With the right strategy, pay per click advertising is one of the best investments you can make from a marketing perspective by utilizing search and display ads. A well crafted PPC campaign targets a very specific audience and supplies precisely what they need to encourage them to move further along in the customer journey.
While few people will argue the effectiveness of a pay per click campaign – there is some back and forth about the best approach to take for achieving maximum results. The battle is between display and search ads, and which one packs the most powerful punch and achieves crucial KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators.)
If you’ve been thinking about, but aren’t sure which route to take, here’s a quick overview of the different tactics and which approach will work best for your business.
Display or Search Ads – What’s the Difference?
There are essentially two different types of PPC ads – display and search. While they both fall under the pay per click umbrella, they are drastically different in approach and how the consumers experience them.
Search ads are what comes to mind when most people start thinking about PPC. Search ads are the clickable ads that appear in search engine results – like those sneaky ad listings on the first page of Google. Search ads blend into the background to the point that some internet users can’t immediately identify them.
On the other side of the coin, we have display ads. Display ads are “noisier” and designed to grab the audience’s attention, but they’re also stealth in a way that they encourage the user to think about a brand when it was actually the furthest thing from their mind. These are the ads that appear for your brand when an internet user is visiting a different website.
When Are Search Ads the Best Choice?
Search ads are designed to be placed in front of the internet user who is initiating a specific query. They’re created using a keyword strategy, similar to SEO, with the intention of attracting a very targeted audience. Because search ads blend so seamlessly into search results, they’re champions at directing highly qualified leads in your direction.
Search ads are perfect for businesses that have a very specific customer and marketing funnel in mind. They work well for targeting the customer at a particular point in their journey and bringing them closer to conversion.
Opting for the Power of Display
Display ads, while more noticeable, are designed to encourage interest from a customer that isn’t entirely committed. Maybe they’ve visited your site a few times and maybe even checked out your product pages. Either way, they left without making that final leap, and you want to win them back.
Strategically placed display ads can pop up while the customer is browsing other sites, not thinking about your brand at all, and this can be a good thing. Display ads keep your brand from fading into the background and work well for businesses that have high website traffic but low conversion rates in comparison.
PPC Experts
If you would like to learn more about the difference between search and display ads, we’re here to help. Contact Double Up Digital today and let are PPC management experts help you uncover the secrets of pay per click success for your brand. Contact us today for a free PPC audit.
