50 PPC Questions That Every New Advertiser Should Ask

PPC is a type of paid advertising in which you pay for your ads based on the number of clicks they earn. PPC ads can appear across many different digital channels, including search engines and third-party websites. The goal of PPC is to get your business in front of interested users, some of whom will (ideally) convert into customers.

PPC ad campaigns work differently depending on the ad network you’re using and the channels you’re advertising on, but the common throughline is bidding. When you launch a PPC ad, you place a bid on how much you’re willing to pay for each click. Higher bidders have a better chance of their ad getting displayed. Each time someone clicks on your ad, you then pay the amount that you bid.

You can also target your PPC ads to particular keywords, demographics, or locations (although the specific options vary depending on the platform). That helps you reach a more relevant audience.

Probably the biggest benefit of using PPC is that it’s extremely cost-effective. Since you only have to pay for your ads when they earn clicks, that means you’re not at risk of wasting ad spend on people who have no interest in your business. The only people you’re paying for are those who are interested enough to click.

Additionally, PPC drives fast results compared to other strategies like SEO. Organic content takes time to work its way up in search engine rankings, but with PPC, you can get your brand in front of a relevant audience immediately.

PPC ads can also be highly effective at driving conversions, when managed well. That means when you measure the costs against the results, PPC often has a very high return on investment (ROI). In fact, the average ROI of PPC is $2 for every $1 spent — and if you use Google Ads, that ROI is quadrupled.

You should use both. PPC and SEO aren’t mutually exclusive, and they’re both more effective when paired with the other. Your PPC drives short-term conversions and revenue, while your SEO sets you up for long-term success with brand awareness and full-funnel buyer journeys. By managing the two strategies in tandem, you can dominate both paid and organic search results.

Because PPC ads can begin appearing to users the moment you launch them, a PPC campaign can theoretically start driving results immediately. However, in practice, it takes time to optimize your campaign to reach your target audience and convert new customers. That means PPC campaigns typically take around three months, on average, to drive substantial results.

Just about every type of business can benefit from using PPC. From small, local restaurants to giant tech corporations, all types of companies need to promote themselves online to reach their target audience, and paid ads are one of the most effective ways to do that. The specific types of ads you run will vary, as will the channels where they appear, but the strategy itself is valuable for all industries.

Some of the most common mistakes that businesses make in their PPC campaigns include:

• Targeting the wrong keywords
• Ignoring negative keywords
• Not tracking their PPC metrics
• Not reoptimizing their campaigns over time

We’ll talk about each of those topics in more detail later on this page.

Yes. While PPC is ideal for driving direct conversions, your paid ads can also promote brand awareness. Some people might click on your ads and not convert right then and there, but still remember your brand for later. Others might not click at all, but your brand will still stick in their mind. For these individuals, that awareness could lead to a purchase down the road.

Search ads are a type of PPC ad that appears on search engine results pages. You’ve likely seen paid search ads in Google — they usually appear at the top of search results, above organic results. These ads are targeted to specific keywords.

Search ads can take many different forms, from standard text ads to carousel ads to Local Services Ads (LSAs). And that’s just in Google. You can also run search ads in Bing and other search engines.

Display ads are a type of PPC ad that appears on third-party websites or apps. They typically appear in a visual format, showing some kind of image, video, or graphic in the margins of the site.

Ad networks allow for various types of display ads, with different targeting options across different websites. Display ads are usually more focused on brand awareness compared to search ads.

The main difference between search and display ads is that search ads appear in search engines, while display ads appear on third-party websites and apps.

However, the intent behind these ads is different, too. Display ads are targeted to individuals who might have an interest in your products or services based on past browser activity or the websites they visit, whereas search ads are targeted to people who are directly searching for information related to your business.

That means search ads could be categorized as “pull” advertising, while display ads qualify as “push” advertising. Ultimately, using both types of ads together is a great way to reach a wide audience for your business.

PPC ad extensions are additional snippets of information that you can include in paid search ads beyond the title tag, URL, and meta description. These snippets appear below the meta description, and may include info like:

• Links to specific pages on your site
• Contact information (like your phone number)
• Pricing for your products or services
• The address for your physical location(s)
• Ratings or reviews
• And more!

In Google Ads, you can implement some of these extensions below some of your ads, offering additional context to users. That additional context could lead some people to click where they otherwise might not.

