Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can drive steady leads and revenue—but only if your campaigns are set up correctly. In this beginner’s guide to PPC, we’ll explore how PPC works, common pitfalls to avoid, and proven strategies to help you attract profitable business.
What Is PPC?
When you run a PPC ad, you pay a fee each time someone clicks on it. These ads often appear above or below organic search results on engines like Google or Bing and sometimes across social media platforms like Facebook. PPC is also referred to as SEM, paid search, or search ads.
PPC differs from other payment models such as:
- Pay-per-impression (PPI): You pay based on the number of times your ad appears (often measured per thousand).
- Pay-per-view (PPV): Common on YouTube, you pay if a viewer watches a specific portion of your video ad.
How much you pay is determined by automatic bidding that instantly happens whenever a person enters the keywords into the Google search that you built your ad around.
Google decides who wins the bidding and gets their ad displayed by considering two factors:
- Whoever sets the highest price for that keyword
- Whoever has the best Quality Score
Google determines your Quality Score based on how well your keywords, ad copy, and landing page work together to get results. So you can’t simply pay more money to get your ad shown ahead of your competitors. You also must have the best-performing ad and landing page.
Where PPC Ads Show Up
Search Ads
These appear at the top or bottom of Google or Bing search results with a small “Ad” or “Sponsored” label. You’ll choose keywords relevant to your business so potential customers see your ad at the exact moment they’re searching for related services.
Facebook (Meta) Ads
Facebook and Instagram ads can be configured to run on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) model. Advertisements appear in users’ news feeds, Stories, or side columns, labeled as “Sponsored.” Many businesses find these social ads highly effective due to advanced audience targeting.
Video Ads
Primarily on YouTube, video ads can run before or during other videos. You can pay per click or view (PPV). Views typically count if someone watches an entire short ad or at least 30 seconds of a longer ad.
Display Ads
Display advertising usually appears on third-party websites through an ad network like Google Display Network. You might see banner or sidebar ads on news websites, blogs, or other publishers. While display ads often use cost-per-thousand (CPM) pricing, some networks offer PPC options.
PPC vs. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
PPC: You pay for each click, and results can be immediate—often within hours of launching a campaign.
SEO: Involves optimizing content so it ranks organically. It’s free to get clicks from Google’s organic results, but it can take months to build strong rankings.
You could think about it like this: PPC ads hunt for customers, but customers hunt for SEO content. This difference is critical - people are tired of ads, but they're actively searching for information that presents solutions to their problems.
Which Works Better, PPC or SEO?
In reality, PPC and SEO can work together. PPC drives quick traffic, while SEO builds sustainable, long-term visibility. As you rank higher organically, your PPC ads may become more cost-effective since recognition and trust factor into click-through rates.
Seasoned marketers even keep on using PPC and SEO together when their blog article hits position one on Google search for a keyword. They’ll run a PPC ad using the same keyword above the blog article that has reached the top of page one so that they own the first screen of search results and lock out the competition.
Talk with a Scorpion professional about developing the right mix of PPC and SEO for your situation.
Common PPC Mistakes to Avoid
Finding success with PPC ads is about more than finding a good keyword match for your product and building a high-performing ad around it. You need to set up your website correctly to handle the increased volume of visitors. To know what’s working and what isn't, you’ll need to crunch a few numbers—but you could also let Google Analytics crunch them for you.
Some of the most common PPC mistakes are:
Having a Slow Website
One of the fastest ways to lose the visitors you paid to get is having a slow website. People won’t wait longer than two or three seconds for a page to load. Under one second is best.
To get a fast website:
- Use dedicated hosting instead of cheap shared hosting.
- Use the cloud in your geographical area.
- Use a caching plugin like WP Rocket if you have a WordPress site.
Only Sending Visitors to Your Home Page
Your ad mentions specific keywords or promotions—so your landing page should match. When leads arrive at your homepage, they have to hunt for details. Instead, create dedicated landing pages that use the same phrasing, visuals, and offer as your ads.
Visitors know they’ve landed in the right place. Your bounce rate goes down, which increases your Google Ad Quality Score to give you cheaper ads.
Not Optimizing Your Landing Pages
Optimizing the page your visitors will land on after clicking on your ad will increase sales.
