If pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is new to you, the many metrics and terms might confuse you at first. The most common words you’ll see the most are PPC and cost-per-click (CPC). It’s good to offer quick summaries of both, but understanding what they’re about and how they’re related takes explanation, as we do below.
When you begin to focus your website efforts on gaining more visitors, you can choose managed search engine optimization or PPC advertising, among other things. Most websites do both.
PPC is a form of digital advertising where you pay every time someone clicks your ad.
You may have the campaign set up for a certain sum per click. Usually, site owners establish a daily budget they want to spend. The value of every click will vary based on search volume and competition.
Your other option when you choose PPC advertising is to pay for your ad’s impressions. This is also known as ‘views.’ The term means how many times your ad is put on a page from the advertising source, no matter if it was seen or not. Impressions are counted by cost per 1000 impressions or CPM. If you use Google Display Network ads, you’re probably paying per 1000 impressions.
Impressions don’t require the prospect to click anything. They may not take any action. With clicks, you know the person who clicked your link and visited your site. They haven’t viewed your site yet or bought anything but getting them there is step 1.
CPC measures how much a click costs you in a given industry for specific keywords. Cost depends on how popular those keywords are and how often they’re searched. If you run advertisements for ‘Adele bloopers,’ and Adele falls down the steps the next day, you’ll pay a much higher CPC because there will be so many more searches for that phrase. If you set a fixed budget, you won’t lose your shirt, but your funds will be gone faster.
CPC is one aspect of PPC marketing, but CPC may refer to the entirety of PPC advertising. CPC helps you determine how pricey a keyword phrase is against the advantage and strategies for gaining the clicks. It’s helpful to decide on the best terms to select and when you figure your return-on-investment when the campaign is running.
These factors decide what your CPC is, either on Bing or Google:
Keep in mind that having a high bid doesn’t mean you’ll win the auction. If you keep the highest quality score and ad rank possible, you can obtain an excellent return with your PPC ads.
Are you looking to get ideal results from your digital ad campaigns? Then you need to lower your CPC. Here are some sure-fire ways for great results:
The audience you target is a significant factor that will affect your cost-per-click for social media and PPC ads. You want to get your ads in front of people who desire your services or products and get a click. To lower CPC, determine who the audience is as accurate as possible.
How to do this? Think about the people most likely to line up and buy your products or services today. Who’s your ideal customer?
Consider age, marital status, purchasing habits, hobbies, gender, and occupation. All of these demographics affect the audience’s buying decision. For instance, single women who are 20 years old and like running will have different characteristics than married men who are 55 and love to sail.
When you refine the audience, you’re getting more specific on who you want to reach. Of course, your business could have several ideal customer types. You should have different ad groups for each one.
It seems obvious, but creating ads your audience will respond to is essential. The relevancy of each ad affects social media and PPC advertising.
With PPC, the relevancy of the ad applies to the quality score. It’s a significant factor that affects the quality score of each ad. Google or other search engines will check the keyword selection and the ad to check that it dovetails with those keywords.
When you own a high-quality score, your ads will be placed higher. You’ll get better leads. Also, you can get a lower cost-per-click because of the ad’s high relevancy. In this way, you can drop your CPC with effective pay-per-click advertising.
When you do your social media ad buys, the relevancy of the ad affects your cost-per-click. Social media websites strive to put relevant ads in front of the appropriate audience. When you make your ad highly relevant to your chosen audience, your cost decreases.
If your ads aren’t quality, they may not only receive a poor score, but they could also be suspended from Google altogether.
Some write it as an afterthought, but the CTA is possibly the most essential part of your digital ad. It gives the prospect instructions on how to interact with you.
An effective CTA matters because it nudges the person in the appropriate direction. Many prospects will be intrigued by the ad and want to move forward.
If you’re doing PPC ads, you’ll want a compelling CTA on the landing page. This will grab more leads for your site.
Don’t make the CTA generic; if you say, ‘click here,’ yawn! They aren’t learning anything about the next stop.
Try something specific, such as ‘download your free report now.’ They know what’s going to happen, and they’re getting something valuable to them.
Now that you’ve learned more about CPC, PPC, and how to lower your cost-per-click, you should be ready to craft some compelling ads that will make your business more profitable.
Have you been thinking about running some Google Ads, but you are not sure what you need to know or what the extensions are for? Google Ads Extensions provide additional data we can add to any ad. Being a free tool, Google Ads Extensions gives us more details for all the Google ads we place, such as locations, additional links, prices, and more. Let’s go over why using Google Ad Extension is a must in any ad campaign and what all of these extensions are used for.
