Search Engine Ads Explained in 10 Minutes (with Expert Tips)

Search engine advertising (also called pay-per-click, PPC or SEA) offers a direct path to website visitors, but is it the right choice for you? This guide breaks down what beginners need to know before investing in search ads.

SEO), which take time to build, search ads appear almost instantly at the top of search results pages.

Google alone offers several types of search advertising options:

  • Search Campaigns: Text ads on Google Search.
  • Shopping Campaigns: Product ads on Google Shopping, dedicated for e-commerce.
  • Video Campaigns: Video ads on YouTube.
  • Performance Max Campaigns: Automated campaigns across all of Google’s networks, including Google Maps, Discover and Gmail.
  • Local Services Ads: Connect local service providers directly with potential customers searching for their services on Google.

Ads can also look slightly different depending on the search engine. Here’s a keyword that triggers two types of ads on Google: regular text ads and shopping ads showing products directly from advertisers’ merchant center.

Search ads in Google

And here’s the same search term on Bing.

Search ads in Bing
keywords relevant to your business.
  • Create ad copy that will appear when someone searches those keywords.
  • Set a budget and bid amount (how much you’re willing to pay per click).
  • Your ads are shown when someone searches for your keywords and your ad wins the auction. The ad platform, e.g. Google, runs an instant auction whenever someone searches. It determines which ads to show based mostly on your bid amount and the relevance of your ad and landing page (the page visitors see after clicking your ad).
  • You pay only when someone clicks on your ad (hence “pay-per-click”).
  • You track performance and optimize for better results.
    • Ahrefs’ free Webmaster Tools can help you identify such opportunities.
    Ahrefs Organic Keywords Report
    Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. Enter your competitor’s domain, go to the Paid keywords tab and explore.

    Ahrefs Paid Keywords Report
    90% market share). But there are other options that can complement Google Ads or even substitute it in some cases.

    Platform Best For
    Google Ads All-purpose reach; global or local businesses; B2C and B2B markets.
    YouTube Ads Brand awareness, younger consumers, visual storytelling.
    Microsoft Ads (Bing) Cost-effective additional reach; older, higher-income demographics; U.S. market.
    Yahoo Ads Supplemental reach within Bing campaigns; reaching users of Yahoo’s news and finance portals.
    DuckDuckGo Ads Privacy-conscious, tech-savvy niche audiences; low competition.
    Amazon Ads E-commerce and direct-to-consumer product sales.
    Baidu Ads China market.
    Jaimon Hancock, Founder of Adalystic Marketing.

    1. Set up conversion tracking.
    2. Pick one to product/service (or a few if you offer a large inventory).
    3. Choose targeting: Inexpensive long-tail keywords (typically more specific and less popular but with higher intent) or if you’re in ecommerce, automate the process with Responsive Search Ads.
    4. Double-check to exclude irrelevant keywords using the negative keywords feature.
    5. Provide a variety of headlines and descriptions for Google to test.
    6. Use the “observation” setting to get more insights from the experiment.
    7. Use a dedicated landing page with a clear CTA.
    8. Once you start seeing results, dig into performance by device, region, demographics, and time of day to refine your targeting.

    Google Ads are quite straightforward to set up but it won’t hurt to watch an overview of the process like this one: Google Ads Tutorial for Beginners [Updated for 2025]

    LinkedIn.

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