What is PPC Advertising

PPC advertising, short for pay-per-click, is an advertising model provided by search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and some social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. It is also the way that these companies generate most of their income!

The advertiser targets search terms / keywords that their potential customers might type into a search engine when looking for information or are interested in a product or service.

The PPC advertiser then writes a small descriptive advert with related copy and call to action which links to their website, and appears at the top or down the right hand side of the search results when the selected keyword phrases are searched for.

When the person who searched, clicks on a PPC advert, the advertiser is then charged for receiving the click. Hence "pay-per-click". PPC advertising is great for all businesses large or small because the advertiser sets their own daily & monthly advertising budgets, and will never be charged more than that. And of course, are only charged when their ads are clicked on.

What does a PPC advertising advert look like ?

Below is a screen shot of the search results page on Google, for the keyword search "google". PPC advertising ads can appear above the organic search results and also down the right hand side. A maximum of 10 per page.

On Google, the PPC ads have a maximum number of characters that can be used when writing the ads, this way all advertisers are playing on a "level playing field".

And because PPC is how search engines make their revenue, they always place the top paying advertisers at the top of the search results. Which is great being as most people who search, will not look past the first 5 to 8 listings before they find what they are looking for.

PPC advertising should deliver fast returns

Assuming the PPC advertiser has selected the most relevant search terms, has written a good quality advert which appears near the top of the search results, and has a great converting website to receive the clicks, they should see a healthy return on their investment (ROI) relatively quickly. There are of course other factors which can affect this, and that is why it is very important to use an experienced PPC advertising company to manage PPC campaigns.

Find out more about PPC advertising and our PPC management services, or get in touch to see how we can help you.

We make it easy to understand PPC advertising

Here are some popular questions we are asked, and the response you should expect if you use us for the campaign creation & management:

Q - How long does it actually take for my adverts to appear...?

A - We can have your adverts live on Google and delivering quality traffic to your website within a few hours of speaking to you. This can depend on keyword research and Google's ad review policies, plus other factors.

Q - Where will my adverts appear on Google?

A - Depending on competition, bids and other factors, your PPC ads can appear in a top 3 position on page 1 of the search results

Q - I'm not so sure that people use Google to source products in my industry, can you prove that they do...?

A - Yes of course, we'll furnish you with information that shows you exactly how many people are searching Google for your industry, products or services

Q - Mine is a small company operating regionally, Google is too large for me isn't it...?

A - No, Google is actually ideal for the smaller business - we can arrange it so your PPC advert only appears within a fixed radius of your postcode

Q - I want my campaign to only appear in the London area, can I do that with PPC advertising...?

A - Yes, and you can also choose when to display your adverts such as during the hours of 9-5 monday to friday

Q - I export and I'm looking for overseas enquiries but different languages present a problem don't they...?

A - No, we can arrange PPC campaigns in any country where Google operate and we even display your advert in that countries native language

Q - How do I know how many times my advert has been clicked on?

A - We email you regular spreadsheet reports that detail all your PPC advertising campaign statistics so you can keep track of your campaigns effectiveness

For more PPC advertising information, check out our PPC FAQ section.

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