FAQ for China PPC

What’s PPC?

PPC, or Pay-Per-Click advertising, involves sponsored links that appear on search engine result pages (SERPs) or content pages. It’s an effective way to drive targeted traffic, but its success hinges on selecting the right keywords. In essence, PPC allows websites to secure prominent positions on recognized search engine results, increasing visibility and attracting more visitors.

How does PPC advertising work?

PPC ads are typically served based on a bidding system. The more you pay per click, the higher your ad will appear on search engine results. Additionally, platforms like Google AdWords consider the success of your ad in driving clicks and other actions, boosting its position beyond just the bid amount.

How does paid search(PPC) differ from natural search(SEO)?

Key differences include:

• Speed: PPC can be launched almost immediately, while SEO typically takes months to show results.
• Keyword Focus: PPC targets a broad range of keywords, while SEO focuses on a few high-return keywords.
• Measurability: PPC offers more precise tracking and results, whereas SEO tracking is more complex, though still possible.

Why use PPC services?

PPC can provide substantial, targeted traffic quickly—whether for short-term campaigns or long-term strategies. Here’s why it’s worth considering:

• Quick and easy to set up, with impressive ROI in a short time.
• You don’t have to rely solely on organic results.
• Trackable ROI helps refine campaigns.
• Access to traffic for multiple keywords simultaneously.
• Select your preferred keywords to drive relevant traffic.
• See results within 48 hours of launching.
• Control over daily budgets for ads.

Should I start with paid search(PPC) or natural search(SEO)?

We recommend starting with PPC. It allows you to test a wide range of keywords and measure their effectiveness on a granular level. This data can then inform your SEO strategy. However, some in the industry focus too heavily on untested keywords, which often aren’t effective. If your business operates in a niche market with clear, high-volume keywords, SEO may suffice, but for competitive industries, PPC can provide quicker traction.

Do you work on adult/gambling-related sites?

No, we do not work with adult, gambling, or any sites related to these industries.

What impact will your campaigns have on my web site?

Unlike SEO, PPC campaigns are non-intrusive and don’t require changes to your website. If you’re using Google Analytics, a small snippet of JavaScript code is added to each page to track performance. This allows you to gain insights into visitor behavior, helping you optimize your site for better conversions.

How much should be spent on PPC?

When you see a positive ROI from PPC, the more you spend, the more profits you generate. The key is to continually reinvest as long as you’re seeing returns. In short, don’t limit your budget once you start seeing success.

Why is a management firm necessary?

A professional SEM firm brings expertise that can maximize your profits, save time, and enhance your understanding of search marketing. Our team of skilled SEM engineers uses proven methods to ensure you get the best results.

How long does it take to launch paid search accounts?

Once all paperwork is in place, we can usually launch paid search advertising within three weeks.

How long will it take to receive results?

Once the accounts are created and activated, traffic should be received by the website within hours, if not minutes. Generally, traffic will ramp up over the first few days of the campaign.

How many keywords can I bid on?

We will advertise on as many keywords as are necessary to adequately cover your particular marketspace. We would generally prefer to have too many keywords, rather than too few.

How do you track the results?

Most notably, we track results beyond the click. An increase in website “visibility” doesn’t pay the bills.

The first step is to determine what is being measured on the site. In most cases, a site is either attempting to sell directly, or to generate leads for an offline sales team to work. We refer to these actions as online “transactions.”

Once the transactions have been defined, there are a number of third-party technologies that allow one to connect such transactions with their original source. The amount of information given is quite limited, and there is no way to ensure that transactions are not being counted multiple times.

What about the tracking systems built into Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing?

We are not big fans of the tracking that Google and Yahoo offer, although we have used them on occasion. The amount of information given is quite limited, and there is no way to ensure that transactions are not being counted multiple times.

What is a bid limit?

A bid limit is the maximum you can spend per click for a particular keyword. While receiving clicks for less than the bid limit increases profitability and is very much welcome, it is extremely important to have an upper boundary.

What is click fraud and how concerned should we be about it?

Click fraud is the act of sending fraudulent clicks to PPC advertisers. The clicks can either be generated by automated technology or via actual manual clicking on advertisements. The goal is either to generate revenue for affiliates or to increase the costs of a competitor.

Click fraud is certainly a problem, but the degree of problem is difficult to determine, as the search engines have not been forthcoming with real data. Given that they make money from click fraud, this is unacceptable and will likely be remedied in the courts (the lack of data, that is).

To their credit, the major search engines seem to be working hard to fight click fraud. We’ve seen them issue refunds to our clients before we were even able to ask.

Third party fraud detection tools can also help. When shown evidence of click fraud, the search engines generally will issue a refund.

