A beginner’s guide to pay-per-click advertising

By / 20/11/2023

Our beginner’s guide to pay-per-click, or PPC as it’s often known, starts with the most obvious question – what is it?

Table of Contents

What is pay-per-click advertising?

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a powerful online marketing strategy that allows businesses to drive targeted traffic to their websites. With PPC advertising you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

This differs to traditional advertising where you pay a fixed amount regardless of the results. This makes PPC a cost-effective way to reach potential customers and increase your online visibility.

In this beginner’s guide to pay-per-click, we will explore the basics of PPC advertising. We also aim to provide you with the knowledge to get started.

Search engine based pay-per-click advertising works on a simple principle: advertisers bid on keywords relevant to their products or services and their ads are displayed when users search for those keywords. The advertiser only pays when someone clicks on their ad, hence the name “Pay Per Click”.

This advertising model is widely used across various platforms. This includes search engines like Google and Bing, and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

On social media platforms, however, the targeting of the ad is not necessarily based on keywords. LinkedIn, for example, use a segmentation model to allow you to target different regions, demographics or industries. And when someone within that target group clicks on your ad, you then pay for that click.

This targeted approach (when done properly) ensures that your ads are seen by people who are actively searching for what you offer. This increases the chances of conversions and sales – the ultimate goal for most businesses!

In marketing terms, pay-per-click advertising is most often utilised at the bottom of the funnel. This is for shoppers or businesses in the purchasing stage. This is why many businesses see it as a vital avenue from which they can generate income.

The example below shows how Nike and Adidas use pay-per-click advertising on Google to drive sales for “white trainers”. This is a keyword they are apparently competing over. You can tell it’s an ad because it says “Sponsored” above it.

A pay-per-click search engine result from a search for "white trainers" that shows big sports shoe brands like Nike and Adidas competing for sales.
This shows search engine result for a search for “white trainers”. Big sports shoe brands like Nike and Adidas are competing for sales for this keyword.

Because PPC is bottom of the funnel, it’s often the channel that often dominates marketing budgets. It’s also the channel that has the clearest data set. In simple terms, a buyer sees your ad, clicks on the ad and converts. This gives you instant, clear data to prove the success of the marketing channel, basically!

To use the example above, Nike and Adidas will be able, via data collection points like Google Ads and Google Analytics, to see how many clicks and how many sales they have attained for the keyword “white trainers”. They can then compare this against the cost of running the campaign to see whether it’s been profitable for them.

But a word of warning. Pay-Per-Click should not be the only thing you spend your marketing budget on. It is important to attack your market from all of the relevant channels for your business. These channels can include SEO, social media, magazine advertising, email advertising etc.

The basic rule is, if your customer is present (or more specifically, searching) on a channel, you want to be there marketing your product or service.

And as Google has 85% of the online search market, there’s often the logic from business owners that being on top of the search engine results page (SERP) for PPC ads is where they need to be.

Whilst this is often the case (as shown by the above stat), it is important to reiterate that not all of your customers will always have Google as their search engine of choice.

And they may use other channels, such as social media, to purchase products from businesses in your industry.

Or they may simply go past the ads and go straight to the organic search results, making investment in SEO vital.

And also, whilst PPC is great for situations when users are ready to buy, with 74% of brands saying PPC is driver for their business, if you are looking to build awareness of your brand (top of the funnel) and prove you’re a thought leader in your field, then PPC probably isn’t the best place for you to start.

Again, if you look at the image above, Adidas and Nike are actively trying to sell in their ads, using terms like “get 25% off” – they aren’t trying to give away brochures or get people to read articles about what makes white trainers great, they are doing these ads to make money.

Which brings me to the final point of this introduction – before investing in PPC or any other marketing channel, consider what your business goals and marketing goals are, and then pick the channel(s) that will best help you achieve these goals.

Where can I do pay-per-click training?

