What Is Contextual Targeting, in the Context of Ads? As Jerry Maguire once said — “Show me the money.” That phrase is probably something you’ve thought of as a marketer who has invested in paid advertising. With paid advertising, you want to enhance your marketing campaign by showing up in the right place, at the right time, with the right content. But sometimes, running paid ads — like pay-per-click (PPC) on Google — feels like you’re spending a lot of money without seeing any results. And with 70% of consumers seeing irrelevant ads from brands at least once a month, it’s no wonder so many are put off by online ads. Contextual targeting is the solution to that problem. Below, let’s review contextual targeting and the difference between contextual and behavioral targeting. We’ll also explore contextual keyword targeting and how to get started with contextual ads. Table of Contents: What is contextual targeting? Contextual Targeting vs. Behavioral Targeting Contextual Keyword Targeting Contextual Ads Benefits of Contextual Targeting Imagine you’re the proud owner of a local coffee haven, and you’ve whipped up a PPC ad to stir up some buzz. Now, picture a coffee enthusiast nearby, scouring the web for the best brews. They stumble upon a blog about coffee wonders, and there’s your ad — like a welcome sign to your coffee shop. Google’s not just throwing your ad anywhere. It’s selectively showing it to folks who can practically...

PPC Keyword Research: The Complete Guide Pay-per-click (or PPC) marketing can feel like a daunting task. From creating ads to monitoring performance and understanding bidding strategies, there’s a lot to take in. But PPC keyword research is an often under-appreciated, yet necessary, component of search engine marketing. With proper keyword research, you can more accurately build ads and landing pages that encourage clicks from users. Completing PPC keyword research can ultimately lead to more conversions on your website and a positive return on your ad spend, which is why it’s worthwhile. In this post, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about PPC keyword research — from why it matters to how to begin researching and beyond. Table of Contents What is PPC keyword research? Why does PPC keyword research matter? How to Research PPC Keywords Best PPC Keyword Research Tools What is PPC keyword research? PPC keyword research refers to the process of identifying keywords to include in pay-per-click advertising campaigns, usually through Google Ads or other search engine marketing platforms. The goal is to identify keywords you want to bid on as part of your PPC campaigns. Then, your ads will display when users search for those keywords. Here’s how keywords are categorized: Average Monthly Searches: The number of times the keyword is searched per month on the search engine. Cost-per-Click: An estimate of how much you’ll pay each time a user clicks...

How to Make the Perfect PPC Landing Page (+ Examples) PPC landing pages are the newest incarnation of an age-old sales problem: How do you keep warm bodies in their seats long enough to hear your message? In the digital age, the key is to craft effective PPC landing pages that entice customers to stay, read, and follow the path you’ve carved — a customer journey from curiosity to conversion. Stick with us as I explain and explore PPC landing pages and the elements that make them work. I’ll then share some great PPC landing pages, examples, and tools you can use to plan, execute, and analyze your PPC campaigns. Table of Contents What is a PPC landing page? 5 Elements of a Great PPC Landing Page PPC Landing Page Examples Tools to Analyze PPC Pages 5 Elements of a Great PPC Landing Page While there’s so much more to know about landing pages in general, there are five must-have elements in any great PPC landing page, specifically. Each of these critical elements has an important job to do, and they build on each other to convince the customer to act. 1. Include strong and relevant visuals to grab their attention. Eyes lead, so you’ll need strong visuals that are directly relevant to: Whatever you are selling. The wording of the ad you created that led your customer to the landing page. Ideally, the wording...

International PPC: The Complete Guide When you want to reach a global audience, turn to international PPC. PPC, or pay-per-click, campaigns have long been an effective way to get in front of your target buyer and drive traffic to your site. When it comes time to expand into a new market or reach customers on the other side of the world, that’s when you need to employ an international PPC strategy. Below, let’s go over everything marketers need to know about international PPC campaigns: how they’re different from domestic, how to create them, and some best practices and examples to give you actionable inspiration before your next campaign. Table of Contents: What is international PPC? How International PPC Campaigns Differ from Domestic How to Create International PPC Ads PPC Landing Page Examples PPC Tools International PPC Best Practices Advertisers can target these keywords and use their ads to direct people to their website or landing page. PPC means advertisers will pay a fee whenever someone clicks on their ad. International PPC is an effective way to reach customers around the world, whether you’re expanding into new markets or your primary customer is in a different country. Because these ads are usually seen in search engine results on Google or Bing, advertisers create these campaigns on Google Ads or Microsoft Ads. You can also create PPC ads for social platforms like Meta or ecommerce sites like Amazon. How...

10 Essential PPC Courses for Every Marketer Whether you’re looking to level up your paid search expertise or earn a certification to boost your industry credibility, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising courses are a great way to learn and to grow your career. Even if you aren’t a PPC specialist or you’re new to digital marketing, well-rounded marketers should at least know the fundamentals of paid search marketing. Let’s go over the best online PPC courses every marketer should know about to improve your paid advertising knowledge and gain hands-on experience. Table of Contents: What is a PPC course? The 10 Best PPC Courses for Marketers PPC course content can range from teaching the fundamentals to advanced strategies, and some even offer certifications for additional industry credibility. The 10 Best PPC Courses for Marketers Whether you want to boost your PPC knowledge or earn a certification, there are several PPC courses out there for marketers. Here are 10 of the best PPC courses to add to your continuing education toolkit. 1. Google Ads Certification If you’re looking for the most comprehensive and credible way to learn PPC, you’ll want to get a Google Ads Certification. Google processes 8.5 billion searches per day, so it makes sense to get direct insight from the platform as you’re learning how to get in front of those billions of searchers. Plus, many PPC specialist or digital marketing roles require you to have a Google Ads...

