PPC (pay-per-click) is online advertising you only pay for when someone clicks on it. In Google or Seznam search, your ad can be shown to thousands of people, and as long as nobody clicks, it costs you nothing. In this article we explain where PPC ads appear, how keywords and the auction work, and why your budget stays under your control.
What does PPC stand for?
PPC stands for pay-per-click: you pay for each click.
With traditional advertising, such as a magazine, a billboard or the radio, you pay for your ad to be shown. It doesn't matter how many people walk past the billboard or whether anyone notices it at all. You pay the full amount.
PPC in search works the other way around:
- Showing the ad is free. Your ad can appear in front of thousands of people, and until someone clicks, it doesn't cost you a thing.
- You pay for the click. You pay when a user clicks the ad and lands on your website, in other words for an actual visit from a potential customer.
Where do PPC ads appear?
When people hear PPC, most of them think of search engines. That's no surprise, since that's where this kind of advertising is strongest.
- In search (Google and Seznam): Ads appear above the regular search results and sometimes below them. You can recognize them by the small "Sponsored" or "Ad" label. You're not automatically entitled to a position, though: the auction decides (see below).
- On the display network (banners): PPC isn't just text. It also includes image banners on news sites, specialist portals and blogs. Banners can be paid per click, but also per impression.
MARLY's tip: If you're new to PPC, start with search. That's where you reach people who already have a specific need and are actively looking for a solution. Whether to advertise on Google, on Seznam or on both is covered in Google Ads or Sklik?
How it works in practice: keywords
The basic building block of search advertising is keywords. These are the phrases people type into Google or Seznam when they're looking for something. You pick the words related to your business:
- Are you a tradesperson? Your keyword might be "plumber Brno" or "burst pipe repair".
- Do you run a bakery? You'll target "custom cake order" or "wedding cakes Prague".
When a customer searches for a phrase like that, the system can show them your ad. Just as important is telling the system which searches your ad should not appear for. That's what negative keywords are for, and we cover them in The 5 Most Common PPC Mistakes.
The auction: why the richest bidder doesn't always win
You might be thinking: "What if my competitors want the same keywords?"
Every time someone searches, a lightning-fast automatic auction runs for the ad spots. Every advertiser targeting that keyword takes part. The advantage of modern PPC systems is that the highest bidder doesn't automatically win. Google Ads and Sklik mainly weigh two things:
- Your bid per click: the most you're willing to pay for one visitor.
- The quality and relevance of your ad: whether the text matches the search, whether it leads to a useful page and whether people click on it.
If you write a precise ad and your website is genuinely useful to the customer, you can outrank competitors even with a lower bid. Why ads with low quality or a bid that's too low lose auctions is explained in Google Ads Campaign Not Spending Budget.
Your budget stays under your control
One of the biggest worries of new business owners is that advertising will "eat up their budget". With PPC, that worry is unfounded:
- You set the daily budget yourself. Say you set 100 CZK a day. On a busier day Google Ads can spend up to twice that, but it won't charge you more than 30.4 times your average daily budget in a month. Once the budget runs out, your ads stop showing for the day.
- Change it any time: You can raise or lower the budget or pause the campaign whenever you like, for example when you're fully booked and can't keep up with orders.
How to work out your budget and maximum cost per click before you launch is covered in How to Set a PPC Budget.
How does MARLY approach PPC advertising?
Launching your first campaign can look simple, but without experience it's easy to make a mistake in the setup and lose money for nothing. That's why MARLY takes a different approach to PPC:
- Everything starts with an audit: MARLY goes through your website, takes your answers into account and recommends where it pays off for you to advertise.
- A tailored draft: It prepares a complete campaign. It suggests keywords, writes the ad copy and calculates the recommended budget and the maximum cost per click that still pays off for you. If the market is more expensive, it warns you.
- A risk-free handover: The campaign is created paused. You have time to review everything, and until you launch it yourself, you won't spend a single crown.
You don't have to spend hours studying guides or pay an agency straight away. What agency management costs and when it's worth it is covered in What Google Ads Management Costs. What MARLY can do and what we're working on is summed up in the article What Is MARLY and What Will It Do.