What Is a Paid Search Agency?
A paid search agency, also known as a pay-per-click (PPC) agency, is a company that specializes in creating, managing, and optimizing paid advertising campaigns for businesses on search engines and social media platforms.
Paid search agencies use various tools and techniques to identify relevant keywords, target specific audiences, and create compelling ad copy to drive traffic and conversions. They typically work on a performance-based model where the advertiser pays a fee each time a user clicks on one of their ads.
The main goal of a paid search agency is to help businesses maximize their return on investment (ROI) from their paid advertising efforts by continuously monitoring and optimizing their campaigns for optimal performance. This involves analyzing campaign data, testing new ad variations, and adjusting bids and budgets to achieve the best possible results.
What Is an Example of Paid Search?
A common example of paid search is when a user types a search query into a search engine like Google, and the first few results that appear at the top of the search results page are labeled as “Ad” or “Sponsored.” These are paid search ads that appear based on the user’s search terms and are targeted to specific demographics or geographic regions.
For example, if you search for “best coffee shops in New York City,” you may see paid search ads for coffee shops in NYC at the top of the search results page. The businesses behind those ads have paid to have their ads appear when someone searches for those keywords.
Another example is when you see ads on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. These ads are also paid search ads, and businesses can target their ads based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and other criteria to reach their target audience.
What Companies Do Pay-Per-Click?
There are many companies that use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to promote their products and services online. Some examples of companies that use PPC include:
- Amazon: The popular online retailer uses PPC to drive traffic to specific product pages on their website.
- Google: As the largest search engine in the world, Google offers PPC advertising through their Google Ads platform, allowing businesses to place ads in search results pages, YouTube, and other websites.
- Facebook: The social media giant offers PPC advertising through their Google Ads platform, allowing businesses to target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
- Microsoft: Microsoft offers PPC advertising through their Bing Ads platform, which allows businesses to target users on both the Bing search engine and Yahoo search engine.
- Airbnb: The popular vacation rental platform uses PPC ads to promote its listings and drive traffic to its website.
- HubSpot: The marketing automation platform uses PPC to promote its software and generate leads for its businesses.
These are just a few examples of the many companies that use pay-per-click advertising to reach their target audience and drive traffic to their website.
What Is the Most Popular Paid Search Platform?
Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords) is currently the most popular paid search platform in the world. As the largest search engine, Google has a massive audience, and its advertising platform offers a wide range of targeting options to reach specific audiences.
With Google Ads, businesses can place ads on the Google search results page, Youtube, and other websites in the Google Display Network. The platform also offers a variety of ad formats, including text ads, display ads, video ads, shopping ads and more.
Google Ads also provides extensive data and analytics to help advertisers track their campaigns’ performance, measure their ROI, and make data driven decisions to improve their results.
Overall, Google Ads is a powerful and flexible advertising platform that offers businesses a wide range of options to reach their target audience and drive traffic to their website.
How Do I Get Started with Paid Search?
If you’re interested in getting started with paid search, here are some general steps you can follow:
- Define your goals: Before you start a paid search campaign, it’s essential to define what you want to achieve. Your goals may be to drive more traffic to your website, generate leads, increase sales, or boost brand awareness.
- Reach your target audience and keywords: You’ll need to research and understand your target audience and the keywords they use to search for products or services related to your business.
- Choose a paid search platform: There are several paid search platforms to choose from, including Google Ads, Bing Ads, and social media platform services like Facebook Ads and LinkedIn advertising. Each platform has its own unique features and audiences, so choose the one that best aligns with your goals and target audience.
- Create your ad campaigns: Once you have a clear understanding of your audience and the keywords you want to target, you can create your ad campaigns. This involves creating compelling ad copy, selecting ad formats, and setting up targeting options.
- Launch and monitor your campaigns: After you’ve set up your campaigns, launch them and monitor their performance regularly. This includes analyzing data, adjusting your ad copy, and making changes to your targeting options to optimize your campaigns’ performances.
- Continuously improve your campaigns: Paid search marketing campaigns require ongoing monitoring and optimization to achieve the best results. Continuously review your campaign data, test new ad copy and targeting options, and make data driven decisions to improve your campaigns performances.
Paid search can be complex, and it may be helpful to work with a paid search agency or consultant if you’re new to this type of advertising. They can help you develop a strategy and manage your campaigns for optimal performance.
Is Paid Search the Same as SEO?
No, paid search is not the same as SEO (search engine optimization). While both involve improving your visibility on search engines, they are two different tactics with different approaches and outcomes.
