Creating and running a PPC campaign require skill and knowledge to control many things at once. But, how much control do you need to manage your PPC campaigns? When we talk about managing a PPC campaign, everything comes to controlling the cost of it. So the actual question here is – how much does PPC management cost?
Here, when we use the phrase ‘PPC Campaign’, we usually talk about Google Ads these days. Google Ads is the head of the PPC marketing model, and it works remarkably well for businesses who want to reach out to their target audience through paid searches. However, the success of PPC campaigns depends on how you manage your PPC bidding and control the money flowing into it.
So, when you look to advertise on Google on any other platform through the PPC model, it is very important to determine how much you can afford and what is the average cost for PPC management. Unfortunately, no one size fits all businesses and their requirements; all we can say is that it depends on several variables. In this post, we will talk about Google Ads and how much they could cost your business.
Variables that Affect PPC Management Cost
Many variables influence the cost of a PPC campaign, and there is no clear-cut idea to determine the Google Ads price. It depends on your business niche, your targeted audience, competition, trends, and timing.
Industry or business type
Some business services like accounting, real estate, attorney, insurance, and legal are the most competitive vertical when it comes to running Google Ads. It is the nature of these services that a professional running any of these businesses charges a significant fee for its services. A new client who reaches them through search results could yield around a thousand dollars and so does the cost per click on ads can be on the high side.
On the other hand business like restaurants, retail stores, and entertainment are not so expensive services, and they need to place higher bids for a PPC ad slot on the search engine result pages (SERPs). The cost per click for PPC ads in these verticals can be easily manageable.
Engagement level required from potential customers
A customer takes more time than usual to make a purchasing decision for Service and products that are costly in nature. It is known as customer lifecycle where a potential client considers many factors while moving through the decision-making process. It could involve a lot of visits on the business website, research, and content downloads to thoroughly understand the quality and size of the offering before making the next move.
Current trends
The cost of running Google Ads also depends on current PPC trends that can easily influence consumer and business behavior. Any specific season or timing of the year can impact the PPC management cost depending upon the demand for products and services.
Variables that Affect PPC Management Spends
In addition to the above variable, there are certain variables that affect your spending on PPC campaigns. It is also part of your PPC management, and you need to be very much focused to get the most out of your ad budget. These variables include:
Ad Scheduling
Ad scheduling is the practice of scheduling your PPC ads to appear in searches. While designing your ads, you can specify when you want them to appear in search engine results pages for relevant searches to your potential audience. For higher conversion rates and leads, some businesses need to appear in searches at a specific time of the day. The competition in the slot can affect the bidding cost as your ads go through the auction process to win the top place.
However, you have the option to schedule your ads to run continuously throughout the day, but allocating the maximum of your budget during the most productive hours can generate more conversions and leads.
Geotargeting
Just like you can allocate your budget based on your ad scheduling, you can also target certain locations to allocate a greater portion of your daily budget to target your audience. It is the best practice for local businesses to get the most out of their PPC campaigns. Targeting certain geographical areas can influence your CPC, but what leads to more success for your business is the best thing to do.
Device Targeting
The internet has changed the way people search online these days. Your potential consumers are searching for your business across multiple devices. It is where you can target your audience on devices from where the most number of leads and conversions are coming from. This practice in PPC management is called device targeting, where you can manage the allocation of your ad budget across both desktop and mobile to target your most valuable audience.
Now, you know about the variables that affect the cost for PPC management and the budget allocation. It’s time to take a look at how Google Ads work in order to understand how much it can cost you.
How do PPC Ads (Google Ads) work?
The two most important factors that you need to understand are – Google Ads auction and Ad Rank. For each search query, different marketers bids for a certain spot where ads appear in the paid section on SERPs. The placement of your ads is defined as Ad Rank, which is calculated by the quality score and maximum bid. Google uses these factors to calculate the cost per click you will pay each time someone clicks on your ad.
In addition to your maximum bid and quality score, there are several other variables that affect your Ad Rank. These variables include:
- Ad relevancy
- Landing page
- Auction-time quality
- Targeted device and location
- Context of searches
- Ad formats
- Bidding method
Average CPC in Google Ads
Your targeted search query or keyword is the key to determine the pricing of your PPC ads. The overall average CPC in PPC campaigns can vary between $1 and $10 considering the different business types, keywords, and locations. In the verticals like finance and legal, the CPC can go beyond $100 and can be under $1 for verticals like entertainment and dining.
Conclusion
A paid search campaign like Google ads works on an auction system and the cost of running it depends upon business type, customer lifecycle, and current trends. With the right ad targeting and better placement, you can easily control your spending on PPC ads using tactics like geo-targeting, device targeting, and ad scheduling.
If you are not a professional advertise and don’t understand how PPC campaigns work, it’s better to partner with a professional PPC marketing agency for the best results. Professional advertisers can help you with low-cost PPC management with the maximum outcomes out of your investment. It can also include the cost of professional services from an agency and PPC management software to design and run your paid search campaigns.