While this is one of the most basic concepts of PPC search engine management, it seems to be one of the least understood, and quite possibly one of the hardest to explain to folks unfamiliar with the process. The easiest way to explain this situation is mathematically.
The answer lies within the paid search venues. This includes Adwords (Google), Yahoo! Search Marketing and MSN adCenter. These are the main three so we’ll focus on these for now. When setting up a PPC campaign we go about choosing the right keywords, writing persuasive ad creative, putting the finishing touches on our landing page(s), installing and testing our tracking code, etc.
Once that laundry list of to-dos is completed you assign a budget to your campaign. Now you are ready to flip the switch and the fun part begins. The paid search venue uses its NASA math to analyze your keyword list and the CTR (Clickthrough Rate) that those keywords have received across an unknown [to us] time period. Using this historical performance data, the search volume for that term is analyzed, and then the result is applied against your budget.
For example: Assume you are running 1 keyword (nobody is doing this I hope) and your CPC (Cost Per Click) is $1 to keep it simple. If Google determines that the search volume for your keyword is 1,000 queries per day, with a historical CTR of 10%, you could receive as many as 100 clicks or spend $100. Now assume that your daily budget is $20 a day, or 20 clicks. Google will then show your ad [impression] at an interval of approximately once every 5 searches. There are a lot of other factors involved in reality, but we are keeping things simple for example purposes. Then, based on the actual CTR of YOUR campaign Google will decide how often and when to show your ad in an effort to make sure they spend your entire budget while maximizing their CPC and CTR (since this is how they get paid, and handsomely I might add). Keeping in mind that the goal of search engines is to show the searcher the most relevant results (paid and organic).
That was a simple example based on 1 keyword, now imagine that you are running 20, 50, 100, etc. keywords, using different match types across multiple search partners, you can see how complicated it can get.
So why aren’t your PPC ads showing every time you search your favorite keyword? Realize that the more often you search and don’t click on your ad the less likely you are to see it the next time. So either click on it and spend the money to support your CTR or step away from the keyboard and grab a Fresca. I recommend the latter.
If you’ve got questions or comments about ppc search engine management please contact us or comment below and we’ll be happy to respond.