Established businesses looking for an effective way to reach and convert more of their target audience often settle on Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Why?
Because PPC is an incredibly effective way to drive traffic and generate more revenue. Among search engine users, those who land on a website through PPC advertising are 50% more likely to make a purchase than those arriving via organic links.
PPC advertising platforms have different pros and cons, from their average cost per click, to the demographic makeup of their user bases, and the type of ad formats they are best suited to. In this guide, our seasoned PPC experts break down the pros and cons of 5 of the best advertising platforms for PPC.
Contents:
- Choosing a PPC Advertising platform
- 5 of the best PPC advertising platforms
- How much does PPC management cost?
Choosing a PPC advertising platform
Taking a strategic approach to your PPC advertising requires you to consider which advertising platform is best for your business.
Circumstantial factors such as your business’s industry, target audience, and preferred ad format are essential considerations. You’ll also want to consider the overall usability of each PPC advertising platform as well as features like analytics and reporting tools.
Target audience
The first factor to consider is your target audience. What age group makes up your target audience? What platforms do they use? What type of media do they consume?
The answers to these types of questions will inform which platform(s) you focus your ad budget on.
Industry
Certain advertising platforms are suited to specific industries. For example, LinkedIn is clearly suited to B2B industries, while Facebook is often used for B2C marketing.
Ad format
The nature of your business can dictate the format of your message. In other words, some ad formats might be more effective than others when it comes to your business’s advertising.
Your preferred ad format will determine which advertising platform(s) you use. Some PPC platforms require the skills needed to create visual and/or video-based campaigns, while other ad formats are predominantly text-based and rely on PPC copywriting skills.
Pricing
The average cost per click can differ between the various advertising platforms and industry. Certain PPC platforms also require a larger initial budget. Also consider the costs and skills required to produce your advertising content (ad copy, imagery, video content).
Effective budget control is at the heart of PPC advertising, underlining the importance of processes like PPC bid management.
User-friendliness & features
When you commit to PPC marketing, you and your colleagues will spend a good amount of your work time on your chosen advertising platform. You’ll want to consider the user-friendliness of each PPC platform.
All of the best PPC platforms now offer excellent features for managing and analysing your campaigns. But some platforms offer more advanced capabilities around campaign control, analytics and reporting. The advertisers who understand how to use these types of features to monitor, analyse and report, are the ones who end up optimising their PPC campaigns most effectively.
It’s good practice to match your choice of PPC advertising platform with your team’s capabilities as well as your available PPC budget. Of course, where a business lacks experience, they often choose to outsource PPC management to a digital agency that can set up effective ad campaigns across multiple advertising platforms.
5 of the best PPC advertising platforms
The following PPC platforms are amongst the largest online advertising platforms, covering a range of different ad formats and serving diverse user bases.
1. Google Ads
Previously known as AdWords, Google Ads commands the biggest market share of all the online advertising platforms. As many as 65% of small to medium sized businesses run their PPC campaigns through Google Ads.
Google Ads has been around for as long as we can remember and has gone through plenty of iterations and improvements over the years. Besides giving access to a huge potential audience, a key benefit of Google Ads is the level of campaign control that the platform offers. Utilise from multiple ad types, extensive targeting options, and advanced analytics and reporting tools.
| Google Ads Pros | Google Ads Cons |
| Google’s market share and large user base give access to a huge potential market, across geographic regions. | Extensive functionality presents means new users face a steep learning curve. Without knowledge and experience, it can be challenging to optimise campaigns. |
| Wide reach across Google’s network, including Google search, display, YouTube, and Gmail. | Competition for keywords with high search volume can make it difficult for smaller companies to compete. |
| Extensive targeting options, including keywords, demographics, location, and devices. | Google Ads campaigns require ongoing management and optimisation to maintain cost-effectiveness |
| Advanced analytics and reporting tools allow for detailed campaign performance analysis. | The CPCs in certain highly competitive industries can be very high. |
| Budgeting options that allow advertisers to set maximum bids and daily budgets. |
2. Facebook Ads
Social media platforms are catching up with the search engines in terms of their share of online advertising spend. Meta (Facebook’s parent company) is second to Google in advertising spend in the US, and it’s estimated that Meta will account for 75.6% of social network advertising spend in 2024.
