AdWords and Bing are probably the most well-known PPC networks. Unfortunately, those are the only two most people think about when it comes to PPC marketing. There are many more PPC networks out there, and no two of them are exactly alike, which is a good thing because advertisers have more opportunities to build a massive reach across different audiences and online behaviors.
Today, the 8 best PPC ad networks are:
- Google Ads
- Bing Ads
- Yahoo Gemini
- AdRoll
Google Ads
Because of the large number of websites on the GDN (Google Display Network) and an enormous volume of searches performed in Google’s engine, it’s no wonder that Google Ads is the most popular PPC ad network (with about 3.5 billion searches performed on Google each day). When it comes to ad placements, you have mobile apps, shopping, GDN web placements, Google search engine, and YouTube. Supported ad formats – image, video, text, and responsive ads.
Bing Ads
With 145 million searchers that aren’t reached on Google, Bing’s share of desktop searches is growing rapidly and even allows you to import Google Ads campaigns. Also, Microsoft exclusively serves Yahoo search traffic, allowing access to LinkedIn data and powering several voice searches. Ad placements include select quality partner sites, Outlook.com, content placements on MSN, the Edge browser, and search engines. Supported ad formats are responsive ads for native placements and text for search.
Yahoo Gemini
Native and paid search ads are served on Oath Network and Yahoo properties, along with other sites that fall under these two entities (such as Tumblr and HuffPost). Verizon Media enables Yahoo search traffic, and they are exclusively served by Bing Ads. This includes search traffic on the Oath Ad Platforms, which was previously known as Yahoo Gemini. Ad placements include native, search, and mobile search. Ad formats include images, video, text, mail ad, carousel ad, Tumblr post, and app install.
AdRoll
AdRoll is a retargeting platform that leverages Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, emails, and other exchanges and marketplaces, using more than 34 million signals to make retargeting marketing predictions. It supports website ad placements and retargeting for mobile and across other devices. As for ad formats, it supports web ads, native web ads, dynamic web ads, email, Instagram ads, and Facebook ads.
With more than 300 million monthly active users, LinkedIn is the best place for reaching out to professionals who can be targeted according to their company, job title, seniority, and more. You can leverage ad placements via ad exchanges, mobile apps, LinkedIn, and LinkedIn Audience Network, as well as ads in the LinkedIn app. Supported ad formats are image and text ads on LinkedIn and native ads on LinkedIn Audience Networks apps and websites.
Facebook is the largest social network in the world (2.3 billion monthly active users), with a targeting platform that enables you to target users according to their behavior, interests, and demographics. Ads can be placed on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and Audience Network on Facebook and Instagram apps. It also supports a variety of ad formats, including images, video, canvas, slideshow, and carousel. On mobile, it supports native, interstitial, in-stream, and rewarded display and video formats.
Twitter has no network partners, so their ads are only contained on Twitter. Promoted tweets are a very flexible ad format because they allow you to combine text with any type of media that complies with their policies. Ad placements are on the Twitter platform and app, while ad formats include images, videos, text, GIFs, promoted accounts, and promote trends.
About 70% of the Pinterest audience is women, and 40% of them earn a household income around $100,000 a year. And many Pinterest users are already in the mood to purchase because they are there to research products, ideas, and trends. Ads can be placed on the Pinterest platform and app, and supported ad formats include promoted pins, promoted video pins, promoted app pins, cinematic pins, and one-tap promoted pins.
There are many Pay Per Click ad networks that could help you bring in more prospects to your company besides Google Ads. This list of ad networks is meant to be an introduction, but it’s up to you to explore and experiment with all these less-known networks. You never know what inexpensive keywords and warm prospects you might end up finding.
In case you need help with creating and running a PPC ad campaign on any of these ad networks, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to discuss your marketing strategy and help in any way I can.
Rob Dunford is a Marketing Consultant in the Great Toronto Area with over 20 years of experience in implementing marketing plans for small businesses.