What is paid search?

Paid search is a form of advertisement that allows advertisers to show their ads in search engine results on platforms like Google. These advertisements work on a pay-per-click model. This method allows you to track and measure your results in an effective manner. Text ads and shopping ads are some types of paid search that you may have already been aware of. This form of advertising can help promote your brand and lead to more clicks on your page.

Conversions

Conversions are ways that you can measure your return on investment. Some examples of conversions are contact forms, online sales, live chat engagement, and phone calls. When a customer completes one of these actions, it can lead to an increase in revenue. Without implementing conversions, it can be hard to measure if your ads are actually benefiting you or if you are throwing money away.

Terminology

When it comes to paid search, there is a lot of terminology that you could benefit from learning. Some basics I will be going over is click, impression, CTR, CPC, average position, cost/conversion, and conversion rate. First, a click is what happens when someone clicks on your ad. Furthermore, impressions happen when you ad is included in search results. However, just because your ad is in the search results, doesn’t mean it’s at the top of the page.

Continuing with CTR or click-through-rate, this is the amount of ad impressions that lead to clicks. Additionally, CPC or average cost-per-click is the average cost of a click. Moreover, average position details which position on the search results page your ad is showing. Next, cost/conversion is the amount you have spent divided by the number of conversions generated. Finally, the conversion rate is the percent of people how have completed a conversion on your ad.

Paid Search vs. SEO

When choosing between paid search and SEO it is important to know the difference between the two. SEO involves optimizing your website so that it appears high in Google search results, you do not pay for this. Paid search on the other hand deals with paying for ads to help get your content shown to a larger audience. While SEO is cheaper, it takes much more work and takes time for Google to rank your page in the top ten results. When deciding which method to use, it is important to consider your budget, patience, and time.

Bids and Ad Extensions

When dealing with paid search you have to set the amount you are willing to pay for a click, also known as bid. If you don’t know where to start, don’t worry, Google provides an estimate of what it thinks you should price your ads at. When Google decides which ad to show it considers ad rank. The two factors that go into this is bid and quality score. When bidding, you only pay enough to be higher than the ad ranked below you, therefore, you aren’t actually always paying your max bid price.

Furthermore, ad extensions involve additional information about your business that show with your ads. These can increase your quality score which can help you outrank competitors. Some examples of ad extensions include adding a phone number, price of an item, ratings, location, and more.

For more information on paid search please visit: https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2018/06/01/a-beginners-guide-to-paid-search/

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