Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is a powerful tool that allows businesses to set up ads and pay a certain fee each time it’s clicked. While PPC marketing can be lucrative, its success hinges on a well-crafted strategy.
In this guide, we’ll cover the basics of PPC strategies, how to develop one, and reasons why you need your own pay-per-click strategy to drive measurable results. We’ll also share the types and disadvantages you may face with your PPC marketing strategy.
Key Takeaways
- PPC ads work on a bidding model.
- Keywords are the heart of PPC ads, so your pay-per-click marketing strategy should pay close attention to them.
- Social media ads and search ads are the most popular PPC ad types today.
- Building a successful PPC strategy takes time.
Table of Contents
What Is a PPC Strategy?
Pay-per-click or PPC is a type of digital marketing strategy where advertisers pay a fee to a publisher each time someone clicks on one of their ads. Advertisers set an ad budget and only pay when a user clicks on their ad.
Most PPC strategies operate on an auction basis, where advertisers bid on selected keywords. When a user searches for these keywords, an auction takes place to determine which ad will be displayed.
How To Create an Effective PPC Strategy in 7 Steps
- Define your goals and KPIs
- Determine your ad budget
- Research your competitors
- Research your keywords
- Build optimized landing pages
- Choose a PPC platform
- Create and test ads
1. Define Your Goals and KPIs
The first step to creating a good strategy is to know what you want to achieve with it. Ask yourself what you want to get out of the whole endeavor. Some of the most common PPC goals include:
- Boost brand awareness
- Generate leads
- Drive traffic to your site
- Drive sales
Based on your end goal, you’ll be able to define your targets for your PPC campaign strategy. This can also help you zero in on the market reach — do you want to stay local, or can you go international?
When you figure out the specific goals you’re looking to achieve and you know the audience you’re targeting, you can then start gathering KPIs. These will help you track and monitor your ad performance, so you know you’re on the right path.
2. Determine Your Ad Budget
The next step is to determine how much you’re willing to spend on your pay-per-click campaign. Once you know your goal, figuring out the budget becomes easier.
For example, if you aim to improve brand awareness and are targeting local customers, you might not need to spend a lot of money. However, if you’re planning on raising brand awareness internationally, the costs for PPC ads can increase depending on different factors, like the platform you’re using and the demographics you’re targeting.
While determining your budget, try adding different KPIs to the equation and see which ones work best. You should also focus on keywords that are most likely to drive results and set your maximum CPC and your daily ad budget (we’ll go more into keywords below).
3. Research Your Competitors
A step you shouldn’t miss is competitor research. Before setting up your PPC campaign, research your competitors and their strategies to see what methods they use and what drives success for them.
You can use various competitor research tools like Ahrefs and Sprout Social or simply rely on Google. For example, if you sell organic foods and want to bid on the keyword phrase “organic foods,” perform a Google search and see what paid ads appear at the top of the results. These are your competitors.
Analyze their ads and note what keywords they’ve used, who they’re targeting, and how the ads are constructed. Then, tailor your strategy to incorporate these insights, while also addressing any gaps or opportunities you think they may be lacking.
4. Research Your Keywords
The next crucial step in your PPC strategy is conducting keyword research. Keywords are the backbone of a PPC campaign since they drive the ads and directly influence its visibility. Users search for these keywords on Google or Bing, so targeting high-demand keywords can improve your PPC ad’s ranking and reach.
Depending on your products and the goals of the ad, ensure that the keywords you choose are direct and easy to use. Long-tail keywords can be effective, but they must always be closely related to what you’re offering.
Here are some methods to find the best keywords for your PPC strategy:
- Check your competitors and see which keywords they’re targeting
- Understand your target audience and think about the terms they’re most likely to use when searching for your product or service.
- Use keyword tools like Google Keyword Planner for in-depth keyword research.
Remember, PPC ads usually work on a bidding model based on keywords. Simply put, you bid on the keyword you want your ad to rank for, set a maximum amount you’re willing to pay for a click on a specific keyword, and if you win the auction, your ad is displayed.
