7 Best Pay-per-Click Platforms

Are you looking for a way to boost your online presence and drive traffic to your business’s website? If yes, PPC will be your best friend. Pay-per-click advertising is rapidly becoming one of the most popular digital marketing techniques among companies today as it provides an unbeatable level of targeting and control over who sees your advertisements—all while allowing you to track performance in real-time.

However, with so many consultants offering PPC consulting services in the UK and many platforms available, it can be hard to determine the most effective and cost-efficient solution for your marketing needs.

Pay Per Click Co. is here to help you decide which PPC platform works best for your business goals. In this article, we’ll discuss the features and benefits of each platform.

What is a PPC Platform?

PPC, or pay-per-click, is an online advertising model in which you pay for every ad that is clicked on. This type of marketing approach allows businesses to quickly drive targeted traffic to their website, where potential customers can find information. These leads could eventually turn into sales.

A PPC platform allows businesses to bid for exposure and run targeted ad campaigns across online channels. It also has analytics and tracking capabilities to measure the success of the campaigns and optimise them over time.

Deciding on a PPC Platform

The most popular PPC platforms are Google Ads (formerly Adwords), Bing Ads and Facebook Ads. Each platform offers its own unique features, so it’s essential to consider your specific needs before deciding which one to use.

Cost and ease of use are two of the most critical considerations in building pay-per-click packages, but other elements such as reporting features and analytics integration are just as critical. You should also consider budget, target audience, and campaign objectives.

Cost

Ensure that the package you choose offers the right value for money and delivers results in line with your goals. It’s worth researching different pay-per-click packages to assess how they compare on price and features to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck.

Ease of Use

Ease of use determines how easily you manage your campaigns. Look for platforms with simple interfaces that are easy to navigate and understand so that you can quickly get your campaigns up and running.

Features

Look for packages that offer a range of options such as custom audiences, remarketing options, and automated bidding strategies so that you can tailor your campaigns.

A PPC platform allows businesses to bid for exposure and run targeted ad campaigns across online channels.

Various PPC Platforms

Google Ads

Google Ads is the most widely used PPC platform. Billions of searches happen through Google’s search engine daily. It offers a wide range of targeting options so that you can reach your ideal buyers with different types of campaigns and ads. You can also adjust your budget, bids and keywords based on what works best for your business.

Most pay-per-click specialists have Google Ads in their PPC packages.

Placements: Google search engine results, dynamic, GDN, shopping, mobile apps and YouTube

Ad Formats: Text, image, responsive, video, in-app, shopping, local search

Pricing: Cost-per-click (CPC) model

YouTube

YouTube is an online video-sharing platform with over 2 billion users per month globally. YouTube Ads allow businesses to place ads at the beginning or even during videos. You can target potential customers who are searching for similar topics or people who are watching related content.

This allows you to get in front of customers who would be interested in your products or services during their natural online activity. You also have control over how long someone watches your ads.

Ads on YouTube are created and managed through Google Ads.

Placements: YouTube

Ad Formats: Skippable or non-skippable in-stream ads, bumper ads, masthead ads, outstream ads, in-feed video ads

Pricing: CPV and CPM

Microsoft Ads

Microsoft Ads is formerly Bing Ads. Like Google Ads, this platform allows advertisers to create ad campaigns tailored to their goals—whether it’s driving sales, increasing brand awareness or finding new customers.

Microsoft Ads offers various features that allow you to maximise your reach while staying within budget. The platform includes automated bidding tools that allow you to set bid rules to optimise your ad performance based on real-time data and insights.

You can also take advantage of advanced targeting options such as demographics, interests and location so that you can find the right customers for your business. You also have access to detailed reporting and analysis tools to measure your campaigns’ performance and make adjustments as needed.

Microsoft Ads also lets you connect with other platforms and tools, such as Google Analytics and Facebook Ads, giving you even more control over your campaigns. You can also use third-party measurement solutions to track results in real-time, helping you make informed decisions about your ad spending.

Placements: Search engines, Microsoft Audience Network (MSN, Outlook.com, Edge browser, LinkedIn, etc.)

