Pay per Click is essentially an auction to get your advert shown on the search results pages based upon specific keywords. Search engines call these advert sponsored links or sponsored ads and they appear above and to the side of natural search results.
As it's an auction it is governed by the relevant advertising rules and regulations for your region. Search engines take into account several factors and then arrive at a Quality Score (or Quality Index for Yahoo!). The score is then assigned a minimum starting bid which is the least you have to pay to be in with a chance of getting your advert shown, which is called the Cost per Click (CPC). Adverts are then ranked using the following formula:
Rank = Maximum cost per click bid x Quality Score
How is Quality Score calculated?
No search engine has published their exact formula for arriving at a quality score, however they have indicated the following factors influence the score:
Click-through rate (aka: CTR) - how often has you advert been clicked on in the past?
Relevance of ad text - is the text contained in your advert relevant to what search the user has performed?
Historical keyword performance - how well has the chosen keywords performed in the past?
In addition, other smaller factors also come into play such as geographic region for where the advert will be placed and how quickly your page loads in a browser. A good company offering PPC services should know this.
WHAT ELEMENTS MAKE UP GOOD PPC SERVICES?
4 key elements make up good PPC services: keywords, content, landing page and budget.
Keywords: Having already considered this as part of your natural search approach, you should look to use the same or similar keywords to ensure your advert gets best placement. Generic terms will cost more but will also drive more traffic, whereas brand keywords will convert better.
Content: How you weave your keywords into a compelling advert is essential. Remember it is an advert so should be short and punchy to draw the user into clicking it. Content is the block of text in between the primary link and the website address.
Landing page: The page the user sees once they have clicked on our advert is as important as the advert itself. You need to maintain the momentum you've generated through the advert and bring people along on your journey into a specific and prominent call to action.
Budget: The amount of money you have available to put towards this campaign. In many respects you should consider the budget allocation as you would for any traditional marketing campaign, but bear in mind you could end up paying loads if your advert is a huge success!
ADVANTAGES OF PAY PER CLICK
There's a whole range of benefits for doing pay per click advertising over more traditional advertising methods, but essentially there are 5 key advantages:
Scalable: the scale of you campaign is limited only by your budget and can be deployed to a number of search engines for maximum breadth. It is important however to identify and stick to your budget as this will allow you to compare different PPC services and allow you to measure a return on investment for each campaign.
Tactical: pay per click is much more responsive than natural search as you can make immediate changes to your adverts that yield instant results. This means you can make changes on the fly to take into account learning made early into a campaign or changes to the market around you.
Informative: you get to decide what your advert says, within the limits set by each search engine, meaning you advert can describe exactly what you want the customer to do or see.
Measurable: in addition to the budgetary controls, you can set targets and goals for the campaign. Such targets may include a certain number of clicks on the advert, how many people follow-through top your call to action or how many people buy the product your selling.
Controllable: you can control the user experience via well thought-out copy and a great landing page.
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