5. Build Optimized Landing Pages
The next crucial step before setting up your PPC campaign is to build and optimize your landing pages. When users click on your ad, they should be redirected to a webpage where they can find relevant content and clear call-to-action (CTA) buttons designed to make them convert.
For instance, if your ad takes them to a generic or poorly optimized page that doesn’t align with your PPC efforts, you risk losing potential customers as they’re likely to leave your website without converting.
The best indicator of how well your landing pages are performing is your bounce rate:
- A low bounce rate suggests that visitors stay and engage with your site, which could mean that your landing pages align well with the ad.
- A high bounce rate indicates that users are leaving quickly, meaning that they might not like where the ad leads them. In this case, you need to work on optimizing your landing page to improve user experience.
6. Choose a PPC Platform
Once you’ve defined your goals and budget, and analyzed your competitor’s ads, the next crucial step is choosing a PPC platform. With the rise of social media, you now have a long list of options.
Some of the most popular PPC platforms include:
- Google Ads
- Microsoft Ads
- Twitter (now X)
- YouTube
While these platforms operate on similar principles — bidding on keywords and paying for clicks — their features and functionalities differ. Plus, which one you choose will highly depend on where your target audience spends their time.
For instance, if your target audience is active on Facebook, this platform could be the ideal choice for your PPC campaign. Otherwise, if you’re targeting a very broad demographic, Google Ads might be more effective since it’s the largest platform with a vast reach and billions of daily searches.
7. Create and Test Ads
Finally, the last step is to bring everything together and create your ads. Since ads are very short, you have little room to grab your audience’s attention, so make sure your ads are clear and to the point — don’t waste ad space with fluff.
A useful tool for creating ads is Facebook Dynamic Creative Ads. This tool automatically generates optimized versions of your ad based on various components, including images, titles, and videos. These ads can be placed across all Meta products or adapted for use in your Google Ads campaign.
However, simply creating and launching your ad isn’t enough; you need to assess its performance to identify any issues. To do this, consider running a test ad parallel to your main campaign.
Basically, creating two versions of your ad and measuring their performance using a specific metric — testing different headlines, images, or other elements — to see which one performs better. This process is called A/B testing.
You can use tools like Google’s Ad Variations to compare which version will get you better results. Based on the results, you can optimize your PPC campaign and improve its overall performance.
4 Pay-Per-Click Strategy Ad Types
Pay-per-click marketing strategies are very effective provided that you choose the right type of PPC ad type for your business.
The most common ad types include:
1. Search Advertising
The most common type of PPC ads are paid search ads. These are the ads shown on search engine results. Unarguably, the most popular paid search platform is Google.
With Google Ads, you can choose keywords that you want your ads to rank for. You bid on these keywords by setting a maximum cost per click (CPC), which is the amount you’re willing to pay for a click.
When a user enters one of those search terms into Google, your ad appears at the top of the organic search results, provided that it’s relevant and that you outbid your competitors.
To determine which ad will be displayed, Google conducts an auction considering the maximum CPC, your ad relevance, and the keyword’s search volume.
2. Display Advertising
The second most common PPC ads many PPC strategies use are display ads. While search ads appear when users are searching for a product or service, display ads appear when users are browsing websites related to your business.
These ads can be in the form of images, text, or banners and are designed to target a specific audience based on their browsing behavior and interests.
Google’s Display Network allows you to target your audience based on demographics, interests, hobbies, and other factors. Display ads are a great way to engage users who have already shown interest in similar ads/products, increasing the likelihood that they convert.
3. Social Media Advertising
Social media ads are another highly effective type of PPC campaign today. These ads are displayed to people browsing on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or X (formerly Twitter).
With over 5.17 billion social media users worldwide, these platforms offer a great opportunity to increase exposure and reach your target audience. A solid social media campaign can further drive engagement on them.
Choosing the right social media platform depends on where your target audience is most active and likely to see your ad. For instance, if your target audience includes professionals and entrepreneurs, LinkedIn might be the ideal platform. On the other hand, if you’re targeting a younger demographic, Instagram ads could be more effective.
