How To Use PPC to
Up Your Ranking
PPC is an acronym for the phrase ‘Pay per Click’. It is a form of online marketing where advertisers pay a small fee to search engines whenever users click on their ads. It is self evident that this is different from other models of Internet marketing in the sense that it buys visitors instead of attracting them naturally. Admittedly, PPC is rather expensive and highly competitive which discourages a lot of people from using this method. That being said, it is a great way for new websites to get noticed even without advanced SEO practices. If done right, it can drive a lot of traffic to your budding website. So, without further ado, you must identify popularly used PPC techniques and implement them to improve site rankings on search engines.
Like SEO, identifying relevant keywords matters a lot with PPC. As a general rule, select specific targeted keywords based on popular search queries. Your list of keywords should also include long-tail keywords. Apart from higher cost per click of frequently searched generic keywords, these terms have a much lower conversion rate for visitors compared to long-tail keyphrases. For instance, ‘men’s comic book t-shirts’ will most certainly give you better results as compared to ‘t-shirts’. In this context, it is worth mentioning that several studies have shown that PPC drives high-intent traffic to website. This is why PPC visitors are far more likely to buy things from websites than ‘natural’ users.
Secondly, start optimizing for mobile because ignoring this aspect will cause you to lose out on half your potential visitors. Last year, Google confirmed that more searches are taking place on mobile devices than on desktops. Mobile advertising is very different from its desktop counterpart. It is not enough to merely optimize your ads for mobile devices. The landing page must also be mobile friendly. While some mobile users might not mind a poorly optimized ad or landing page, search engines actually penalize you for this. This can make it very difficult for you to get your ad in the first few spots.
Thirdly, focus on quality content before starting a PPC marketing campaign. This golden rule applies for SEO and content marketing as well. Most popular PPC advertising services like Google AdWords or Bing Ads require you to write a short description about your product or service. Supply relevant information in a coherent and concise manner. If appropriate, use a few relevant keywords as well. An example of a good description for say, a bakery, would be “High quality custom made cakes-All types-24hr delivery”. In addition to the description, the landing page should also have high quality content. Otherwise you will never be able to achieve a decent conversion rate. Surprisingly, Google actually reduces the cost per click if users find your ads and landing pages to be useful and relevant.
Fourthly, test your ads before you run them to maximise your return on investment. At the end of the day, writing an effective ad is often a trial and error process. Create multiple variations of the same ad and see which one generates the most clicks. After you have found a hopeful candidate, continue this process with minor adjustments in the ad content and it becomes a headline. You can set your ad rotation on your PPC service to random or even set it to optimise for the most number of clicks. If you don't mind making a little more effort, then it is advisable to set your platform's ad rotation to random.
Finally, track your conversions and review the performance of your expensive keywords. While PPC is good at driving high-intent traffic to websites, it counts for nothing without a good conversion rate. A poor conversion rate is a signal that you are doing something wrong and that needs to change. There are several great tools that you can use for this, many of which are free. Many PPC advertising services offer such tracking tools. If not, you can consider installing Google Analytics. It is a free tool that allows you to track your revenue and conversions from all your PPC sources. Make sure you regularly tweak your keyword bids and remove underperforming ads altogether.
PPC has a lot of advantages over conventional SEO tactics and practices. Google and Bing routinely alter their search engines’ algorithm which can have a dramatic effect on your site’s ranking. Further, SEO is far from a silver bullet. At the very least, it requires months of hard work and dedication before you see appreciable results. On the other hand, PPC produces immediate results which can be very important for new businesses and companies. Another significant advantage of using PPC is that there is a fairly direct correlation between the number of visitors you get and how much you spend. A small investment in PPC can have tremendous return on investment for most businesses.