Everyone wants to be at the top of Google when potential customers search for keywords associated with their business or brand. While optimizing on-page content with SEO can help, PPC can ensure you are getting to the top of Google instantly. PPC, just like SEO and social media, should be a staple in your marketing strategy.
What Is PPC?
PPC advertising, or Pay-Per-Click advertising, is a form of digital marketing advertising where you pay for every click that your ad gets. The most common PPC search engine advertising platforms are Google Ads and Bing ads. Amazon and Yahoo ads are starting to become popular, but Google is king at this time. With Google Ads, you bid on specific keywords you want your ads to show up for and only pay for when your ad gets clicked. This is referred to as CPC or cost-per-click. If you have a good budget or are competing in a non-competitive space, you can have ads displayed to potential customers within hours. This is one of the most effective ways to increase brand awareness, get more customers, and generate more revenue for your business.
How Does PPC Work?
Paid search advertising works by creating a PPC campaign that contains specific keywords for the target landing page you want to advertise. You will want to keep this as relevant as possible to increase your quality score. This score is based on the CTR or click-through rate of the ad and how relevant your landing page is.
For example, if you have a flower shop in Waco, Texas, you will want to bid on keywords such as “Waco Texas flowers”. You would create an ad and set your bid for that keyword and depending on how competitive you are with other bids, your ad will show at the top of Google. If you have an eCommerce business that ships nationwide, you will want to bid on more broad keywords with various match types to find the right keywords for your business.
Using the tools within Google Ads, you can optimize your ads based on search queries, ad rank, ad spend, conversion rate, ad placements, and other metrics to decrease CPCs and increase your revenue. Optimizations can be done to ad campaigns, ad copy, ad groups, and keywords that you assign to each campaign.
Why Are PPC Ads Important For Marketing?
PPC ads come in a few different varieties including search ads, text ads, remarketing ads, Google Shopping, and display ads. By utilizing these to their fullest potential, you can develop an online advertising strategy that will spend effectively to increase your business' revenue. PPC ads are very easy to optimize and are one of the most effective ways to spend advertising budgets. Not only can you assign a list of keywords you want your ads to show up for, but you can also negate negative keywords to keep your ads from showing up in the SERP, or search engine results page, for terms not associated with your business.
PPC Vs SEO
One of the biggest questions when it comes to search engine marketing is whether you should focus on SEO or PPC marketing. While it is best to utilize both in a perfect search marketing strategy, we understand that not all companies have the resources to get them both done at the same time, so we will break down a simple strategy to help make your decision easier.
If you are wanting to immediately jump to the top of major search engine result pages, PPC, or pay-per-click advertising, is the best strategy. SEO takes time, even with a great piece of content. Organic search results are full of great content from thousands of web pages, so it may take weeks or months for your site to rank where you want it to. With PPC or paid search, you can pay to have your ads at the top of Google or Bing.
SEO is going to cost less and provide you with longer-lasting results if done correctly. Local SEO can be a quick and easy win for small businesses that are catering to a specific area or search term. For businesses with a nationwide clientele such as a larger e-commerce business, ranking high on major search engines for relevant terms can help you reach your target audience at the cost of your hours put into SEO work.
Both forms of marketing will require detailed keyword research and a general
understanding of your target demographic, but will each offer their ups and downs.
Use PPC To Grow Your Waco, Texas Business
PPC is one of the highest revenue-driving digital marketing tools you can utilize if done correctly. This is not a skill that most small business owners have, but that shouldn't mean you can't reap the benefits of PPC. At Cedarsphere, our PPC experts can help develop a paid search strategy that fits your business and delivers to ROAS, return on ad spend, you need to stay profitable. Fill out our free quote form to get a quote on your PPC package today.