Whilst I hope my guides and blog articles will help you become better at pay-per-click advertising, there are plenty of online resources that can guide you.

Google, for example, have their own online courses for Google Ads.

Similarly, Bing offer their own certification for Bing Ads.

If you want to go down the DIY route, both of these courses are excellent. And many of the other search engines have similar courses that it’s worth completing if you wish to focus on one that isn’t Google or Bing.

Similarly, pay-per-click advertising is prominent on social media, and many of the main social media brands have their own courses:

If you hope to do your PPC advertising on your own, I first recommend you do some research into which channels your customer base is using the most.

Whichever one, two, three etc of these channels have the most of your customers on, then pick the course relevant to that channel if you want to go down the DIY route.

Understanding the basics of pay-per-click advertising

Before diving into the world of PPC advertising, it’s important for beginners to understand some key terms and concepts.

First and foremost, keywords are the foundation of any search-based pay-per-click campaign. These are the words or phrases that users type into search engines when looking for products or services.

It’s crucial to choose the right keywords that are relevant to your business. In an ideal world, you would have keywords that have a high search volume, that don’t cost much to bid on, and you would have little competition for these words. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world.

When researching the keywords to use you should put the customer first – think about what they’re searching for.

Are they using technical language? Are they describing what they want to buy? Is their language different to the language you use within your company to describe your product?

For example, if I want to buy an Apple MacBook, I may type the product name to go direct to the product. Alternatively, I may type in “Apple laptop”. Or “Best laptop for web development”. Or “laptop compatible with iPhone”.

You get the idea.

You can use the tools outlined below, some of which are paid and some of which are free, to find keywords people are already typing in or to find keyword suggestions that consumers could input. Firstly though, let’s talk a little about keyword strategy.

A beginner’s guide to keyword strategies for pay-per-click campaigns

Effective keyword strategies are essential for successful PPC campaigns. Consider the following tips:

  • Keyword Research: Use keyword research tools to identify relevant and high-performing keywords.
  • Negative Keywords: Include negative keywords when creating your ads to prevent your ads from appearing in irrelevant searches.
  • Long-Tail Keywords: Target long-tail keywords for a more specific and targeted audience. An example of a long-tail keyword for PPC services may be “Local PPC companies in the Haywards Heath area”. Just remember to target keywords that show buyer intent.
  • Short-Tail Keywords: These are the opposite of long-tail keywords. They tend to be highly competitive, often being dominated by companies like Adidas, Nike, Apple, Amazon etc. Basically, the biggest brands.
    • When building PPC campaigns, you will need a few of these keywords, but try to match them with the correct “Match type”, as explained below. An example of a short-tail keyword is “PPC services”.
    • As an extra tip, once your ads are up and running, you can often see what search terms your ads are showing up for. If the terms are too broad, then remember to ad those to the negative keyword list to narrow down when your ad is showing up, so you are only showing to the people who are ready to buy your specific product.
  • Keyword Match Types: Utilise different keyword match types (broad match, phrase match, exact match) to control the visibility of your ads. These are key concepts because they dictate how precise the search term from the potential customer has to be before your ad shows up.
    • Broad match – this is the loosest of the match types – this shows the ad as long as all the keywords are these, regardless of the order.
    • Phrase match – this tightens the search up a little – it will show the ad if there are extra keywords before or after the keyword.
    • Exact match – this is the strictest match type – this only shows the ad if the query is exact.
    • Google themselves give us helpful direction on the different match types and how often your ad can show up depending on the match type you select.

All of the above elements need to be considered when you build a pay-per-click campaign because each of them can have a large impact on the success of your campaign.

If you are selling replacement windows in Haywards Heath, for example, you may want to use phrase or exact match for terms such as “window suppliers in Haywards Heath” or “replacement windows Haywards Heath”.

You may also want to add keywords into the negative keywords section such as “window cleaning haywards heath”. But this is only if you see that your ads are continually showing up in searches for window cleaning, of course.

