Monday, January 12, 2009

What Is PPC Advertising?

By Alex Plana

PPC (Pay Per Click) is a widely used form of online advertising today. With online search results, ads are displayed in text or image form on blogs or through website content. Advertisers bid on these key terms and are charged each time someone clicks on one of their ads.

There are many PPC advertising networks but the most common are Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and MSN adCenter. Google is the most widely used because of their ability to deliver significantly more ad impressions than any other search engine. To advertise on Google, an advertiser will typically pay more in Cost-Per-Click (CPC) compared to the other search engines.

The cost an advertiser pays for a click is dependent on type of keywords being targeted. Typically, higher traffic keywords result in higher CPC and less traffic keywords have a lower CPC. Keyword costs will be different from one advertiser to another due to the variety of factors that search engines use to help determine what an advertiser's minimum CPC should be.

A key question is how search engines determine how much to charge. This is done primarily by measuring the relevancy of an offer with respect to the keywords being targeted by the advertiser. Google uses a Quality Score (QS) to determine the relevancy of keywords used in landing pages and ads. Lowering a keywords CPC and increased ad position is a measurable result of a high quality score. Quality scores are improved by high Click-Through-Ratios (CTRs) on quality landing pages.

Many Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) feature PPC ad placements on the top and right side, and are they are usually labeled with Sponsored Links, Sponsored Results, Sponsored Sites, or a similar term. The remaining area of a SERP contains organic or SEO (Search Engine Optimization) listings.

PPC is presently one of the most popular methods of online advertising. One of the main reasons is that advertisers only pay for actual clicks where the visitor goes to a designated site. Another important reason is that PPC campaigns can end up being displayed quickly in search results"often in minutes to a few days. This trumps SEO where several months can past before the same keywords receive ranking in search results. When executed correctly, PPC can yield amazing results for the bottom line of a business.

It is fairly simple to set up a PPC campaign in Google, Yahoo, or MSN. However, getting it right the first time can prove to be a challenge for most individuals. There are many factors to consider when putting a PPC campaign together. The key terms chosen will make or break the campaign. Additional success will hinge on continuous testing, effective landing page creation, and intuitive bid optimization.

Forward thinking organizations are taking full advantage of PPC advertising for branding and to maximize income. There are some who can manage their own PPC campaigns, but it is highly recommended even for them to use the expertise of search marketing professionals. PPC is constantly growing, and with more businesses entering the market daily, the businesses that employ high-level search marketing strategies will emerge the clear winners.

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