Busting Common PPC Myths — UNBXD | Creative Digital Agency

We’ve all fallen victim to believing in a myth, whether we know it or not. Some are totally harmless, like how we believe goldfish have three-second memories when really, their memory span could be up to five months long. Others shape the way we do certain things, such as drinking eight glasses of water every day (the ideal amount changes from person to person) or adding salt to water to make it boil faster (the difference is actually negligible).

You can probably find a myth about any topic you can think of, and the world of PPC is no different. It’s important to fully understand exactly what you’re getting into when you spend money on marketing, including how much time and money you’ll be putting in and the results you can expect.

But before we get into debunking these common PPC myths…

What is PPC?

Pay-per-click advertising - known as PPC - is a popular form of digital marketing which allows businesses to run advertising campaigns on platforms such as Google Ads. PPC can be used to increase website traffic, increase sales, generate leads or promote brand awareness, and businesses accrue costs whenever their adverts are clicked.

Onto the myths…

PPC is a short-term strategy

PPC is really only useful as a short-term strategy to promote limited-time offers or reach short-term conversion goals. Using it long-term ends up as a waste of money, right? Wrong!

Truth: Long-term PPC campaigns yield the highest return-on-investment (ROI). After all, you don’t just want short-term success for your business - you want to keep improving and growing over time. Long-term PPC campaigns also allow you to collect data about your customers, which is incredibly useful for optimising your ads.

Only use Google for your PPC ads

Google receives 92% of all searches, so there’s really no need to bother with any other search engines, right? Wrong!

Truth: Whilst Google does have a huge market share, platforms such as Bing and Yahoo still have a significant number of users which you’d be remiss to ignore. Bing, for example, generates 900 million searches every day. Each search engine also has its own user demographics, which are worth researching to see how they line up with your business’ target market.

If you rank through PPC for your main keyword, you won’t rank organically

PPC and SEO are two of the most effective digital marketing strategies, and both involve the use of keywords to some extent. This can lead to the myth that you should either use one or the other, as search results won’t show your listing twice, right? Wrong!

Truth: PPC ads have no impact on your SEO rankings, either positive or negative. If you’re ranking high organically for a keyword, AND ranking through paid advertising for the same keyword, your listing will show up twice. Neither will trump the other, though it can be helpful to prioritise PPC for keywords which you’re struggling to rank for organically. This means the most effective marketing strategies will combine SEO and PPC to increase your website’s overall traffic and sales conversions.

Nobody clicks on PPC ads

No one bothers clicking the paid listings at the top of the page, right? Wrong!

Truth: Studies show that nearly 60% of people can’t differentiate between PPC ads and organic listings. Not only that, but people who click on paid ads are 50% more likely to convert than organic search visitors, as they click on your listing with more intent to buy. As long as you do the research into what your target market is looking for, which keywords you should prioritise, and how to create the most effective PPC adverts, people will click them.

PPC campaigns run themselves

Like my fantasy football team this year, I can just set and forget a PPC campaign and let it run itself in the background while I focus on other things. Right? Wrong!
Truth: PPC campaigns must be managed, or you will end up wasting your budget. Even if you’ve conducted thorough research before launching your paid ads, the data you’ll gather whilst your ads are running is invaluable. You’ll learn who is clicking your ads, when they’re being clicked, which ads are the most successful and which ads bring you the most conversions. You can use this information to constantly tweak your ads and optimise their impact.

Are you looking to improve the performance of your PPC campaigns?

At UNBXD, we have an exceptional track record of planning, launching and running successful PPC campaigns for a variety of businesses across different industries. We work as strategic partners with our clients to outline clear objectives and maximise your ROI.

Ready to get started or looking for more information? View our full list of digital marketing services, request a quote or contact us.