As we know[1], it’s crucial to appear at the top of search results; the top 5 results add up to 70% of all click-throughs[2]. Paid search, also known as Search Engine Marketing, is the process of paying to appear in search results. This differs from Search Engine Optimization which involves attempting to improve a website to ensure it appears at the top of search results. This list by Econsultancy provides a good selection of examples of both paid search and SEO campaigns to show how some big companies choose to undertake their search marketing.

(An example of paid Ads in Google search results)

Paid search works by a business bidding on a key word, the search term, for their advert to appear in the results for that term. The bid will include a price, usually a cost per click; an amount that is paid to the search engine every time someone interacts with the advert. There are numerous guides available online with a more in-depth explanation of how paid search works, such as this one from Econsultancy. Paid search is rapidly expanding and thus has huge potential for businesses. Academic studies have found its influence on the web to be larger than expected and continuing to grow[4].

The bidding system is detailed and allows a business to effectively target its advertising to the right consumers, in the right places, at the right time. To get the most from an advert,  a business must ensure it only appears to those they want it to. A woman’s fashion retailer in London is unlikely to make sales from appearing in search results in New York, because they bid on the word ‘clothes’ and someone searched for ‘mens clothes’.

There are many good practises that must be undertaken when paying to appear in search results, a badly executed advertising campaign will never be worth the money.

A key element of paid search is ensuring the advert is effective. There is a limited space to advertise, with generally only around 100 characters to encourage a consumer to visit a website. If this space isn’t properly utilised then any outlay to appear will be wasted as no consumer will want to visit the site. It is essential to appear relevant, enticing, transparent and of high quality.

Another useful undertaking is the creation of a dedicated landing page. An advert becomes useless if it claims to offer a discount and only leads the consumer to a site’s homepage; no one wants to navigate where they didn’t expect to need to. An advert must be linked directly to what it claims, if you’re a fashion retailer appearing in search results for shoes, the advert must take the consumer directly to a landing page relating to your selection of shoes

These elements have a dual purpose, sites such as Google will monitor the quality of your adverts, your landing page, your bidding and the interactions with your adverts. Things such as the click-through rate, bounce rate, location and device are monitored to ensure your adverts are of sufficient quality and suitably targeted. Academic research into this area has highlighted this as a crucial part of paid search advertising, finding that higher quality ads are more likely to be displayed higher, with the top four paid results offering much higher returns than others[5]. This shows the importance of quality adverts outside of simply appealing to consumers. This list of bad paid search results is a useful insight into what causes the downfall of some campaigns and some things to definitely avoid.

(No, really, it’s an ironic picture on a small blog)

Finally, the most important thing is to make the most of the resources available. Google allows a business to test their advert and make minor tweaks to it. This allows a business to improve and, attempt to, perfect their advert to get the most from it. Most elements of the advert can be tweaked in some way, with Google’s system measuring click-through, bounce rate, conversions and so on, to establish the effectiveness of modifications. Through this process a mediocre advertisement can be become highly effective as the business can see, with definitive results, exactly what works. This further provides education for future campaigns.

 

 

References:

https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/mjf16/2016/01/31/can-seo-really-improve-visitor-numbers-to-a-website/ [1] (accessed 07/04/2016).

http://searchengineland.com/bad-google-ads-what-were-they-thinking-62235 [7] (accessed 08/04/16).

https://econsultancy.com/blog/62270-six-examples-of-effective-ppc-and-seo-campaigns/ [3] (accessed 08/04/2016).

https://econsultancy.com/blog/63783-what-is-paid-search-ppc-and-why-do-you-need-it/ [4] (accessed 08/04/16).

https://moz.com/blog/google-organic-click-through-rates-in-2014 [2] (accessed 08/04/16).

Jansen, B.J. and Mullen, T. (2008) ‘Sponsored search: an overview of the concept, history, and technology’, Int. J. Electronic Business, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp.114–131. [5].

Jansen, B. J., Liu, Z. and Simon, Z. (2013), The effect of ad rank on the performance of keyword advertising campaigns. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci., 64: pp. 2115–2132. [6]