“Paid Search” is one of those phrases that gets thrown around a lot in the search marketing world.  If you’re not quite sure what paid search is or how it works, then this article is for you.  Let’s start with the basics.  What is paid search?

Paid search is an advertising strategy that involves the purchase of web traffic from search engines.  Paid search listings or advertisements appear in the “PPC Advertising” section shown above.  Clicking on the advertisement will redirect web users to a landing page on the company’s website.  Google’s version of paid search is called Adwords.  Paid search also refers to banner ads when they’re purchased directly from a website owner.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, a form of paid search, is a method used for purchasing online advertising.  With PPC advertising a company pays for a listing on the search engine results page, but they’re only charged when a web user clicks on the listing.  Since hundreds or even thousands of companies are interested in paying for placement for the same keywords, Google created a service called Google Adwords which functions like a keyword auction.  Companies can create Adwords accounts, select the keywords they’d like to bid on, and then select their per-click price.

However, Google doesn’t simply give the highest placement to the highest bidder.  Google gives a quality score to each paid search advertising campaign that a company is running. Keep in mind that a website’s quality score is an ever changing variable.  It’s something that website owners need to manage and continually work to improve.

Quality scores are determined by three major areas.  The first is click-through rates.  Click-through rates are the percentage of people clicking on your advertisement divided by the total number of times it was shown.  So, if your ad appears a million times in search engine results pages, but only one person clicks on it, then you have a low a click-through rate for that specific set of keywords or keyword campaign.

The second area that Google assesses when determining your quality score is relevancy.  If you’re trying to purchase placement for keywords that don’t directly relate to your business offerings or your services, this will lower your overall quality score.

The third major area that Google assesses when determining quality score is your landing page.  This is the first page visitors see on your website after clicking your advertisement on the search engine results page.  Essentially, the landing page needs to deliver on the promise put forth in the advertisement.  For example, if your ad refers to an online special that your company is having, then when web surfers click that ad the first page they’re taken to on your website should be one that deals with the online special.

So, the company with the highest combination of keyword pricing and quality score will win the bid or get the highest placement on the search engine results page.  The company in second place will get the second listing and so on and so on.

What does all of this mean for today’s small business owner?  Serve your customer.  If you’re creating landing pages that meet the needs of your users, Google will reward you with a higher quality score and therefore lower pricing per click.  It’s as simple as that.  With paid search, even small business owners can compete with the big guys.

What Is Paid Search? is a post from: SEO For Small Business