4. Video Advertising
The fourth popular PPC ad type today is video ads. Given that video is one of the most widely consumed content formats, video ads could be highly effective at capturing your audience’s attention. These ads are displayed on YouTube, TikTok, websites, and apps.
For example, YouTube offers skippable and non-skippable video ads. You only pay when a user chooses to watch at least 30 seconds of your ad or clicks on it. This format is a great way to reach wider audiences who are not yet aware of your product/service.
Pay-Per-Click Strategy Benefits
Whether it’s a PPC search strategy, video ads, or display ads, there are many reasons to use PPC in your marketing efforts. A well-executed PPC strategy offers the following benefits:
1. Drives Results Quickly
One of the biggest advantages of PPC is its ability to drive results quickly. For comparison, increasing your rankings organically through SEO can take months or even years. With a PPC strategy, you can drive traffic to your website almost immediately after setting up your campaign.
2. Measurable
PPC tracking allows you to track and measure performance against your goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). You can monitor various metrics such as click-through rates, impressions, website traffic, conversions, and other metrics, giving you detailed insights into the effectiveness of your ads and how you can optimize your strategy.
3. Affordable
Another benefit of PPC is its affordability. Most platforms allow you to set daily budgets and determine your maximum CPC based on what you think a click is worth. You control how much you spend, and when your daily budget is spent, the PPC platform will stop displaying your ad for the day.
4. SEO-Compatible
Integrating PPC with your SEO efforts can be very beneficial. Your PPC strategy can help you test different keyword groups and see which ones perform best. This data can then inform your SEO strategy, so you can focus on these high-performing keywords and improve your organic search results.
Pay-Per-Click Strategy Downsides
As good as a PPC strategy can be, it also has some downsides you may encounter. The most common ones are:
1. High Competition
The first and biggest downside is that PPC ads are highly competitive. Since PPC ads rely on bidding for a specific keyword, you often face intense competition, especially for high-volume keywords — you’ll see that many advertisers vie for the same keywords, driving up the CPC. The fiercer the bidding war is, the higher the cost to secure a top position in the search results.
This can affect your advertising expenses, making it challenging to maintain a cost-effective PPC strategy.
2. Requires Follow-Ups
Another downside is that PPC requires ongoing management and follow-ups. Launching your ad is just the beginning; you must continually perform follow-up work, such as optimizing your landing pages, managing your budget, refining your targeting, etc.
After users click on your ad, they should be directed to a landing that aligns with the ad’s promise. From here, you have an open field to guide and encourage them to convert. You can showcase your products and related items and offer discounts or exclusive deals, such as incentives for signing up for your mailing list.
3. Takes Time
The final downside is that PPC marketing is not an overnight solution. While it can generate results quickly, it takes a lot of time to develop and fine-tune the right PPC strategy. Moreover, a PPC campaign also requires ongoing monitoring and adjustments.
Even if your campaign is successful at the start, it may all go downhill in just a few days. That is why regularly tracking and optimizing your ads is essential; however, this takes time to adjust, especially if you have to return the ad to its previous glory.
PPC Strategy Takeaways
Pay-per-click advertising offers many benefits to your brand, including fast and measurable results, cost efficiency, and SEO compatibility. You can also choose from various types of ads — search ads, display ads, video ads, and social media ads — or use a combination of them to reach your audience.
To develop a successful PPC strategy, follow these steps:
- Define your goals and KPIs
- Determine your ad budget
- Research your competitors
- Research keywords
- Build optimized landing pages
- Choose a PPC platform
- Create and test your ads
Following the above steps will help you plan and execute an effective, detailed PPC strategy that is guaranteed to deliver results. If you need help, outsourcing to the best PPC companies or hiring top Google Ads agencies can help you make the most out of your PPC campaign.
Pay-Per-Click Strategy FAQs
1. What are the 4 main types of pay-per-click strategies?
The four main types of pay-per-click strategies are branded campaigns, solutions campaigns, retargeting campaigns, and conquest campaigns.
2. What are the main benefits of PPC?
The main benefits of PPC are:
- Boosting traffic to your website
- Increase in sales
- Control over advertising costs
- Enabling analysis of the ad performance in real-time
- Increasing brand recognition with remarketing
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