Pay per click only works when it’s managed properly; the wrong bids, weak targeting, or a poorly built account can burn budget fast with nothing to show for it. Dash was brought in by GA Commercial, a UK commercial laundry equipment specialist, to drive performance across both paid and organic channels in a highly competitive, price-sensitive market. Through ongoing optimisation, we reduced wasted spend and achieved a £10 cost per acquisition, well below industry benchmarks, with a significant increase in both conversions and direct phone enquiries. Read the full GA Commercial case study for the complete breakdown.
Below, we explain exactly how PPC works, the auction, the ad rank, and the keyword strategy, so you understand what you’re paying for, whether you run it yourself or bring in a specialist agency to manage it for you.
What is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising?
Pay-per-click, or PPC, is a digital advertising model where an advertiser pays a publisher every time an advertisement is clicked. It’s offered by search engines like Google and Bing, and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram through Meta Ads.
In a nutshell, you only pay for advertising if your ad is actually clicked on.
PPC ads can come in all different shapes and sizes – text, images, video, or a combination – and might be social, shopping, search, or display type ads.
How Does Pay-Per-Click Work?
PPC is based primarily on keywords. On Google, online ads (also known as sponsored links) only appear when someone searches a relevant keyword related to the product or service being advertised. This type of PPC advertising is also called paid search or search engine marketing.
Keyword Targeting and Research
To use PPC advertising effectively, you must conduct thorough keyword research for your campaign, researching and analysing keywords relevant to your product or service, and identifying which keywords your competitors are targeting. Finding high-search-volume keywords that aren’t too competitive is key to maximising your campaign’s success. This works best once you’ve already nailed down who you’re actually targeting, keyword research is far more effective when it’s built on a clear picture of your audience, not guesswork.
The PPC model is hugely beneficial to advertisers as it provides an opportunity to advertise to a specific audience who are actively searching for related content. A well-designed, optimised PPC campaign can mean an advertiser saves a substantial sum, since the value of each website visit (click) from a potential customer often exceeds the cost of the click itself.
What are the Different Pay-Per-Click Models?
PPC advertising rates are determined using the flat-rate model or the bid-based model.
The Flat-Rate Model
The flat-rate pay-per-click model is where an advertiser pays a publisher a fixed fee for each click. Publishers generally keep a list of different PPC rates that apply to different areas of their website, and you might be able to negotiate the price you pay with a publisher directly.
The Bid-Based Model
The bid-based model is where each advertiser makes a bid with the maximum amount they’re willing to pay for an advertising spot. A publisher then runs an automated auction whenever a visitor triggers the ad spot.
The winner is generally determined by rank, not the total amount of money offered — rank considers both the bid amount and the quality of the advertiser’s content:
User experience + relevance to keyword + expected CTR = quality score
Quality score × max bid = ad rank
The ads with the highest ad rank scores are the ones that show.
PPC Across Google Ads and Paid Social
Google Ads
Google Ads is probably the PPC channel most businesses are aware of. It’s particularly valuable because Google is the most popular search engine, delivering the highest volume of impressions and clicks to your ads. Google’s own guide to Google Ads is a useful reference if you want to understand the platform in more depth.
Whilst a number of factors determine how successful your campaign will be, you can improve your chances of success by:
- Bidding on relevant keywords: Pulling together relevant keyword lists and working on your ad text
- Focusing on landing page quality: Creating optimised landing pages with persuasive, relevant content and a clear call to action tailored to specific search queries
- Improving your quality score: Google’s rating of the quality and relevance of your keywords, landing pages, and campaigns together; better scores mean more clicks at lower costs
- Capturing attention: Enticing ad copy matters, and if you’re running a display or social ad, eye-catching creative matters just as much
Our GA Commercial case study is a good example of this in practice: a paid search and Google Ads strategy that delivered a 3,000%+ increase in results for a B2B client.
Paid Social (Meta Ads and Beyond)
PPC isn’t limited to search. Paid social advertising, through platforms like Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram), works on a similar auction-based model, but targets audiences based on interests, behaviours and demographics rather than search intent alone. Meta’s own advertising documentation explains how campaigns, ad sets, and individual ads work together within their platform.
Paid social is particularly effective for businesses wanting to build brand awareness or reach audiences who aren’t yet actively searching for what they offer, complementing search-based PPC rather than replacing it.
The Benefits of PPC Advertising
PPC has several advantages that can benefit your business, including:
- Cost-effectiveness: you only pay when someone clicks
- Your ad appears on the first results page when someone searches a related term
- More exposure and brand visibility, with targeted traffic directed to your site
- The ability to run multiple ad campaigns for each keyword
- Higher click-through rates (CTR), more conversions, and increased sales revenue
- Instant traffic, unlike organic search, which takes time to build
Who Should Use PPC Advertising?
PPC advertising is suitable for businesses of any size — including small, local businesses — because you decide exactly how much you’re willing to spend on each keyword. This makes it easy to manage your spend once campaigns go live, ensuring your ad budget isn’t wasted.
Of course, driving traffic through PPC is only half the equation — if your website isn’t set up to convert that traffic once it arrives, the investment won’t pay off. Our guide on why your website might not be getting enquiries covers what to check on the receiving end.
If you want to look beyond paid search too, our guide on local advertising covers other methods worth combining it with.
FAQs
What does a PPC agency actually do?
A PPC agency manages your paid search and social campaigns end-to-end: keyword research, ad copy, bid management, landing page optimisation, and ongoing performance analysis — so your budget goes toward clicks that actually convert rather than being wasted on poorly targeted or badly managed campaigns.
How much does PPC cost, and what does an agency add?
There’s no fixed answer, cost depends on your industry, keyword competitiveness, and campaign goals, and most platforms let you set your own daily or monthly budget cap. What matters more than the management fee is the return: for GA Commercial, ongoing optimisation brought cost per acquisition down to £10, well below industry benchmark, while increasing both conversions and enquiries.
Is PPC worth it for a small business?
Yes, when it’s managed properly, PPC puts your business in front of people actively searching for what you offer, with results that are immediately measurable, unlike SEO, which builds more gradually. The risk is wasted spend from poor targeting or account management, which is where a specialist agency earns its fee back.
How does PPC compare to SEO, and how long until I see results?
They’re complementary rather than competing: PPC delivers immediate, controllable traffic that stops the moment you stop paying, while SEO builds long-term, cost-free visibility that compounds over time but takes longer to show results. PPC itself can start delivering traffic almost immediately once a campaign goes live, though optimising for cost-efficiency and conversion quality typically takes a few weeks of data and adjustment.
Do I need Google Ads, Meta Ads, or both?
It depends on your audience and goals. Google Ads captures people actively searching for your product or service, while Meta Ads is stronger for building awareness and reaching people who aren’t searching yet. Many businesses run both for different stages of the customer journey.
Ready to get started with PPC? At Dash Agency, we’re experts in Paid Search, Paid Social, and Google Ads – and we’re Google Partners. Get in touch to see how PPC could work for your business.