PPC and Google Ads: paid advertising you can keep in check
PPC is the fastest online marketing channel — it can bring enquiries within a week. It is also the fastest way to waste money. Here is how it works, what it costs and where it usually falls apart.
What is PPC
PPC is paid advertising where you pay not for the impression but for the click through to your website. The abbreviation stands for pay-per-click. In practice it means a lot of people see the ad for free and you only pay for those who actually arrived.
The best-known tool is Google Ads (formerly AdWords) — ads in search, in shopping results, on websites and on YouTube. But PPC also runs on Facebook and Instagram through Meta Ads, and on LinkedIn. You will also see it called paid advertising, performance advertising or search advertising.
The strength of PPC is intent: in search you reach someone at the exact moment they are looking for what you sell. Its weakness is that the day you switch off the budget, the traffic ends — which is why PPC doesn't replace SEO but complements it.
Types of PPC campaign
Not every company needs all of them. Most start with search, e-shops with shopping campaigns, and remarketing is worth it in practically every case.
Search advertising
Text ads in Google above the unpaid results. The strongest campaign type for services — you only reach people already actively searching, so enquiries come in quickly.
Shopping campaigns for e-shops
Products with an image and a price right in the results. They live and die by the quality of the product feed — proper titles and categories do more for performance than raising the budget.
Remarketing
Reaching people who have already been on the site but didn't order. The cheapest conversions of all campaign types — you just need to know when to stop so it doesn't become a nuisance.
Social media
Campaigns on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn target by interests and profile, not by demand. They suit awareness building and products people don't search for on their own.
What PPC costs
The cost has two parts: the budget that goes straight to Google for clicks, and campaign management. You set the budget and can change it at any time — you can start with a few hundred a month, because the goal of the first weeks isn't volume but finding out what brings enquiries.
The price of a single click depends on the field and the competition, and ranges from cents to a few euros. The more meaningful number is the cost per enquiry — and that can only be worked out once conversion tracking is in place. Without it, PPC gets judged on clicks, which is exactly what you pay Google for, not what you care about.
The most common mistakes that waste budget
Most of the accounts we have seen didn't have a problem with a small budget, but with where it leaked: missing negative keywords, one campaign for everything, ads pointing at the home page instead of a specific offer, and conversions that were never set up. We wrote it up with examples in a separate article.
Frequently asked questions about PPC
What is the difference between PPC and Google Ads?
PPC is a way of paying for advertising — you pay per click. Google Ads is one particular tool in which such advertising is set up, and far from the only one; Meta Ads and LinkedIn work the same way. In everyday use the two terms are used interchangeably.
What budget do I need to start?
It depends on the field, but for a smaller company it makes sense to start with an amount that buys at least a few dozen clicks a month on the key queries — otherwise there is nothing to evaluate. We can give you an exact figure once we know the click prices in your field.
How soon will I see results?
First clicks within hours, first usable data usually within two weeks. For a sensible evaluation and tuning, count on four to six weeks — until then the campaign is collecting data and there is no point drawing conclusions from it.
Is PPC worth it when my SEO is already good?
Often yes. SEO covers the queries you rank highly for, PPC picks up the rest and the seasonal peaks. It is also the fastest way to test which queries actually bring customers — and to steer your SEO by that.
PPC is one of six channels
Paid advertising brings visitors, but whether they become customers is decided by the website and by measurement. How the individual channels fit together and in what order to build them is described on our online marketing page.
Find out what unoptimised marketing is costing you
We will take a no-obligation look at your website, campaigns and analytics. Within two working days you will know whether an audit makes sense for you and what it would actually bring.