Is Pay-Per-Click Dying?

I believe that Organic search or SEO is not going anywhere since it is obvious that consumers trust naturally higher ranking websites that have more popularity, but is PPC, Pay Per Click dying? Advertisers pay search engines per click on their ads. The incentive for PPC doesn’t stand as significant when presented with other options. In its earlier stage of utilization, PPC had more of a safety net since it was new and untested.  The direct click would then give direct compensation, thus, little risk was involve for companies.  In the audiencebloom.com article, Supply Demand PPC Dying Future Paid Search Ads, linked in the Forbes.com article, marketers explain how “the cost, appeal of ads, and competitive landscape of PPC have all played a role in deteriorating its feasibility as a long term strategy.”  It continues in explaining how Google’s pricing for PPC has made it more costly for marketers. The article explains that “at its inception, search marketers were able to choose almost any keyword they wanted and could fit into a reasonable budget.”  The article continues in its clarification of how “today, Google offers a bid-based system, in which multiple advertisers can bid a specific amount for advertising on KWR page of a given keyword.” In essence, the more an individual bids, the better chance they will have at being higher on the marketing latter.  Inevitably, this tactic makes PPC more expensive since the price is driven up as a result of this bid based system.  This standing as the case, you are required to spend more money in PPC while your conversation and customer values remain constant. Thus, the PPC market is a, as stated by the article, a “break-even or net loss” tool. 

The other fault in PPC stands in its competition for ads.  Since large and small marketers want to advertise in the digital market, space is limited.  Competitors are forced to go up against each other in “scramble to the top of paid search results.”  This, in essence, makes securing relevant keywords for your business difficult.  Also, the allocation of resources toward acquiring top spots for these key words puts stress on budgetary restriction for businesses and may strain smaller group, squeezing them out of contention.  The value results as minimal, since the types of traffic generated through businesses when the pay for a PPC ad essentially results in paying for a one “time customer.”  Interestingly, a glass half full outlook is presented when looking at Bing’s and Yahoo’s combination of search engine algorithms and paid ad management platforms.  This option is fascinating since Bing’s and Yahoo’s combined market share of search traffic is less than one third of all search traffic generated.  For smaller businesses or savvy powerhouses, Bing’s and Yahoo’s partnership makes PPC more viable means to advertising.  This is mainly due to lower cost and less competition.  There are, however, organic forms of paid advertising like Vevo ads on Youtube.com, and ads on streaming sites for each played stream or time within the stream are prevalent.  These direct ads may market to consumers in a more efficient and effect manner, since they may be placed in relevant advertisement spots.  An example of this would be the advertising of a music award show before a music video plays on a streaming website.  This allows advertisers to directly connect with individuals interested in their content.

In conclusion, although PPC campaigns are have been more expensive since it first launched, it has actually gotten more popular despite all of the competition. 72% of businesses surveyed in 2014 said that they planned to spend more on PPC, which is up 2% from the previous year.

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