Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be described as a digital marketing model in which advertisers (the one who publishes his advertisements) pay small charges each time one of their ads is clicked by a visitor. It’s a way of buying traffic to your website rather than earning traffic organically through search engine optimization (SEO), which takes a long time to show results. PPC advertising is normally associated with search engines like Google, social media platforms like Facebook, and similar online advertising networks.
Following are the steps of PPC advertising:
- Advertisement Creation: Advertisers create text, image, or video-based ads that are relevant to their target audience and marketing goals. These ads often include a headline, ad copy, a link to a specific webpage (landing page), and sometimes additional elements like images or call-to-action buttons.
- Advertisement Placement: Advertisers select specific keywords, demographics, psychographics, interests, habits, locations, and other targeting criteria to determine where and when their ads will be displayed. For example, a restaurant selling pizza might bid on keywords like “best pizza” to appear in search engine results when users search for those terms.
- Bidding: Advertisers participate in auctions to have their ads displayed. In these auctions, they specify the maximum amount (bid) they are willing to pay when a user clicks on their ad. The bid amount, along with ad quality factors, determines the ad’s position and visibility.
- Advertisement Display: When a user searches for a keyword or interacts with online content matching the targeting criteria, the advertising platform uses its algorithm to determine which ads to display. The highest bidder with relevant ad quality factors typically gets their ad shown.
- Clicks and Charges: When a user clicks on an ad, the advertiser is charged a fee for that click. The cost per click (CPC) varies based on factors like competition, ad relevance, and quality. Advertisers can set daily or monthly budgets to control their spending.
- Landing Page: Clicked ads usually direct users to a landing page on the advertiser’s website, where they can learn more about the product or service and potentially make a purchase.
- Monitoring and Optimization: Advertisers continually monitor the performance of their PPC campaigns, analyzing metrics like click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and return on investment (ROI). They can adjust their bids, ad content, and targeting settings to optimize their campaigns for better results.