What is a Sponsored Link (PPC)?

One of the ways to improve your website ranking in search engines is through Sponsored Links or Pay Per Click (PPC) method. By using this method, you pay for your website link or advert to appear under the Sponsored Links area of search engines - usually at the top and also the right hand side of search engines results pages.

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How It Works | Pros of Pay Per Click | Cons of Pay Per Click | What route should you take?

How does it work?

Through Pay Per Click you pay an agreed charge every time someone clicks on your website link (or ad) that appears when a search engine user carries out a search for a particular keyword/phrase.

The more popular a keyword/phrase the more expensive the PPC rate is – accordingly the amount of companies competing to use these keyword/phrase will also have an effect on the price of PPC links.

Also, the amount an advertiser pays for a keyword/phrase will help to determine where their ad is positioned.

Please see below, the Pros and Cons of Pay Per Click:

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Pros of Pay Per Click:

Immediate results.
You can limit your budget to a small amount.
Small campaigns are easier to run in house than Organic Search Engine Optimisation.

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Cons of Pay Per Click:

Sponsored Link campaigns are typically time managed over a period where the days you choose exposure could be a Thursday, Friday and Saturday between say 8am till 8pm. This is when your link(s) will be visible to click but outside of these times, you will not be seen at all. Organic links stay visible 24 / 7 / 365 of the year providing the content is valid.
Competitors can click on your Sponsored Links and use up all of your budget.
Users are less likely to click on paid listings as they are more likely to trust the organic listings. People feel more comfortable going to websites listed organically as they are not paid adverts. Websites listed organically are at the top of the search engines because they offer relevant information.
Users are more likely to trust organic listings and research has shown that 66% of potential customers distrust paid links (eMarketer). It wouldn’t be a good idea to discourage potential clients even before they click on your link!
Organic listings are seen to have a greater value – people feel that organic results are non-biased and more relevant to their search. The conversion rate is also more likely to be higher.
Trends have also shown that more of the sales that result from search engine searches originated in organic search listings. On Google, 72.3 percent felt that organic results were more relevant, while only 27.7 percent rated paid results as more relevant (WebSurveyor and Stratagem Research)
People are becoming more aware that pay per click is just another form of paid advertising.
Pay per click costs are rising and it is becoming very expensive.
Once your budget has run out your links will be removed straight away.

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What route should you take?

This is up to you but things to look forward to if considering the Organic Route...

If done correctly, your pages indexed in the search engines will keep on growing with valid retrievable pages.
People can click on your links to their hearts content and it doesn't eat away at your budget
Links found on the first 3 pages of any search engine are typically looked at before the sponsored links options
Links found on the organic listings are trusted as being more likely to answer the visitors search query
The content in your website pages determine the key phrases you are found for, not a limited number that you think will do the trick on sponsored links.
Organic listings take visitors straight to the page their looking for and not a website home page where they will have to start searching again
Organic listings are not affected by increasing market prices for high value PPC search terms

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