What is PPC and how does it work?
PPC stands for pay-per-click, a model of internet marketing where advertisers pay a fee each time of their ads is clicked. In other words, you are buying visits to your site as opposed to “earning” those visitors via organic search.
While this may sound simple, it’s anything but. In order for ads to appear alongside the results on a search engine, advertisers cannot simply pay more than competitors to guarantee their ads show more frequently or prominently. Instead, ads are subject to what is commonly known as the Ad Auction. The Ad Auction is an entirely automated process that search engines use to determine the relevance and validity of advertisements appearing on their results page.
Advertisers must bid on keywords they deem highly relevant to their business. If they successfully win the auction, their ad will be displayed in a particular position on the search results page, depending on keyword relevance and Quality Score.
For example, let’s say your business specializes in fitness apparel. A user wanting to purchase “running shoes”, “weightlifting belts”, or “basketball headbands”, may type these into a search engine to find retailers that sell this equipment. Once one of these search queries is submitted, the Ad Auction commences, performing algorithmic calculations to determine which ads display, and the order in which they appear.