Yes! Not all PPC ad formats support images, but many do. Display ads, for example, are typically quite visual, making some kind of image or graphic essential. You can also include images in certain types of search ads, like carousel ads for specific products.

Ultimately, whether a given ad campaign can support images depends on the platform, channel, and format you choose for that campaign.

Google Ads is a paid advertising platform that allows you to run ads in Google search results, as well as on a wide variety of third-party websites. Formerly known as Google AdWords, it’s arguably the biggest and best advertising platform on the Internet — the Google Display Network alone reaches over 90% of the world’s population.

If you plan on using PPC, you should definitely use Google Ads. It’s the best platform for reaching a wide audience, both for search and display advertising.

Microsoft Advertising is a paid advertising platform that allows you to run ads in Bing search results, as well as on select third-party websites. Formerly known as Bing Ads, it’s Microsoft’s answer to Google Ads. Though it doesn’t have as wide a reach as Google, it’s still a valuable place to run ad campaigns to help you reach a wider audience.

For many businesses, the ideal strategy is to use Google Ads and Microsoft Ads together. When your ads appear in search results for both Google and Bing, you’re able to reach a wider audience, appearing in front of people no matter which search engine they use.

If you’re only going to use one, Google is probably better because of its wider reach. But if you have the budget for both, it’s likely worth the investment. It’s also worth noting that Microsoft Ads allows you to advertise in Yahoo! and DuckDuckGo search results as well, broadening your reach even further.

The best PPC platforms for you depend on the unique needs of your business. You’ll need to consider where your target audience can best be reached, and then determine which ad network(s) best enable you to reach them there. Some of the main PPC platforms to consider using include:

• Google Ads
• Microsoft Ads
• Amazon Ads
• Facebook Ads
• YouTube Ads
• Reddit Ads
• And more!

Social media PPC advertising refers to paid advertising that takes place on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn. Most social media sites allow businesses to advertise, often in the form of sponsored posts.

Some of the biggest social media sites to advertise on include:

• Facebook
• X (Twitter)
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn
• YouTube

Given how popular social media is, advertising there is a surefire way to reach your target audience. Of course, you’ll want to consider which social media sites your audience frequents the most, and focus your advertising on those sites.

PPC costs between $100 and $100,000 per month, on average. If that seems like a wide range, that’s because it is. But that shouldn’t be surprising — PPC pricing depends on a ton of factors, including:

• The specific bids you set
• The number of ads you run
• The platforms you use
• The PPC tools you pay for
• The agency you partner with

Factoring in each of those things, it makes sense that PPC pricing varies wildly across different businesses.

On average, the cost per click (CPC) of paid advertising is between $0.01 and $1. As with the average monthly cost of PPC, that number can vary greatly depending on the specific platforms you use and the bids you set.

PPC bidding is a system in which you set the maximum amount that you would be willing to pay for each click on an ad. For paid search ads, you typically bid on specific keywords, while in display advertising you bid on ad space. You’re also bidding against other businesses, and outbidding them gives you a better chance of your ads appearing.

As an example, let’s say you wanted to run a paid search ad in Google for the keyword “car repair services.” You might set a bid of $0.90, which turns out to be higher than the bids your competitors set for that same keyword. As a result, your ad ends up appearing in search results for that keyword. Then, each time someone clicks on it, you pay the $0.90 that you bid.

(It’s worth noting that your bid isn’t always the only factor that contributes to your ad placement, as we’ll see in some of the other PPC FAQs on this page.)

There are many different ways to reduce wasted ad spend. Of course, which of those ways will be the most effective depends on what the specific issues are with your campaigns. Some methods you can try include:

• Sticking to a strict PPC budget
• Ensuring you’re targeting the right keywords
• Taking advantage of audience targeting
• Automating repetitive PPC tasks

If you’re looking to scale your PPC strategy, there are a few ways you can do so. Some of the best tactics include the following:

• Experimenting with different channels and platforms
• Investing in advertising automation tools
• Increasing your advertising budget
• Using data to evaluate and enhance your campaigns

Each of those steps helps you level up your PPC and expand the reach and impact of your campaigns.

Keywords refer to specific words or phrases that people look up in search results like Google. In the context of PPC, keywords are important because paid search ads are targeted to specific keywords. You bid on the keywords you want to target with your ads, and your ads should be tailored to those keywords.