Free keyword research tools

When it comes to keyword research, there are several free tools available that can help you identify relevant and high-performing keywords for your content and SEO strategies. Here are some of the best free keyword research tools:

  • Google Keyword Planner: Provided by Google Ads, this tool is one of the most popular and reliable keyword research tools. It allows you to find keywords related to your business, view search volume trends, and get keyword ideas based on specific topics or landing pages.
  • Google Trends: Another valuable tool from Google, Google Trends helps you understand the popularity of search terms over time. It provides insights into keyword trends and regional interest, helping you identify seasonal and trending keywords.
  • Google Search Console: This is a free tool used by most businesses to get a better understanding of the success of their website. It can be connected to Google Ads. Whilst this only gives you tips on keywords currently being used to find your website, this in itself gives you a good indication of how people are finding you. As a result, these keywords can be used as a basis of a Google Ads campaign, for example.
  • Ubersuggest: Ubersuggest is a user-friendly keyword research tool that offers keyword suggestions, search volume, CPC (Cost Per Click), and competition data. It also provides insights into top-ranking pages and their SEO metrics.
  • Keyword Surfer: This is a browser extension for Chrome that displays search volume, CPC, and related keywords directly on the Google search results page. It’s a quick way to get keyword insights while browsing.
  • Answer the Public: This tool generates keyword ideas in the form of questions that people are asking related to your topic. It’s helpful for creating content that addresses specific queries and user intent.
  • Keyword Tool: Keyword Tool offers keyword suggestions from Google Autocomplete, YouTube, Bing, Amazon, and more. It provides a wide range of keyword ideas for various platforms.
  • Soovle: Soovle aggregates keyword suggestions from multiple search engines and platforms, including Google, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, and Wikipedia. It’s a useful tool for discovering keywords across different platforms.
  • Keyword.io: Similar to other keyword tools, Keyword.io provides keyword suggestions and search volume data. It also offers long-tail keyword ideas for more specific targeting.
  • Seed Keywords: Seed Keywords is a unique tool that allows you to create a search scenario and invite people to enter search terms they would use in that situation. It’s useful for gathering real search queries.
  • WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool: WordStream’s free tool provides keyword suggestions and related keywords. It also allows you to segment keywords based on industry and geographic location.

Please note that while these tools offer free versions, they may have limitations on the number of searches or access to certain data. For more advanced features and in-depth keyword analysis, you may consider exploring paid keyword research tools.

Paid keyword research tools

For more comprehensive and advanced keyword research for both SEO (search engine optimisation) and pay-per-click campaigns, investing in paid keyword research tools can provide valuable insights and competitive advantages. Here are some of the best paid keyword research tools for SEO and PPC:

  • Semrush: Semrush is a highly popular and versatile tool that offers a wide range of SEO and PPC features. It provides comprehensive keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink analysis, and rank tracking. Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool offers a vast database of keyword suggestions and related keywords.
  • Ahrefs: Ahrefs is renowned for its robust backlink analysis, but it also excels in keyword research. With Ahrefs, you can explore keyword ideas, analyse keyword difficulty, and track rankings. Their Keywords Explorer tool provides valuable metrics for SEO and PPC campaigns.
  • Moz Pro: Moz Pro is a comprehensive SEO toolset that includes a powerful keyword research tool called Keyword Explorer. It offers valuable insights into keyword volume, difficulty, and opportunities. Moz also provides site audits, backlink analysis, and rank tracking.
  • SpyFu: SpyFu is primarily known for competitive intelligence. It allows you to spy on your competitors’ organic and paid keywords, ad history, and top-performing ads. This information can be valuable for both SEO and PPC strategies.
  • SE Ranking: SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO platform that offers keyword research, rank tracking, competitor analysis, and on-page SEO auditing. Their keyword research tool provides in-depth insights into keyword trends and competition.
  • Long Tail Pro: As the name suggests, Long Tail Pro focuses on generating long-tail keyword suggestions. It’s a great choice for content creators looking to target specific and less competitive keywords.
  • KeywordTool.io: KeywordTool.io is a popular tool that provides keyword suggestions from Google, YouTube, Bing, Amazon, and more. It’s helpful for finding long-tail and question-based keywords.
  • CognitiveSEO: CognitiveSEO offers a powerful keyword research tool that provides keyword analysis, difficulty scoring, and competitor research. It’s suitable for both SEO and PPC campaigns.
  • Serpstat: Serpstat is an all-in-one SEO platform that includes a keyword research tool, rank tracking, backlink analysis, and site auditing. Their keyword research features offer comprehensive insights into keyword trends and competition.
  • KeywordSpy: KeywordSpy is a competitive research tool that allows you to spy on your competitors’ PPC keywords, ad copies, and landing pages. It’s valuable for creating effective PPC campaigns.

