PPC Guide: Google, Facebook & Instagram, Bing, Display and Remarketing

What is PPC advertising?

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a form of digital marketing in which an advertiser pays a fee only when a user clicks their ad, rather than paying a flat rate for the ad to be displayed. It covers a wide family of formats, from text ads on Google search results to image and video ads on social platforms, all sold through some form of real-time auction.

The unifying feature across every PPC channel is measurability: because clicks, and often conversions, can be tracked precisely, PPC gives businesses a much clearer picture of return on spend than most traditional advertising. That measurability is also what makes performance-focused management, as covered in our guide to performance PPC, possible in the first place.

How does pay-per-click advertising work?

Every PPC platform runs some version of an auction each time there is an opportunity to show an ad. Advertisers set a maximum bid and a budget, then the platform's algorithm decides which ads to show, in what order, based on a combination of bid amount, ad quality or relevance, and expected engagement. The advertiser typically pays only when the desired action occurs, whether that's a click, a view, or in some formats an impression.

• Advertisers select targeting: keywords, audiences, demographics, interests or placements, depending on the platform.
• A bid and budget are set, either manually or through automated bidding tied to a conversion goal.
• The platform runs an auction each time a matching opportunity arises and decides which ads are eligible.
• Winning ads are served, and performance data feeds back into future auctions and bidding decisions.

The details of this process vary considerably between platforms. Our dedicated guide to how Google Ads work covers the auction, Quality Score and Ad Rank mechanics behind Google's search platform specifically.

What does PPC cost?

There is no single, reliable average cost for PPC, because pricing is set by auction and varies by platform, industry, location and competitiveness of the keywords or audiences being targeted. A competitive B2B search term in a high-value sector can cost many times more per click than a broad consumer interest on paid social. Rather than anchoring on a generic benchmark, it's more useful to budget based on your own funnel: expected click-through rate, conversion rate, and the value of a lead or sale, then work backwards to a realistic monthly spend and cost-per-acquisition target.

Google Ads PPC

Google Ads is the largest search PPC platform and typically the starting point for businesses with a clear, searchable product or service. It captures active demand from people already typing relevant queries, which generally makes it one of the more efficient channels for driving qualified leads, provided campaigns are structured around commercial intent. Many businesses manage this alongside a specialist Google Ads management partner, particularly once accounts grow beyond a handful of campaigns.

Microsoft/Bing PPC

Microsoft Advertising, which serves ads across Bing, MSN and syndicated partner networks, works on broadly similar auction principles to Google Ads but with a smaller, often less competitive audience. This can mean lower costs per click in some sectors, particularly B2B and older demographic segments who over-index on Bing usage, making it a worthwhile secondary channel once a Google Ads account is performing well rather than a replacement for it.

Facebook and Instagram advertising

Facebook and Instagram advertising, run through Meta's ad platform, works on interest, behaviour and demographic targeting rather than keyword-based intent. Because users aren't actively searching when they see an ad, paid social generally performs a different job to search PPC: building awareness, nurturing interest, or retargeting people who have already shown interest, rather than capturing an existing, explicit need. Pricing models also differ, with cost per click, cost per thousand impressions and cost per result all commonly used depending on the campaign objective, which is why comparing a Facebook cost per click directly with a Google Ads cost per click rarely tells you much on its own.

Display advertising

Display advertising places image or rich-media ads across a network of partner websites and apps, such as the Google Display Network. It is generally most effective for building brand awareness and staying visible to audiences who have previously interacted with a business, rather than driving immediate conversions from cold traffic, since users are typically browsing content rather than actively looking to buy.

Remarketing and retargeting

Remarketing (also called retargeting) shows ads specifically to people who have already visited a website, engaged with content, or started but not completed a conversion, such as filling in part of a form. Because this audience already has some familiarity with the business, remarketing typically achieves stronger conversion rates and lower costs than cold targeting, making it one of the most consistently effective tactics across almost every PPC platform, particularly for longer B2B sales cycles.