To identify the best keywords to target with your PPC ads, you’ll need to determine which keywords your target audience is searching for. Those keywords should be highly relevant to your target audience and to your business, helping you reach the people most in need of your services or products.

To identify the best keywords to target, one option is to look at what keywords your competitors are targeting. You can also use tools like Ahrefs to find out which keywords in your industry are driving the most traffic in search results.

Finally, branded keywords are highly beneficial to target. Those are keywords that feature your brand name directly.

Keyword match type refers to the way paid search platforms determine which keywords to show ads for. Suppose you bid on the keyword “manufacturers in Dallas” in Google Ads. Should Google show your ad only for that exact keyword? Or can it show it for related keywords like “manufacturing companies in Dallas” as well? The answer depends on the match type you select.

In Google Ads, there are three main keyword match types:

• Broad match: Your ads will appear in searches that include any word from your target keyword.
• Phrase match: Your ads will appear in searches that include your exact target keyword, but may include other words as well.
• Exact match: Your ads will appear in searches only for the exact keyword you targeted, with no additional words.

Negative keywords refer to keywords you don’t want your ads to appear for. In Google Ads, for instance, you can set negative keywords to tell Google not to let your ads appear for those terms.

Negative keywords are helpful to target in situations where your target keyword could appear in multiple contexts. Say you’re targeting the keyword “printers for sale,” because you sell ink printers. If you’re using broad match or phrase match, your ad could end up appearing in a search for “3D printers for sale.”

Since you don’t sell 3D printers, that means your ad would be appearing for the wrong audience. To avoid that, you could list “3D” as a negative keyword, ensuring that your ads never appear in searches that include that term.

Yes. Many PPC platforms allow you to target your ads to specific geographic locations, ensuring that only users from those locations will be shown your ads. This is a good approach if your business only operates in a specific local area, helping you avoid wasting ad spend on people outside of that area.

Yes. Most advertising platforms let you target specific demographics in your ad campaigns, such as:

• Age
• Gender
• Occupation
• Company size (for B2B)

These enable you to hone your ad targeting to a specific audience based on the traits you most often observe among your customers.

Remarketing refers to marketing directed at users who have already expressed an interest in your business, typically by visiting your website. Many ad platforms let you target ads to users who have visited your site, ensuring that you’re reaching the people who are already the most interested in you.

In a PPC ad campaign, the landing page is the website page that the ad links to. When a user clicks on your ad, it will direct them to the landing page. Typically, that landing page will directly encourage users to convert.

Successful landing pages share several qualities, including:

• Clear CTA: A call to action (CTA) that directly tells users what action you want them to take.
• No clutter: A lack of excessive information or graphics that might distract users from the CTA.
• Cohesive message: A single-minded message focused only on one CTA, rather than multiple, competing CTAs.

These are the best ways to ensure that visitors to your landing page take the action you want from them.

Generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to use your website’s homepage as a landing page. That’s because landing pages should be highly specific and actionable, which homepages are not. Whereas a homepage typically features general information about your business, a good landing page will highlight a specific product or service, along with a single CTA that it directs users toward.

Quality Score is a metric Google uses to determine the quality and relevancy of your ads, on a scale from 1 to 10. To determine an ad’s Quality Score, Google considers:

• Expected click-through rate (CTR)
• Keyword relevance
• Landing page relevancy and quality

To obtain a high Quality Score, you should make sure that your ads are well optimized for each of those areas. Quality Score matters because it impacts your ad placement. If you have a high bid, but a low Quality Score, your ads likely won’t appear very often.

Ad Rank refers to the position of an ad in Google search results. If your ad has a higher Ad Rank than your competitors’ ads, that means it ranks above them. Their ads may still appear in search results, but only below yours.

The exact formula that Google uses to determine Ad Rank is not public knowledge. However, it’s known that your ad placement is heavily influenced by your maximum bid and your Quality Score. If you outbid your competitors and achieve a higher Quality Score than them, your ads will likely outrank theirs.

Yes — in theory, lower bids can outrank higher bids. This is particularly true in Google, where Quality Score is so important. If your ads have a low Quality Score, they may still rank below another ad that has a lower bid but a higher Quality Score. That means you can’t purely bid your way into the top ad spot — you also need to ensure that your ads are highly relevant and optimized.

