Advantages and Disadvantages of PPC 2023

Aaron Mears <aaronmears.me@gmail.com>

PPC or Pay-per-click is one of the major digital marketing strategies for promoting a brand online. When managed effectively, PPC can lead to some excellent results. 

PPC is a smart tool that allows digital marketers to improve their reach and conversions through retargeting the audience.

This tool offers outstanding results within a short time. However, there are several drawbacks of PPC that shouldn’t be overlooked. 

In this article, the top advantages and disadvantages of PPC will be discussed, so that it gets easier to understand how to make the best use of this modern digital marketing tool. 

What is PPC Advertising?

PPC is a paid digital marketing tool, in which digital marketers pay a certain amount to increase web traffic on their websites.

While organic efforts, such as search engine optimization allow you to increase web traffic in an inexpensive way, this paid tool brings in fast and better results.As a result, you can expect more leads and conversions only in a few days.

In PPC advertising, marketers bid to place their ads via sponsored links for searches on specific keywords.

When you bid on a specific keyword through PPC, your website comes at the top of the related Google search results. As your website comes on top of the search results, more people notice it. Eventually, you can get increased traffic within a short time. 

If you can launch the PPC advertisement appropriately, then paying for increasing your web traffic can be totally worth it.

For example, if you pay 5 or more dollars for each click, it can eventually increase the sale by 500 dollars or more. It means the cost you are incurring is resulting in a much better profit. To design a successful PPC advertising campaign, you have to take certain things into consideration.

For example - You need to choose the right keywords, use them to make the right advertisement group campaign, and then launch the PPC landing page to increase conversion. These are the things that can make or break your PPC campaign. 

If you can design more relevant and creative ad campaigns, then you can expect the search engine to offer you a lower PPC rate. This means the landing page can add value by satisfying user needs.

Lower PPC rates mean you can expect better results by investing a lower amount. Thus, through the effective designing of your ad campaign, you can ensure the maximum leverage from your PPC efforts.  

Advantages of PPC Advertising

Increases Traffic

PPC helps to increase traffic to your website quickly. It takes your ads to the top of Google search results, which makes more people notice them.

As a result, you can expect a higher number of people to click on them and enter your website. 

PPC specialist Philip Pasma from Asterisk Marketing said, “While SEO and other digital marketing efforts can also increase your web traffic, they require a longer time to bring actual results.” 

As PPC can take your ad to the top of Google search results in a shorter time, it helps to bring in more people who are searching for the solutions that your website offers. Eventually, you can expect a considerable traffic increase only in a few days.

Drives In More Leads with Proper targeting

Many advertisers use Google Ads in a multi-layered approach to test and ensure full coverage across networks and targeting types that can gain brand exposure.

This includes everything from targeting keywords with text ads to remarketing ads based on past behaviors or focusing on specific audience demographics on the display network.

By testing and experimenting with different combinations, you can ensure that you're utilizing the full scope of Google Ads and getting as many impressions as possible while remaining targeted to the personas in your prospective audience.

Returning to the business goals discussion, you can see what works best and set expectations for cost per click and cost per acquisition tolerance to compare the different targeting methods.

Finally, the most significant advantage of the PPC targeting options is the ability to reach people who aren't already in your audience as well as those who have been exposed to your brand. You can choose how wide of a net you want to cast. 

Smart Retargeting

Unfortunately, many of the people who visit your website will not make a purchase. These visitors would have been interested in what you have to offer, but something swayed their decision.

Even if they did not purchase on the first visit, they still represent a great opportunity to make sales. While you could simply abandon these customers, there is a more profitable alternative.

Perhaps they didn't think the product was right for them, or the price was too high. But it's possible that the reason they didn't buy was something minor, and with a little more encouragement, they could become a customer.

Whatever the reason, converting these leads again could be extremely profitable. According to data, retargeted customers are 70% more likely to purchase.

Forbes staff Sonya Matejko thinks, “PPC is a great way to re-engage these interested customers. Retargeting or remarketing to these visitors has a higher conversion rate than finding new customers.

If the visitor isn't completely convinced that they need what you're selling, retargeting gives you another chance to persuade them. PPC advertising on search engines or display advertising can target previous visitors.”

Doesn’t Rely on Algorithm

While SEO and content marketing strategies need a lot of time and depend on the algorithm, PPC advertising is a much more stable strategy.

While Google algorithm updates can dictate your SEO performance, they can’t have any major impact on PPC advertising. Rather, the success of your PPC campaign is mostly on your ability to design the campaign successfully. 

Quick Impacts 

PPC, unlike SEO, does not require you to wait for results; instead, you could potentially have sales in a matter of minutes. Unlike other marketing methods, you do not have to wait months to see your ROI.

