Google currently processes more than 7 billion daily searches, with thousands of them likely coming from potential customers who are looking for your product or service. While lots of business owners and marketers focus on traditional search engine optimization as a way to capture some of that interest, you can make the process faster and easier by using their pay-per-click (PPC) ad platform called Google AdWords.
One of the things new advertisers tend to ask us is: “how does pay-per-click bidding on Google AdWords work?” Here is a quick overview and explanation…
You Decide How Much You’ll Pay for a Targeted Click
Once you set up your Google AdWords account, you choose a set of search phrases or keywords you want to trigger your ad. In other words, you know that when a customer enters a given phrase into Google – for instance, “Philadelphia web design” – you want them to see your ad
After you’ve prepared your ad and put it into place, you need to bid on every keyword or search term you’ve chosen. That just means you specify the maximum price you’re willing to pay for a click to your website. Naturally, this number should be influenced by your expectation of a successful conversion rate and the amount you’ll earn for any lead or sale that comes through.
Your Quality Score Influences Your Ad Positioning
This is where things get confusing for some business owners. Your bid isn’t the only thing that determines your ad visibility. Google also incorporates what are called Quality Scores into the mix. These essentially serve as multipliers. So, an advertiser with a $1 bid and a 10/10 quality score may see their ad displayed more frequently, or higher in the search results, than another who is bidding $2 but only has a 3/10 Quality Score.
How does Google determine your Quality Score? It’s a mixture of ad click-through rates, the relevance of your landing page content, website performance, account history, and other factors. The point is to reward good advertisers providing high-quality results and discourage companies from trying to trick searchers or put them on to high-pressure landing pages.
Finding the Balance Between Budget and Visibility
With those two bits of knowledge in place, you have a basic understanding of how Google AdWords bidding works. The more you spend, and the more targeted your ads are, the easier it will be for you to attract lots of visitors to your website.
In practice, this involves finding a balance between high budgets, high visibility, and relevance. Over time, you’ll want to configure your campaigns so that you’re achieving a top-three position on a search page for a relevant search term (these spots get most of the visits from potential customers) while still making your ads profitable and efficient. This is an area where a good online marketing partner can be invaluable.
Expert Google AdWords PPC Help is Closer Than You Think
Biondo Creative has helped dozens of business owners in and around Philadelphia to set up their Google AdWords accounts, improve their quality scores, and turn their campaigns into profitable sources of leads and sales. To see how we could help you save money and boost your revenue, contact us today to schedule a free consultation.