Search PPC vs paid social PPC

Search PPC captures demand that already exists: someone types a query because they have a need, and the ad meets that need directly. Paid social PPC, by contrast, generally creates or nurtures demand by interrupting a browsing session with a relevant offer or message, based on inferred interest rather than an explicit search. Neither approach is inherently better; they answer different questions at different points in the buying journey, and many effective strategies use search to capture ready buyers while using social to build the pipeline of future buyers.

Which PPC platform is suitable for different objectives?

Choosing a platform should start with the objective, not the channel. The table below summarises how the main PPC channels tend to differ, though the right mix always depends on your specific market, budget and sales cycle rather than a universal rule.

No single channel is universally superior; the right combination depends on funnel stage, sales cycle length and how measurable each stage of your process is.

PPC for B2B lead generation

B2B PPC generally needs a different approach to consumer campaigns: longer sales cycles, multiple decision-makers and higher-value transactions mean that a single click rarely results in an instant sale. Search PPC tends to do the heavy lifting for capturing active demand, while remarketing and, in some sectors, LinkedIn or Meta advertising, nurture prospects through a longer consideration period. Our dedicated article on the best types of PPC for B2B businesses covers this in more depth, including how to match format to funnel stage.

How to build a PPC strategy

• Define the primary commercial goal, whether that's leads, sales, bookings or a mix.
• Identify which platforms genuinely match where your audience spends time and shows intent.
• Set a realistic budget based on expected cost per click and target cost per acquisition.
• Build campaigns around tightly defined themes rather than broad, mixed targeting.
• Put conversion tracking in place before scaling any spend.
• Plan for ongoing optimisation rather than a single campaign launch.

PPC landing pages and conversion tracking

A PPC campaign is only as good as the page it sends traffic to. Landing pages that closely match ad messaging, load quickly, and present a clear single action tend to convert significantly better than generic homepage traffic. Equally important is conversion tracking: without accurate measurement of which clicks turn into leads or sales, both manual and automated bidding decisions are effectively guesswork. Getting these two elements right typically has a bigger impact on results than any single bidding tweak.

How to measure PPC performance

• Cost per click and cost per acquisition, tracked by campaign and audience segment.
• Conversion rate from click through to lead or sale.
• Return on ad spend, ideally tied to actual revenue rather than lead volume alone.
• Lead quality, assessed through sales follow-up data, not just form submissions.
• Assisted conversions, where PPC contributes to a sale completed through another channel.

PPC management: in-house vs agency

Managing PPC in-house can work well for businesses with the time, expertise and a relatively simple account, but multi-channel strategies with meaningful budgets often benefit from specialist management, whether that's a freelancer, a dedicated in-house hire, or an agency. Our guides to why hiring a PPC agency can make sense and how to choose one cover this decision in detail, including when management fees are, and aren't, likely to pay for themselves.

Common PPC mistakes

• Running every platform the same way, without adjusting strategy for intent differences.
• Weak or missing conversion tracking, making optimisation decisions unreliable.
• Sending traffic to a generic homepage instead of a matched landing page.
• Ignoring negative keywords, letting budget leak into irrelevant searches.
• Judging performance on clicks or impressions rather than leads or revenue.
• Switching strategy too quickly, before automated bidding has had time to learn.

How is AI changing PPC advertising?

AI now sits behind most major PPC platforms, powering automated bidding, audience prediction, ad copy generation and, increasingly, campaign types such as Performance Max that manage targeting across several formats from a single setup. This has made some manual tasks less relevant, but it hasn't removed the need for strategy: automated systems still need clear goals, clean conversion data and human oversight to avoid wasting budget in the wrong direction. AI Overviews and other AI-driven search features are also changing organic visibility, which is prompting more businesses to review how PPC and SEO work together for lead generation rather than treating them as separate budgets.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

PPC is not one channel but a family of platforms, each suited to different objectives, intent levels and stages of the buying journey. The businesses that get the most from it tend to match the right channel to the right goal, invest properly in landing pages and tracking, and treat optimisation as ongoing rather than a one-off setup.

If you'd like help deciding which combination of platforms suits your business, or want an honest audit of an existing account, our PPC agency team can talk through your options, or get in touch to discuss your goals directly.