Ad Formats: Text, responsive, dynamic and shopping

Pricing: CPC model

Facebook Ads

Facebook ads target users at the granular level with demographics, interests, online behavior and more. The difference between Facebook and Google Ads is that the former is an audience-based platform, meaning you’re targeting users based on their online actions instead of keywords.

A well-optimised Facebook ad campaign can yield high click-through rates and exceptional ROI. Additionally, its pricing structure allows even smaller companies to reap the benefits of PPF without spending a fortune.

Placements: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network

Ad Formats: Single image, video, carousel, slideshow, etc.

Pricing: CPC, cost per desired action, ad quality, estimated action rates, etc.

Twitter Ads

Through Twitter Ads Manager, you can create campaigns that are tailored to specific goals. With powerful targeting capabilities, you can easily tailor your message to the right audience at the right time.

Placement: Twitter

Ad Formats: Promoted tweets, accounts, hashtags and moments

Pricing: CPC (promoted tweets and accounts), Twitter sales representative (promoted trends)

Taboola

Taboola is a performance-based native advertising platform. They specialise in sponsored content that appears in relevant news articles that their partner sites display. Taboola only shows ads on carefully selected websites. 

For example, if you want your ads to show on sites like Forbes, New York Times or Business Insider, Taboola is an affordable and effective PPC platform.

Taboola also offers a self-serve platform and detailed campaign reports to monitor performance in real-time and adjust settings according to your needs. You can easily set up campaigns, track performance metrics such as clicks, impressions, engagements, and conversions and get insights into optimizing your campaigns for maximum return on investment. 

Placements: Select websites

Ad Formats: Content marketing

Pricing: CPM or CPC

RevContent

Similar to Taboola, RevContent is a content recommendation ad platform. It doesn’t have access to high-end sites; however, it does have a good reach with US audiences. 

RevContent provides an array of tools and features to help increase conversions and maximize ROI, including audience targeting, deep analytics and reporting, automated optimisation, A/B testing capabilities, multi-channel campaigns, advanced bidding strategies and more.

Through its data-driven approach to marketing, Revcontent has helped many companies achieve better results and scale their businesses faster. Additionally, it offers flexible pricing models so you can choose the best plan for your budget. 

Placements: Publisher websites

Ad Formats: Content marketing

Pricing: CPC

How to Get Started with PPC

Once you have a good foundation of PPC basics, the next step is to find a PPC platform. We’ve previously discussed each one, including their features, benefits and ad placements. Below are some considerations when creating a PPC campaign:

1. Set Your Campaign Goals: You’ll need to decide what kind of outcome or result you want from your campaign, whether it’s increased website visits or more product sales. This will help you determine the type of campaign you should create, as well as the keywords and ad copy to use.

2. Identify Your Target Audience: You’ll need to have a clear understanding of who your target audience is before setting up any PPC campaigns. Knowing their characteristics, interests, location and more will help you create relevant and engaging ads that are better suited for them.

3. Develop Ad Copy and Creative Assets: Creating compelling ad copy is essential to stand out from other advertisers. A good starting point is to think about what makes your business unique and how it can benefit or solve problems for your target audience. Additionally, creating quality visuals such as logos, images and videos can help make your ads more engaging and memorable.

4. Set Up Campaign Tracking: To measure your PPC campaigns’ performance, you’ll need to set up campaign tracking. This involves adding code to your website so that you can track conversions, leads and sales. Most advertising platforms provide easy-to-use tools for doing this.

5. Monitor & Optimize Your Campaigns: Once your campaigns are up and running, it’s important to keep an eye on them to see how they’re performing. Make sure to regularly check your metrics and adjust your campaigns accordingly if necessary. For example, if you’re not seeing the desired results, you may need to change your ad copy or target different keywords.

No More Hassle with Pay-per-Click Consulting

Reap the benefits of pay-per-click services in the UK hassle-free. At Pay Per Click Co., our PPC consulting expertise takes away all of the complex, time-consuming tasks that come with planning and executing a campaign.

Our team has years of experience across many PPC platforms. We offer comprehensive pay-per-click packages that cover all your marketing needs. Contact us for a consultation today! To learn more about how PPC works, click here.