PPC or Pay Per Click marketing is a form of advertisement in which users place ads on search engine results pages and pay for each click generated by the ad. Hence the name “pay per click.”
PPC ads are those that you see on top and next search results in Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Google, Bing, and Yahoo all offer this marketing service, and it is one of the richest sources of traffic as it organic in nature and delivers web visitors almost immediately.
Organic traffic: Traffic which is comes from unpaid sources (regular search results).
I call PPC instant #1 rankings as you can literally pay Google, or any other major search engines to place you there.
These ads are placed on search terms relevant to your website and for that reason they are very organic in nature.
PPC 101 – What is Pay Per Click Marketing and How does it Work?
If you take a look at the image above, you’ll notice that there are multiple PPC ads running. As you may have guessed, higher ads positioning would equates to more clicks, just as high search engine rankings equates to more visitors. PPC is a minute bidding war. Each advertiser advertises against each other for the number one ppc ad position.
In the example above, PPC ads are circled in red, notice how they appear above organic results. The placement of each ad (higher or lower) is based on the bid each advertiser bids on the ad. Higher bids driver the ad higher, while lower bids result in lower ad placements.
It’s not uncommon for bids to reach $5-10 dollars per click when dealing with very competitive keywords. Don’t let that scare you, most bids are well under $1, it really does depend on the competition associated with the keyword. Specifying keyword locations also reduces cost which in turn reduces keyword prices.