When the average advertiser thinks of PPC (Pay-Per-Click), their mind normally jumps to PPC Search advertising, and it’s also very common for people to refer to PPC as Google Paid Advertising or Google AdWords. This is most likely due to the popular nature and age of the channel. NEWSFLASH! There are other types of PPC channels as well as Search and this article will take you through them all:
Search
Let’s start with the most common PPC channel – Search. You can use Google and/or Bing to start your first PPC Search Advertising campaign, with Google being the most widely used search engine.
Search Advertising is a channel where you can prominently display text adverts in the results page of a search engine. You compete with other businesses for the top 4 positions above the organic rankings, with 3 positions also available at the bottom of the page. The beauty of Search is you can build a campaign and appear in Google’s search results on the same day!
You only have a certain amount of characters within your ad copy and ad extensions to persuade a customer to click on your advert to get taken through to your website, and you only pay if the user clicks on your advert. If the visitor clicks through, it’s now time for your landing page to do the talking and needs to be fully optimised to help encourage that user to buy or contact you about your product/or service.
Google Shopping
Do you own an E-Commerce business? Google Shopping is a must for the average retailer that is competitive with its pricing. It allows users to search for products for sale from online retailers, with search results displaying attributes such as product information, prices, stock availability and SKUs.
Google Shopping uses the same platform as Search to build and maintain your campaigns. However, you have the addition of the Google Merchant Centre where you need to keep an updated product feed linked with the account for your results to be eligible to appear.
Shopping results appear on Google as a sponsored listing and can even sometimes appear above Search ads within Google results. It has grown in popularity over the years as advertisers like that the listing displays the description, image and price of their product before clicking through – unlike Search when you can only see the ‘full picture’ once clicked on the advert.
If someone does click on your Shopping advert, it is only then that you will be charged. However, you can manage the maximum cost per click (CPC) you’re willing to pay. Once the user has landed on the destination URL, it’s now up to your landing page experience to see if that visitor now converts into a customer. You’ll need to make sure the user journey including the payment process is smooth for desktop and mobile users if you would like to succeed in the Shopping world!
Social
Social is still classified as a newbie in the PPC world, even though astonishingly it has been around since Facebook rolled out its first paid advert in 2005. However, it’s not been until the last few years that businesses have realised the potential of social advertising, and with the likes of Facebook continually improving their proposition, it will be a key component to any company’s advertising strategy.
The most popular Social PPC platform is Facebook, but other channels include Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also use Video Ads for YouTube which can still be used on a PPC model. Each platform has different strengths and a variety of options but each can still be equally effective depending on your audience e.g. B2B Targeting is great with LinkedIn advertising.
Social advertising enables you to narrow down your audience to your target market. Also, more importantly, you’ll be interacting with an engaged audience which is key to building up your relationship with your customers. It’s also great for interest-based targeting, perfect for raising brand awareness along with many other strengths!
Display
Display advertising is creative assets which showcase your products/services on another website. This can be in the form of images, audio and video and are often used to deliver brand messages or commercial offerings.
The reach Display has is pretty incredible, Google claims that their Display Network reaches over 90% of internet users worldwide. Although that’s not to suggest you’re going to reach this yourself as it depends on budget and campaign aims!
You can target your ads to appear on websites or even apps based on your keywords or your target demographic which gives you more control over reaching your target audience. When you select your target audience, it is reassuring that you know that your advert is being seen within your target demographic and your message is being communicated across to the correct audience.
Re-targeting
Have you ever viewed a product online from one of your favourite retailers only for that same product to follow you around other websites you browse as a display advert? Well, that’s a part of re-targeting my friend. So make sure you’re in ‘incognito’ browsing mode if you’re looking for a Christmas present for your partner!
Re-targeting is a fantastic method to target previous visitors to your website who may have left your page without purchasing. After all, on average, only 2% of first-time visitors actually convert into a customer. You can even narrow it down to people who have abandoned your checkout basket and customers who have previously purchased from your website.
Re-targeting comes in many forms but the most common is through display adverts. However, you can have multi-channel re-targeting campaigns where you can utilise this in Search Ads and Social ads too. It can be a very effective way of reminding your bounced traffic visitors of your brand.
Closing Thoughts
So there we have it, there is more to PPC than meets the eye! You now know that there is more to PPC than just Google. A number of businesses use a mixture of PPC channels as part of their Digital Marketing strategy which contributes to different parts of the customer journey. This can be seen through different attribution models but that’s a whole other blog article.
You’re in luck though as Yell offers each of these services so you can have business visibility across all channels and they can act as your one-stop Pay-Per-Click shop!