Each of these paid keyword research tools offers unique features and insights to help you optimise your SEO and PPC campaigns effectively. 

Many of them have free features which you can test or offer trial periods. I recommend trying each of them and seeing what works best for you, if you go down the DIY route with pay-per-click.

The importance of ad copy in PPC

Ad copy is what entices users to click on your ad. It should be compelling, concise, and highlight the unique selling points of your business.

If you can include an offer in the copy as we saw in the Adidas ad above, even better, although ensure this offer is consistent with the rest of your marketing and legally viable.

Make sure, for example, that you have had a clear and transparent RRP available to customers for a good period of time before offering a percentage off the sale, as this is a legal requirement in some countries.

To learn more about the rules around legally acceptable ad copy for promotions in the UK, go to the ASA website.

When creating ad copy, many of the big search engines such as Google and Bing offer up hints and tips about what copy to use when creating your ads.

Whilst this can help to direct you, it’s best to focus the copy on what problem your business is solving for your customers – if you can include some of the keywords we discussed previously, then even better!

Many businesses talk about themselves in their copy. Try to avoid this. Always put your customer at the centre of your copy.

For example, one of the services I sell is pay-per-click services. My ad copy wouldn’t focus on how amazing I am. It would focus on the problem I’m solving for my customer.

For example…Which of these is better?

  1. “A brilliant marketing agency that offers pay-per-click services to customers in the Haywards Heath area.”
  1. Or…
  2. “Haywards Heath pay-per-click services that put you right in front of your customers”.

Most people want a PPC agency to support them because they want someone who can help them get directly in front of their own customers.

In number 2 I’ve also used the word “you”, personalising the copy and speaking directly to my audience.

Other key factors to consider are the emotion behind your ad.

Is your ad exciting? Does it play on a negative feeling your customer has? A positive one?

For example, “struggling to get in front of your customers?” asks a key question that all businesses want the answer to, eliciting intrigue… “Yes, I am struggling. How can these people help?”.

It’s also best to use numbers or facts where possible. Anything that makes your argument feel more real, feel more factual, is likely to increase the click through rate of your ad. 

“Increase your PPC click through by 150% like our customers”, is pretty powerful. At least it’s more powerful than “Increase your PPC click through like our customers”. And try to be as exact as possible – make the number feel real.

Whilst not strictly speaking “ad copy”, landing pages are also a vital part of an ad, as this is where the searcher clicks through to once they’ve read your ad copy.

Ensure that your ad copy mirrors what the consumer will see on the landing page, otherwise there may be a disconnect and they may leave your website if it doesn’t provide them with the answers or product they want.

For example, if you have an ad on PPC services, do not take them to the homepage of your site, as this is not what the consumer is after.

You want their landing page to be your pay-per-click sales page, otherwise they have to navigate your site to find what they are looking for.