In the meantime, it’s something of a cost of business in the paid search game. One should certainly keep an eye out for suspicious behavior, but realize that all one can do is lower it, not remove it entirely.

Will PPC attract competitors fraud clicks? If will, what can we do about it?

It’s part of game, can always happen in reality, as your cost of PPC campaign. However, this may be detected by search engines if it goes to another level, with certain clicks fraud.

How about PPC service, and PPC-to-Leads conversion rate?

It depends and this conversion rate varies greatly based on many factors. We can discuss this tomorrow morning. Generally speaking, 1-2% sounds acceptable as said, in terms of conversion rate.

Must we spend SEM/PPC?

No. It is the client’s own sales and marketing goals, and, level of market competition that decide when to engage in a active spend campaign. It varies across industry sector but approximately half of our clients are engaging in SEO with PPC whilst the others are quite happy with ongoing SEO. For newcomers to China, then some SEM/PPC allocation is recommended however to help assist gain some “market traction” and raise brand awareness.

How long does it take to launch paid search accounts?

Once all paperwork is in place, we can usually launch paid search advertising within three weeks.

How long will it take to receive results?

Once the accounts are created and activated, traffic should be received by the website within hours, if not minutes. Generally, traffic will ramp up over the first few days of the campaign.

How long does it take to get active online?

Baidu and registration paperwork takes 2-3 weeks, once your Chinese pages are up and viewable online. The pages and content copy are assessed by China regulators before your PPC account is approved. China SEO assists with all paperwork and SE applications.

Must we spend SEM or PPC?

No. It is the client’s own sales and marketing goals, and, level of market competition that decide when to engage in a active spend campaign. It varies across industry sector but approximately half of our clients are engaging in SEO with PPC whilst the others are quite happy with ongoing SEO. For newcomers to China, then some SEM/PPC allocation is recommended however to help assist gain some “market traction” and raise brand awareness.

Are there minimum SEM or PPC amounts required on Baidu? Is there a minimum activation period or time required?

No and No. The only minimum amounts are the account set up fees and SE set minimum credit deposits paid to open your SE account.

If your company already has a Google PPC account you can transfer and we can use that credit with Google HK, Baidu will require your own unique account opened and clients have the option to pay Baidu directly or via ChinaSEO.

Once deposited your account is registered and active and you then have up to 12 months to utilize your minimum credits.

SEM/PPC campaigns can and often are switched on or off as the market moves. Good SEO managers react with the market accordingly.

What is a “Landing Page”?

A Landing Page (LP) is a web page specifically designed and SEO engineered to be the best “traffic catcher.” LPs are highly Search Engine friendly, and are designed to attract search-bot attention and increase your hits.

We like to use the example of a sporting stadium, where a few people have “super-flags” that are 10x larger than those in the rest of the crowd. These flags can be seen from all around the ground, and really stand out from the other supporters. These “super flags” are the equivalent of a LP on the internet.

They are built to attract attention, to be found and viewed and direct traffic through to your main web pages.

What’s the difference between landing page and home page? And why do we need a land page?

According to Wiki, a landing page, sometimes known as a “lead capture page” or a “lander”, is a single web page that appears in response to clicking on a search engine optimized search result or an online advertisement. The landing page will usually display directed sales copy that is a logical extension of the advertisement, search result or link.

Landing pages are often linked to from social media, email campaigns or search engine marketing campaigns in order to enhance the effectiveness of the advertisements. The general goal of a landing page is to convert site visitors into sales leads.

A home page, or main/front page is a page on a website, whose main purpose is to guide visitors to specific page within website.

In a word, landing page is a sales copy for leads generation while home page acts as a site guider.

What is ChinaSEO SEM/PPC Campaign Management service?

ChinaSEO manages client SEM/PPC spending according to KPIs and with account teams tracking and reacting to market volatility.

As Key Word pricing is set by daily market, it is not uncommon to see PPC pricing move -/+ 500% over 30 days for certain “hot” key words and phrases.

ChinaSEO works closely with clients accounts to ensure the most effective ROI for their spend.

For example: the key word “澳洲地产投资” “Australia Property Investment” the average PPC price paid on Baidu in September 2012 was 68 cents $USD, per click through. In October the market heated-up and the average PPC price paid was $2.09 USD, per click through. This was an increase of 207% in (just) 30 days, so professional KPI driven PPC management is required in order to ensure best ROI over the campaign period.

Your ChinaSEO account manager will track and follow the market on your behalf, and engage or pause campaigns according to your set KPIs. Thereby ensuring SEM/PPC spend is not “wasted” but spent when and how the client needs it and according to set KPIs and fit client campaign budgets.