Paid advertising is an online model in which advertisers bid to participate in real-time auctions to display their advertisements within slots on a particular platform. For instance the search results for patio furniture, you can see both shopping and text advertisements.
It can also be referred to as biddable media or PPC advertising. PPC is shorthand for Pay-Per-Click advertisement because you pay for each time you get a click from your advertisements.
The majority of platforms that offer paid advertising services make use of algorithms to conduct real-time auctions. The algorithms determine which advertisement to display within a slot on the internet. The criteria used are usually an amalgamation of the number of bids as well as the calibre of advertisements but it is subject to change depending on the platform that is used. The platforms don’t necessarily transparently provide the criteria however and there are many other factors to be considered.
Advertising comes in a variety of forms and formats like video, text, images and much more. Many platforms now offer to automatically favour ads that are performing well based on your goals. Their algorithms detect signals that humans cannot comprehend, which make it easier to let them determine what ads to display.
There are a variety of different options for targeting, however, the majority of them fall into two major categories:
These two categories can blend and mix, depending on the platform you’re working on. We suggest analyzing their performance separately whenever you can. This is because search ads are generally more effective than displays ads as their impact is less.
Paid ads are a fantastic method to boost traffic and convert rapidly. However, investing in Search engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies is more time-consuming and you’ll usually see results months after you’ve made changes to your site.
However, this doesn’t mean PPC advertising is more straightforward to implement and run in comparison to SEO and that it is advisable to exclusively concentrate on PPC. Paid advertisements are a fantastic strategy for short-term use, whereas SEO is an investment that will last for the long term of an enterprise that is growing exponentially. Therefore, you must keep the budget for both channels when you can.
Paid Ads can be an excellent option for a business that has just started online but does not rank effectively organically for relevant keywords. It’s possible to create an advertising campaign that targets the keywords you wish to promote and start seeing results quickly. While you’re waiting you must invest in SEO for the same keywords to increase their organic reach. After that, you can move your PPC budget to other keywords in which you may be lacking in organic reach.
Paid media can also complement your SEO strategy for terms where the search engine results are very competitive which is bringing organic results down the page. This usually happens for highly commercial terms which can be key to your business. Showing ads for these terms means you’re multiplying your chances of getting clicks as you’re appearing twice in the search results.
Biddable media is an excellent option to extend your reach to people who may not know about you. With the many options for targeting you can connect with new audiences who might not have heard of you previously and spark their interest.
Retargeting refers to showing ads to users who previously visited your site or advertisements in the past, for days, or months later after searching. Numerous online advertising platforms allow users to retarget visitors by utilizing various parameters. This is a great way to guide buyers down the purchasing funnel by providing them with ads that match the needs they have. It is possible to retarget those who have visited your website as well as people who are in your CRM, users who have engaged with an advertisement but did not click on it, etc.
The benefit to PPC advertising is that you can evaluate every aspect of online advertising. If you look at it in comparison to traditional forms of advertising, such as billboards or TV, however, it’s very difficult to determine the exact return on investment (ROI) on these platforms because you are unable to trace the individuals who saw your advertisements, or who later purchased the product you advertised because of the advertisement.
There are a variety of tools that let you track what users do on your site, and they can be integrated with an advertising service. When you have your base set you can quickly see the purchase made by someone on your website after clicking on an advertisement. You can then calculate the return on investment of your paid-for activity.
Advertising platforms also provide you with access to an abundance of data about the audience(s). The majority of platforms such as Google, Facebook or LinkedIn provide demographic data about the people who saw your advertisements. You will also be able to find out about people’s interests as well as their work and personal information – all of which is anonymised obviously! This data will aid you in understanding your audience(s) better and increase your spending by specifically targeting those who are inclined to purchase your offerings or services.
Google Ads, previously called AdWords, is the best known and longest standing advertising platform on the internet. Its sophisticated platform allows you to advertise on the Google search engine, YouTube as well as millions of websites and apps that are part of its network. Using machine learning and the data it collects on users, Google matches keywords and people with your ads and they’re quite good at it!
The platform mainly uses a Pay-Per-Click model based on how much you’re willing to bid and your quality score – how good your ads and landing pages are.
LinkedIn Ads offers advertising across its platform and is very much focused on professionals. You can target users based on their job title, the industry or company they work for or their interests, combined with geographic and demographic data. The platform mainly uses a Pay-Per-Click model.
Facebook Ads provides advertising capabilities on its platforms including Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. You can target users based on a lot of criteria such as their interests, the pages they like and even characteristics about their friends. Like other platforms, they mainly use a Pay-Per-Click model based on real-time auctions.
Twitter Ads provides advertising capabilities within its platform. You can target people based on keywords, the conversations they take part in, their interests and whether they’ve engaged with your tweets in the past. They’re also based on an auction model with Pay-Per-Click charges.