Where possible also do the following:

  • Be as localised as you can. “Increase your PPC click through rate by 150% like other businesses in Hayward Heath with Turner Marketing Services” is stronger than it would be without the local context.
    • People trust local businesses – so if you can, make sure you play to this strength.
  • Use all the extensions you can – image extensions, call extensions etc to show off your business. Word Stream has a brilliant article on this that outlines the 19 main extensions.
  • If something makes you stand out from the competition, use it!

Lastly, and probably most crucially, make sure your call to action (CTA) is clear. Use strong verbs to demand action from the prospective buyer.

Wordstream have a list of 352 power words for strong ad copy that will help improve the click through rate of your ads.

“Get our PPC services now” is strong because it explains exactly what a consumer will be getting when they click through, and it puts a time limit on the call to action by demanding that they do it “now”.

“Join our newsletter now”, or “Save 25% on PPC services now” are equally strong, demanding a clear action and setting a specific time on the action.

Whatever you do, make sure you are always evaluating your copy. Don’t create it once and leave it.

Work out which ads are working and which are not. Test different copy. Try different call to actions. Experiment with different extensions. But keep refining what you are doing.

Or, alternatively, pay me to do it for you!

Who can benefit from pay-per-click advertising?

I know I touched on this in my introduction, but a question I get regularly is “Can I benefit from PPC?”.

In simple terms, pay-per-click advertising is suitable for a wide range of businesses, from small startups to large corporations. It’s particularly beneficial for businesses looking to increase their online visibility, generate leads, and drive sales.

Usually though, PPC is most suitable for businesses that fall into one of these categories:

  • Small and medium-sized businesses: PPC allows SMBs to compete with larger competitors in the digital space and reach their target audience effectively.
  • E-commerce businesses: PPC drives targeted traffic to product pages, increasing the chances of conversions and sales.
  • Local businesses: Local businesses can leverage geotargeting features in PPC to reach local customers and drive foot traffic to physical stores.
  • Promotional campaigns: PPC is ideal for time-sensitive promotions, product launches, or seasonal offers, as long as the offer is legally allowed, as mentioned earlier.

For new businesses, pay-per-click can often be the quickest way to get your business off the ground. With the right creative and budget, you can soon be in front of your audience without having to invest the time and resources required to ensure your website is high in the organic search results, via SEO.

If you have a limited marketing budget but want to reach your target audience quickly, PPC advertising, done well, can be a great option because with the right ad copy and the right bid, you will be the first company they see on a search engine results page (SERP), as ads are always above the organic listings.

Basically, pay-per-click is for everyone, as long as you have the budget for it. Just remember though – there are other marketing channels, and PPC only really deals with the bottom of the funnel where people are ready to purchase. If you are trying to build awareness or set yourself up as a thought leader, pay-per-click probably isn’t the first channel to invest in.

The main platforms for PPC advertising

We’ve touched on this briefly in the introduction, but there are several platforms available for PPC advertising, both on search and in social, each with its own unique features and benefits:

Google Ads

Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is the most popular and widely used pay-per-click platform. It allows advertisers to display ads on Google’s search engine results pages, Google Display Network, YouTube, and partner websites. Google Ads offers various ad formats, including text ads, display ads, shopping ads, and video ads. Find out more about Google Ads here.

Microsoft Advertising (Formerly Bing Ads)

Microsoft Advertising is a PPC platform that allows advertisers to display ads on the Bing search engine and Yahoo search results. While it has a smaller reach compared to Google, Microsoft Advertising can be cost-effective and offers unique audience segments. If you are going down the DIY route, you can sign up to Microsoft Ads here.

Facebook Ads (Facebook is now called Meta)

Facebook Ads enable advertisers to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors of Facebook users. Advertisers can run various ad formats. These include image ads, video ads, carousel ads etc. These ad types make it suitable for businesses looking to engage with a highly targeted audience. If you want to go down the DIY route, you can sign up to Facebook/Meta and Instagram Ads here.