Paid search, as the name suggests, involves paying for ads to appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) or other websites. Advertisers pay for each click or impression, and the ads are usually labeled as “sponsored” or “ad.” Paid search allows businesses to quickly appear at the top of search results pages for specific keywords and target audiences, but it requires a budget to invest in advertising.
On the other hand, SEO is the practice of optimizing your website’s content, structure, and technical aspects to improve your organic search rankings. Unlike paid search, SEO doesn’t involve paying for clicks or impressions. Instead, it focuses on creating high-quality, relevant content and optimizing your website’s technical aspects to rank higher in organic search results. SEO requires time and effort, but it can result in sustained traffic and visibility without the need for ongoing advertising spend.
Both paid search and SEO can be effective strategies for driving traffic and visibility to your website. Still, they require different approaches and offer different outcomes. Many businesses use a combination of both tactics to achieve their online marketing goals.
What Are The Top Paid Search Agencies?
There are many paid search agencies out there, and choosing the right one can be challenging. Here are some of the best paid media agencies based on their reputation, client portfolio, and industry recognition.
1. NoGood
NoGood is an excellent paid search agency to consider. Our keywords are highly optimized for maximal conversion rates, meaning we will get your company placed in front of high-intent customers with hyper-targeted campaigns and display ads. We will improve both the volume and the quality of your leads through a combination of experimentation and strategy. Our highly effective strategies help you capture top funnel traffic and transform it into bottom funnel conversions.
NoGood noteworthy traits:
- Work in tailored growth squads that feel like an extension of your own team
- Specialize in marketing for long term growth
- Have helped companies like Lark Suite, ByteDance’s collaboration software company, break into the US market
- Experimentation approach that educates customers and builds trust in your brand while simultaneously helping you achieve rapid, consistent growth
NoGood specialties:
- Rapid experimentation
- PPC landing page optimizations
- International campaign strategy
- Untraditional growth marketing that takes new approaches
NoGood achieved a 2960% WoW increase in app installs, and an 84% increase in organic website traffic for Invisibly. Here’s what Laura Vestal, Head of Marketing and Invisibly, had to say about NoGood:
“The squad feels like a true extension of my own marketing team.”
Headquarters: New York, NY
Year Founded: 2016
Team Size: 50+ employees
Key Services:
- Campaign management
- Retargeting campaigns
- Ad & copy optimization
- Bid Strategy
- Lead generation
- Competitive analysis
- Google ads, Bing ads, Youtube ads, Shopping ads, Display ads
- Keyword research
- PPC reporting
- Audience research
- PPC landing page optimizations
- A/B testing
- International campaign strategy
- Growth marketing framework
Industries Served: Retail, Consumer Tech, Gaming, Healthcare, B2B, SaaS, DTC
Key Differentiators: Advanced analytics, A/B testing, customer-centric approach, personalized marketing campaigns, driving loyalty for long-term growth, scalable strategies
Case Study: NoGood has worked with many startups, scaleups, and Fortune 500 brands such as TikTok, Nike, Amazon, Intuit and more. Being one of the best pay per click advertising companies, we have many growth stories and successes to show for it.
2. Ignite Visibility
Ignite Visibility is a full-service digital marketing agency that offers paid search, SEO, social media, and other digital marketing services. They have a reputation for delivering exceptional results for their clients and have been named the #1 SEO company in the USA by Clutch.co. A good reason to consider Ignite Visibility as your PPC company is because they calculate a clear return on investment and scale your spend based on ROI. With Ignite Visibility, you will receive a custom pay per click audit, specific multichannel strategy, competitive benchmarking and a consultation from true experts.
Ignite Visibility noteworthy traits:
- Google, Facebook and Microsoft premium partners
- Run hundreds of thousands of dollars in targeted online ad spend each month
- Work with top clients such as Tony Robbins, Wedding Wire, Mission Federal Credit Union & Lancer Skin Care
- Consistently named a top PPC company in the United States on all top industry lists
Ignite Visibility Specialities:
- Integrate PPC with social media, CRO, SEO content marketing and public relations
- 100% ROI focused
- Professionally teach search engine optimization and web analytics at UC San Diego and will teach you too
- Offer transparent, effective, and precise tracking and funnel-based media strategies
Here’s what the Jazzercise, Inc’s Director of Marketing had to say about their experience with Ignite Visibility:
The way they built our support team is as unique as our business. It’s like we all just fit together – and therefore get more accomplished in less time.
Headquarters: La Jolla, California
Year Founded: 2012
Team Size: 100+
Key Services:
- Pay Per Click Advertising
- Search Engine Optimization
- International Search Marketing
- Local Search Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Conversion Rate Optimization
- Public Relations
- Website Design & Development
- Reporting & Analytics
- Amazon Marketing Services
- Digital Marketing Strategy
- Franchise Marketing
Industries Served: They have worked with travel companies, plastic surgery practices, eCard services, test prep companies, jewelry suppliers and more.
