Last updated on July 28, 2021

PPC Beginner Lesson: Pay Per Click Guide

Chapter 1: What is PPC?

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is an internet advertising method where advertisers get paid for each click. These advertisements show when individuals use a search engine like Google to seek goods, indicating they want to purchase something. Anyone searching for local pizza, a doctor or a plumber in their area, flowers for Mother’s Day, or high-end goods like business software might fall into this group. It allows marketers to compete in the sponsored links of a search engine when someone searches for a keyword that is related to the product or service of a business. This sort of advertising cannot be bought by simply paying more to ensure that their advertising is more visible on the same Search Engine result page than the ads of its rivals. Advertising is a fully automated process, which is used by Google and other major search engines in order to assess the relevance and authenticity of ads shown on its search SERPs.

Chapter 2: PPC Terms and Their Definitions

SEM

Also known as search engine marketing, it uses paid ways to increase search visibility. Search engine marketing has been a broad sentence for a long time that includes both optimization of the search engine (SEO) and sponsored search campaigns. However, it is being practically utilized in sponsored search marketing.

CPC

It is the practice of pricing your ads for each click. You want to make a maximum cost-per-click bid unless you use Enhanced CPC or make bid modifications (also known as “max. CPC”). This is the maximum amount you are willing to pay on your ad with a click (unless you use bid modifications or enhanced CPCs).

Quality Score

It is a diagnostic tool to show how well your ad quality is compared to the quality of rival advertisers. This score, evaluated on a scale of 1 to 10, is only available at the keyword level. The existence of a high-quality score implies that your ad and destination page is more relevant and useful than other marketers’ advertising. You may use the quality score diagnostic tool to identify places where improving your advertising, landing pages or keyword selections is beneficial.

KPI

In PPC, “Key Performance Indicators” are measurements that you have determined to be the most important since they evaluate the real performance of your efforts. They should be related to your campaign objectives and should help you in understanding the actions that must be undertaken in order to accomplish your objectives. For example, if my campaign is meant to produce a high number of webinar registrations through the website form, my key performance indicator (KPI) should be the webinar registration transformation (which, presumably, I am monitoring and syncing with my paid search account).

CTR

It is the rate at which your PPC ads are clicked. This proportion is the number of people who see your advertising (impressions) and click on the publicity (clicks). It is a figure that measures the quantity of clicks marketers get on their ads in terms of the number of views they receive. To succeed with PPC, you need a high rate of clicking, since it has a direct effect on both your ranking and the sum of funds you pay whenever anyone hits on your search ads.

Maximum Bid

In SERPs, the maximum amount you are willing to pay on your ad when your ad is shown in connection to a keyword or group of keywords for every click is known as Maximum Bid. You may adjust your maximum CPC offer to a whole set of keywords or a single phrase throughout your campaign.

CPM (Cost per Mille)

It refers to the cost of 1,000 advertising impressions shown on a single web page in a marketing campaign.

ROAS

The “return on ad spend” is a figure that extends the amount of revenue generated by your business to every dollar spent on advertising. The money you would have spent on digital advertising is an investment and the outcomes are monitored.

Keywords

A collection of words, or sometimes a sentence, which digital advertisers such as SEOs and PPC advertisers employ to enhance their sites’ search results visibility when visitors place a search query that is either exactly matching the keyword or is related to or relevant to the keyword.

Ad Text

Text that appears beside an advertisement. In the case of PPC, this usually refers to the headline, any description, and the website URL. The most effective advertising text interests the viewer.

Ad Copy Types

The word “ad copy” refers to the copywriting of the advertisements, in particular the combination of the headline, the primary entity, and the action to make an ad displayed on a screen. Choosing a range of advertising methods or venues may be challenging. These include:

Short-Form Ad Copy is often used in PPC publicity such as social network postings, display advertisements, and Google ads. Typically a title and call for action, a brief text should immediately connect with the audiences and, as few as feasible, force prospects to act.

Clickbait is a brief piece, which is intended to be clicked by the audience irrespective of how respectable a service or product is. Although contentious about rotten headlines, clickbait is frequently an efficient method of capturing internet attention when other short-copying techniques are not tricky.

Long-Form Ad Copy is to add extra information such as additional advantages, business tales, and anchor text to your advertisements.

Testimonials are used to verify the products or services you provide. It humanizes your message with the ad content. It gives social proof to back up your offerings.

Chapter 3: So How Does PPC work?

Consider the following scenario: our ads may show at the very top of the Google search results page when we apply for the phrase “PPC software.”

Every time a visitor arrives at our website and one of our advertisements is clicked, we are obliged to pay a small fee to the search engine. If PPC is done correctly, the cost is minimal, since the visit is greater than the price you pay for it. That means we have made a significant profit if we pay $3 per click and the click leads to a $300 sale.

Through fewer advertisers for ad clicks, search engines identify and reward marketers that are capable of constructing relevant, clever pay-per-click programs. If your ads and the landing pages are useful and pleasant for customers, Google will charge you less per click, which will increase your company’s income. Therefore, if you want to start using PPC, it is important that you learn how to do it properly.