Instagram Ads

Instagram Ads, owned by Facebook, allows advertisers to run visually appealing ads on the Instagram platform. With a focus on visual content, Instagram Ads are ideal for businesses that can showcase their products or services through captivating imagery.

Twitter Ads (Twitter is now called X)

Twitter Ads offer various ad formats, including promoted tweets, promoted accounts, and promoted trends. It allows advertisers to target users based on keywords, interests, and demographics.

LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn offers segmented targeting across a variety of ads, aimed directly at professionals. Their ads offer image ads, video ads and many more, and allow you to customise the call to action in each case with key elements like lead gen forms. Sign up to LinkedIn Ads here.

There are other pay-per-click advertising options available. The rise of TikTok may well make that a viable alternative for you – you can find out more about TikTok advertising here. Similarly, search engines like Yahoo and Duck Duck Go still get a good stream of searches each month, so it is definitely worth considering these channels.

Try to do some research into where your customer base is most active before committing to a PPC campaign on any of these.

Choosing the right platform for your PPC campaign

When choosing a platform for your PPC campaign, it’s important to consider your target audience and marketing goals, as well as your budget. Google Ads is generally a safe bet for most businesses, as it has the largest reach and offers extensive targeting options.

However, if your target audience is more active on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, it might be worth exploring those options.

Additionally, consider the budget you have allocated for your PPC campaign. Different platforms have different pricing models and bidding strategies, so choose one that aligns with your budget and objectives

It’s also worth testing multiple platforms to see which one delivers the best results for your business.

If you are starting a new business, where funds are likely to be tight, you will often be best going through the process of setting up your social business profiles and building traffic organically, possibly by redirecting consumers and brand advocates to your social accounts, to see which platforms get you the most traction.

After doing this, you can then commit to pay-per-click funding on the channels that see the best return.

Setting a budget for your pay-per-click advertising campaign

Setting a budget for your PPC advertising campaign is crucial to ensure that you get the most out of your investment. This is where the bid management element comes in for each type of pay-per-click campaign.

Start by determining how much you are willing to spend on a daily or monthly basis. Consider factors such as your marketing goals, the competitiveness of your industry, and the average cost per click for your chosen keywords.

For example, if you have four products and a budget of £100 a month and you want to spend equally on each campaign, then your budget per campaign would be as follows:

£100 / 4 = £25 per campaign.

£25 / 30 days on average per month = £0.83 per day per campaign.

If the average cost per click in your industry is £3, for example, you will get very little traction with this kind of budget. However, if there is not much competition and the cost per click is £0.10 or 10p, then you could get up to 8 or 9 clicks a day, which could be very profitable for you.

Just make sure you stay within your budget though.

As you progress, you will be able to refine your campaigns on some platforms, limiting your spend to specific days, or specific times on specific days, when your consumers are most likely to search.

For example, in B2B situations, many customers will only contact you during office hours, Monday to Friday. As a result, there is no point in creating ads that run past, say 7pm or before 7am.

Google give more detail on creating an ad schedule here.

It’s important to strike a balance between budget and results. While it can be tempting to set a low budget to save money, keep in mind that a higher budget (assuming you have the money to do this) can often yield better results, as you will have more opportunities to reach potential customers.

It’s also important to factor in the cost of acquiring customers via pay-per-click campaigns and matching this against your overall revenue to work out the impact this is having on your profile margins. PPC costs are essentially an additional cost against the cost of getting that customer on board, so you must factor. the finances into your customer acquisition cost projections.

So if your profit margin on each product is only £1, but it’s costing you £0.50 or 50p to acquire each new customer, then this is eating drastically into your profit margins. It may be worthwhile acquiring that customer initially if there is a long customer life cycle and lots of repeat business. But if that customer is a one-off purchaser, this hit on your profit per product may be too much.

Measuring success in pay-per-click advertising

Measuring the success of your PPC advertising campaign is essential to optimise your strategy and achieve your goals. 

