Paid search is one of the fastest ways to get your business in front of potential customers who are actively searching for your products or services.
In a competitive digital landscape, relying on organic search alone isn’t always enough; to secure visibility, you need paid search ads to help! PPC offers businesses the opportunity to appear at the top of search results quickly, targeting keywords to help drive traffic.
Whether you’re looking to generate leads, boost sales, or increase brand awareness, paid search can play a key role in your digital marketing strategy.
What is Paid Search?
Pay-per-click (PPC) is a digital marketing strategy that allows companies to place ads on relevant search engine results pages (SERPS). The ultimate goal of these ads is to drive traffic to your website.
With PPC, companies do not pay for the ad unless someone clicks on it, so it can work out as a more affordable way to advertise and get your company to the top of the Google results. The ads are also very targeted, as they are reaching people who are searching for something specifically related to your business.
The Benefits of PPC Advertising
Day to day, Google receives over 8.5 billion searches, so your business needs to be visible, and sometimes, it can be hard to do this organically.
PPC advertising can be quite cost-effective if done right. You have full control over the budget spent, can advertise directly to people with the intent to buy, and only pay for the ad when it is clicked on. By being specific with these keywords, you are not wasting money and time on people who are not actually interested.
You will also see pretty immediate results, especially when compared to organic and long-term methods like SEO and Digital PR.
The Steps of a PPC Campaign
- Location Targeting
If you’re a local business, your ads should only appear in relevant areas. A plumber based in London should target ads specifically to users in London. You can use location settings in your campaign to control where your ads are shown.
- Keyword Selection
Choose keywords that match your product or service.
You can use SEO tools to discover what customers are searching for, estimate keyword costs, and understand demand and competition
- Match Types
Match types control how closely a user’s search must match your keyword for your ad to appear.
Exact Match
Ads show when the search is an exact or very close match to your keyword. This gives the most control and usually higher intent traffic.
Broad Match
Ads can show for searches containing any of the words in your keyword, in any order. This is good for increasing reach but may bring in less relevant traffic that doesn’t convert.
Phrase Match
A middle ground between exact and broad. Ads show for searches that include your keyword phrase with some variation, and offer flexibility while maintaining more control than broad match.
- Engaging Ad Copy
The Ad copy you use needs to be engaging and high-quality. With these ads, you’ll be competing against competitors, and you want the customer to choose you, so make sure the content is accurate, engaging, and high quality.
- Choose what to Bid
For each keyword, you can set a different amount to bid. Although bidding lower than the recommended bid is not recommended, as this might mean Google shows your ad in a lower position. This is also based on the quality score of your ad, so ads with a good quality score and good bid will place higher.
Bidding
This is the amount of money you’re willing to spend; the closer to the estimated bid, the better.
Quality Score
This is a score from 1 to 10 that looks at the click-through rate, relevance, and landing page experience.
PPC vs SEO
Pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimisation both drive traffic to your website, but they work in different ways. PPC is a paid strategy where businesses bid on keywords to appear at the top of search results. SEO focuses on ranking organically, so you don’t have to pay for every visit.
One of the biggest differences between PPC and SEO is the speed of results. PPC can generate traffic almost instantly, making it ideal for short-term campaigns, product launches, or businesses looking for quick visibility. SEO takes longer to build, as it relies on creating high-quality content, building authority, and improving technical performance, but it delivers more sustainable, long-term results over time.
Cost is another key factor to consider. PPC requires ongoing investment, as traffic stops when you stop paying for ads. SEO is more cost-effective in the long run, as once your pages begin to rank well, they can continue to generate traffic without continuous spending. SEO does require time, effort, and often upfront investment in content and optimisation.
Types of PPC Campaigns
Search Ads
Text ads that appear at the top of search engine results when users search for specific keywords.
Display Ads
Visual banner ads are shown across websites within a network (e.g., blogs, news sites).
Shopping Ads
Product-based ads that show images, prices, and store names are commonly used for e-commerce.
Video Ads
Ads that appear on platforms like YouTube before, during, or after videos.
Remarketing (Retargeting) Ads
Ads shown to users who have previously visited your website to encourage them to return and convert.