When it comes to acquiring new users in the conversion funnel, few marketing tactics are as effective as pay-per-click advertising, also known as paid search, or PPC. Paid search is used primarily to drive conversions. Successful paid search campaigns require a clearly defined path for potential customers to convert. That journey is continually optimized so the greatest number of qualified users convert, or complete a desired action. A well-executed paid search campaign will maximize conversions and generate a greater return on your marketing dollars.

Google has rolled out a ton of changes recently, including changing their search ad platform name from Google AdWords to Google Ads. Within these changes, mobile has been a major focus.

In July, page speed became a major ranking factor for mobile searches in regards to organic search presence and Quality Score for paid search ads. Page speed has always been a factor for Quality Score. In the past, it only focused on desktop searches.

Today, page speed is a Quality Score ranking for mobile searches.

So, I know what you are thinking… Do I really have to test EVERY landing page in my paid search campaign in Google’s Test My Site tool?

Congratulations! You’ve been tasked with increasing online traffic to your website. There is just one little wrinkle — your boss wants focus on search engines to achieve this goal. You will need some help from your PPC and SEO professionals. But what exactly is the difference between these two strategies? How can these strategies help point those online eyeballs to your business and its awesome online products and services?

Search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search (PPC) have a lot in common, considering each product's goal is to rank well within the search engine results page. SEO is all about providing the content and resources users are looking for while abiding by search engine algorithms, whereas paid search is advertising within the sponsored listings of a search engine and paying each time the ad is clicked. Each product is unique in its own way, yet complement each other when they’re working together! Here, we’ll highlight the benefits that occur when these products are integrated. You'll see that SEO to paid search is like the peanut butter to your jelly, the yin to your yang or the gin to your tonic, if you will.

Since the 2016 presidential election, it seems journalists, digital gurus and the general public as a whole can’t stop discussing fake news and the role it played in public opinion on both sides of the aisle.

Contributing Author: Melanie Heser

Paid search. If you’re a part of the marketing/advertising community, chances are you hear these words at least once a day. According to the Internet Advertising Revenue Report, paid search accounted for 50% of total digital revenue in the first half of 2015. So what makes paid search so important and how is it beneficial to your overall marketing strategy?