Paid Search and Pay Per Click Ads

You've probably heard of Paid Search as a strategy before, but if you aren't sure exactly where to start with it, you've come to the right place. First off, we'll start with the basics.

What is Paid Search?

Paid search is a form of digital advertising where a business pays to have it's ads displayed at the top of search engine results pages. We've all seen them, and most of us have probably clicked them. Clicking a paid search ad charges the company for their ad, as they are often operated on a pay per click (PPC) basis. This generally happens through Google ads, though there are a few other platforms.

Sound interesting?

Why you'd use Paid Search

There are many reasons to use paid search, but a few of the main ones are

1. Instant visibility: With paid search advertising, you can quickly get your business in front of people who are actively searching for the products or services you offer. This can be especially helpful if you're just starting out and don't yet have a large following.
2. Targeted advertising: Paid search advertising allows you to target specific keywords and demographics, which means you can reach the people who are most likely to be interested in your business. This can help you get more maximize your ROI.
3. Measurable results: With paid search advertising, you can track your results and see exactly how many people clicked on your ads, how much you spent, and how much revenue you generated. This makes it easy to adjust your strategy and optimize your campaigns for maximum ROI.

How Paid Search Works

Paid Search is a lot more complex than just paying for an ad, and having it be shown to users. A good number of things go into determining if, when, and where an ad will be displayed, alongside how effective it will be. A few of those factors are

• Bid amount - How much a business is willing to pay for a single click, with higher bids getting better ad placement.
• Quality score - Much like organic search results, Google want's the ads it shows to be relevant, and high-quality, so users trust it. They ensure this by assigning each ad a quality score, which helps determine where it is listed.
• CTR (Click-Through Rate) - As a part of both the quality score, and how many users actually click an ad, the CTR of an ad is an incredibly important factor
• Keywords - The keywords an advertiser chooses to target can vastly impact the performance of a campaign, with different keywords costing different amounts, in addition to being associated with different levels of the funnel. Doing research to choose the correct keywords for your business is an important part of paid search.
• Keyword Matching - How close to the chose keywords does the search query need to be before displaying an ad.

How to use paid search

Does that all sound enticing? Well here's the basics of what it takes to get started.

1. Set a budget: Determine how much you're willing to spend on paid search advertising and set a daily or monthly budget.
2. Choose your keywords: Research the keywords that people are searching for when they're looking for businesses like yours. Choose the keywords that are most relevant to your business and have a high search volume.
3. Create your ads: Write compelling ad copy that highlights the benefits of your products or services. Include a call to action that encourages people to click on your ad.
4. Set up your campaigns: Use a platform like Google Ads to set up your campaigns, choose your targeting options, and set your bids.
5. Monitor and optimize: Keep an eye on your campaigns and adjust your strategy as needed to improve your ROI, quality score, and CTR.