In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising remains a cornerstone strategy for businesses looking to drive targeted traffic and boost conversions. However, with the proliferation of PPC platforms (each offering unique features and audience targeting capabilities), choosing the right one for your business can feel like navigating a complex maze.
This guide aims to demystify the PPC landscape, providing you with the knowledge and tools to confidently select the platform that aligns perfectly with your marketing goals, budget, and target audience. Whether you’re a small business owner dipping your toes into PPC for the first time or a seasoned marketer looking to optimize your advertising strategy, we’ll explore key factors to consider, compare leading platforms, and offer insider tips to ensure your PPC efforts yield the best possible return on investment.
There are many platforms to choose from to get the best results for your PPC. Each platform has its features and benefits, so finding the right one for you and your business can be difficult. Here are a few of the different platforms and some information about each.
Google Ads
Google Ads is the world’s largest PPC platform and is often used interchangeably with “Paid Search.” These ads appear on the Google search results pages and other websites through Google’s Search & Display network partners. Google Ads provides good results for any form of business, from mechanics to home service contractors. The cost of the ads depends on many factors, from your location targeting to keyword competition and more. The important thing to note is that you have complete control over your budget on Google Ads, allowing you to pause or lower spending at any point. Costs per click on Google Ads are some of the highest among all PPC platforms because put simply, it is the most used search engine and, therefore, is a very competitive environment. As with many Pay Per Click platforms, you are actually paying by impressions. Bids are made on keywords to allow your ads to be shown, or get impressions, when that keyword is searched. Users then measure the Cost Per Conversion or Cost Per Click to keep track of the ad campaign’s performance.
Google Local Services
Although part of the Google enterprise, Google Local Service Ads is a separate advertising platform that uses the Pay Per Lead structure. Only available for residential service-based companies, advertisers have an opportunity to pay only for the lead if the user actually calls or contacts them. No more paying for clicks that end up bouncing from your website 10 seconds later.
When local customers search for a service on Google, your business will show up at the top, yes, even above your own Google search ads. Like the Google Ads platform, you can stop spending at any time. If the GLSA system finds that the call was not from a lead, or was outside of your selected services or targeted area, Google even offers credits to your account, so you only pay for genuine leads! When you sign up to use Google Local Services, you will become a Google Guaranteed business, which will help you have a stronger reputation. It does require some documentation verifying your business to help protect customers. This service is great for businesses with a lower marketing budget who still want a good return on their ad spend.
The biggest issue you may face is that Google does not guarantee you will get leads from these ads. The results can rise and fall according to the market and what your competitors are spending. However, because you only pay for direct leads through your advertisement, you don’t risk losing money on impressions. Instead you only pay for customers that contact you through the ad.
Microsoft Advertising (Formerly Bing Ads)
Finally, jumping off the Google enterprise, we have Microsoft Ads, the biggest competitor to the Google Ads platform. These ads are great if you’re trying to hit a different target audience or a market you may not be reading with Google Ads. With Microsoft Advertising, you’ll likely reach an older audience, who are not as easy to reach with other search engines. This is partially because many personal computers come with Microsoft Edge as the default browser, and many of these users do not download and customize their default browser.
Microsoft Ads is a less competitive marketplace; therefore, you can find cheaper clicks/leads for your business. Like all other pay-per-click advertising platforms, you only pay for the clicks on your ads and have full control over your spending.
Yelp
Although Yelp is not always at the front of business owners’ minds when it comes to advertising platforms, Yelp Ads has broken into the scene recently and is growing quickly. Yelp is free to use and now offers a paid advertising feature. This feature only shows on the Yelp platform and can help push your business to the top of searches from potential customers. Although Yelp is a massive operation, it isn’t always successful in some regions of the United States, and you should look into how it performs in your market.
That said, if your market is more urban, you’re in luck. Yelp’s pricing for their pay-per-click platform can vary, and costs often beat out competitors like Google Ads & Microsoft Ads.
Programmatic Advertising
With this, you can buy wholesale advertising space on various platforms. It makes the system of buying and selling online advertising an automatic process that you can have full control over. These platforms can still allow you to target the right audiences and better identify the best ad placements, as they aren’t limited to search results pages. Programmatic advertising can also use first, second, and third-party data from a multitude of sources that other platforms like Google Ads & Microsoft Ads don’t use. This means you can reach even more audiences that you couldn’t before! Pricing can be quite a large net, so it is essential to contact a platform first to find budget ballparks.
It can be cheap and have a good ROI for extensive advertising campaigns, but smaller companies may not find as much success without a large budget.
What’s Best for You?
The answer depends on your PPC budget, your area, and several other factors to consider. Figuring out which platform to start with can be challenging; here are our recommendations and when to use them:
- Google Local Services: For residential home services companies that want to target their local area and want to keep their ad spend low.
- Google Ads: For a wide array of companies, and a wide array of goals. From increasing visibility to targeting segments of your market with specific ads.
- Microsoft Advertising: For reaching otherwise difficult to reach audiences, and for keeping costs low.
- Yelp: For targeting the local area of users that like to research before making a call.
- Other Platforms: For targeting specific personas, expanding ad platforms, and increasing the reach of your business’ visibility and brand awareness.
These are just our suggested starting points based on what we’ve seen work best for businesses. Navigating this complicated area can be difficult. If you’re wondering where to start, contact Art Unlimited. We are here to help you with any and all of your marketing solutions!
