Paid search is an essential digital marketing strategy for many companies and organizations. It is a convenient way to climb to the top of a specific SERP (search engine results page) and attract traffic that would otherwise not be drawn to a website. The most common type of paid search is PPC, or pay-per-click, which we will discuss in more depth in this article.
Some learning is required to fully grasp the ins and outs of paid search advertising. That is why we will make it easy to understand what paid search is, why it is a central part of so many business models, and how paid search strategies are used to boost marketing performance.
What Is Paid Search?
Paid search is an approach to digital marketing that enables businesses to pay for the placement of their ads higher on the search results for a certain keyword or phrase.
Paid search marketing has helped many businesses stand out from the crowd and attract more qualified leads to their websites.
It would not be too far off to compare paid search marketing to the free samples you sometimes get offered when shopping for groceries. Although other products are right there as well, only one is being suggested to you, and it is strategically placed so it is easy to see. The same can be said for the search results in the sponsored results section.
This type of marketing is clearly well-suited for a variety of businesses and industries, and it is quite convenient for users to find what they are looking for.
Key Takeaways
Paid search is a part of search engine marketing, which utilizes paid ads to attract users to visit the website at the top of the search engine results page;
Targeting the keywords of competitors is a common paid search strategy, but marketers should be prepared to deal with their own keywords being targeted by competitors;
Paid search is valuable as it is an easy marketing strategy to implement, and when combined with the excellent copy it has the potential to boost revenue.
How to Define Paid Search?
Paid search, also known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, is a digital marketing strategy that allows advertisers to place ads on a platform and incur costs only when their ads are clicked.
This model ensures that the advertising efforts are cost-effective for the business.
Typically, those who click on paid search ads are potential customers actively searching for the company’s products or services, making this a targeted approach.
Paid search ads are displayed in response to a user’s search query, and they usually appear at the top of search engine results pages. However, the ranking of these ads can vary, with some ads being positioned higher than others.
The placement of an ad at the very top of the search results is influenced by several factors, with the bid amount or price the advertiser is willing to pay being one of the most significant. Additionally, the relevance of the ad’s keywords to the search query and the website’s overall quality play crucial roles in determining ad placement.
While a higher bid may improve an ad’s visibility, relevance to the targeted keyword is equally important. Without relevance, advertisers risk spending their budget on clicks from users who may not be interested in their offerings.
It’s worth noting that even with high bids, search engines may penalize ads with a low-quality score, resulting in their infrequent appearance.
This mechanism ensures that users are presented with ads most relevant to their search, promoting a better user experience.
Why Is Paid Search Important?
Paid search marketing brings a variety of benefits to the business that opts for this marketing strategy. One of those is how easy it is to set up a PPC campaign and have your website skyrocket to the top of the search engine results. The most important benefit, however, may be its ability to drive new traffic to your website.
1. Paid search brings traffic
Paid search advertising is a key strategy for funneling visitors directly to specifically designed promotional pages on a business’s website. The increased flow of visitors significantly raises the chances of converting these individuals into customers.
In today’s digital-centric business environment, attracting traffic to your website is more important than ever.
A webpage that appears prominently at the top of search engine results, endorsed by the search engine through paid ads, stands a much higher chance of being visited by potential customers actively searching for related products or services.
2. Enhances brand visibility
Paid search plays a pivotal role in boosting a brand’s visibility online. By placing ads for targeted keywords, businesses can ensure their brand appears in front of potential customers precisely when searching for related products or services.
This increased visibility helps in building brand awareness and keeping the company top-of-mind among consumers.
3. Offers measurable results
One significant advantage of paid search advertising is its ability to provide measurable outcomes. Businesses can track the performance of their ads in real-time, assessing metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on investment.
This level of measurability allows companies to fine-tune their advertising strategies, optimize their ad spend, and achieve better results over time.
Effective Ways to Implement Paid Search Strategies
The best-paid search strategy relies on planning rather than a run-of-the-mill paid advertisement. Here are some tips to remember when creating your pay-per-click ad.
1. Incorporate social media
Although paid search can produce excellent ROI, this does not imply that your company should completely abandon alternative advertising channels. Methods such as social media campaigns are in favor of your company’s paid search strategy.
Look at your target audience and determine which social media platforms they use. Then, you can extend your marketing to those platforms as well.
2. Target competitor keywords
Targeting competitors is a well-known strategy in PPC. Following this approach, your organization may target searches for competitors in order to attract customers and business partners. Thus, you will convert profitable consumers from rival businesses and generate more revenue.
3. Optimize your copywriting
Getting the results you desire from paid search ads might be difficult without some enticing ad copy. Users won’t click if you always utilize generic, unoriginal ad copy. You should find a balance between being original and innovative. Additionally, the A/B testing approach will work well for your advertisement copy.
4. Utilize geo-targeting
Geo-targeting allows you to refine your paid search campaigns by targeting ads based on the user’s location. This strategy is especially effective for businesses that operate in specific regions or have a physical presence. By focusing your ads on the geographic areas where your target audience resides or works, you can increase the relevance of your ads, improve conversion rates, and efficiently allocate your advertising budget.
5. Implement remarketing campaigns
Remarketing is a powerful strategy in paid search that targets users who have previously visited your website but did not make a purchase or complete a desired action. By displaying ads specifically to this audience as they browse other sites or search for related keywords, you can remind them of their interest in your products or services.
This approach increases the chances of converting previous visitors into customers, leveraging their prior engagement with your site to drive conversions and enhance ROI.
Additional Tips & Tricks
- Hiring a paid search specialist can boost your advertising, identify improvements for your search engine marketing, and bring up your ad rank;
- Your ad rank will depend on a multitude of factors. To improve it, make sure that you are not bidding too low, and try to optimize your website from an SEO perspective as well;
- Search engine marketers should be aware of the advertising tactics that competitors employ. You may find your keywords targeted by competitors, so prepare to deal with this accordingly.
The Bottom Line
Paid search is a part of search engine marketing and is one of the most popular strategies for promotion in Google. Such advertising requires excellent copy, quality content, and the appropriate funds to land an ad on top of the search results.
From this article, you’ve learned what is a paid search and why it is important. Also, we’ve described the best strategies for paid search advertising, and you’ve got a few tips & tricks in your pocket. We hope this knowledge will help you determine a paid search strategy for your company or organization.
Paid Search FAQs
PPC advertising, also known as pay-per-click advertising, is a popular method of search engine marketing. The term PPC advertising is often used interchangeably with paid search advertising.
Paid search can be profitable both for large companies and startups, albeit they may have to target smaller keywords with their paid search strategy. This type of advertising is getting more competitive each year, which is why it is important to do the right research beforehand.
Even when you pay per each click your ad gets, a click is not a guaranteed lead. Although it gives you a better shot at attracting customers, PPC is not a type of marketing strategy that works 100% of the time.
Although PPC doesn’t directly affect SEO, it might help you indirectly by making your SEO initiatives more effective. You can contribute to the development of a marketing plan that expands your company by investing both in PPC and SEO.
