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A beginners guide to PPC and Google AdWords

There is a big difference between PPC and SEO and if you’re looking at tackling PPC, it’s likely you’re already familiar with SEO and organic searches. There is another way to rank for keywords on Google and this involves your website featuring as an advert on the search engine results page (SERP). We’ve got some top tips to help you understand exactly what PPC involves, why you should be using it alongside an SEO campaign, and how it can benefit your company.

What is PPC?

Google allows companies to pay for their website to appear in specific sections of a SERP. These adverts normally appear at the top and bottom of the SERP, and they have a small advert symbol next to them. They used to feature in a beige box, however, they are looking increasingly similar to the organic search results, results that aren’t paid for.

What is Google AdWords?

In order to create a PPC campaign, you need to use the tool Google AdWords. The basic principle of Google AdWords is that you pick some terms a searcher might use, then create an advert using these.

Keywords

Your advert will show up for the keywords that you pick. You need to pick keywords that you think people are likely to search for that are relevant to you. Consider which products are your biggest sellers and what you want to achieve, before using a keyword tool. Google AdWords has a very useful Keyword Planner than can be used to see search volume, the estimated cost per click, competitiveness of the keyword and more.

Bidding

In order for your advert to feature, you have to bid against other companies wanting to appear for the same keyword. This means the amount you spend depends on how much you are willing to pay Google every time someone clicks your advert. The higher your bid, the more likely your advert is to appear. If your maximum bid it £2, Google only shows your advert if others aren’t bidding more. If others are bidding less for your keyword you want your advert to show for, Google won’t spend your maximum bid and could end up paying less than you bid.

Quality score

However, PPC is not just about who bids more, but Google also uses a quality score. Your quality score is based on how relevant your advert is, your click-through rate and your account history. Your advert needs to be relevant to the search term and needs to take searchers to a relevant landing page and not simply your homepage. In order to help Google determine how relevant your advert is, it takes into account your click-through-rate. This is the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions and the higher your click-through-rate, the more relevant your advert and keyword are likely to be.

Thirdly, Google also checks how credible your brand is in order to determine your quality score. Your quality score is then timesed by your maximum bid by Google. This score dictates where your advert ranks on the SERP.

Remember, the key to any PPC campaign, is keyword research, biding for the right words at the right time and making your advert and landing page relevant. For marketing help, don’t hestitate to get in touch with the Webahead team today.

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