It is also quick and simple to get started with PPC advertising. It doesn't take long to set up a Google Ads account. Simply create ads and bid on keyword phrases relevant to your ideal customer.

After you've completed these steps, all you have to do is wait for people to start clicking on your ad. The advantage of PPC is that you won't have to wait long.

If your ad is good enough and your landing page is appropriate for those visitors, you may see sales quickly.

Contributes to Branding

One of the underrated benefits of PPC is that it contributes to the branding of a company. Even though the users don’t always click on the ad that appears in their search results, a lot of them do notice the company name and website.

As a result, more people get to know about the brand and what it offers. This awareness turns out to be very useful for increasing brand awareness for the company.

Cost-effective

If you are looking forward to maximizing the revenue of your company without compromising quality, PPC advertising can be a powerful tool for accomplishing this.

PPC can help to generate more leads and conversions by bringing more traffic to your website. While it demands a little investment, the value it provides is totally worth it in most cases. 

Unlike traditional print advertising, you can configure your PPC campaigns so that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

Rather than simply renting some digital real estate, you will be able to directly link the cost of your advertisements to the number of visitors you drive to your site.

Of course, once they arrive, they must be converted.

However, having a direct link between the amount you spend and the potential leads you generate makes PPC appealing to many digital marketers.

Transparent and Measurable Results

When you invest in SEO, it's difficult to determine how much value you're getting for your money. However, PPC will provide you with clearer and more measurable results. 

While measuring results can be quite complex and difficult in different digital marketing campaigns, this is not the case for PPC marketing. PPC networks provide you with data that you need to understand how your PPC marketing cost is spent. 

Platforms like Google Ads enable you to track your ad performance. Some aspects that you can easily track and measure include: 

• Keywords
• Ads that are seen by potential buyers
• Ads that have been seen by the potential buyers
• Click Through Rate or CTR
• Conversions (Leads)

Better Collaboration 

Content marketing has taken over the digital marketing world, and most businesses now have content plans and calendars.

Google Ads is a solution that can drive visitors to content more quickly and improve the ROI on your content investment with the investment in producing original and unique content to support the customer buying cycle and establish thought leadership positioning.

PPC and SEO complement each other well because impressions and traffic opportunities are frequently directed at the same audience - those who use Google to search for information, services, or products.

The performance data of Google Ads impressions, clicks, and conversions can provide valuable insight and direction for prioritizing SEO efforts on a keyword-by-keyword basis. On the other hand, if the data is available, organic traffic performance data and SEO strategy can also advise PPC.

All of this contributes to content marketing alignment and ensures that efficiencies are gained while business end goals are not siloed. Remarketing with Google Ads is an excellent way to keep site visitors engaged, regardless of how they arrived at your site. 

Remarketing ads are displayed to people who have previously visited and left your website and are based on specific rules or audiences that you specify.

If nothing else, remarketing can be an excellent place to begin running PPC campaigns because it is less expensive and lower in the funnel than prospecting and brand awareness steps tied to ads.

In other cases, PPC can help provide data or serve as an alternative to traditional direct marketing activities.

Better Control

Making sure your advertising is performing as expected should result in more conversions. And, with PPC, you can monitor your advertising's performance and results in real time. It helps you to measure and control your efforts more effectively. 

If you wonder whether your advertisements are performing as expected, your ad copy is bringing in the right people and your keywords are effective, with PPC you can make the changes right away.

When it comes to other types of advertising, it can take months before you notice a problem. And then you won't be able to do anything to change the situation, wasting your ad budget.

Furthermore, it ensures a user-friendly experience. PPC has an advantage over SEO if you want to ensure that your visitors land on a specific page. When visitors arrive via standard search engine results, you have less control over the page they see.

PPC allows you to direct visitors to your landing page, increasing your chances of converting them into a customer.

Enriched Functionality and Reporting

PPC platforms, such as Google Ads, Bing Ads, etc. provide you with all the necessary tools for running your campaigns, collaborating with teammates, and analyzing data and results.

This is a great advantage to any business. Without the right tools and reporting, you can’t bring perfection to your digital marketing efforts and can’t understand where you are heading to.

It is like swimming in an ocean having your eyes and ears closed! With the right tools and reporting, PPC allows you to make your digital marketing efforts more effective and efficient. 

Disadvantages of PPC Advertising

Not a Sure-fire Way to Increase Sales

Ensuring higher traffic to your website doesn’t always guarantee better sales. While it is important to increase traffic, you also need to focus on strategies to increase conversion. 

Even if a great number of audience visits your website, you can’t convert them into your customers unless you can attract them.