Facebook Ads gives access to a huge user base, including the other apps under the Meta umbrella like Instagram and WhatsApp. However, the key benefit of using Facebook Ads is the unique targeting options. Facebook Ads has developed a sizeable list of data points that can be used for highly specific audience targeting.
| Facebook Ads Pros | Facebook Ads Cons |
| Large user base with highly specific audience targeting. | Ad fatigue is common, necessitating new creative content on a regular basis. |
| Exceptionally detailed targeting options, including interests, behaviours, and demographics. | Extensive campaign settings and targeting options. |
| Wide variety of ad formats (text based, image, and video) can be used to meet different campaign goals. | The options around campaign settings can overwhelm. |
| Relatively lower cost per click compared to other platforms, making it accessible for businesses with smaller budgets. |
3. Microsoft Ads
Microsoft Advertising is the closest alternative to Google Ads. Although Microsoft Ads has a smaller market share than Google, Microsoft Ads campaigns often have higher click-through-rates. This is partly due to the fact that the user base on the Bing search engine is made up of older searchers, with the average user being above 45 years old.
Microsoft acknowledges they are playing catch up with Google when it comes to online ads, so the platform has a very useful feature. Google Ads campaigns can be imported to Microsoft Advertising, saving you time on campaign set-up.
| Microsoft Ads Pros | Microsoft Ads Cons |
| In comparison to Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising has lower CPC, on average. | Smaller market share than Google, means Microsoft Advertising campaigns have lower potential traffic and impressions. |
| Microsoft Ads gives access to the Bing search engine which has a user base that’s made up of older and higher-income demographics. | Lacks some of the advanced analytics and reporting tools found in Google Ads. |
| Microsoft Ads integrates with LinkedIn, allowing for unique targeting options such as company, industry, and job title. |
4. YouTube Ads
Video ads can be more engaging than text or static image ads, and YouTube Ads is the platform for businesses experimenting with video ads. YouTube allows for different types of ads, including the skippable ads that many of us are familiar with, but also bumper ads that must be watched before a video can be viewed.
YouTube has a large and young audience, with the biggest portion of the user base being in the 25-34 age group. Besides being dedicated to video and giving access to a young audience, YouTube Ads is a great way to engage with users of mobile devices, especially relevant for local marketing.
| YouTube Ads Pros | YouTube Ads Cons |
| A platform dedicated to video ads, YouTube allows for various ad types including bumper ads, skippable and non-skippable ads, and in-feed ads. | Creating high quality video ads has higher content creation costs. |
| Video content can be used to convey complex messages and take advantage of more sensory cues. | User intent on YouTube is lower than advertising platforms like Google or Microsoft Ads. |
| Unique targeting options, including interests, search history, and viewing behaviour. | Some ads can be skipped and some users may block advertising, reducing the reach of campaigns within the target audience. |
| Offers useful video creation tools to improve the ad creation process. | |
| No minimum campaign spend. |
5. LinkedIn Ads
All of us know LinkedIn as the platform for B2B targeting and getting our brand in front of professional audiences. As many as 80% of companies engaged in B2B advertisements run PPC campaigns on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Ads offers unique targeting options, such as job titles and industries, allowing advertisers to reach specific audiences.
| LinkedIn Ads Pros | LinkedIn Ads Cons |
| Professional user base makes LinkedIn ideal for B2B ad campaigns. | On average, LinkedIn Ads has a higher CPC than other platforms. |
| Unique targeting options including job titles, industry, and company size. | |
| Gives access to decision-makers and business professionals. |
How much does PPC management cost?
PPC advertising platforms use an auction pricing model to decide the ranking of ads on a particular keyword. The more competitive and valuable a keyword is within an industry, the higher the bids or CPC.
The best advertising platforms offer bid management controls that allow you to adjust your PPC campaigns on the fly. Bid management involves monitoring your campaigns and adjusting the value of your keyword bids. We’ve already mentioned how important controlling budgets is to PPC advertising —so the skill here is knowing when to adjust a bid on a keyword and when to abandon a keyword.
For more, see our article on how to calculate and spend your PPC budget wisely. Of course, if you’re still learning the PPC ropes, you can save money on clicks and make your advertising budget go further by partnering with PPC experts.
At WebHummel, we offer PPC management services, covering the entire process, from Campaign & Ad Creation, Landing Page Design, and Monthly Reporting & Campaign Optimisation.
If you’re ready to ‘bee’ found online, give us a ‘buzz’ to get started?
