywords .i.e “running shoes”.

• Transactional Keywords

Simply, these are keywords with both strong and weak purchasing intent .i.e “Nike running shoes”.

• Location based Keywords

This type is anything and everything location related.

These keywords are very powerful for location-based companies and businesses. A good example can be: “Shoe stores near me.”

• Long-tail keywords.

Consists of keywords with 3-4 words. Often associated with high conversion rates compared to other keywords.

• Informational Keywords

Generally, these are keywords people use when they are looking up for something .i.e “How to keep your shoes clean.”

Warning! Rarely use informational keywords for Pay-Per-Click advertising.

Note: Just because a keyword has 3-4 words it doesn’t mean it can not also be a branded keyword or an informational keyword.

Keyword Match Types in PPC

Every successful PPC campaign is based on having keyword match types of knowledge. Maybe you are asking, why? It’s because a keyword will behave in accordance with its match type and that’s why it is very important that you should pay attention here.

1. Broad Match

Use this format to add a keyword to this match: running shows.

Pros:

• Catches mispellings and keyword variations.
• Helps in discovery of high-converting long tail keywords.
• Brings more impressions and clicks than any other match type.
• Extremely effective

Cons:

• More clicks = more money you pay.
• Prone to lose money to irrelevant searches and clicks.
• Hard to control especially single worded keywords.

2. Broad Match Modified

Use plus signs to add a keyword: +running +shoes.

Pros:

• Better control over where you want your add to appear.
• Very good for finding long-tail keywords.
• Your Ad will still show up in SERP even if the search phrase has an extra word or is in a different word order.
• It also catches misspellings.

Cons:

• Lower search volume compared to broad match.
• Ads will still be showing up for irrelevant searches.

3. Phrase Match

Use quotation marks to add a keyword: “running shoes.”

Pros:

• Greater control over where your Ad should show up.
• Very effective for sentences
• Low risk of unnecessary expenses.

Cons:

• Reduced search volume.
• A lot more restrictive than Broad Match Modifier resulting in fewer benefits.

4. Exact Match

Use brackets to add a keyword to this type: [running shoes]

Only exact matching search terms triggers the Ad to show up in SERP.

Pros:

• You exactly know what search term is used.
• Perfect for controlling high converting keywords.
• What you see is what you get.

Cons:

• Much lower search volume.
• Zero new keyword discovery
• You miss on “one time searches”

5. Negative Keywords

Use negative keywords to block your Ads from showing up for unwanted searches.

Here is an example, let’s say you are a designer shoe retailer. You might want to use “cheap” as a negative keyword and it will prevent your Ad showing up for searches like  “cheap shoes”. This will drive away unwanted traffic and in the long run, save you money.

You need to constantly review your search term report and block unwanted searches

Quality Score

Many people’s expectations when it comes to PPC search advertising is that their Ads will automatically show up for the selected keywords in SERP long as they are willing to pay for the resulting clicks.

The problem, however, is that thousands of advertisers bid to rank for the same keywords.

Wonder how Google solves this? Here is where Quality Score comes in.

What is Quality Score?

It can be defined as the measure of a keyword’s relevance.

Keywords in an advertiser’s account are assigned a score ranging 1-10.(This is not used for SERP ranking)

Google uses what it calls Real-Time Quality Score which is determined by a lot of additional factors to rank Ads on SERP. Unfortunately, Real-Time Quality Score is more granular than a 1-10 scale and is not shared with the advertiser.

The reason why it’s not shared can only be guessed. Probably because it fluctuates all the time and it is different for every single search happening on Google search engine.

Why Google Uses Quality Score in PPC?

There are two known reasons.

Firstly to show more relevant ads to its’ users every time a search happens. Google prioritizes user experience.

The other one is because Google makes money from advertising and there’s a need to make sure that users are clicking on the Ads.

How Quality Score is Calculated?

Google uses ‘Big data’ with machine learning skills to come up with a measure of the expected relevance for every ad, keyword, landing page relative to every search that happens.

It uses the principle of the “Wisdom of the Crowds” to assign a Quality Score.

Algorithms monitor what users interact with the search results page (SERP) to make predictions about future interactions.

In simple terms, Quality Score means a predicted Click Through Rate (CTR).

Quality score is simply a measure of how likely users will click on your Ad for a particular keyword.

Why Quality Score Matters in PPC

Obviously it determines eligible ads to enter an auction. It also helps to rank Ads in SERP.

Most importantly Quality Score determines what actual CPC you need to pay as an advertiser.

Note: Ads with lower bids can beat those of higher-paying competitors by only having better relevance.

Click Through Rate (CTR)

Why is CTR important in Pay-Per-Click?

It’s a well-known fact that search engines place a higher premium on a good CTR.

More clicks = more money and search engines love nothing better than money, it’s normal business.

A higher CTR is also important for you from a business perspective.

What is the definition of CTR?

It can be defined as a percentage of impressions resulting to a click.

CTR will improve your ads relevancy hence generating the desired action.

How Does CTR Impact Ad Rank?

You are already aware that CTR contributes to your Ad rank in SERP.

What you should realize is that PPC is not a pure auction such that the top position is for the highest bidder but rather the top position goes to an advertiser with the highest Ad Rank.

It’s important to realize the sad reality about PPC is no matter how much you bid, a low CTR will always lead to a low position.

How CTR Impacts Quality Score

We have already discussed what Quality Score is and how it’s calculated. You are also aware that for your Ad to be eligible and rank higher it must have a higher Quality Score. Well, the higher the CTR the higher your Quality Score becomes. That is the only formula for success in PPC advertising.

PPC Strategy

For you to accomplish anything with Pay-Per-Click you need to clearly define what is it that you want to accomplish. You need to figure out what your goals are for you to succeed.

We’ve highlighted some 5 goals you might consider to pursue with your PPC campaign.

• Brand Awareness

What your PPC will do is to introduce and raise brand visibility. PPC maximizes brand visibility to a highly relevant audience.

Social media is the best option for serious targeting campaigns since it offers powerful targeting options like demographics, interests, behavior, etc.

Search campaigns are more effective with general keywords. The downside of search campaigns is that you suffer higher cost per clicks and irrelevant click-throughs.

There’s a solution to this. Use smart keyword Match Types and negative keywords.

• Product and Brand Consideration

You have a chance to reintroduce your brand with detailed targeting and stronger Call To Actions (CTA) Ad copy when users are considering and researching a purchase.

When users reach the consideration phase, Search queries becomes more specific and detailed .i.e “Nike marathon shoes.”

• Leads

Your goal here might be to entice users to do something like fill out a form.

Your Calls To Actions might be:

1. Request a demo.
2. Get a consultation.
3. Free trial.
4. Download a free PDF.

• Sales

You need to address consumers ready to purchase who often uses search queries with higher buying intent.

You can do this more effectively by highlighting offers, guarantees, warranty information, return policy, etc.

People need to be reassured for them to make decisions.

• Repeat Sales

If your goal is to make repeat sales then we have got you covered.

PPC Ads will help you make repeat sales and quite easily if the product or service needs replacements, maintenance, accessories or upgrades. Not forgetting cross-sales and/or up-sells. You definitely need to consider using coupons and discounts to keep your customers come back for more and remain motivated.

A solid PPC account with goals designed to reach customers and lead customers down the sales funnel to purchase is all you need to become successful.

Want an example of how Paton Digital can help your business? Check out our case study detailing how we built a digital marketing campaign for a client resulting in a whopping 72% completion rate on a landing page!

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