What is PPC?

PPC is a form of digital advertising used to bring traffic to a website. Advertisers bid for adverts to appear on search engine pages when certain keywords are typed in, on sites with relevant content, or on targeted users’ social media feeds. This makes PPC a form of Biddable Media. Advertisers are only charged when someone actually clicks on their advert, however, hence the name ‘pay-per-click’.

The most common type of PPC is paid search – you’ll have seen PPC ads of this type displayed at the top of Google’s search results page. These ads have no design element to them and are made to look the same as regular Google listings. That said, they can still be distinguished by the word ‘ad’ located next to the site’s URL.

Advertisers must bid to have their ads come up alongside search results and above their competitors. The winners aren’t chosen simply by the amount put forward, however. For paid search, factors like the ad quality score, the landing page and the keywords used are also taken into account.

Other forms of PPC include social media and website display advertising, which work differently from paid search. Instead of targeting individuals based on their searches, they use demographics, such as age, interests, and location to reach their target audience.

Salary information and career progression

Opportunity

With more and more companies cottoning on the advantages of digital advertising, such as being able to more effectively target their audience, easily measure results and save on advertising costs, it has come into its own in recent years. In fact, spending on digital advertising is expected to overtake traditional advertising by 2021. As part of this, businesses increasingly rely upon PPC, which means there are more opportunities than ever for PPC specialists.

Recent changes in the sector

Competition has increased dramatically in recent years, as more and more businesses enter the PPC sector seeking to bid on certain keywords, brand names and pages. Whilst this has inevitably caused prices to rise, it has simultaneously led to the creation of many new PPC networks and caused existing networks to evolve at a rapid rate.

For example, Amazon has recently launched programmatic advancements like display and video ads to bring it closer to Google Ads and other leading PPC networks. There is, therefore, more scope than ever for businesses to use PPC advertising, which in turn leads to even more opportunities within the industry.

Future Prospects

With the aforementioned rise in digital advertising spending, it’s no surprise that the future prospects for those in the PPC industry are encouraging. Considering that PPC can bring about huge ROI for businesses, PPC experts will continue to be in high demand. Whilst many tasks (such as ad testing and bid adjustments) have now become automated, this has by no means rendered PPC specialists obsolete. Instead, it has actually enabled them to focus more on other responsibilities, such as strategy.

• Salt’s advice for getting a PPC job

  Employers’ requirements

  To thrive in a PPC role, you need to have an array of capabilities. One of these is being a great researcher, as you’ll be tasked with researching your client, their target audience and competitors, as well as conducting keyword research. Being an excellent communicator is also a must, as you’ll have to write in a clear and concise manner for both adverts and client reports, as well as verbally pitch ideas to clients and explain PPC concepts to colleagues in layman’s terms. Additionally, you need to be analytical, have the ability to think creatively, and be able to formulate innovative marketing strategies.

  CV requirements

  Experience using Google Ads, Google Analytics and Google Search Console would be highly advantageous for a prospective candidate, although experience with other PPC networks would still likely go a long way. You should also be adept at maximising ROI from a budget, analysing keywords and using Excel.

  Including stats from previous roles will help you appeal to an employer, as ultimately PPC is all about achieving maximum ROI by improving traffic. Figures you should think about including are: budget size and spend, traffic generated and ROI achieved on specific projects.

  Interview preparation

  There are a number of ways you can prepare for a PPC job interview. A great place to start is researching the company you’re interviewing with and getting to grips with their PPC strategy. You should give your own view on their strategy and what you’d do to improve on it. This will show them how you think and how you can be an asset to them.

  Secondly, you should prepare a report of a PPC project you have previously undertaken. This will show your prospective employers exactly how you’ve previously succeeded. You could even go a step further and explain how this (and other successes) can help you in this new role too.

  It is also important that you are up to date with all the latest industry changes and can provide commentary on notable campaigns. Finally, make sure you revise the most important PPC concepts, as although you may have extensive PPC knowledge, it’s good to go over the basics.

  Educational requirements

  Whilst there is no specific type of degree required, a masters or bachelors degree in business studies could be advantageous. That said, PPC professionals come from a range of different backgrounds, and what’s most important is that candidates have PPC experience of some description. This could be a PPC or marketing internship or some other form of relevant work experience. Whilst a degree lays the groundwork for a lot of required skills, like organisation and writing, PPC experience is definitely more important. Many roles now also require candidates to be Google AdWords and/or Analytic certified. While almost all marketers are using AdWords and Analytics, only a small minority enrol on Google’s certification programmes. Doing so will undoubtedly set you apart from the crowd.