We get asked this question all the time. However, hopefully, you can understand why we would take full advantage of Google Ad Extensions with our answer. If you cannot see the benefits of such a powerful free tool, then allow our team of experts at PPC.co to break it down for you. Rest assured, there is no reason not to be using Google ad extensions unless you like to burn your own money.
Google Ads Extensions increase your Google ads rank. Those Google ads that have a higher ad rank will appear above simple ads during a user’s typical searches. Appearing above simple Google ads benefits your company. Ads at the top of the page are typically clicked more and can also extend how recognizable your brand is. Being free, Google Ads Extensions can increase your ad rank but will not increase your cost per click.
There are no additional costs to add extensions to your ad campaign. The cost per click on the ad, including extensions, will be charged, but no charge for clicks on seller ratings. Examples of this are if someone clicks the location extension to access directions or clicks the call extensions to call the business. For a detailed breakdown of the cost-per-click, Google has some great information.
Long story short, the actual cost per click for ads with extensions is calculated the same as for ads without any ad extension.
These tips will help with which extensions to use.
Extensions can be approved or disapproved, like keywords and ads. If an extension is disapproved, it will need to be re-evaluated and edited to be reviewed before it will automatically begin showing.
Depending on the type of business, the advertisement will be different. Google extensions are mostly automated extensions and will use the best fitting extension depending on what is currently being searched. Information from the homesite and ad-campaign is all calculated when choosing which extension takes priority.
Knowing what each extension can do and what their role is best suited for will be key in making the most of each of them. Keeping the goal of the business in mind while making the most of all ad space is critical when using google ad extension.
Lead form extension’s will help capture potential customers’ interest when they are searching, watching, or discovering relevant content. This extension is only available in video campaigns but can obtain a lot more leads.
There are two types of lead form extension’s:
Lead form extensions have many requirements before they are enabled. Here is more helpful information on lead form extensions.
After setting up Location extensions, people can easily find retail locations that sell your products or services. This is an excellent option for customers who are deciding what and where to buy. This is best used by manufacturers who make use of retail stores to distribute their products. Here is more helpful information on affiliate location extensions.
The locations extension will show people your location, a call button, and the link to your business details page. This can include important information such as your hours, photos of your business, and the most crucial part, directions on how to get there.
Businesses that want a lot of foot traffic will benefit the most from this extension. When our night out with friends gets canceled at the last minute, and we search for “best cheesecake near me,” this is the extension that brings us the ads for nearby cheesecake. Here is more helpful information on location extensions.
Adding additional text to your ad with some flavor such as: “free deliveries” or “24/7 live customer support.” This extension is fully customizable. Allowing up to 10 different callouts to show in a single ad. Making the most of callout extensions would be to show unique or specialized services or products you offer. This can convert more people offline. Here is more helpful information on callout extensions/callout extension.
This will work best when the ad has a good deal. Not for something like 2 for $5 and now 4 for $10.00. Bringing pictures and icons with direct clickable links to products or services. This allows can show up to 8 different options at a time. Allowing an easy and convenient way for everyone viewing the ad to see exactly what is offered.
Showing your hot deals or limited offers right on your ad is a great way to encourage the compulsive shopper in all of us. Here is more helpful information on price extensions/price extension.
Besides your great-grandmother, everyone is using a smartphone. Why not make it easy for them? Those with an Android or IOS device can get access to everything your ad offers in a single click. App extensions can also automatically begin the app download if desired. Among other options, a click can lead to google ads account, campaigns, and ad group. Here is more helpful information on app extensions.
Seller ratings are a detailed but easily and quickly absorbed review of the seller. Seller ratings will show a rating out of 5 stars, the number of ratings received, and the qualifier, which will highlight why a particular rating was given (if there is sufficient data). An example would be a delivery service that may have a 5-star rating for always delivering on time.
Seller ratings only show when:
Besides the structured snippet extensions having the longest name, it is also one of the most beneficial. This extension will do a lot of the work. What it does is when people search on Google, the ads will show more information from the content it is advertising if it is relevant to their search. This is done by automatic analysis from Google. This relevant information added to your ads can translate into more clicks from interested visitors.
Now that we can see the basics of most google ad extensions, we want to make sure we are using them to their full potential. Luckily most of them are automated.
Each ad can use multiple extensions at a time because not every search will trigger each extension. So, the best practice is to make use of every available extension and enable all of them.
Extensions can also be scheduled individually. Sales and promotions that only run for a limited amount of time are common in business so being able to schedule these things in advance and have the process automated is quite nice.
