Pay-per-click advertising (also known as PPC or Paid SEO) has been an internet marketing staple for almost 2 decades, and continues to be a very popular advertising tool for businesses across the globe. Google has refined the concept into a well-oiled machine called Google Ads, where they offer preferred Google search placement to businesses and brands that are willing to pay for top page rankings. Being ranked on top of Google is obviously ideal, but is it worth paying the hundreds or thousands of dollars a month? In order to yield the most benefits from your PPC plan, it's important to have the right strategy, and the right Google PPC specialist managing your campaign. Here we explore some of the unique benefits that paid SEO strategies can provide.
Google Ads: the king of ppc advertising
When it comes to paid SEO or PPC advertising platforms, Google reigns supreme among all other search engines and online networks. Why? Because Google continues to corner the market in search engine usage. It's the number 1 channel for online consumers across the globe. Compound that with the emergence of the smartphone and you have the most powerful online advertising platform in the world. Google's PPC platform, Google Ads is a highly sophisticated advertising program that gives businesses and internet marketing professionals the power to advertise to who they want, where they want, and when they want. Yes, PPC allows you to generate high quality website traffic and leads, but it's the flexibility and advanced data that sets it apart from other forms of marketing:
Planning Your Campaign
Before launching a Google PPC campaign, Google Ads gives you the power to develop a program based on your needs. Once you establish your marketing goals, you can adjust your campaign parameters:
- Overall advertising goals (brand recognition, phone calls, website traffic, or all the above?)
- Identify your target audience
- Establishing a realistic budget
By establishing these fundamental parameters, you are setting yourself up for success when launching your campaign. Your Google SEO professional will help guide you through this process.
Unmatched Flexibility
Google Ads allows you to scale your advertising based on your individual needs and goals, so you are only paying for the traffic and leads you want. Advertising with Google Ads gives you complete control:
- Advertise where you want. Target a single zip code, or an entire continent!
- Only want to advertise during certain days of the week? Certain times of day? You pick your ad schedule
- Only bid on the keywords you want to show up for. Google offers intuitive keyword planning tools to help you choose the right keywords
- Choose your device. Advertise on desktop computers, smartphones, tablets, or all 3
- Choose how you engage your audience. Advertise for website visits, phone calls, brand recognition, or all 3
- Advertise freely without contracts or spending requirements
Powerful Marketing Data
With Google Ads, knowledge is power! Within any Google Ads campaign, you have a wealth of consumer data at your fingerprints. Google Ads keeps track of important metrics that not only helps streamline your PPC campaign, but also supercharge your other marketing efforts:
- Track age and gender of your search audience
- Track performance on individual devices
- Identify the hottest keyword trends used by your target audience
- Pull real-time data by the day, week, month, or even year!
- Listen to recorded phone calls from your customers using Google Local Service Ads
Spy On Your Competition
Google Ads is essentially a digital bidding war, where competitors battle for top position for specific keyword searches. With Google Ads, you can explore their Auction Insight tool which shows how your competition's PPC is performing against your campaign.
Steal From Your Competition
Envision your target online consumer, now picture them directly searching for one of your competitors on Google. It's a foregone conclusion your competitor is getting their business, right? WRONG. With Google Ads, you can bid on your competition's name so you show up on top when a consumer searches for them specifically.
For example, you are a heating and cooling company that wants to steal business from your main competitor in the area, let's just call them "The Other Guys" heating and cooling. If you are bidding on keywords that include "The Other Guys", your ad will show up at the top of the Google search results when your target consumer searches for them. This can be done on any device, at any time of day, or day of the week. Now, you have the ability to step in front of your competition and give your best digital sales pitch. Only with a PPC strategy, like Google Ads, can you intercept potential customers that are searching for your competition.
PPC or Paid SEO campaigns can be intimidating and costly, but once you understand its true value, you will find it to be a very powerful tool for customer acquisition and ROI. Just like any other internet marketing strategy, running a successful Google Ads campaign requires thoughtful planning and attention, so make sure you contact a SEO professional that can help you plan for PPC success!