In the world of digital marketing, one topic that we’ve all heard of and we should learn more about is how PPC marketing works. PPC, or pay-per-click marketing is a tool that any digital marketer or business owner should become familiar with. Even just having a basic understanding of how PPC marketing works can help an agency or business, while actually utilizing PPC marketing can greatly increase brand awareness and website traffic, regardless of the industry. 

Important PPC Marketing Terms To Understand

Even if you have heard of PPC advertising, you might not understand a lot of the important terms associated with PPC marketing. Before you can claim to have a good grasp on PPC campaign management or how PPC marketing actually works, there are a few key terms that are important to understand first.

• Pay-per-click– PPC is a form of advertising that allows you to pay a fee to have your website or landing page pop up on the search engine results page when someone types in specific keywords or phrases related to your ad or campaign. The search engine results page will display the ads you create to direct visitors to your website or landing page, and the fee that you pay is based on whether people click your ad or not.
• Search engine marketing– The goal of every form of digital marketing is to rank for target keywords. There are several different ways to utilize search engine marketing. Search engine marketing refers to any digital marketing method, whether paid or unpaid, that is done on a search engine, like Google or Bing. 
• Cost-per-click (CPC)– Cost-per-click refers to the amount that an advertiser pays for each time someone clicks on your ad. CPC acts as your bid in a business auction that determines where your ad will be placed on the search results page. As you can imagine, the higher the bid, the better the ad placement.
• Quality score-This is the score that search engines give to your ad based on your clickthrough rate. This is measured against the average clickthrough rate of ads in that position. The relevance of your keywords, the quality of your landing page, and your past performance all affect your quality score.
• CPM– CPM, also known as cost per mile or cost per thousand, is the cost per one thousand impressions. It’s most commonly used for social media and display ads. 
• Maximum Bid– This is the maximum amount that you’re willing to for pay per click on your ad.
• Ad Text– Your keywords should affect your ad text. It’s important to remember that your quality score is determined by how relevant your ad is. The text in your ad, and landing page, should match the keyword terms that you’re targeting.
• Ad group– All ads are created with different intents. That’s why you will need to create a series of ads within your campaign based on a set of related keywords. 
• Ad Rank– The ad rank determines the position of an ad on a search engine results page. It’s equal to the maximum bid x quality score.
• Landing page– A landing page is a critical piece of your paid advertising strategy. A landing page is where users will end up once they click your PPC ad. Whether this is a dedicated webpage, your homepage, or some other location, make sure to follow the best landing page practices to maximize your conversions.

How Effective Is PPC Advertising On These Platforms

Now that you understand the basic terms associated with PPC marketing, you’re probably wondering one thing: Where can I advertise with PPC? While many people probably think that search engine results are the only way that you can use pay-per-click advertising, that is far from the truth. PPC marketing is also used on a variety of social channels.

Google Ads 

Google ads are by far the most widely used platform for Pay-per-click advertising, and for good reason. On average, Google processes over 90,000 search queries every second. This gives anyone utilizing PPC marketing plenty of opportunities to utilize target keywords that will get intended audiences to click. The main downside to Google ads is that keywords are highly competitive, meaning you will need to spend a larger amount in comparison to other platforms.

Facebook Ads

Facebook is a popular and effective platform for paid ads, mainly due to its specific targeting options. Facebook allows you to target users based on specific interests, demographics, location, and behaviors. Facebook also allows for native ads, which means that ads are introduced and blend into a user’s social feed. You can even use Facebook Ads to advertise on their other platform Instagram as well.

AdRoll

AdRoll is a retargeting platform that advertises to people who have already visited your website. For example, someone could find an article about something related to your product or service. With Adroll, you can retarget them to other sites they visit with display ads that advertise your website, product, or services that might interest them.

RevContent

RevContent focuses specifically on promoting your content through PPC. It has the same impact as a guest post, where your content is displayed on an external site, except as an ad rather than a post. You still bid on keywords, and your ad is displayed next to content relevant to those specific keywords. 

Advantages Of PPC Advertising

Now that you know how PPC advertising works, as well as the platforms you can utilize for PPC campaign management, it’s time to take a look at the advantages of PPC advertising. 

• PPC marketing is very cost-effective
• PPC ads are both easy to test and control
• With PPC, you get fast results every time
• Even with algorithm changes, they have little to no effect on pay-per-click advertising
• PPC is both measurable and trackable
• With PPC advertising, you can easily target your ideal audience
• You can rank well with PPC ads, even if you have low domain ratings
• The data that you gather from PPC marketing can also improve your SEO strategy

Shift Refresh is a US-based digital marketing agency that helps businesses smash their competition and emerge as a leader in their respective industries. We are ready to help your business not only grow, but thrive. To learn more, call us at 1-888-467-3249 or visit our website https://www.shiftrefresh.com/