Key Differentiators: Ability to lead successful PPC campaigns for all industries, innovative strategies, experienced team, 6x Inc. 5000 Company, provide free forecasts.
Case Study: Ignite Visibility achieved a +250% increase in lead volume through a pad media campaign. Check out their many successful case studies to see if they’re the right fit for you.
3. Disruptive Advertising
Disruptive Advertising is a paid search agency that focuses on PPC advertising. For the past ten years, they have perfected their strategies while providing full-service digital marketing expertise to their clients. They work with small to mid-sized businesses across a wide range of industries and have been recognized as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies in America.
Disruptive Advertising noteworthy traits:
- $450M+ in annual ad-spend managed for clients
- Rank #145 on the Inc. 500
- 4.8 average rating from 300 reviews on Clutch
- Most reviewed marketing agency
Disruptive Advertising specialties:
- Transparency
- Search engine optimization
- Paid search
- Paid social
- Amazon marketing
- Website optimization
- Lifecycle marketing
- Staff augmentation
Here’s what the VP and Partner at Phone Ninjas had to say about Disruptive Advertising:
After launching our first Google Ads campaigns, we immediately saw a 40% increase in the type of leads we wanted, including demo and mystery shop requests. We were able to convert at our normal conversion rate, which was very strong by itself. In other words, they added top-quality opportunities to our top-more funnel without compromising our conversions. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed. Disruptive Advertising takes a holistic approach to our digital advertising strategy.
Office Location: Pleasant Grove, UT
Year Founded: 2012
Team Size: 50-200 employees
Key Services:
- Paid search on Google/Yahoo/Bing
- Social advertising on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
- Retargeting
- Ad creative (text, image, motion, video)
- Digital marketing strategy
- Website design testing and development
- Web analytics (Google and Adobe Analytics)
Industries Served: Ecommerce, insurance, B2B, legal, home services education, healthcare, fintech, and more.
Key Differentiators: Transparent pricing, proprietary software, dedicated account teams, proven-methodology.
Case studies: Disruptive Advertising works with clients across a wide range of industries. Their team of expert media managers are dedicated to providing exceptional results and delivering clients with the support they need to succeed in today’s competitive digital landscape. Check out their success stories.
4. WebFX
WebFX is an award winning, full-service digital marketing agency that offers paid search, SEO, social media, and other digital marketing services. WebFX offers targeted Google Ads, Microsoft, Facebook, and Instagram advertising services. They have a reputation for delivering measurable results for their clients and have won several awards for their work, including the 2020 US Search Award for Best Large SEO Agency.
WebFX noteworthy traits:
- 500+ subject matter experts
- 25-year track record
- Thousands of reviews
- In-house technology
- Deep expertise across all areas of digital
WebFX specialties:
- Search engine optimization
- Lead generation
- Ecommerce
- UX & interactive
- Revenue acceleration platform
- CRM retargeting technology
Here’s what Leah Pickard from ABWE International had to say about her experience working with WebFX:
“We’ve been working with ABWE for 9 years. In that time, we’ve achieved a 110% organic traffic increase year over year, and specifically helped shape their recruiting efforts to the tune of a 248% increase in organization applications.“
Office Location: Harrisburg, PA
Year Founded: 1997
Team Size: 193 employees
Key Services:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Lead generation
- Social media
- Digital advertising
- Ecommerce
- UX
Industries Served: Fintech, healthcare, ecommerce, education, manufacturing, and more.
Key Differentiators: A/B testing in conjunction with landing page optimizations, team of certified Google Ads experts, don’t charge a percentage of ad spend.
Case studies: WebFX has driven over $3 billion in sales and over 7.8 million leads for their clients. Check out some of their notable case studies.
5. WordStream
WordStream is a paid search agency that offers PPC management software, training, and consulting services. They work with businesses of all sizes and have been recognized as a Google Premier Partner, Microsoft Advertising Elite Channel Partner, and Facebook Marketing Partner. WordStream is a great place to discover if your Google Ads are truly performing as they offer a free, instant report card that scores your ad performance in nine key areas. They also offer a free keyword research tool that suggests hundreds of relevant keywords tailored to your industry and location, including data on keyword volume and cost per click.
WordStream noteworthy traits:
- Offer a free keyword research tool
- Offer an instant analysis of your Google Ads
- Offer a free digital marketing assessment
WordStream Specialities:
- Smart bidding technology to optimize bid for maximum ROI
- Ad copy creation
- Landing page optimization
- Reporting and analysis
This is what Justine from Cassandra Bryan Design had to say about WordStream’s services:
“Allows us to work smarter, not harder.“
Check out what others say about their experience with WordStream.