Ad extensions that are customizable such as the callout extensions, will do well to be monitored. If using some simple phrases or maybe quirky ones, it will be good to know if it is drawing in more business. Ad extensions have an entire page dedicated to viewing how well they are performing. Not only can the clicks be viewed, but impressions, related costs, and even more statistics are available.
Pay-per-click campaigns are our specialty. We audit your current PPC campaign to evaluate what to fix. We also optimize client landing pages, for improved PPC results. Squeezing the most out of every resource is a lot like licking your fingers after a good meal. Here at PPC.co, we have the knowledge and experience to help you get the most out of your ad investment.
If you run a Google Ads campaign, you want all of the people who view your ads to be legitimate prospects.
But sometimes an ad campaign can receive clicks that are malicious competitors who want to waste your ad budget? And what if some traffic is coming from bots?
This is what is known as ineligible clicks or invalid click’s. This article describes everything you should know about ineligible clicks.
If you watch your site statistics carefully, you probably know it receives its share of spam traffic, especially if you have a comments page. Bot comments are irritating and can fill your inbox and waste time. But what are invalid click’s about?
The term means an action that a bot or person takes where the link you paid for is clicked on by accident or a system did it. Invalid click’s are usually due to:
Spambots can be really annoying by clicking constantly on the paid link, costing you hundreds or thousands of dollars. When you remember that some popular keywords cost more than a steak dinner for two, it can have a really big effect on your ad budget.
Some malicious competitors may try to damage you by draining your budget. Others may work for click farms who click paid ads as well as social media site posts. Believe it or not, click farms are out there and they are profitable for the site owners.
Or a malicious link could be done by someone with an ax to grind.
When you first set up your account, you have an option to customize data views. The default is ‘people in or who are interested in your target locations.’ This is recommended, but if you don’t alter it, you could have some PPC fraud or abuse going on.
You can change the campaign settings and reduce some of the ineligible clicks by changing your recommended settings. Choose ‘People in your targeted locations.’
Next, if you click Campaigns, you will notice 3 columns. Select ‘modify’ and you can add another column to see ‘invalid click’s’ and ‘invalid click rates.’ After you add them, you can review in seconds the campaigns that are being hit with invalid click’s
Google attempts to track invalid click’s and you may see a refund in your account for them from time to time. The refund part of your bill will be noted. You also can see invalid click’s that you won’t get charged for in your ad campaign.
Invalid click’s and click fraud may sound the same but they aren’t. The result is mostly the same but the reasons are quite different.
As we have explained, invalid click’s and ineligible traffic are usually caused maliciously or by accident. You’re paying for every click so repeated clicks can drain your account fast.
Click fraud, however, means that the clicks are malicious in nature and want to defraud the site owner or Google. Click farms are definitely click fraud. So would your angry ex-girlfriend who clicks on your website’s ads.
Google keeps track of these behaviors. It has processes set up to shield you from repeat clicks and automated clicks. The search engine watches timings, IP addresses and other questionable activity to protect advertisers.
Google tries to reduce the impact of invalid click’s and click fraud on customers’ ad budgets. But the invalid click’s Google finds and pay you back for are often a fraction of the real cost.
We’ve gone over what ineligible clicks are, how they happen, and other vital information. Now we’ll detail how to prevent ineligible clicks from damaging your PPC campaigns:
Change your ad campaign stat data by adding several columns that relate to your campaign’s invalid click’s. It’s important to remember that you will not be charged for clicks that Google says are ineligible. However, you can still be paying for bogus clicks that Google missed.
Some site owners purchase a click fraud prevention program that tells you exactly the clicks that are invalid. However, if you don’t want that, it’s possible to find them yourself. But you have to watch and really understand your ad campaign stats. Then you can see sudden spikes and other sketchy activities.
You should carefully go over any time there is a change in your account’s KPIs. Be on the lookout for the biggest sudden changes. Are they explainable or a mystery? For example, a major change could be because of changes you made in your campaigns recently. On the other hand, they could be a sign of a bogus click attack that Google didn’t spot.
Display network advertisements are one of the most frequent sources of ineligible clicks and invalid traffic. The Google Display Network has many benefits and a lot of vendors get excellent traffic. However, there are too many low-quality sites and sketchy website owners.
They could click advertisements on their own site to make an extra buck and get no results for you. If you don’t remember to block them with an automated solution, it’s your job to review your ad placements and exclude sites that don’t convert.
