Online Marketing and Advertising
Paid channels and buying models
Paid search (PPC) auctions ads against keywords; match types control how closely a query must resemble the keyword - exact, phrase and broad. Ad position depends on Ad Rank, which combines bid with quality signals such as expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience, so a higher bid does not guarantee the top slot. Buying models: CPC (cost per click), CPM (cost per thousand impressions), CPA (cost per acquisition) and CPV for video. A campaign optimised toward impressions is judged on CPM and viewability; one optimised toward sales is judged on CPA and return on ad spend.
Display and social advertising add targeting levers: demographics, interests, behaviour, custom audiences from your own data, and lookalike audiences modelled on best customers. Retargeting re-serves ads to people who visited but did not convert. Effective ads pair a specific promise with a matching landing page; sending a display click to a generic homepage wastes the click. Budgets can be capped daily or in total, and frequency capping limits how often one person sees an ad. Always tag URLs with UTM parameters so paid traffic is attributable in analytics.
Traps
- Confusing CPM (per thousand impressions) with CPC (per click).
- Assuming the highest bid always wins the auction.
- Calling SEO "paid search" or mixing organic results with sponsored ones.
- Using one creative and one landing page for every audience segment.
Rule of thumb
CPC = total spend ÷ clicks; CPA = total spend ÷ conversions. If spend is 500 and produces 250 clicks and 10 sales, CPC is 2.00 and CPA is 50.00 - state the formula, then the number.