PPC (Pay Per Click).

What is PPC?

PPC (pay per click) is a form of online advertising where you pay each time someone clicks your ad, rather than paying for the ad space itself. Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising are the best-known examples in search, where ads appear alongside results for the searches you choose to target.

The price of each click is set in an auction, so it depends on competition and on how relevant your ad is judged to be.

Why it matters

PPC is the fastest way to put a business in front of people actively searching for what it sells. A plumber can appear for 'emergency plumber Cardiff' this afternoon, where earning that position organically could take months. Spend can be switched on, increased or paused within minutes. That speed cuts both ways: a badly run account can spend a month's budget on irrelevant clicks just as quickly.

How it works

• Keywords and match types You choose the searches you want to appear for, and how loosely Google may interpret them.
• The auction Each search triggers an auction that weighs your bid against the quality and relevance of your ad and landing page.
• Ads and landing pages The ad earns the click; the page it leads to has to earn the enquiry.
• Conversion tracking Records which clicks became leads or sales, so you can separate profitable searches from wasteful ones.

What to do about it

Open your search terms report for the last 30 days and read it line by line. Every search that could never become a customer should become a negative keyword. Check that conversion tracking records real enquiries and calls. Make sure each campaign's ads lead to a page that matches the search rather than your home page. Then put a monthly review in the diary: an hour spent reading search terms and results is worth more than constant tinkering.