PPC stands for pay-per-click, a model of internet marketing where advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. You’re basically “buying” visits to your site rather than “earning” them organically as you might through your content marketing and SEO efforts. 

One of the more popular forms of PPC is search engine marketing - as opposed to social media marketing for instance. Search engines allow advertisers to “bid” on the chance to show up as part of the sponsored results list for a search query (keyword) that’s related to their company’s service offering. You might, for instance, pay 2 dollars for a site visit and generate interest and maybe even turn that visitor into a purchase. 

When well executed, the traffic generated through PPC advertising can more than pay for itself and can even be a solid learning opportunity for what kind of content and keywords best resonate with your customer base for informing strategic decisions down the line. 

Unfortunately, infrequent keyword research, mismatched copywriting, poorly optimized landing pages, and little to no campaign tracking can all contribute to a poor ROI of your PPC advertising efforts.