You’ve probably wondered why every time you run a google search for a desired reason. You find yourself scrolling down at least 3 or so before you actually see a page that doesn’t have that distinct Ad or sponsored logo that we tend to scroll past due to the lack of desired content.
This is due to the paid marketing efforts companies employ to gain the upper hand on competitors. With the objective of stamping their company as the number one choice and most desired within the search engine.
Econsultancy’s practice guide defined it:
As you can see here, a simple google search for flights. The results came up with 4 paid advertisements before showing the natural search engine listings on the search engine results page (SERP’s).
The funny thing is these companies were the top four natural listings anyway. Even though they have a high ranking on natural listings, paying advertisements are still very important as they are the first thing a consumer sees when running a search. Especially if the search topic isn’t one of their expertise, you are most likely to click the first thing that appears.
WHY PAID SEARCH MARKETING?
- PPC converts upto 50% higher than natural traffic
- Average of 200% ROI for paid advertising
- 53% paid clicks are from a mobile device
- 65% of customers click on ads when purchasing
- PPC ads can boost brand awareness by 80%
- The top paid Ads get 41% more clicks
- Search engine algorithm updates don’t affect PPC
Most importantly only 49% of adults can actually identify the differences between sponsored ads and natural listings. Meaning almost half of adults are going to be clicking a link based on the level of convenience or previous encounters. It pays to have your listing at the top.
As you can see, the statistics behind paid search marketing show it can be quite a successful tool when implemented correctly. The question is, what are the key points to optimising your paid search marketing efforts.
- Quality and relevance of the ad within the given search
- Click through rate:if your click through rates are low, your ad’s keywords may not be consistent
- Spending: Money needs to be spent on content that is achieving a desired rate of interaction. Your spending needs to be creating value with a positive ROI.
Paid advertisements can sometimes not go in favour of the consumer. An example of this, when searching tickets for desired an event one of the main sites is Viagogo. The issue is as it is the first site with in the search engine results page, people purchase a ticket to then only realise they are not the official recommended ticket site. Meaning customers end up buying tickets that are well over priced or not even real. Great use of paid advertising for Viagogo, terrible result for the customer.
A great example of a paid marketing advertisement that creates a range of value for customers. When searching hotels, Hotels.com is the first to appear. Providing relevant, useful, rewarding and cost-conscious headings that draw in the customer. When clicking the link into the site, the page reflects those subheadings and provides exactly what it states on the SERP.
Meaning they would gain that quality score and creating a more desired cost per click amount.
The video below is quite interesting, they talk about pay per click advertisements and the top trends and strategies that are taking over 2019 and beyond!!
My point of discussion is, based on paid advertisement marketing, do you think google and other search engines should be allowed to promote an organisation above an official site?
E.G: I want to buy a ticket for a concert, the official seller is Ticketmaster. I google search the event, first thing that comes up is Viagogo. In which many assume is the only ticket site or the official site. They then purchase the ticket, to realise they have been ripped off compared to the original tickets. Should there be a certain level of ethical accountability, around promoting a organisation that evidently exploits consumers? And uses paid marketing to achieve that poll position over the official ticket provider?
Brandon's Marketblog 
Great Blog post Brandon! I think it’s interesting the ethics in SEO and PPC advertising, I guess if non-official sellers are willing to pay more then I guess it’s only fair that they get the first spot. If your your the official brand or official seller then your should have first spot by I guess paying the most to be in that position. I guess google itself isn’t all that ethical with bots creating higher revenues for them, so it’s hard to say what should be done, they aren’t the most ethical company to begin with. I think if your a business that wants the best spot you need to have the highest bids, and best SEO in place because simply its all just competition. You just have to be a smart shopper and shop around before you buy the first one you see.
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