What is PPC?
PPC is an abbreviation for Pay Per Click and means "payment per click". The term refers to advertisers paying each time a user clicks on one of their online ads - hence the name PPC (Pay Per Click).
PPC ads are available on many different ad platforms, including:
- SEA (Search Engine Advertising). Includes, for example, text ads on Google.
- SMM (Social Media Marketing). Includes, for example, image ads on LinkedIn and Facebook.
You're probably already familiar with paid PPC search ads on Google. These ads are exposed to users when people search for things online using a search engine such as Google. This is especially when a user is doing commercial searches, meaning they are looking for something to buy.
This can be anything from a mobile search (someone looking for "Burger near me" on their mobile phone), to a search for a local service (someone looking for a plumber or a carpenter in their area) to someone who is looking for a gift ("Mother's Day flowers". What these types of searches have in common is that they trigger PPC ads.
In pay-per-click advertising, companies running ads are charged only when a user actually clicks on their ad. Other forms of PPC advertising include display advertising (typically showing banner ads) and remarketing.
Example of a PPC text ad on Google
How does PPC advertising work?
For ads to appear next to the results on a search engine, advertisers can't just pay more to ensure their ads appear more prominently than their competitors' ads.
Instead, ads are subject to the so-called Ad Auction, a completely automated process that Google and other major search engines use to determine the relevance and validity of ads.
Keywords in PPC
As the name suggests, the Ad Auction is a bidding system. This means that advertisers must bid on, for example, the words they want to "trigger" or display their ads.
For example, suppose your business sells fishing tackle and a user wants to buy a new fishing rod and bait, that user might search for "fishing tackle" in a search engine like Google to find a store that can sell him those items.
The moment the user submits his search query, the search engine performs the complex algorithmic calculations on which the Ad Auction is based. This determines which ads appear, in which order and by which advertiser.
As mentioned earlier, you pay for each click on your ad. Therefore, it is important that you only bid on keywords that are relevant to you and your business.
Frequently asked questions
What does PPC mean?
PPC is a payment model where online advertisers pay a fee each time their ads are clicked.
What is PPC an abbreviation for?
PPC is an abbreviation for Pay Per Click.
What are the typical PPC prices?
The price that advertisers pay for a click on an ad can range from anything between a few pennies to many hundreds of dollars.
What is a PPC Manager?
A PPC Manager is a person who manages a company's PPC ad campaigns.
