What Is Paid Search?
Paid search marketing refers to a pay-per-click (PPC) model in which brands only pay when consumers click their ads. These ads appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) next to relevant organic results. This type of strategy is often called search engine marketing (SEM).
These days, paid search and PPC are synonymous. It’s likely you’ve seen these ads on almost every SERP. You may also hear marketers simply refer to this strategy simply as search marketing.
Most paid search ads feature a header and short-form copy. They can also include a number of engaging elements like:
Site Links.
Phone Numbers.
Consumer Ratings.
Location Information.
Product Images and Videos.
A PPC agency like Brafton can recommend how much investment to place in a Google ad or Bing ad — or both. Typically, an ad campaign will use both search engines and be augmented by a paid ad on social media. Though social media advertising is a separate discipline than paid search advertising, the motivation and effect of running an ad generally are similar. As such, paid search and paid social are great combinations together.
Benefits of Paid Search
Paid search is the fastest-growing ad format, with advertisers spending over $13 billion annually. With support from Brafton’s PPC experts, your campaigns can drive more traffic to your site, augmenting the power of your organic strategy.
Type a keyword into Google or Bing and the only thing you’ll see ranking above the top organic spot is a paid advertisement.
An effective paid search strategy places ads near highly relevant search results. This type of digital marketing uses a pay-per-click model, which means you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
Among surveyed consumers, 75% say search ads make it easier to find the information they’re looking for. In practice, 49% click on text ads, 31% on shopping ads and 16% on video ads.
The success of your paid search campaigns relies on several factors:
- Pay-per-click bidding strategy.
- Search engine optimization strategy.
- Analytics capabilities.
Each of these pieces must work in tandem to generate meaningful return on investment. Brafton’s expert paid search managers use advanced tools to assess keyword valuation, identify opportunities to leverage search volume and analytics reports to optimize conversions. All of these factors are built into your PPC campaign.
In addition to appearing in a regular Google search, ads can also be featured in other relevant Google properties, such as Google Shopping and Google Maps. As a certified Google Partner, Brafton can successfully execute a PPC campaign through a variety of channels, ensuring your brand is discoverable at all times.
75% of consumers say search
ads make it easier to find the
information they’re looking for.
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How Does Ad Quality Impact Paid Search Ranking?
Brafton’s paid search strategists use enterprise software to optimize keywords, ad bids, ad spend, call to action text and other important factors. In fact, brands that submit high quality ads can actually end up paying less per click.
Here’s how Google determines the cost-per-click (CPC) of an ad:
1. The advertiser makes a bid. This is the maximum amount they’re willing to spend for a click.
2. Google determines the advertiser’s Quality Score based on their click-through rate, keyword relevancy, historical ad performance and landing page relevance.
3. Google calculates the advertiser’s Ad Rank by multiplying the Quality Score by the maximum bid.
4. Google compares the Ad Rank to the advertiser’s competitors, and assigns a CPC based on the competitiveness and popularity of the ad’s keywords.
Generally, advertisers with a high Quality Score are rewarded with lower CPC and higher rankings. Let us create quality ads so you can focus on growing your business.
When to Use Paid Search
Paid search can be an ongoing monthly investment as part of a larger SEM strategy or it can be keyword- or season-specific.
Paid search campaigns are most useful when:
- Needing a faster, predictable return on investment relative to search engine optimization (SEO) or other efforts.
- Announcing a company merger or acquisition. Ensuring your new or existing brand owns the top spot in SERPs and is appropriately redirecting traffic to the correct URL is imperative after an M&A.
- Promoting a new product or service offering in a crowded SERP market.
- Promoting a local offering to a local market.
- Supporting organic efforts in a balanced search campaign.
Our Paid Search Managers Are PPC Experts
Paid search campaigns managed by Brafton support your search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing strategies by getting your messaging in front of relevant people immediately.
Ranking highly on a SERP organically takes an average 90 to 180 days, depending on the search volume for your keywords and the competitiveness of your vertical. And that’s assuming you have an awesome SEO strategy and that you update that strategy periodically based on the findings of your analytics reports.
Data from Google shows that search ads can increase brand awareness by 80%. That can be a huge advantage if you’ve recently launched a new website or product page. A paid search campaign with Google Ads can be just the thing you need to improve that brand awareness.
Paid search isn’t a magic bullet, however. Brafton’s experts make strategic decisions based on real data to help you outrank your competitors.
Although the average click-through rate for paid search ads is around 2%, ads in the first position see rates as high as 7.94%. Our paid search managers possess deep knowledge of bidding strategies to help your ads reach the top spot.
Search ads can increase brand
awareness by 80%.
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Paid Search Management Services From Brafton
As a marketing strategy, paid search is highly flexible. Brafton’s PPC experts can set up search campaigns, analyze results and fine tune your strategy based on real-world data.
This flexibility is good for getting the most from your spend, but it also means active management of your ppc campaign is necessary to achieve optimal results.
Our paid search strategists work collaboratively with you to understand your company, its mission and its current objectives. Advanced analytics capabilities help them spot trends and make tactical adjustments.
Brafton’s experienced PPC strategists will help you:
Define Your Goals:
Whether you want to get more site visits, newsletter sign ups or store visits, your strategist will steer your search campaign toward maximum results.
Bid Management:
Hands-on strategists will work with you to optimize and diversify your paid spend across display networks, retargeting campaigns and syndication platforms.
Determine Your Ad Scale:
Should you target a local audience, or do your offerings have global appeal? Find the right location groups to magnify your exposure to the right customers. Your strategist can slice your messages into ad groups for more targeted search campaigns.
Analyze Performance:
Ongoing campaign analysis helps you gain important market intelligence. Strategists periodically adjust tactics and spend based on performance reports. For instance, they can help you decide which ad extensions make sense for your goals.
Identify Keywords:
Competitive keywords can have a CPC of $50 or higher. Knowledgeable PPC professionals find keywords that balance value, volume and relevance to your campaign goals.
Test Landing Pages:
Beyond the search campaign itself, PPC managers can help you improve your Quality Score by testing landing page efficiency. This step is crucial to converting site visitors to customers.
Understand your competition:
You have a limited number of characters with which to grab attention and entice potential customers. Paid search management ensures your ad copy is always aligned with customer search intent to make your ads appealing.
Depending on your industry and target audience, your Brafton strategist can help you launch thoughtful paid search campaigns on search engines like Google and Bing as well as syndication platforms such as Taboola and Outbrain.
Launch a Paid Search Campaign Today
Google Ads alone reaches more than 2 million websites and applications. Not many other forms of marketing can influence such a wide marketplace.
Brafton’s strategic paid search campaigns help you target potential customers who are most likely to be interested in your offer, wherever they happen to be online. This active audience is more likely to engage with your message when you have persuasive copy and an excellent ad experience.
With help from Brafton’s Promotions & Engagement Team, you can support your PPC management with shared expertise, responsive strategies and flexible tactics.