What Is PPC, And How does PPC Work?

PPC stands for pay-per-click, a model of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Learn more about this advertising model in today's article.

Updated: 14 Dec, 21 by Susith Nonis 13 Min

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PPC or pay-per-click is one of the most established forms of digital marketing advertising. Businesses who are new in the field of online marketing often wonder why PPC is so important. The main benefit of using these marketing genres is that it allows you to maximize your website's presence. It also helps to land your first client in autopilot mode.  

That's why PPC is widely considered to be one of the most successful forms of online marketing. PPC provides quick results and significant returns, and it is one of the greatest omnipresent roles of advertising. Now you have the correct definition and the basic knowledge on Why PPC is essential for online growth. 

 

Any business that isn't aware of what PPC advertising can be brought for them. They need to ensure the right information related to PPC before launching their first pay-per-click campaign. PPC means pay-per-click is a digital advertising model used by many new businesses to drive traffic into their sale page or the product page. 

Here the online advertisers have to run their ads on the popular platform to gain maximum attention on their brand. Some of the most targeted media are Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads. And many more. The pay-per-click model applies when someone clicks on your ad, and you will have to pay for it. 

Many businesses use PPC to derive sales, traffic, or feedback from their target audience. Many PPC platforms allow many in-depth features, meaning you can serve your ad specifically in front of those who fit in your customer range.

Similarly, another essential factor to notice is that search engines are the number one source for making their first sale. The reason is simple, and people look for a particular solution in search engines, where they love to purchase if they found a well-suited product. That's why it is reported that Google alone earns more than $162 billion per year through their ad service.

 

For your ads to appear on the search engine's first page, commonly referred to as SERP, Search Engine Results Page. However, the most notable thing to consider is, you can not appear more prominently than your competitor's ads. Instead, they are supposed to be named Ad Auction. It is an entirely automated process that Google and other famous search engines use to conclude the relevance and effectiveness of the advertisement that resemble their SERPs. 

Furthermore, PPC covers several different ad platforms, with the most available media are Google Ads and Bing Ads.  Here are some of the major platforms for PPC ad campaigns.

  • Search Ads
  • Shopping Ads
  • Display Ads
  • Video Ads
  • Gmail Ads

Most commonly, you will find the business starting their PPC campaign on Google Ads. The most straightforward reason is, it provides access to the largest audience of prevention buyers and clients. Also, find several ways to implement ad campaigns depending on their goals.  

However, let's take a look at how the auction works, as this is often the part that's the most confusing to those getting started with PPC. It requires a few steps to get started with PPC. 

  • Choose any platform for advertising 
  • Create ads and select the right audience by smart keywords 
  • Se the highest cost you can afford to pay for each click
  • Your ad will go into an auction respective of other advertisers who are bidding on your same keywords
  • The auction makes the order in which the ads are shown.

Now you can pay when someone clicks on your ad.

 

If you consider PPC as a marketing medium for your brand, you will need to understand the benefits and why you should invest your budget here and not in some strange marketing place. 

Here are some of the most genuine reasons why PPC could be the de facto advertising medium for you:

Your Products will Start Receiving Clicks Very Quickly 

When you have set up your ad account and built an ad, these ads will generally need to be approved by the platform. Although this usually takes not more than a few hours to get started. Once your ads are ready, you are qualified to appear in the auction. Besides, if your bid is high enough, you will begin to receive clicks on your product.  Compared to other advertising mediums such as SEO, PPC enables you to start getting returns instantly. It is utterly one of the reasons why it is prevalent among marketers. 

PPC can Quickly be Monitored and Tracked

One of the main benefits of PPC over traditional advertising mediums is the authority to measure and track the returns from the medium easily.  All major platforms like Google Ads and Bing Ads enable tracking conversions involving order or lead values.  These platforms also enable us to see the granular level and the ROI of all the accounts and specific ad groups and keywords related to marketing genres. It means that you will use data and insights to correctly refine the efficiency and performance over time to benefit the ROI of the medium. 

Full authority Over when Ads Run and How Much You Can Pay

Do you want to pause advertising during some season periods or want to run ads when you need more sales? PPC is the perfect source to accomplish this because you are in full control of your ad campaign. Another thing about PPC is you have control over the time of day and day of the week, and you can turn off and on your ads as you need.  In the PPC advertising model, you can manage your spending based on each day or month. Including how much you are willing to pay per click. On the other side of another marketing medium where you don't have this flexibility.

 

Many times, businesses consider both SEO and PPC are almost the same factors that help them drive potential traffic from the search engines. Besides, there should be no doubt as they both involve ranking on a search engine and getting clicks, but in actuality, both are different from each other.

In Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you are getting organic traffic from the search engine. Besides, In Pay per Click (PPC), you have to pay and bid your money to get potential traffic on your website or landing page. 

  • PPC includes paying per click 
  • SEO provides organic click which is free
  • You can quickly start to drive traffic with PPC from search engines like Google or Bing. Meanwhile, to get organic traffic, it takes much time and effort to get free traffic. In digital marketing, PPC & SEO both create a robust traffic system for any advertisement.  

Bear in mind and you should not compare two of these mediums because both places are vital parts driving digital growth.



In PPC advertisements, people usually think of two big names; Google Ad and Bing Ads. Google is one of the priorities for managing PPC ads, while Bing Ads is the second most priority. However, due to the vast and most gigantic audience availability on Google, it considered being the de facto of potential leads. Let's take a look at both of these and other ad platforms you should use. 