There are many possible reasons why your ads might not be appearing. Those reasons include:

• Your maximum bid isn’t high enough
• Your Quality Score is too low
• Your ads aren’t relevant to the searches you’re looking at
• You aren’t targeting the right keywords

If you’re struggling to get your ads to appear for a particular search or webpage, be sure to look into each of those possibilities.

There are several different types of tools you can use for PPC. Here are some of the main types of tools you might take advantage of:

• Paid advertising networks (e.g., Google Ads, Microsoft Ads)
• Keyword research tools (e.g., Google Keyword Planner, KeywordsFX)
• Competitor research tools (e.g., Ahrefs, SpyFu)
• Landing page design tools (e.g., Leadpages, Unbounce)

Automated bidding refers to a process wherein you let an ad network set your bids for you. In Google Ads, for example, you can automate your bidding with Performance Max campaigns.

With automated bidding, you still manually set parameters on your maximum bid, and on which keywords to bid on in the first place. But the tool will automatically adjust bids within those parameters so you don’t have to do all the work yourself.

This can be a big time-saver in the long run, which makes it worth doing for many businesses. However, you should be careful not to give away too much control over your campaigns.

AI has changed the way advertisers approach PPC in several different areas. Some of the ways it’s impacted paid advertising include:

• Automating bidding and targeting
• Predicting user search intent
• Assisting with audience segmentation
• Detecting patterns and trends in ad data

In short, it functions as a tool for improving PPC automation and data analysis.

Some of the most important metrics to track in your PPC campaigns include:

• Conversion rate
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Cost per click (CPC)
• Return on ad spend (ROAS)
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

We’ll look at some of those metrics in more detail below.

In PPC, a conversion is when someone takes the action that your ad is trying to get them to take. That means for a conversion to happen, someone has to see your ad, click on it, read the CTA on the landing page, and then do what the CTA is encouraging them to do.

A conversion could refer to a making a purchase, signing up for an email list, starting a free trial, or any other action you want your audience to take.

A good conversion rate to aim for with your PPC campaigns is around 10%. The average conversion rate for PPC is 2.35%, but the top 25% of advertisers on Google Ads have an average conversion rate of 11.45%. So, 10% is a good benchmark to shoot for since it’s close to that top percentile.

You can track PPC conversions by setting up tracking codes on your landing pages. For example, you can use the Google tag to keep track of your conversions right in Google Ads. Essentially, the tag will be triggered each time someone takes a conversion action — be it submitting a form or making a purchase — and it will send that data to Google Ads.

The average CTR across all industries is 1.9%, so a good CTR — if we’re defining “good” as “above average” — would be anything higher than that. To some degree, the higher you can get your CTR, the better — but only if your conversion rate goes up, too. Otherwise you’re just paying for clicks that aren’t resulting in revenue.

Whether or not it’s a good idea for you to hire a PPC agency depends on factors like your budget, time availability, and level of PPC expertise.

If you already know PPC inside and out, and have plenty of time to manage your campaigns, you might not need an agency. However, a lot of businesses lack one or both of those things, which is why so many of them choose to partner with PPC professionals for help managing their paid advertising strategy.

In short, you should partner with an agency if you feel you would benefit from their deep PPC expertise or their ability to spend more time on your campaigns than you could alone.

A PPC agency helps other businesses (like yours) manage their paid advertising strategy. That can include every aspect of PPC, from doing keyword research to setting bids to optimizing campaigns based on performance data.

Of course, many agencies will let you decide which specific deliverables you want from them. In some cases, you might only want a PPC consultant, while in other cases you might want someone to manage your entire paid ad strategy for you. Either way, a PPC agency can deliver.

PPC services can cost anywhere from $100 to $100,000 per month, depending on which agency you partner with and which deliverables you avail yourself of. Typically, PPC agencies will charge for their services as a percentage of your total ad spend. However, some will charge a flat rate.

There are many qualities to look for in a PPC agency, but these are the most important ones:

• Affordability: Verify that your chosen agency is within your budget.
• Deliverables: Ensure the agency offers the specific PPC deliverables you’re looking for.
• Expertise: Look at the agency’s past record to see if they’ve driven good PPC results for other clients.
• Reviews: Look for reviews and testimonials from past clients to see if they had a good experience with the agency.