What is Pay Per Click, or PPC?
Pay Per Click or PPC or Paid Search, is the process of having an advert on a search engine (in the sponsored listings – see image below) or on a website, and when a user clicks on the advert it will cost you a certain amount, hence pay-per-click.
PPC on Search Engines
When a user performs a search on a search engine such as Google they type what they are looking for into the search field. What they type is called a “search term”, or “keyword”. When you setup a PPC advert you set the keywords you predict users will type in to find services or products related to your own.
This way if the search engine thinks the users search is related to your advert it will display the advert to the user in the “Sponsored Search Results”.
A PPC campaign (as appose to an SEO campaign) can, if managed correctly, produce instant results in driving traffic to your website.
Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked.
With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.Cost per click (CPC) is the amount of money an advertiser pays search engines and other Internet publishers for a single click on its advertisement that brings one visitor to its website.In contrast to the generalized portal, which seeks to drive a high volume of traffic to one site, PPC implements so called affiliate model, that provides purchase opportunities wherever people may be surfing. It does this by offering financial incentives (in the form of a percentage of revenue) to affiliated partner sites.
The affiliates provide purchase-point click-through to the merchant. It is a pay-for-performance model—if an affiliate does not generate sales, it represents no cost to the merchant. The affiliate model is inherently well-suited to the web, which explains its popularity. Variations include, banner exchange, pay-per-click, and revenue sharing programs.
Websites that utilize PPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser’s keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content. Such advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads, and appear adjacent to or above organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a web developer chooses on a content site.
Which Pay Per Click Service?
Although many PPC providers exist, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter are the three largest network operators, and all three operate under a bid-based model. Cost per click (CPC) varies depending on the search engine and the level of competition for a particular keyword. The PPC advertising model is open to abuse through click fraud, although Google and others have implemented automated systems to guard against abusive clicks by competitors or corrupt web developers.
Google Adwords Ranking position is determined by Cost Per Click Bid X Quality Score. Your quality score is determined by the click through rate (CTR) on Google, the relevance of the keyword and ad to the search and the historical keyword performance. SEO research and Google SEO copywriting can improve the Quality Score by ensuring the text of the ad is relevant to both the search query, target demographics of your potential customers and your web site content.
This important to improve CTR and to reduce your bounce rate which are both important factors to increase your quality score and associated ad rank. Another important advantage of professional Google Adword SEO copywriting is to produce more eye catching “call to action ads” that stand out from your competitors even from a lower ad ranking position. A Professional Search Engine Marketing Specialist can also provide internet marketing recommendations and/or professional copywriting of your landing pages to further increase your conversion rate.
