Pay per click (or PPC) advertising is a marketing strategy whereby brands are charged for adverts according to how many click-throughs to their website they achieve. It is often considered a quicker and sometimes more lucrative option for businesses that lack the resources to focus on attaining high amounts of organic website traffic. So what are the different types of PPC advertising and what are they used for?

Remarketing PPC advertising

Remarketing (also known as retargeting) is a service that uses browser cookies to show internet surfers specific advertisements based on their previous online interactions. For example, a user that visits a certain clothing e-commerce site may be shown specific items they have viewed before whilst searching other sites. Remarketing is a great tool for social media PPC campaigns.

Paid search marketing

Paid search marketing is arguably the most common variety of PPC advertising. Go-to providers for this service include companies such as Google AdWords and Bing Ads, which display certain advertisements according to a user’s search terms.

Display advertising

Display advertisements include banner, text or image advertisements that appear on a variety of websites according to their particular user demographics. Typically, the advertisement will link through to your website and can be useful for building awareness around your brand.

Price comparison website advertising

Price comparison websites (also known as aggregators) are typically used to collect and display the prices of products and services so that they can be compared by discerning shoppers. Users of these sites click through on the offers that interest them and then are able to purchase items or services from the merchant directly or through the price comparison site itself. This sort of advertising can be useful if you have a relatively scant PPC budget that you want to make as targeted as possible as it will provide you with a high volume of qualified leads.

Social media advertising

Finally, social media advertising is an increasingly popular form of paid advertising that can reach a high number of users, particularly on platforms such as Facebook. PPC advertising on social media can be used to target specific interests and demographics and can help your brand achieve higher click-through rates.