Google advises using these landing page tactics. Use:
- The same message, terms, and keywords as your ad
- A call-to-action and contact or purchase button near the top
Ignoring Mobile
Mobile ads now account for 51% of ad budgets, and 53% of PPC clicks on search come from mobile. Make sure your ads and landing pages are mobile-friendly, from quick load times to click-friendly buttons.
Not Measuring Results
PPC success often comes down to simple math:
- Number of ad clicks
- Number of sales/leads from those clicks
Fortunately, Google Ads Manager calculates many metrics for you. And Google Analytics tells you what pages people visited, where they came from, and where they went.
If certain ads or keywords underperform, pause them and re-test with new copy.
Not Knowing Your Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
You need to know how much revenue you typically receive from a single customer over the entire relationship. If your average customer is worth $1,000, for instance, spending $200 on PPC to acquire them may be profitable. Without knowing your customer lifetime value, you could either overspend or underestimate your potential return on investment.
Figure your CLV by multiplying the average purchase value by the average number of purchases customers make over the lifetime of your relationship with them.
Winning Strategies for PPC Advertising
New startups and small businesses often receive recommendations to use PPC because content marketing takes time to develop. The tips below can help you succeed with a Google ad campaign.
1. Use Responsive Search Ads
Responsive search ads (RSAs) let you provide multiple headlines and descriptions. Google automatically tests different combos to see which performs best, saving you time and giving your ads a better chance to succeed.
2. Embrace Continuous Testing
Split-test ad copy, headlines, and landing pages. Try new variations regularly—keeping the best performers and retiring the rest.
3. Implement Conversion Tracking
In your Google Ads dashboard, set up conversion events (sales, form submissions, calls). Include a small snippet of code (a “tag”) on your website to track actions. This helps you see exactly which ads produce revenue.
4. Utilize Location Targeting
If you serve customers in a specific region, geo-target your campaigns so they only show to people in your area. This approach cuts out wasteful clicks from users outside your reach.
5. Use Negative Keywords
Add irrelevant terms to a negative keyword list so Google knows not to show your ad for those queries. For example, an upscale barber might exclude “cheap haircuts” or “free razor samples.”
6. Retarget Interested Visitors
Retargeting (or “remarketing”) keeps your brand in front of users who previously clicked your ad or visited your website. It can be done through Google Display Ads, YouTube, or Facebook, reminding them to finish a purchase or check out your new services.
Get the Most out of PPC With Remarketing
Retargeting ads follow people around the internet. Let’s say you looked at a pair of shoes on Zappos, put them in your shopping cart, and then got interrupted before you could complete your purchase. Suddenly, you start seeing ads for those same shoes on Google, Facebook, and other websites you visit.
You also get an email saying you left those shoes in your shopping cart. You might even see short video ads for the shoes at the beginning of YouTube videos. You finally find time to complete your purchase, and you stop seeing the ads.
How Retargeting Ads Work
Retargeting ads work with a small snippet of code called a pixel. You get the pixel from the ad platform - usually Google or Facebook. Then, you insert the pixel in your website’s header or footer. On WordPress sites, you can use a simple plugin to insert the pixel for you.
Once inserted, the pixel allows the ad platform to target visitors to specific pages on your website and follow them around the web. The pixel is invisible, so visitors don’t know the ad platform is tracking them.
Retargeting ads cost a little more, but they can be ten times as effective as standard search ads. The effectiveness of remarketing is owed to the fact that it targets people who have already shown interest in your brand. They only need to be reminded to come back.
Partnering with Experts for PPC Success
A well-designed PPC strategy can jumpstart sales, especially for newer businesses waiting on SEO results. But crafting and maintaining effective ads requires time, testing, and expertise.
Scorpion works with companies to develop, track, and refine PPC campaigns that actually deliver profitable leads. Our team handles:
- Website & Landing Page Setup for faster load times and higher conversions.
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM) & Ad Management for continued, real-time ad optimization.
- Analytics & Reporting so you see where your money’s going and which keywords convert best.
- Social Media Marketing if you want to extend campaigns onto Facebook, Instagram, or other platforms.
When you’re ready to run a profitable PPC campaign—without the guesswork—talk to Scorpion. We’ll help you reach the right customers at the right time, and make PPC a revenue driver instead of a budget drain.
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