Generating quality leads and increasing website traffic is always a big challenge for businesses. But there are some great ways to do so quickly. One of which is search paid ads, a form of digital advertising.
What Is Paid Search Advertising?
First things first! Let’s get familiar with search advertising and paid ads. You actually encounter search advertising all the time if you look things up online, which I am guessing you do. When you search for something, often the first result says “ad” next to the title. Search advertising embeds paid search into the organic search engine results pages (SERPs). Below is an example.
The first two results when you search for online schools are ads, and they appear because of search advertising. They appear because their keywords match the keywords you searched for, so they are relevant. They also appeared because someone paid for them to be there at the top of the page. When you scroll down there are more search ads that appear lower on the page because they are less expensive and have worse rankings. The three main factors in search advertising are budget, keywords, and how relevant they are.
Benefits of Search Advertising
There are reasons you see so many ads when you search for things. First and foremost, they are very effective. For example, 46% of clicks go to the top three paid ads in search results, 75% of users say paid search ads make it easier to find information, and lastly, people who click on ads are 50% more likely to make a purchase. So if you have a high-ranking ad, you have a pretty good chance of someone clicking on it, feeling satisfied with what they found, and making a purchase.
Here are the top benefits:
- Budget-friendly. Paid search advertising is also called pay-per-click advertising because you pay based on results. Every time someone clicks on your ad, you pay Google, or whoever your provider is, for that click. You can set the budget of the whole campaign and also set the cap bid so that each click cannot cost more than what you established.
- Immediate results that keep growing. Most forms of SEO take a while to generate results, but because you’re paying for the ads to rank higher, you will start seeing results sooner.
- Increase in website traffic and generate leads. Every time someone clicks on your ad, they get directed to your page so your website traffic improves, generating leads. This also leads to brand recognition because people become more familiar with your brand.
Search Ad Providers
Choosing the right provider for your paid ad is an important decision. Below are some different platforms and the benefits of each.
Google Ads is the most commonly used form of paid ads for search advertising. Why? Because Google Ads is highly effective in every way. One main reason to choose Google Ads is that it generates fast results. SEO is a slow process, but by using paid ads, that process gets sped up, and Google Ads does that very well. Because of its speed, you can see if a certain keyword and audience is the correct one for your website and business. If a keyword performs very well in an ad, you can then implement it in your organic search strategy, knowing that it will be effective. Google Ads are also easy to measure. They provide lots of tools to help you see how well your ad is performing, as well as pay-per-click data and advice.
This way, you can easily make new ads that you know will perform well because you can track what has been effective in your past ads. Lastly, Google Ads is scalable and flexible. If you increase your pay-per-click budget, you will find that your results increase accordingly. Google Ads also offers many tools to improve your ads, making them flexible. You have the ability to choose an exact target audience based on many factors, including locations and browser type. You can also narrow in on your keyword or add images to your ad.
In conclusion, Google Ads is a great platform. They offer lots of tools to make your ad highly effective and are what most people choose because of their expertise. The one downfall is that there is a lot of competition. If you choose Google, be sure to check out our guide to making the most of your ad.
Bing Ads
Bing Ads is powered by Microsoft, and although Microsoft gets fewer searches than Google, it is a good place to advertise because you have a higher chance of being seen because there is less competition. The reason people choose Bing Ads is that it’s great for small businesses because it is very budget-friendly. There is no minimum fee and what’s great is that you can adjust your budget every day. They also offer lots of information about search trends so that you make the most effective ad. Another cool tool they offer is the ability to transfer your Google Ad to Microsoft. That way, if you already have an ad campaign going you can import it to Microsoft to reach more people.
Overall, Microsoft usually ends up being cheaper than Adwords by Google but gives you just as much ability to adapt your budget and reach the right audience.
Criteo
Criteo is well known for its ability to target the right people so that you have a higher retention rate. They mainly target people who have visited their clients’ websites before, which helps with brand recognition and guarantees higher conversion rates. This is called retargeting. In the process of making your ad, you get to choose your objective so that your ad has a primary goal. Because they are so good at finding the right audience, your ad will be highly effective in the area you choose as your objective.
If you are looking to do retargeting ads, Criteo is the right choice. They are great at turning potential customers into loyal customers.
AdRoll
AdRoll is another retargeting ads site. What’s special about them is that they partner with tons of different ad exchange websites so that your ad can be seen on many different browsers and sites. For example, they partner with MailChimp so that your ads can be targeted to those on your mailing list. Some of the benefits of this are improved loyalty and more purchases.
The biggest benefit of AdRoll is that you can do a partnership while also running a retargeting campaign. That means that your partnership, which has a high chance of conversions, will be taking off and getting results while you begin to work on your retargeting campaign so that you can reach many different specific audiences.
eZanga
eZanga offers a service called AdPad for search advertising. They offer personalized help, which may be harder to get with bigger companies like Google. When you sign up you get a dedicated personal account manager. If you are new to search advertising, having an account manager can help you get the hang of it. Another selling point is that they offer really low prices per click. They also have a service called Traffic Advisor that ensures there is no fraud so that you are only paying for quality clicks.
I would recommend eZenga for companies who are just starting their search advertising journey because they have a simple interface and offer lots of help as well as lower prices. As your company grows and you get the hang of search advertising, you may want to switch to a different paid ad platform to see more results.
BidVertiser
Similar to Google AdWords, Bidvertiser is very reliable and offers many tools to target the right audience so that your ad is effective. A selling point for Bidvertiser is that they optimize your pay-per-click price to be closest to your competitors. Finding the right price is often the hardest part, but with their technology, that stress is eliminated. They offer fraud protection, optimization, and great targeting tools. They have been around for a while and are pretty reliable.
BidVertiser is a strong alternative to using Google. The two are very similar; BidVertiser is smaller. If you’re looking for a simple, no-frills site, Bidvertiser is a great choice.
Takeaways
There are many more paid ads out there; these are some of the best. When choosing which to work with, carefully consider what your goal is and how big of an audience you are trying to reach, as well as how much you are willing to spend. The great thing is that you can always increase or decrease your expenses. Each company offers unique services, so choosing what works best for you is important. Lastly, don’t forget you can work with more than one company!
Looking for other ways to upgrade your digital marketing by organically driving website traffic or improving your branding? Schedule a meeting with one of our digital marketing strategists here.
