PPC Advertising
What’s inside: An introduction, the key terms and concepts that you will need, a history of paid search. Looking at how it works, we consider who does what and the difference between search and content networks. We look at what makes up a PPC advert, and all important keyword matching. We look into various aspects of PPC advertising, and of course planning and setting up a campaign. There is a brief overview of online comparison engines, the tools of the trade, and the pros and cons of setting up a campaign. There is a Category summary and checking out how it all fits together .
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| PPC Advertising |
Introduction
Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is an advertising system where the advertiser only pays for each click on their advert.
While it is most often used as an advertising system offered by search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, it can also be used for banner advertising (where the advertiser pays for clicks on the advert as opposed to impressions). PPC is also the system on which many shopping engines and directories, such as NexTag and Shopping.com, are based. Sometimes PPC advertising on search engines is referred to as paid search.
PPC advertising revolutionised the online advertising industry, and today, advertising generates 99% of Google’s revenue. Google’s revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 was $5.19 billion! And that figure continues to increase.
While it is most often used as an advertising system offered by search engines, such as Google and Yahoo!, it can also be used for banner advertising (where the advertiser pays for clicks on the advert as opposed to impressions). PPC is also the system on which many shopping engines and directories, such as NexTag and Shopping.com, are based. Sometimes PPC advertising on search engines is referred to as paid search.
PPC advertising revolutionised the online advertising industry, and today, advertising generates 99% of Google’s revenue. Google’s revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 was $5.19 billion! And that figure continues to increase.
In this chapter, we’ll use PPC to refer to paid search advertising, that is PPC advertising provided by search engines, but we will touch briefly on other advertising systems based on PPC.
PPC adverts on search engines are easy to spot – they’re the results listed as “sponsored links”. They can appear on the top of the results page, usually in a box, and also on the right hand side of the results page.
PPC advertising is keyword based – this means that it is based on the search term that a user enters into a search engine. A search term can have one word, or be made up of many words. Sometimes a multi-word search term is referred to as a “key phrase” or “keyword phrase”. Advertisers target those keywords for which they want their advert to appear.
For the advertiser, the beauty of PPC advertising on search engines is that their adverts are displayed when potential customers are already expressing intent – they are searching for a product or service. It allows advertisers to present their offering to a potential customer who is already in the buying cycle.
PPC adverts on search engines are easy to spot – they’re the results listed as “sponsored links”. They can appear on the top of the results page, usually in a box, and also on the right hand side of the results page.
PPC advertising is keyword based – this means that it is based on the search term that a user enters into a search engine. A search term can have one word, or be made up of many words. Sometimes a multi-word search term is referred to as a “key phrase” or “keyword phrase”. Advertisers target those keywords for which they want their advert to appear.
For the advertiser, the beauty of PPC advertising on search engines is that their adverts are displayed when potential customers are already expressing intent – they are searching for a product or service. It allows advertisers to present their offering to a potential customer who is already in the buying cycle.