After you include the most important columns, review the campaigns that are seeing the most invalid click’s. Attempt optimization by going over your settings for keywords and targeting.
Approve the changes and check if the invalid click ratio decreases. Google also says you should pinpoint and improve areas of your account with low conversions.
Ineligible clicks and invalid click’s can be a real problem for advertisers. With the above ideas and tips in mind, you can regain control of your advertising campaign and delete those ineligible clicks.
If you do a lot of Google searches (who doesn’t?), you may see ‘People Also Search For’ (PASF) when digging up information on a variety of topics. It’s something to pay attention to when doing your website’s search engine optimization or SEO.
The box that you see on search engines for People Also Search For has been around for a long time. But it became much more important for website rankings in Google after 2018.
These days, PASF as well as ‘Searches Related To’ are fantastic keyword research tool for companies wanting to find relevant keywords that consumers are using in their related searches. You and your SEO strategy team can come up with tons of content ideas that Google itself thinks are of interest in your niche.
Let’s take an up-close look at PASF today, as well as how much it has changed over time. We’ll also detail how your SEO team can get the most out of it to get more qualified traffic to your site.
Most of us don’t know about the history of People Also Search For. No one ever heard of the phrase a decade ago, but now it’s super important, as are knowledge graphs.
Google has a lot to say about PASF, so it’s wise to listen to them. One Googler said recently that it’s possible for Google to answer a question before the searcher even asks. The facts that are shown are search result of what other users are looking for in that subject.
Back in the day, the PASF box was a sort of free agent, especially for related searches to films and related topics. It wasn’t even connected to the knowledge graph. PASF was just at the bottom of the search engine results pages with related images and topics. But smart SEOs can use PASF to boost their Google ranking position.
These days, PASF is usually above Google’s related Google search field. So, it’s quite simple for consumers to see the differences that the search engine is making for the two features, although they’re very similar.
PASF keywords can provide plenty of options for various topics that are related to a Google search. But related searches can offer answers that are more specific.
To put it simply, the earlier versions of PASF provided answers by looking at the things we like in film or music. Following that logic, Google would give us answers that seem to mirror our tastes. But Searches Related just shows varying organic search results for people who asked the same thing.
This all disappeared in 2016. As it is today, the search for PASF box that was a ‘free agent’ a few years ago is back with the knowledge graph. So, it seems there are two boxes with the same functionality but aren’t called PASF.
And that is what has given us PASF as it is this year. The one we see today, a new type of PASF, has changed a lot. In the latest version, thumbnail images are taken out and every related topic is shown as an organic result. Some say the new version is a mix of PASF and Searches Related.
A lot of research has been done on PASFs and there is much to be learned by studying the data. One survey found that the PASF keywords box shows for about 60% of 15k SERPS that were watched for a week on PCs.
The Search result changes a lot when checked for mobile, though. PASFs showed up more than 85% of the time when mobile and PC were combined.
The stats show that PASF isn’t just an experiment that Google has tried for a bit and may do away with. No, the chances are that PASF keywords will continue to be used and expanded.
Another survey found that 8.8 PASF boxes for every SERP appear for one keyword. It’s also intriguing that SERPs with as many as 10 People Also Search for showed up even more often. It was also determined that most search results featured PASFs in the top 10!
It is hard to find out where one search page ends and another starts because rank clustering suggests that PASF keywords are highly related to web page 1 results.
We can’t say for sure why this is. But we do know the PASF keywords-related box for PC doesn’t show as many topics when you compare it to PASFs on mobile phones. Stats show that about 95% of PASF boxes on mobile had eight topics, while 96% of PASF boxes on PC had six topics. The others had between two and five. But the #1 isn’t seen because thepreferred search engine understands things don’t work as well when there is only one search result.
Smart SEOs can get ahead of their competitors by expanding the content on their website to answer PASFs. You can do this by writing interesting content that is related to what you sell or promote, but also answer PASFs.
Also, if you find that people are bouncing when they come to your site, take another look at PASFs for your common keywords. This suggests you should make the page more interesting and informative for these readers.
Choosing one of these to focus on isn’t needed. No need to pick and choose. Just make your website content more informative and longer so people find out more information. If you produce content that gives search results for PASF keywords and PAA, you’ll get more people coming to your site. This also will build trust for your site and brand, which are huge helps in Google’s eyes.
It is clear to us Find PASF keywords are an incredibly important part of Google search results today! If you want to gain a better search rank, your SEO experts would do well to focus on answering those questions well on your websites.
Hopefully, you have a clear idea of what to do with PASFs to ensure you get the best possible qualified traffic.
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