Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing is one of the fastest ways to get your business in front of the right audience – instantly.
But is it right for your business? Let’s break it down.
What is PPC marketing?
Pay Per Click marketing, or PPC, is a form of online advertising where users pay a small fee each time their ad is clicked. Rather than earning traffic organically, you ‘buy’ visits to your website.
Ads are shown based on keywords, audience targeting or placements, and advertisers bid in real-time auctions for those ad spaces. The amount you pay per click depends on your bid, your ad quality, and your competition.
There are a number of PPC platforms to choose from, including Google Ads, YouTube, social media ads, and Bing Ads, each with their own unique interface and advertising options.
Common PPC ad formats:
Search Ads (text ads on search engines)
Display Ads (image/banner ads on websites)
Shopping Ads (product listings in search)
Video Ads (YouTube, for example)
Social Ads (highly targeted ads on platforms like Facebook)
Benefits of Pay Per Click advertising for businesses
PPC advertising isn’t just about getting a short term boost of traffic to your website. It’s an effective and strategic marketing tool to help you grow and find more of your ideal customers. It’s benefits include:
Instant visibility
While SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) takes time, PPC puts you at the top of search results almost immediately. Once your campaign goes live, you’re getting in front of your audience, showcasing your brand and service offering.
Precision targeting
Paid advertising allows you to tailor your targeting in a number of ways, depending on the platform you’re using. This can be through:
Keywords
With paid search platforms, you can select the specific keywords and phrases that your ads appear for. This means you know that anyone seeing or clicking on an ad, already has an interest in your offering.
Demographics
Across all PPC platforms, you can narrow your targeting down to a specific group of people, based on age, gender or interests.
Location
Not everyone wants to target the whole of the UK, nor do they have the budget to compete with other businesses in their industry. Location targeting means you can be as specific as targeting postcodes and regions, instead of running nationwide campaigns.
Full transparency and tracking
Paid ads mean that, when set up correctly, you can track every click, impression, and conversion. Every PPC platform has its own data dashboard where you can monitor and analyse the activity coming through day by day.
Scalable and flexible budgets
Different platforms require a different starting spend. Typically, on social platforms, you can start with a smaller budget compared with the likes of Google. Google and LinkedIn tend to need a bigger starting ad spend per month to make an impact, but there are a number of external factors, like competition, industry sector and location that can influence this too.
Across all PPC platforms, you can pause, increase, or decrease your budgets in real-time with immediate effect.
Drawbacks of PPC advertising
No marketing method is perfect. And when it comes to PPC, things can quickly escalate if campaigns aren’t set up or monitored properly.
Here’s what to watch out for with PPC:
- Costs can increase quickly, especially in industries with high competition.
- Clicks don’t always equal conversions, especially if your landing page isn’t optimised.
- Steep learning curve – effective PPC often requires specialist knowledge or agency support.
While these risks are real, they’re far less of a concern when you work with experienced professionals. A well-managed PPC campaign can generate impressive ROI. With the right strategy in place, you can avoid common pitfalls and make the most of your ad spend.
Hiring a trusted agency or specialist ensures your campaigns are continuously optimised, monitored, and aligned with your goals, so you can focus on growing your business, not battling the Ads dashboard.
How to determine if PPC advertising is right for your business
When it comes to paid advertising, there are a number of key questions to ask yourself before you start. It’s not just about whether you have the time or money, it’s also about making sure you have the right foundations in place to give your ads the best chance at succeeding.
What's your budget?
Running paid ads means you need to have a dedicated monthly spend to put towards your campaigns. Without a decent sized budget, your ads won’t perform as well as they could, so make sure you have the spare funds to give them the best shot!
Who is your target audience?
Do you know who you want to target? This will play a major part in what paid ads platform you use. For example, if your audience isn’t likely to be on social media, you would be wasting time and money running a Facebook Ads campaign.
Do you have a good website?
We often use the analogy of the ‘Leaky Bucket’. You wouldn’t pour water into a bucket with holes in it. The same can be applied to your website and marketing.
You don’t want to send your customers to a website with poor user experience, and unclear messaging, because they’ll soon slip through the cracks. Having the right foundations in place is crucial for PPC success.
Can you track conversions?
Without proper tracking in place, how will you know if your ad campaigns are working? Tracking forms, purchases, and phone calls from your ads is essential to help you maximise your ROI.
Do you have a clear product or service offering?
Your potential customers need to have a clear view of what it is your business has to offer. With clear brand messaging and bold CTAs, across your campaigns and landing pages, you can be sure that when customers find your business, they’re more likely to convert.
PPC vs SEO: Which should you choose
PPC and SEO are often seen as competing strategies – but the reality is they serve different purposes and can work extremely powerfully together.
PPC is ideal if you’re looking for immediate results. Ads can start generating traffic within hours of launching.
It’s perfect for:
- New businesses needing fast traction
- Product launches
- Seasonal campaigns or time-sensitive offers
- Testing new messages, landing pages, or markets
With PPC, you’re paying for each click, so budget control and ROI tracking are essential. While you can appear at the top of search results instantly, that visibility ends the moment you stop spending.
SEO is a long-term investment. It focuses on optimising your website and content to rank higher in organic (unpaid) search results. While it can take months to see results, the traffic is free and sustainable once you’ve built authority.
No matter your industry, niche, or business size, your website needs some level of SEO to be discoverable, relevant, and user-friendly.
That said, SEO becomes even more impactful when strategically enhanced for specific keywords, customer journeys, or high-value search terms.
It takes time, but SEO builds credibility and trust, especially since users often favour organic results over ads.
How PPC and SEO can work together
Rather than choosing between PPC and SEO, the most effective digital strategies use both in tandem.
PPC delivers immediate visibility and traffic, which is ideal for short-term campaigns, testing messaging, or promoting time-sensitive offers. At the same time, SEO builds a foundation for long-term, cost-effective traffic by improving your site’s authority and relevance.
Running both allows you to dominate the search results page, appearing in both paid and organic listings, which boosts your credibility and increases the chances of attracting clicks.
Together, PPC and SEO create a well-rounded digital presence that balances quick wins with sustainable growth.
Is PPC worth it?
PPC is a digital marketing strategy that can sky-rocket your website to the top of the SERPs. Google, YouTube, Bing and social media platforms can all be used to implement PPC campaigns for your business.
To know whether or not it’s the right strategy for your business, you first need to know what your goals and what existing foundations you already have in place.
By answering the questions we’ve highlighted in this article you can gain a better understanding of whether or not paid ads can work for you.
Our Paid Ads specialists can audit existing accounts and provide insights and recommendations on how to optimise your account. We’re also on hand to set up new PPC accounts with the correct targeting settings and killer ad copy, whilst managing your campaigns on a monthly basis to ensure you’re getting the most from your ads.
Get in touch today for more information on our PPC services.
About the authors
Molly Sneath
Molly is our PPC & Digital Marketing Specialist.
As well as managing QBD’s marketing activities, she supports multiple clients and projects with her skills in SEO, social media management and Pay-per-click, specifically Google Ads. She also has strong copywriting skills and writes blogs for clients who have a monthly subscription with us.