PPC is an online advertising model in which advertisers pay each time a user clicks on one of their online ads.
There are different types of PPC ads, but one of the most common types is the paid search ad. These ads appear when people search for things online using a search engine like Google – especially when they are performing commercial searches, meaning that they’re looking for something to buy. This could be anything from a mobile search (someone looking for “pizza near me” on their phone) to a local service search (someone looking for a dentist or a plumber in their area) to someone shopping for a gift (“Mother’s Day flowers”) or a high-end item like enterprise software. All of these searches trigger pay-per-click ads.
Main Platforms
1.Google Ads
Run on Google, Search Partner sites, and Display Network sites, Google Ads is the largest pay-per-click platform. Google Ads was launched in October 2000 and has gone through several iterations over the last 17 years. Google Ads is geared toward the entire spectrum of companies from small businesses to Fortune 500.
2.Microsoft Advertising
Similar to Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising is a pay-per-click platform showing ads on the Microsoft and Yahoo networks. The platform also utilizes Search Partners. Microsoft Advertising is primarily keyword-based advertising. As of 2017, Microsoft Advertising has 137 million unique desktop searchers on the Bing Network*.
Ad Copy
1.Expanded Text Ads
Once ad groups are created and the keywords chosen, ads can be written. Ads should include the targeted keyword theme, any value propositions, and a call to action.
Google Ads text ad structure and character limits are as follows:
Headline 1 – Up to 30 characters (including spaces)
Headline 2 – Up to 30 characters (including spaces)
Description Line – Up to 80 characters (including spaces)
Path 1 – Up to 15 characters
Path 2 – Up to 15 characters
Ads cannot contain excessive capitalization, punctuation, or misleading statements. Keep in mind that the display URL will combine the root of the final URL with Path 1 and Path 2.
It should be noted that Expanded Text Ads replaced traditional Text Ads in both Microsoft and Google. While still currently eligible to serve within Google Ads, advertisers can no longer create new variations of the traditional ad format. For reference, this consisted of a 25 character headline and a pair of 35 character description lines.
2.Product Listing Ads (PLAs)
Product Listing Ads are square units used in eCommerce PPC campaigns that contain product titles, images, and prices.PLAs utilize Google product feeds, and must be connected to a Google Merchant Center account. Microsoft Advertising contains a similar feature called Product Ads that also requires the use of a Bing Merchant Center account.
Account Structure
1.Campaigns and Ad Groups
Advertisers begin by choosing keyword themes and creating individual campaigns. For example, a PPC professional may create a campaign with the theme “Coffee Tables”. Within this campaign are themed subcategories, called ad groups. These ad groups may include:
Oval Coffee Tables
Long Coffee Tables
Round Coffee Tables
2.Keywords
Every keyword must be assigned a match type, which defines the queries for which ads will show. There are seven keyword match types:
Exact – Query must be typed in exactly
Phrase – Query must be typed in correct order, even if there are additional terms before or after the query
Phrase (Close Variant) – Query must be typed in correct order, even if there are additional terms before or after the query. Query can include misspellings or other variants
Broad – Query can be typed in any order and will potentially show ads for similar searches
Modified Broad – Query can be typed in any order, but must include terms that contain a plus sign
Broad (Session-Based) – A form of broad match that takes into account other queries from that user’s search session
Technical PPC
1.Conversion Tracking
Advertisers have the ability to create conversion goals in order to gauge account performance. Both platforms provide code snippets that can be placed on key pages— generally order confirmation or thank you pages. Advertisers are able to determine whether ad clicks are turning into conversions.
Google Ads allows many types of conversion tracking, including:
- Webpage
- Mobile or tablet app
- Calls from ads using call extensions
- Calls to a Google forwarding number on your website
- Clicks on a number on your mobile website
- Imported goals (from third party platforms like Salesforce)
2.Google Analytics
Google Ads accounts can be linked to Google Analytics accounts to provide information on post click behavior. It is highly recommended that these accounts be linked in order to get a more complete picture of the conversion funnel. In order to link the accounts, the Google Ads ID number must be entered in the “Admin” section of Google Analytics.
Ad Extensions
Ad extensions are additional links and details that show supplementary information about your business to enhance the basic PPC ads. Certain ad extensions are manual choices, which you can control. Search engines may also automatically generate some ad extensions. The main advantage of ad extensions is that they help improve the click-thru-rate (CTR) of the ad headline because the ads are larger in size and therefore more prominent on the search engine results pages (SERPs). There are many ad extensions.
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