So, you need to focus on incorporating relevant and engaging content in the landing pages. Otherwise, the conversion and sales rates might not be as expected.  

Requires Professional Skills and Expertise

Managing a PPC campaign successfully won’t be so easy unless you have the relevant skills and expertise.

To conduct a successful and effective PPC strategy, you need to understand its metrics. For newbies, this can be quite overwhelming. 

Compared to other web marketing methods, PPC characterizes one of the steepest learning curves.

In a lot of cases, business owners have to hire a dedicated digital marketer for the PPC initiatives. This means, your PPC costs not only include the cost of your ad campaign, but also the cost of hiring a digital marketer. 

Can Be Expensive

Successful PPC initiatives do not only demand advanced skills, but also incur a high cost. Especially, if you make mistakes on a high-volume PPC strategy, it can be quite expensive to rectify them.

It discourages digital marketers to make additional attempts, which often limits the effectiveness of the campaign.

Nevertheless, it is very much possible to get a good return on investment from PPC efforts if you can design the campaign effectively. However, when attempting to do so, you must be ready to lose any capital that you have invested at the beginning of the campaign. 

As soon as the campaign begins to perform, you will enjoy a better return on your investment.  

PPC Ads Disappear As Soon As Your Campaign Ends

When you publish your content on popular and high-trafficked sites, it remains on the site until you delete it. It continues to work even after years of being published.

On the other hand, PPC ads vanish as soon as you stop paying for them. When the ads get discontinued, the traffic and sales they bring get discontinued too.

This might not actually be a big issue if you have a large advertising budget. However, if you have a limited budget for such an investment, then you will find it difficult to sustain a Pay-per-click campaign. 

You Have to Invest Time

It’s not like you just launch a PPC campaign, and then sit back to relax. You must keep a careful eye on your campaign time-to-time, and keep yourself updated to get better results.

Indeed, PPC advertisement campaigns demand plenty of time and focus. You have to invest enough time to optimize and improve the campaigns regularly so that you can achieve the outcome you are looking for.

This frequent monitoring and updating mean you have to schedule a specific time each day or each week only for your PPC advertising efforts. 

Ad Blocking Software Can Rebound Your PPC Efforts

Even after investing much time and effort to become PPC proficient, you might fail to get your expected result if a large number of your target customers use ad block software.

It is true that a higher percentage of the audience is using ad-blocking software today, which is giving a tough time to advertisers. 

While SEO efforts organically funnel traffic to your web pages through page rank representations, PPC does not work like that.

PPC places your paid ads in the search results, and the ad-blocking software can block that right away. Eventually, your PPC efforts can’t bring more traffic to your website and your conversion rates decrease. 

Contextual Semantic Targeting Might Backfire

What is often mentioned as a major advantage of PPC, can turn out to be one of the biggest frustrating issues too. The contextual delivery of PPC helps to activate ads upon detecting certain designated keywords in the search queries.

However,  at the same time, it might also include other search queries that contain those keywords in an irrelevant context. 

If the ad can’t shed much light on the context, your investment can be wasted. In such a case, a large number of users who clicked on the links aren’t actually looking for your service. As a result, your conversion rate would be minimized.

Saturation and Inflation

The number of advertisers is increasing heavily as the days are passing by. This higher influx of advertisers is leading to increasing the price of Google Ads bidding as well as cost-per-click. This means the competition will only get stronger and the profit window gets smaller.

PPC Firms Can be a Pain

As PPC demands top-class skills and expertise, many businesses and entrepreneurs adopt PPC firms to run PPC campaigns on behalf of them. This is a great idea as long as you work with the right PPC firm.

However, there are often shady firms that put on exaggerated and unnatural promises that they can’t translate into actual results. They do more harm to you than bring in something good for your business. 

How much a PPC firm can help you depend a lot on the skills and expertise they have in the relevant field. Before signing up with a PPC firm, it is wise to do some proper research first. You should check for how long they are working in this field, and what their previous clients say about them.

Otherwise, you might end up wasting your time and effort and failing to gain the right value for the money that you are investing. 

While PPC comes with a lot of benefits, it’s important to build a proper idea about its drawbacks as well. This will allow you to make the best use of your PPC result and thus increase your lead and conversion efficiency.

Final Thoughts 

When designing a PPC strategy, one of the most important things is to take into account the business and industry that you are in. It will make it easy for you to take the best decisions, including how much money you should invest in your PPC campaigns.

The right PPC strategy can take a business to a new level within a very short time. This is why you should make the best use of the benefits that PPC offers, and be aware of the potential drawbacks to making the best out of your PPC efforts!