PPC Advertising With Google

Google and Microsoft are two of the juggernauts in the internet space. Both companies have built search engines, Google and Bing respectively, that allow us to forage the internet for any piece of information our hearts desire. Each search engine has its own advertising network. These networks allow business owners to place their ads in front of internet users that are using phrases that are relevant to the business’s products or services.

PPC or ‘pay per click’ allows you to make bids for ad placement at the top of Google and Microsoft search rankings

What Is Pay Per Click Advertising?

Pay per click (PPC) advertising is a model of advertising on search engines:

• A user searches for a related topic
• Your ad appears
• The user clicks on the ad
• The user is taken to your site or related product
• You are charged for the click at a variable rate depending on competition

There two types of PPC advertising. Above we mentioned that your ads appear on search engines, but that is only half the story. Search engines also offer display ads. This is a network of websites across the internet where the website builder agrees to show Google ads. Let’s explain:

What Is An Example Of Pay Per Click Advertising?

Head on over to your favorite search engine and type in a query for a product. In my case, I just ran a search for “Samsung Galaxy.” At the top of my search results was an ad for a retailer that sells mobile phones. This is an example of a search PPC ad.

Have a look at search results, you’ll notice some are paid ads. Other are organic.

To find an example of pay per click advertising on the display network, keep an eye out next time you visit some of the websites you frequent. You might see ads somewhere on the page which is displaying a specific product you were searching for on a previous visit to your favorite search engine. This is a display ad and it is able to serve ads tailored to your search behavior when you are on relevant websites.

For instance, say you’ve been searching for a Mercedes S class because you are in the market for one. An ad for the specific car may appear next time you are visiting an auto website. This is called remarketing. You can target a viewer of your ad at a later time, somewhere else on the web.

What Are The Benefits Of Pay Per Click Advertising?

For starters, it’s cost-effective. Knowing how much we are paying per click and only paying when a user clicks on our ad puts us in control of our budget. This also means that our campaigns are measurable. We can monitor the effectiveness of our ads using real stats and actual cost numbers. PPC is fast and gives immediate results. This is because ads are served to users within minutes of creating a campaign. There are many resources available online on how you can implement a PPC campaign. Just never stop testing and improving it while it’s running.

Head on over to Adwords to create an account and give it a try. You’ll want to ensure you stick to a budget and write compelling ads that attract clicks.