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts
Year Founded: 2007
Team Size: 350 employees
Key Services:
- Search marketing
- Shopping ads
- Search engine optimization
- Video ads
- Social ads
- Display ads
- Lead management
- Reporting
Industries Served: eCommerce, healthcare, B2B, education, automotive, and more.
Key Differentiators: Specialize in serving small and medium-sized businesses, comprehensive customer support, thought leadership
Case Study: WordStream increased SEO traffic by 600% in 24 months for one of their clients. Check out how they did it.
6. Brainlabs
Brainlabs, formerly known as Hanapin Marketing, is a digital marketing agency that specializes in paid search advertising. They work with both B2B and B2C clients across a range of industries and have been recognized as one of the best places to work in Indiana. Brainlabs earns client business by using their unique formula of testing, tech, and talent. They run millions of experiments to deliver excellent marketing ROI, which they call the Brainlabs Effect™. When working with them, Brainlabs will take you through a robust approach, first starting with audience-centric planning, then moving to data strategy and digital execution. They have worked with a variety of notable clients, including Walmart, Papa Johns, CloudFlare, and Universal Music Group.
Brainlabs noteworthy traits:
- Leading independent agency
- TikTok marketing partners
- Google Partner
- SEMrush certified agency partner
Brainlabs Specialities:
- Hires mathematicians, scientists, and programmers for a unique marketing lens
- AI algorithms help them make faster, smarter decisions, resulting in better performance and ROI for clients
- Close collaboration with clients
- Global presence allows them to bring a global perspective to their marketing strategies
Here’s what Consumer Cellular’s SMO, Craig Lister, had to say about why they chose Brainlabs:
“We were looking for groups that were performance-marketing oriented, extremely data-driven and could scale very gracefully into other types of programmatic media.“
Headquarters: London, England
Year Founded: 2012
Team Size: 800+
Key Services:
- Paid search and SEO
- Paid social and influencer
- Marketplace
- Creative
- CRO
- Data science, strategy, and execution
Industries Served: eCommerce, energy, healthcare, retail, travel and hospitality, financial services, B2B, education, and more.
Key Differentiators: Builds specialist teams around the client, have worked with a range of VC backed, public, private, private equity, and not for profit clients.
Clientele: Check out Brainlab’s client list by size, industry and corporate structure to see if they’re a good fit for you!
7. KlientBoost
KlientBoost is a digital marketing agency that specializes in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. They offer a range of PPC services, including campaign strategy and planning, ad copywriting, landing page optimization, bid management, and analytics and reporting. They are also known for their expertise in conversion rate optimization, using data driven techniques to improve website performance and increase conversions. What’s great about KlientBoost is that they prepare custom pricing based on your goals, required services, speed to goal, team size and budget.
KlientBoost noteworthy traits:
- Offers a free marketing plan on their website
- Have worked with big brands such as AirBnB, Bloomberg, Stanford University, UpWork and more
- Have an average of 63% ROI increase in the first three months
- Specialized teams for every channel
KlientBoost specialties:
- Paid advertising
- Search Engine Optimization
- Keyword tapering
- Single keyword ad groups
Here’s what Todd Wolfenberg, CEO of Yoga International, had to say about working with KilentBoost:
“KlientBoost was the best match for where we were and where we wanted to go. Our biggest challenge as a consumer business is continuing to find new users, and all the tools that are out there continue to evolve very quickly. KlientBoost has been able to add value from the perspective of helping us understand what’s going on in the marketplace, what’s working, iterate off of those things, and get better results off of that.“
Office Location: Costa Mesa, CA
Year Founded: 2015
Team Size: 183 employees
Key Services:
- Pay per click advertising
- PPC management
- Landing page optimization
- Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
- Funnel creation
Industries Served: Ecommerce, SaaS, healthcare, education, finance, and more
Case study: By working with KlientBoost, airbnb attained a 25% decrease in cost per click. Stanford Business reached a 139% increase in conversion. Check out their success stories.
Final Thoughts: Top Paid Search Agencies
These are just a few examples of the top paid advertising agencies out there. When choosing a paid search agency, it’s essential to consider your specific needs, budget, and goals to find the right fit for your business. The top paid search agencies, such as NoGood, Ignite Visibility, and Disruptive Advertising offer a range of services to help businesses achieve their marketing goals. Each agency has its own unique strengths and areas of expertise, whether it’s proprietary technology, global presence, or a uniquely structured growth model. By partnering with a top paid search agency, businesses can access the expertise and resources they need to maximize their ROI and achieve long-term success.