Chapter 4: PPC Pros and Cons

When it comes to driving visitors to your website, PPC advertising may be a very cost-effective option. There are a lot of pros and cons to take into consideration. The following table presents pros vs cons of PPC:

Pros Cons
PPC Gets You on Top PPC is a Costly Strategy
It offers immediate visibility Visibility disappears if you stop paying
It is targeted  There is no longevity
It allows the tracking of results  Need to pay for each click

Chapter 5: CPC vs PPC

PPC refers to a specific marketing channel or approach, whereas CPC relates to performance measurement statistics. To find out how successfully your PPC campaign works, start with a cost-per-click analysis (CPC). Then contact your sales team to determine how many hits become qualifying guidelines. In certain cases, it may be advantageous to raise your click costs if it enables you to reach a more skilled public or if it allows you to rank above major competitors.

Chapter 6: Types of Pay Per Click Advertising

This dynamic method may be used in a variety of ways. These comprise:

Paid Search: It is the most talked-about PPC marketing. A platform/publisher places your ads where it thinks they will attract the most attention, and you purchase keywords and write a brief ad text.

Display: These are advertisements that show to users whose surfing history matches your target demographic.

Social Media Advertising: On sites such as Facebook and others, you must pay a price to have your announcement appear in a news feed that is customized to your interests. “Sponsored Ads” on social media is an example of this type of PPC advertising. These advertisements have the potential to be quite effective.

Programmatic advertising: It is a sophisticated marketing tool for reaching niche groups. Your ad displays on sites where a member of your target demographic visits based on an automated, real-time bidding procedure.

Chapter 7: PPC Ad Platforms

A PPC ad platform, Google Ads is by far the biggest, but it is far from the only one. An overview of other platforms is presented as:

Google Ad: Google is the largest PPC platform. It advertises on over two million sites and in more than 650,000 applications. Furthermore, Google’s search engine searches are approximately 3.5 million every day. You have a potential exposure to a large number of customers obviously by dealing with Google Ads.

Microsoft Advertising: Amazon’s PPC ad platform along with its Bing search engine is part of this platform. The company claims that Bing has surpassed 145 million queries that are not available through Google. Users of Amazon tablets or other Amazon gadgets have access to the internet. In addition to Yahoo! ad placement, Microsoft Advertising also works with Yahoo!

Facebook Ads: Advertisements on Facebook are the adverts you sponsor on the news feeds. It can hyper-target its ads to match the information it gathers from its users with your desired exposure, allowing you to reach the right audience. Additionally, Facebook ads may appear on Instagram and Messenger.

Chapter 8: PPC Campaign Structure

The account’s structure includes ad groups, keywords, and text advertisements. A campaign is a single public relations event. Because a customer purchasing a heating system is unlikely to purchase a cooling system concurrently, each would need its own campaign.

Each advertising group has its own campaign. Residential, business, and contractor classified ads, like in our example, may include “heating systems” sections.

Choose the keywords that interest users who are looking for your goods are most likely to use in the search engine box while examining your items. Use phrases such as “best domestic heating systems” or even “best home heating systems in Chicago.” If you use a more precise keyword term, your audience will be more targeted.

Chapter 9: Ad Targeting with PPC

The term “targeting” relates to who you are trying to attract with your advertisements and where you believe they will be searching or browsing on the internet. There are many targeting techniques including:

Contextual Targeting: Ads are placed between text blocks on websites. You may find out more about your potential customer by visiting their favorite news source.

Search Targeting: It targets those actively looking for your product, service, or company. These ads show on search results pages. Based on your research, you choose keywords that your target audience is most likely to use. Your ads may appear if a platform user enters in a phrase matching your keyword.

Audience Targeting: The ad platform will show consumers who it believes are “on the market” for your goods or service. You may further refine this feature by choosing from a list of markets that best represent your product or service.

Chapter 10: Pay Per Click Best Practices for Max ROI

To maximize your ad campaign ROI, you must consider the customer value and the cost of acquisition, which will help you determine how much to spend on new leads and sponsored media.

To be more specific, talk about inputs and outcomes. 1) lower your input (CPL) and 2) increase your return (revenue).

Use landing page best practices to increase conversions.

Quality leads to a particular ad. The better your leads, the more probable they are to become customers.

Chapter 11: PPC Management and Tracking

PPC management involves creating targets, split testing, adding new keywords, optimizing conversion paths, and setting goals.

PPC management requires planning and budgeting. It means improving keyword efficiency as it entails planning how resources may be directed to particular keywords and how to strengthen ROI.

It is a vital task; therefore, spending in solid management of PPC may be a great decision.

PPC metrics that can track progress include clicks, CTR, CPC, RAOS, impressions, and QS.

Chapter 12: Best Tools and Softwares for PPC

With plenty of factors to monitor, PPC management solutions should help. If you want additional help and organization, you can track your ads on the platform, but you will need a strong tablet or complex software to do so.

When choosing a software, look for features like multi-user support, cross-platform administration, A/B testing, scheduling, reporting, and ad grading. Some recommended tools include HubSpot, WordStream, SEMRush, Unbounce, and Databox.

Your Turn

Whether you started your business yesterday or decades ago, PPC can help you compete — at least in the SERPs.

Using this tutorial’s lessons and best practices for a successful PPC plan will help you increase website traffic and conversions.

Conclusion

Conclusively, PPC advertising should, in general, be very effective. Many business owners do not have the time to conduct campaigns, even if they know it is essential to the success of their businesses.

We at NX3 with a decade of  PPC success stories would love to assist you. To learn more about how we use different platforms to help our customers reach new PPC heights, please visit our website.

Keep an eye on your PPC ads, no matter where you are.

PPC best practices are always evolving. Keep a close eye on your surroundings. Good luck.

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