Some of the key metrics are as follows:

  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): The Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures the percentage of users who clicked on your ad after seeing it. A higher CTR indicates that your ad is relevant and compelling to your target audience.
    • Different industries will have different click through rate averages, but WordStream suggests a normal average is 4-6%. If you are getting much below 2-3%, it may be that you need to review the ad copy you’re using to encourage more engagement with your ad.
  • Conversion Rate: The Conversion Rate measures the percentage of users who completed a desired action, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter. It shows how effective your ads are in driving valuable actions.
    • The conversion itself should match up with your business goals to ensure you are getting actions that you deem valuable.
    • Conversion rates will vary widely depending on the industry, and whether your business is B2C or B2B. The price of your product or service will also affect the conversion rate, as will the buying cycle i.e. products that are one click away and cost £10 to buy are more likely to have a higher conversion rate than a product that sells for £250,000, that requires more work from both sides in the purchase cycle.
  • Cost per Click (CPC): The Cost per Click represents the average amount you pay for each click on your ad. It helps you understand how much you’re spending to drive traffic to your website or landing page. This works alongside the other statistics to garner the overall impact of the PPC campaign. If your CPC is high compared to the profit you’re making on each product, then you probably need to reevaluate whether this is the correct marketing channel for you.
  • Cost per Conversion (CPA): The Cost per Conversion calculates the average cost of acquiring a conversion (e.g., a sale or lead). It gives you an idea of the efficiency of your advertising spend.
  • Quality Score: Google assigns a Quality Score to each ad in your campaign, based on factors like ad relevance, landing page experience, and expected click-through rate. A higher Quality Score can lead to lower CPC and better ad positions.
    • I highly recommend keeping an eye on this – focus on trying to improve your poor and average ads, whether that is by adding more copy, better headlines, more relevant keywords, more extensions etc.
  • Impression Share: This represents the percentage of impressions your ads receive against the total number they were eligible for. It shows how well your ads are competing for visibility.
  • Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): ROAS measures the revenue generated for every pound spent on advertising. It helps determine the profitability of your Google Ads campaigns.
  • Ad Position: The Ad Position indicates where your ad appears on the search results page. Higher positions generally lead to more visibility and clicks.
  • Average Position: The Average Position shows the average position of your ad over a selected period. It helps you monitor how your ad performs in search results. If you are not seeing an improvement, you may need to increase your budget or improve your ad copy.
  • Search Impression Share: Search Impression Share measures the percentage of impressions your ads received for relevant searches. It gives insights into how well your ads are performing in relation to your target audience’s searches.
  • Return on Investment (ROI): ROI calculates the revenue generated from your Google Ads campaign compared to the cost of running the ads. It helps assess the overall profitability of your advertising efforts. To do this, you will need to set a numerical value against conversions you have set up in Google Ads.

As well as the above metrics, you can also see how much of the impression share you are losing. Impression share is measure against two metrics, budget and ad rank.

If you have low impression share for budget, you will need to increase this, if you can. If you have a low impression share for ad rank, then improve your ad.

These can both give you a clear indication of why you aren’t seeing success. Learn more here.

A beginner’s guide to pay-per-click – a conclusion

In conclusion, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a powerful tool for your business. Particularly if you are looking to increase your online visibility and drive targeted traffic to your website(s).

By choosing the right platform, selecting the right keywords and creating effective ads, you can create a successful PPC campaign.

Remember to continually measure and analyse the performance of your campaign. Ensure you then optimise your strategy to achieve your marketing goals. To learn more about our PPC services, click here.

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James Turner posing for a photo on his wedding day

James Turner

I am a digital marketing professional with a marketing degree from the University of Warwick and a Diploma in Digital Marketing from the Digital Marketing Institute. I have further marketing qualifications, having completed numerous Google and Hubspot courses focused on key digital marketing skills.

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