Search engine advertising (also known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, is an essential component of digital marketing, because it offers businesses a chance to appear in front of potential customers at the very moment they’re searching for specific products or services. This is similar to how we did things in the old days with phone books. A person might look up services they need and stumble across an ad for your business at the top of your page, giving you the first chance to talk to that customer.
Search Engine Advertising is so powerful because we live in a new, digitally connected world now. No one uses phone books to find what they need. Instead, they use Google. Just like an ad in the phonebook, this type of advertising puts you at the top of the page, giving you the first chance to reach that customer.
1. How It Works: Search Engine Advertising is exactly what it sounds like. Generally, advertisers pay each time their ad gets clicked. Instead of trying to earn those visits by word of mouth and labor-intensive marketing, businesses can pay for visibility on search engines like Google and Bing, or platforms like Facebook. The most familiar form is where ads appear above or below the “organic” search results (results that are unpaid and generally ranked by SEO strength for a keyword), but other types can also be leveraged.
2. Bid-Based Model: These types of ads operate on an auction type of system. You choose keywords that are relevant to your business and then bid for ad placement in the top area of Google. When someone searches for that keyword, the search engine chooses which ads to display based on the bids and other relevant factors, like the search keywords you chose to bid on. If your bid wins, your ad gets displayed.
3. Quality Over Quantity: Google and other search platforms reward advertisers who produce highly relevant, quality ads with a higher position on the results page and often at a lower cost-per-click. This means your ad’s relevance, website, and webpages can make a big difference. It’s not just about how much you’re willing to spend, but how good your ad campaign is.
4. Immediate Traffic & Scalability: One of the main advantages of PPC advertising is the immediate results. Once your campaign is set up, your ads can start showing up and driving traffic to your website immediately. Unlike organic search which can take time, PPC can offer instant visibility. Plus, if you see positive results, you can scale up your budget for even more traffic.
5. Measurable ROI: One of the standout features of Search Engine Ads is how measurable it is. Google Ads provides detailed performance reports that allow you to see what you spent and what results that spend gave you, right down to the number of clicks, the cost-per-click, and the amount of sales generated for e-commerce stores. This transparency can help refine your marketing strategy to get the best bang for the buck.
Your competitors are already leveraging Search Engine Ads and you should too. Small businesses especially have an incredible opportunity to compete with bigger counterparts and local businesses. We’re experts at Search Engine & Pay Per Click Ads and set up campaigns for businesses of all sizes and all budgets. Want to know more about how we can harness its power to drive growth and profitability?
