If you have spent any amount of time reading about or working on your digital marketing, you will know that we love an acronym. Everything gets shortened into an acronym, which can be daunting to a newbie, and lead to much confusion. Although PPC and CPC are phrases that are used interchangeably, they are two quite different things.
Read on to find out how they are different and just when you should use one or the other.
What is PPC?
Let’s clear this up first, PPC stands for “pay-per-click.” This is used by many businesses as a way of bringing visitors to their website, whether through ads on social media or on search engines. You will bid for your ad to be shown and the algorithm will determine whether your site is best to be shown or not.
If your ad is shown and clicked on then you will have to pay for it – hence pay-per-click. If your ad isn’t clicked then you will not have to pay. Some sites also charge per-impression, meaning you will be charged only when your ad is shown to a user.
What kind of pay-per-click ads are there?
PPC ads come in a variety of flavours. For search engines lets use Google as the example as they are the biggest search engine in the world and their platform Google Ads runs their PPC platform.
Paid Search
This is the most common type of PPC on Google is paid search. You are probably familiar with this, they are usually the first results when you search a topic. They generally look like normal search listings, but have “Ad” beside them in bold letters and appear above the organic results.
To get your ad to appear top you will have to have a high quality score and a big enough budget to outbid competitors. Your quality score is determined by your your webpage content, keyword, speed, etc.
Local Services
“X service in Y place.” These searches are very common and target specific geographic areas with skills. They usually look to say why they’re the best for the job by building trust and urge the user to get in contact today.
Shopping Ads
These ads appear in a carousel at the top of your search, displaying an array of products to users. They show the brand, price, website and reviews to give viewers an idea of what to expect and drive conversion rates.
Social Media
The other kind of PPC campaign. Run ads on social media targeting users based on their interests, demographics, etc. This kind of granular advertising makes social media PPC a very popular option for marketers worldwide. Nearly all social media platforms have PPC ads, with Facebook making billions each year from marketers campaigns.
What is CPC Then?
CPC stands for “cost-per-click”, which means the amount you have paid for each click on an ad. To figure this out, all you have to do is look at the money spent and divide it with your number of clicks. If you spend €100 and get 100 clicks, then your CPC is €1.
PPC and CPC – Are They The Same?
Although PPC and PPC are not the same thing, they are used interchangeably and will continue to be. CPC is a metric to use to understand how your PPC campaign is performing. Will someone not understand what you mean when you use PPC or CPC? No, but knowing your stuff can help a lot.
If you are interested in running a PPC campaign, or anything digital marketing, then get in touch with us at Meath Web Design today.
