Search Advertising (PPC): What It Is, How Much It Costs and How to Start
Search advertising is a set of ads that Google shows to people who are already looking for your service or product. We explain how it works, which types exist, what drives the price and how to launch your first campaign.
Search advertising, often called PPC (pay-per-click), means paid ads that a search engine shows to people who are already looking for your service or product. Most often it is Google Ads: a person types a query, and your ad appears above or next to the organic results. The main difference from other types of advertising is that you reach the user at the moment they have already shown interest. One thing matters: search advertising does not replace SEO. It works faster and by a different logic: you pay for every click for as long as the campaign is active.
How search advertising works
Search advertising is built on user queries and an auction. You choose the keywords you want to appear for and set the maximum price you are willing to pay per click. When someone enters a query, the system runs an auction among all advertisers who want to appear, in a fraction of a second. The winner is not only the one willing to pay more: the quality of the ad and of the page it leads to also counts.
- You choose queries. Keywords your potential customers use to find your service, and negative keywords you do not want to appear for.
- You create ads. A short headline, a description and a link to a page that matches the query.
- The system runs an auction. The ad with the best combination of bid and quality gets the impression.
- You pay per click. Money is charged when a person clicks the ad, not for the impression itself.
- You evaluate the result. Look at leads and cost per lead, not only at the number of clicks.
Types of search advertising
- Search ads. Text ads in Google results for user queries. This is the main format for services and products with existing demand. Read more in our Google Ads search service.
- Shopping ads. Product cards with a photo and price for online stores.
- Performance Max. An automated campaign type that shows ads across several Google channels at once. Read about setting it up in our Performance Max service.
- Display ads. Banner ads on partner websites that work for awareness.
- Video ads. Videos on YouTube.
- Remarketing. Showing ads to people who have already visited your website. This is a separate discipline: retargeting.
Search advertising vs SEO
Both channels bring people from search, but they work differently:
| Parameter | Search advertising | SEO |
|---|---|---|
| Speed of results | From the moment the campaign launches | Usually months of work |
| Payment | For every click | For work on the website, no payment per click |
| Stability | Impressions stop when the budget stops | Results accumulate and last longer |
| Control | Exact bids, queries and ad texts | Depends on search algorithms |
It is not an either-or choice: advertising gives fast leads, while SEO builds a steady flow in the long term. How to split the budget between them is covered in our article “PPC vs SEO: where to invest your marketing budget”.
How much search advertising costs
The cost consists of two separate parts:
- Ad budget. The money you pay Google for clicks. The price of a click depends on the niche, competition for the query, the region and the quality of your ads and pages.
- Setup and management. The work of a specialist: choosing queries, creating ads, setting up tracking, daily optimization and reports.
That is why there is no universal price: in popular niches a click can cost noticeably more than in narrow ones. We name the price of setup and management after assessing the task, and the consultation is free. Media planning helps to plan spending across channels, and the general approach to the service is described on the PPC advertising page.
Who search advertising is for
- services and products that people already search for on Google;
- businesses that need leads fast, without waiting for SEO results;
- seasonal offers, promotions and new directions that need testing;
- online stores with a catalog where shopping campaigns work.
If a person does not yet know they need your service, targeted advertising on social networks works better, because it creates interest instead of answering a ready query.
How to start
- Define a goal and a metric. A lead, a call or a purchase, and how much you are ready to pay for such an action.
- Choose queries and negative keywords. Start with narrow queries where the customer’s intent is the clearest.
- Prepare the landing page. It should answer the query directly and lead to action. For a single product a landing page works best.
- Set up tracking. Without recording leads and calls you will not understand which queries work.
- Launch the campaign with a test budget. Give the system time to collect data instead of changing everything daily.
- Optimize by leads. Turn off queries that do not pay back, add negative keywords and scale what works.
Common mistakes in search advertising
- Ads lead to the home page. The user searched for something specific, landed on a general page and left.
- Queries that are too broad. The budget goes to people who do not plan to buy.
- No negative keywords. Ads appear for irrelevant queries.
- Judging by clicks. A click is not a lead: count cost per lead and sales.
- Stopping without analysis. A campaign needs time to learn: the first days do not show the real picture.