Google Ads

Google Ads comes with its platform names Google AdWords. It is the leading ad platform that allows visitors to run, search, and shopping ads on Google. Other varieties such as Video ads on YouTube, Gmail ads, and display ads on the Google Display Network.  There are numerous reasons and benefits it delivers to its users. That's why it is one of the most popular PPC platforms and provides many business opportunities to drive sales from this medium.  You can select any medium as per your product's requirement and start implementing ads on any of these platforms. 

Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads)

The next and most suitable PPC ads platform is Bings Ads, also known as Microsoft Advertising. It can immensely help you reach a new group of potential customers and get more leads and increase your advertising spend.  The great thing about this ad campaign is that you don't need to have high capital to run your ad-campaign on this platform. The majority of clients on this platform have lower costs per click as compared with Goods Ads campaigns. 

  • While we discussed their features, two of these platforms are quite similar; the only difference is the potential reach and market size.
  • As of June 2020, it was determined that Google's market share in the would-be US 87.71%, Bing 6.99%, and Yahoo 3.44%.
  • Yet, Bing ads can drive potential traffic and conversions, and the ROI is often thought to be better than Google Ads.

Other Ad Networks

Today Google Ads and Bing Ads are not the only ones who are leading the PPC drive growth. Many Other platforms can even drive better ROI than Google and Bing.  Following is the name of this website where you can run a PPC ad campaign on a reasonable budget. 

  • Advertise.com
  • Bidvertiser
  • Twitter Ads
  • RevContent
  • AdRoll
  • AdBlade
  • LinkedIn Ads
  • Amazon Ads

For the most part, we are covering Google Ads and Bing Ads. If you are looking forward to running ads on these platforms, it worth looking into each of these platforms. 

 

For many businesses, shopping and search campaigns are the initial ad formats that they use. 

Let's dive into the basics of search ad campaigns. You will learn to understand what the various elements work when using this type of PPC ad initially. 

Campaigns and Ad Groups

The fundamental architecture of search ads accounts converts into two ways; campaign and ad group. Another thing to keep in mind is that you need to have the right knowledge of campaigns and ad groups. 

Campaigns

Whether you are employing a large account, you will typically have a small number of campaigns held on your account. A campaign involves multiple ad groups containing ads and keywords. In most cases, campaigns are based on your goals and budget. Or how you wish to allocate the proper budget plans. 

For example, let's say you have a car dealership business. You will try to set up different campaigns using keywords such as "used card " and "new cars." By doing this, you can maintain your budgets, targets, and other adjustments. 

Ad Groups

Ad groups stay within campaigns, and both ad and keywords remain together. You should consider ad groups as a form of specific groups of ads that are running by keywords. In Google's ad words, the ad group includes more than one ad which shares similar targets. 

You have to set a bid or price when the ad group's keyword triggers and reflects on the page.   The number of ad groups you have under the campaign will depend upon your business and the number of potential keyword groups you will be bidding on. 

Besides, you can include multiple keywords and match the specific types under an ad group. Several PPC specialists use a structure that is known as SKAGs (single keyword ad groups). They include only one keyword per ad group that enables maxim authority over targeting and bidding. 

Keywords

Keywords are crucial for running an ad campaign. Right keywords will lead to trigger the right ad to show on google. If setting the right keyword by adequately analyzing the volumes and expansion, you can perform better PPC advertising.  The intention of getting organic traffic also implies the same story. You will have to work months and weeks to get organic traffic consistently. That's why PPC seems a perfect shortcut to receive hundreds of simple clicks on your pitch.  

When users search for a query, the ad account keywords are triggered against the question to show ads. However, you are free to set unique max CPS proposals for each keyword in an ad group.

 

In the digital world, you will always have to rely on the right keyword. Keywords place a much more significant role than just triggering ads on search engines. We talked about the benefits of using authoritative platforms for driving potential traffic on your sales funnel. 

Another thing to keep in mind, keyword match is another de facto for getting accurate ROI. Similarly, match types give you options to have control over which search terms will trigger your ads. There are hundreds of methods for implementing the right PPC ad campaign. 

If you want to move upwards on the edge of competition, you have to apply a keyword match strategy. While choosing the best platform also determines the flourishing growth of your advertising. Yet, Google and Bings suit a great deal for many businesses, but each of them has its own game of advertising.  That's the reason why we wrote this blog to showcase the readers' invisible path to reach the mountain of wealth.

Susith Nonis

Susith Nonis

I'm fascinated by the IT world and how the 1's and 0's work. While I venture into the world of Technology, I try to share what I know in the simplest way with you. Not a fan of coffee, a travel addict, and a self-accredited 'master chef'.

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Lindsey Ryan

2024, Jul, 24

This is a fantastic and comprehensive overview of PPC! It’s clear how essential PPC can be for driving traffic and generating quick returns. I particularly appreciate how you broke down the various platforms and explained the auction process in detail. For businesses new to online marketing, this is gold. Looking forward to implementing some of these insights in my next campaign! Thanks for sharing.

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Emilia Roob

2024, Sep, 24

Great post! This is an incredibly comprehensive guide to understanding PPC and its importance in digital marketing. The breakdown of different ad platforms and the detailed explanation of how ad auctions work make it easy for even beginners to grasp. The comparison between PPC and SEO is particularly insightful, emphasizing how both strategies can complement each other to drive traffic and sales. Thanks for sharing this valuable information!

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Aniyah Lynch III

2024, Oct, 24

This is a fantastic breakdown of PPC and its importance in the digital marketing world. The way you’ve highlighted its potential to drive quick results and substantial returns is really insightful. Also, explaining how it functions and the different platforms available is super helpful for anyone new to this arena. It's clear now why PPC should be a go-to strategy for businesses looking to enhance their online presence quickly. Thanks for sharing such detailed and practical information!