The Simplified Pros and Cons of Pay-Per-Click

PPC advertising is much easier than it sounds. In fact, pay-per-click advertising has gotten itself a bad reputation, especially with all of the other methods of advertisement available today.

Not only has it received a rotten reputation, but it has been complicated into a confusing type of advertising when it truly is not. Pay-per-click advertisements, in a nutshell, are those little yellow-boxed ads you see at the top of your Google search results.

When it comes to search engines, a company or business can bid on keywords that are relevant to searches and their advertisements will appear at the top of the page. Sometimes these are referred to as ‘banner ads’.

PPC can also be the ads you see on websites; when they are clicked, the website owner is paid. This can be beneficial for your website, of course, because when a visitor goes to your page and clicks an ad, you will get paid.

There are many pros and cons to pay-per-click advertising, so read into it before making any judgments.

The Pros

• Using PPC can allow you to set your own budget. If you are bidding for keywords, you can set a certain amount that you’re willing to spend. If you’re paying a website, once your limit has been reached, the website can remove the ad for the day or week, depending on how often your ad is clicked.


• PPC is a great way to ensure your page can be seen. When it comes to search engines, if your ads are on the top of the results, whether they are clicked or not, they will still be seen. Even using an advertisement on a website can get your business name out there.


• Having the option to target your audience by location is a great reason to choose PPC advertisement. This can make bidding for specific keywords easier and only receiving clicks from clients that you know are potential ones. Someone living in California is not going to click on an advertisement for a Massachusetts bakery.


• Oddly enough, you can run your own pay-per-click ads on your own website. Some of the hyperlinks that many keywords are connected to can lead the customer to another one of your pages, or even click on an ad that you will end up paying for, but paying yourself.

The Cons

• Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that a consumer clicking your ad will turn them into a buyer. You still have to pay for their click whether or not they did it accidentally or purposely.


• ‘Click fraud’ is a real thing. Competitors can continuously click on your advertisement link until your budget has ended and your ad disappears, or until you’re broke. Again, accidental clicks occur too, so be sure to factor those into your PPC budget.


• The cost of bidding for keywords using search engine results can be expensive. Depending on how broad of a term or even how specific truly matters. Your competition can be businesses that have been around and in the top rankings for ages; be sure to prepare for a bidding war, if necessary.


• Pay-per-click advertising takes time. If your traffic does not increase and you shut down the PPC after a month, you’re not really giving it enough time to succeed in the first place. Successful PPC advertising can take anywhere from 3-6 months.


• You must begin to learn about SEO and how keywords work. While this may not necessarily be a negative thing because eventually, you will need to understand this, it may be overwhelming at first. If you’re just starting out and learning how to advertise, do what works for you and slowly begin to learn about keywords and search engine optimization.

The Simplified Pros and Cons of Pay-Per-Click