100 Essential PPC Statistics Every Marketer Needs to Know in 2023 The crown weighs heavily on the head of your marketing leadership when making command decisions about resource allocation. The SEO long game is important, but reserving a budget for search engine marketing (SEM) can also be a smart play, including pay-per-click (PPC) marketing. Snagging higher spots on SERPs can quickly boost traffic, and PPC strategies have been proven to increase conversion. How can a marketer confidently decide how much money to put where, and is it time to convince the finance team to boost the budget? Backing up your decisions or budgetary requests with data is a smart move. To that end, we’ve compiled a long and useful list of PPC — on both search and social — and SEM statistics that marketers can use in 2023 to guide and validate important strategic choices in their marketing plans. Table of Contents Search PPC Statistics Social PPC Statistics Search Engine Marketing Statistics User Behavior Statistics Paid Search Statistics Search PPC Statistics 90% of internet users see Google ads. 46% of web users can’t tell the difference between PPC ads and organic search links. Yet 77% of the respondents in a Clutch survey from 2019 said they’re confident they can recognize search ads among SERP results. Google pay-per-click ads have the biggest ROI at 200%. Small to mid-sized companies pay $9k-$10k/month for an...

PPC Competitor Analysis: The Complete Guide In the competitive realm of digital advertising, understanding your PPC competitors is crucial. If your ads aren‘t performing at their best, it’s likely because you're not fully tuned into what others in the space are doing. Competitors might be employing tactics you haven't considered or even mirroring your brand to divert your audience. A thorough PPC competitor analysis helps you pinpoint these strategies, allowing you to refine your campaigns for better performance. This guide offers a deep dive into the how and why of pay-per-click competitor analysis, ensuring your ads get the visibility and impact they deserve. What is a PPC competitor analysis? Why does a PPC competitor analysis matter? The Anatomy of a PPC Competitor Analysis How to Create a PPC Competitor Analysis Process PPC Competitor Analysis Tools Navigating the Future of PPC Competitor Analysis What is a PPC competitor analysis? PPC competitor analysis pulls back the curtain on your competitors' pay-per-click strategies. It's a systematic process where advertisers critically assess and contrast their search engine marketing (SEM) approaches against their rivals. The aim? To pinpoint where competitors are excelling, where they're falling short, and most importantly, to unearth potential opportunities for differentiation and growth. This involves a deep dive into: Ad content, examining how competitors frame their messaging, their choice of words, and the kind of CTAs they use. Keyword strategy, investigating which keywords competitors are banking on and how effectively those keywords are driving results. ...

How to Perfectly Manage a PPC Campaign In the world of search engine marketing (SEM), a growing number of marketers are turning to PPC campaigns. That’s how Google has significantly grown its advertising revenue every year. In 2021, Google’s advertising revenue accounted for 81% of Alphabet's overall sales. Price-per-click or PPC campaigns lead to nearly guaranteed ad placement in the search engine result pages. Well-run PPC campaigns help you generate leads. And if your ads tool is tightly integrated with your CRM, you can use insights from your ads’ data to nurture leads across their buying journey. In this post, you’ll learn what a successful campaign entails and the best practices for optimizing your PPC campaigns. So, how can you win a PPC campaign? Start by crafting the right strategy and learning the management missteps you'll want to avoid. Remember: Poor PPC campaign management is costly and delivers poor lead generation results. Here are a few ways marketers go wrong with PPC campaign management: Building one basic campaign without using Google Ads’ Ad Groups tool. Coming up with keywords by relying on gut feeling instead of doing research. Not adding “negative keywords” or monitoring campaigns to avoid wasting budget. Using unengaging landing pages, or a homepage that generates no leads for the campaign. Creating campaigns, setting budget caps, and going live without informing internal or external stakeholders. Building an excellent campaign structure can help you avoid these obstacles. Luckily,...

How to Perfectly Manage a PPC Campaign In the world of search engine marketing (SEM), more and more marketers are buying into PPC campaigns. Google Ads specifically has increased its revenue from year to year. In 2021, Google advertising revenue accounted for $53.1 billion — 81% of Alphabet's overall sales. Properly investing in PPC can result in nearly guaranteed ad placement in the search engine result pages of their choice. And this placement can help generate leads. If your ads tool is tightly integrated with your CRM, you can even leverage ads data to nurture these leads across their buyer's journey. As you prepare to create a PPC campaign, it's important to get a rundown of what a successful campaign entails and identify management missteps that you'll want to avoid. Building a successful PPC campaign includes a few key steps: Determine your PPC campaign structure. Identify, build, and refine your campaign's landing pages. Create a keyword strategy based on your research. Create ads based on insights from the steps above. Share your campaign plan with stakeholders. The problem is, many marketers have poor PPC campaign management, which ends up costing them way more money than they need to spend and delivering underwhelming lead generation results. Here are a few ways marketers could go wrong with PPC campaign management: Coming up with keywords on the fly without doing prior research. Only building one basic campaign without utilizing...