When it comes to digital marketing, the chefs in our Layer Cake Digital kitchen are second to none, and we want to help our clients find the best combination of recipes for their brands.
Today we’re talking about the benefits of PPC (pay per click) advertising. When used properly, a PPC campaign can significantly boost online traffic and yield a highly measurable ROI in comparison to many other marketing tactics.
What Is PPC Advertising?
PPC ads are almost like a shortcut to the top of the Google search results page, and you’ve very likely seen them before – even if you didn’t recognize them. They’re also deceptively simple to use; just configure the ad, choose how much you’d like to pay, and enjoy having the top spot for search results.
That’s just the surface though. When you look under the hood, PPC advertising can be complex and require expert customization including determining the keywords that trigger the ad and audience customization.
To help visualize the benefits of a well-configured PPC campaign we’ve shortlisted our top ten benefits of PPC ads below:
1. Immediate Results
PPC advertising drives results immediately in most cases, unlike other strategies like SEO (which is an excellent strategy, but will take some extra time to bake). You can reach thousands of people instantly, and if you’ve set up your PPC campaign correctly these are likely people who are already searching for your services or products.
We’re not saying PPC advertising is the best marketing strategy, just that it can be an extremely effective short-term tactic. It can achieve results solo, but PPC ads truly shine when paired with a Content or SEO strategy to earn long-term benefits.
2. Contribute to Higher Web Traffic
PPC ads show up as search engine results, and by design will quickly pull traffic to your site. These ads won’t directly contribute to your ranking, but they will increase the number of visitors your website gets.
3. Algorithm Changed? Doesn’t Matter
PPC isn’t risk-free, but it’s mostly safe from algorithm updates. This means your success doesn’t depend on Google’s evolutions or your website SEO. PPC ads are and have always been a matter of paying for a spot on the results page, end of story.
4. High Return on Investment
PPC ads are very transactional, and the goal is to encourage your audience to convert into customers. This is, without a doubt, the most compelling reason to use PPC ads. Unlike SEO, which focuses on “organic” traffic growth, PPC advertising can provide results almost immediately after their ads go live.
5. Boost Your Brand Recognition
The more your PPC ads appear in search results, especially when alongside recognized competitors, the higher the chance people will visit your website to make a purchase or walk into your physical locations to shop in person.
6. Make Changes in Real-Time
Some strategies take time to evolve after a change, but PPC ads can be updated and adjusted almost instantly. This can be very useful for A/B testing or launching new products – instead of waiting for your rank to change through other tactics, make a quick change to your ad copy and target audience to immediately reach your potential customers.
7. Target Customers in Neighboring Cities
PPC campaigns can be customized to target very specific locations, down to the postal code. This is very useful if you’d like to advertise to potential customers in designated areas – you’re based in Mississauga, but you’ve discovered your services are needed in Hamilton? Just add the city to your targeted locations and you’ll be reaching the right people in no time.
8. PPC Data Can Improve Your SEO Strategy
As mentioned above, PPC ads pair very nicely with SEO. Looking at a list of keywords you’d like to use in your search engine optimization efforts, but not sure if they’re the right ones? Plug them into your PPC campaign as target keywords and test them out for a while before committing to content creation and meta content updates in your SEO strategy. This combination of effort will help you determine keywords that work well with both PPC and SEO, and can be used to determine your top focus keywords.
9. Get Found in Local Searches
Over the past two years, queries for “where to buy” and “near me” have grown over 200%. Google Ads can feature your business’s locations and ensure you appear in more local searches, which can result in higher foot traffic to your retail locations and more website traffic from local customers.
You can also use location extensions to show local ads, increasing consumer awareness in a given area – but more on extensions in a future post.
10. Retargeting
Retargeting is an effective way to re-engage past visitors and encourage them to convert by re-connecting with them using PPC ads delivered after a specified timeframe. If that weren’t enough, retargeting can be customized further allowing you to create different campaigns for people who visited the site and left, and people who abandoned a shopping cart!
Benefits of PPC Ads – Our Final Thoughts
PPC advertising is a fast-paced, efficient, and heavily customizable way to boost conversion rates and achieve a solid ROI. It’s not the only marketing strategy you should consider using, but the benefits of PPC ads shouldn’t be overlooked.
Do you have anything you’d add to the top benefits we listed in this post? Let us know in the comments below.
If you’d like to learn more, step into our kitchen and schedule a one-on-one with our CEO & Founder, Jared Foxworthy!
To apply for a complimentary website audit, contact us today!
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