PPC Advertising Explained

PPC or Pay Per Click advertising is a method used to get targetted visitors to your desired web page. I will use Google Adwords as an example but there are many more - see PPC resources page.

Google has lots of visitors. These visitors come to Google in the search of information. You can "compete" for these visitors in two main ways. You can design a web site that Google includes in its organic search result listings. Or you can use Google Adwords Pay Per Click advertising. With PPC, as the name suggests, you pay each time your ad is clicked.

PPC Advertising Delivers Targetted Visitors

With PPC you bid for the keywords you want your ad shown for. The power lies in attracting targetted visitors. You know what your customers look for, and now you can put your ad in front of them. And you only pay if they click your ad.

With PPC you can bid for keywords and keyword phrases. It is a closed auction where you bid for a keyword and then you find out where your ad will be shown. The top eight bidders are shown on page one. The number one spot on page one is generally speaking taken by the highest bidder. The more you bid, the better placement for your ad (again generally speaking).

You can also specify negative matches. A negative match is a word that you do not want your ad to be shown for. If you for example choose the keyword "blue thingys" with the added negative match "-free" (notice the minus sign). Your PPC ad will be shown if somebody goes to Google and searches for "blue thingys". But your ad will not show for "free blue thingys".

How Much Do I Pay For PPC Clicks?

It is up to you, but currently a minimum of 5 cents per click. The more you pay the higher up you rank in the row of ads (see below).

Where Does The PPC Ad Appear?

The ads are the "greenish" boxes you see to the right on most Google search result pages.

Who Can See Your PPC Advertising?

You specify the countries and in some instances locations within a country where you want your ad to be shown.

What If I Get Millions Of Visitors?

Sounds expensive. Well, this is where the budget comes into play. You specify the maximum you are willing to pay per click AND the maximum you are willing to spend per day. Google will take your daily budget and calculate the monthly budget it WOULD correspond to if you ran your ad a full month. I have on rare occasions exceeded my daily budget with 10% or so. Check with Google for details.

So PPC Placement Is All Down To Money Then?

It is mainly down to money but also to CTR (Click Through Ratio). If your PPC advertising campaign generates a lot of clicks Google figures it must be very relevant to its visitors. Your ad may get a boost in position if its CTR outperforms other ads with equal - or even higher - maximum bid prices.

Do I Have To Run My PPC Ad For A Specific Period Of Time?

No you can start, pause and stop your PPC advertising campaigns at any time you choose.

Confusing? I hope not. Let me know if you have questions or comments about PPC advertising.