Basic Features of Paid Search Advertising

There are various benefits of advertising on Google's ad distribution network, which includes reaching out to millions of users searching on Google and its search partners and other content partner websites. There are two types of pricing models for keyword targeted ad campaigns. Google's paid search advertising program allows you to create a campaign that charges you for either impressions or clicks depending on the type campaign you create.

AdWords charges for keyword targeted ads using cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, which means that you are charged by Google only if a user clicks on your ad and is taken to your website. CPC is the amount you pay for each click on your ad and is determined by the quality score of the keyword triggering the ads. You are not charged for your ads appearing on Google without being clicked on. Your ads appear on Google's search result pages and are matched to a user's search query. In this way, only relevant ads are displayed to the right customers thus enabling them to choose your products or services.

If you create a site-targeted campaign, you are charged on a cost-per-impression (CPM) basis. An impression is recorded each time your ad appears on the Google network. With the CPM pricing model, AdWords charges your account for each impression your ad receives irrespective of whether users click on your ads. CPM bids are made per thousand impressions.

Another parameter that plays an important role in the success of your paid search advertising campaign is the clickthrough rate (CTR). The clickthrough rate is a ratio of clicks accrued by your ads to the number of impressions for the ad and expressed as a percentage. This enables you to measure how many users actually click through to your website while your ad is displayed. The CTR is a metric that helps you know how well your ads are performing - the more relevant ads you create, more the number of clicks you receive resulting in a higher CTR. Google measures the relevance of your ad by its clickthrough rate and rewards you for a higher CTR.

Clickthrough rate is one of the metrics used by Google to measure your quality score. The quality score forms the basis for determining the quality of your keyword ads and the cost-per-click (CPC). Quality score is determined by your keyword's CTR on Google, relevance of ad text and keywords and the quality of your ad's landing page. Higher the quality score for a specific keyword, lower is the cost-per-click on that keyword.

Understanding the basics of paid search advertising is fairly easy but working with our paid search advertising experts can help you achieve a better ROI, improved click through rates and cost per clicks and accurately measure conversions.