The goal of paid search (PPC) is to secure the highest position possible on the search engine results pages (SERPs), so that when a potential customer types in a search related to a particular service or sector, their business is listed at the very top.
In the UK, this mostly means paying to advertise with Google because 90% of search traffic goes through Google. It is also how Google generates 97% of its revenue.
It’s an incredibly attractive form of advertising because it’s quick and effective – correctly implemented a business can appear at the top of a Google SERP within hours of launching their campaign. It’s scalable, measurable and advertisers with even the most moderate budgets can achieve decent results.
The challenge, as always, is in the execution.
As anyone who has ever tried signing up for a Google Ads account will testify, there’s a fair bit of a science behind it and trying to understand how to use the platform and get the best results can quickly absorb time and money.
We’ve been helping a wide variety of clients generate sales, leads and engagement through a range of paid search activity for many years, including pay-per-click, which only charges when someone clicks on an advert, and remarketing, which shows adverts specifically to people who have visited a website before. The aim of the latter is to help them along the buying journey.
Planning an effective advertising campaign requires a deep understanding of a business’s target audience and the keywords their desired customers will use to search for that service.
Google Ads works by advertisers ‘bidding’ on keywords related to a particular search query, so identifying the keywords that signal a strong buying intention is vital.
The chances of winning those ‘auctions’ are not based on money alone, Google also ranks other factors including the quality of adverts, and the quality of landing pages. Ultimately it doesn’t want to take people to poor quality websites.
Launching a campaign is just the start. Successful campaigns have to be well managed, monitored, paused and amended, building on the insights discovered as the campaign runs. It takes time to build an audience and keyword strategy, but results can be quick if done correctly.
Summary
The average click-through rate for ads positioned at the top of the search engine results pages is 7.9%, which is why paid search continues to be an effective marketing tool for businesses to invest in.
It does come with challenges, such as cookie updates, data and privacy issues, as well as the successful execution and management of a campaign itself.
By working with EBY, businesses have the reassurance that their investment in paid search is being maximised to its full potential with a strategic and creative campaign designed to achieve results.
Give us a call today and start getting to the top of those search engine results.