TL;DR
- Grow your knowledge and stay in the loop by following 8 of the best marketing blogs right now.
- This includes PPC Hero, Search Engine Journal and more.
- Plus, a few honourable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut this time.
Blogs are some of the best sources for inspiration when it comes to PPC marketing. Organic SEO (search engine optimisation) gets a bigger slice of the content cake on most sites but what about PPC? Pay-per-click advertising needs some love too. Fortunately, we have 8 of the best PPC marketing blogs and related sites on our list. Each blog offers the most insightful information available, whether you’re a PPC management agency or wanting to learn more about PPC marketing.
(All statistics are correct as of July 2019. Post frequency stats are from Feedly.)
PPC Hero
- Established: April 2007
- Stats: 20,000+ visits a month
- DA: 55
- Post frequency: 7 articles per week
- Perfect for: Anyone involved in PPC – management services, companies, or freelancers
The first PPC marketing blog on our list is PPC Hero. The content is written by PPC management agency Hanapin Marketing and provide news alongside the many SEO blogs out there. On their website, their goal is to educate readers on the various techniques of pay per click management. The main site design is a little unorthodox compared to other digital marketing blogs but standing out is a good thing in this market.
In terms of the writing, it’s the best for PPC in that they take risks and have a sense of adventure in their articles. They aren’t afraid to say it like it is and demystify the PPC industry and its preconceptions. Just what you need to knuckle down on those campaigns.
As well as their PPC blog, PPC Hero also had a podcast but they haven’t updated it since 2018. Hopefully, they can add some more episodes soon.
PPC Hero should be at the top of your feed as a PPC marketer.
Read PPC Hero if you’re interested in: PPC ad copy tips, dynamic search ads, display networks
Recommended reading: PPC Math Made Easy
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Subscribe the PPC Hero blog | Subscribe to PPC Hero on YouTube | Follow PPC Hero on Facebook
The PPC Subreddit on Reddit
- Established: 2009
- Stats: 32,000+ subscribers
- DA: 90
- Post frequency: 116 posts per week
- Perfect for: PPC employees or freelancers
Reddit is an underrated hub of information and not one to be ignored. The site has a notorious reputation but the niche subreddits like r/PPC are friendly and helpful. The PPC subreddit has over 32,000 members and, due to the nature of Reddit, it’s more interactive. You can search for an answer to your PPC query and if you can’t find it, you post the question yourself.
Discussions revolve around PPC software and PPC advertising with Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Bing Ads, but also allow other ad platforms.
The good thing about the r/PPC is you get right to the heart of what people are asking in pay-per-click marketing. Marketing blogs are normally one-way in their communication. But with messageboards and forums like Reddit, there are conversations around areas like Facebook campaign building or smart bidding on Google Ads.
Read r/PPC if you’re interested in: Facebook Ads tips, PPC campaign advice, how to earn more with Google Ads and Bing Ads
Recommended reading: Final Results: PPC / Paid Media Salary Survey 2019
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Search Engine Journal
- Established: June 2003
- Stats: 700,000+ visits a month
- DA: 85
- Post frequency: 35 articles per week
- Perfect for: All digital marketers
Search Engine Journal is the biggest digital marketing blog so, by association, they have the biggest audience for PPC optimisers. From their humble beginnings on Blogspot back in 2003, SEJ posts regular content on everything related to search engine optimisation – organic and paid.
The breadth of their knowledge is deep; they offer update and guides on PPC marketing, as well as trending information and news on every major paid search platform you can think of. Some of the best PPC authors contribute to SEJ so this PPC blog is a must-read for any budding marketers out there.
Much like PPC Hero, SEJ also has a podcast but theirs is regularly updated (at time of writing). In a previous episode – The Role of AI and Automation in Paid Search – Loren Baker spoke to Frederick Vallaeys of Optmyzr about the role that AI plays in paid search and how automation can help PPC managers futureproof their campaigns. Coincidentally, that’s something we’re very interested in.
Read Search Engine Journal if you’re interested in: search engines, Google Ads updates, PPC tip and tricks
Recommended reading: 10 Paid Search & PPC Best Practices for 2019
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Subscribe to SEJ | Subscribe to SEJ on YouTube | Follow SEJ on Facebook
Search Engine Land
- Established: November 2006
- Stats: 800,000+ visits a month
- DA: 90
- Post frequency: 18 articles per week
- Perfect for: All digital marketers
Search Engine Land is the second of three digital marketing sites with “Search Engine” in the title. Much like SEJ, the site covers all bases and PPC doesn’t even have it’s own place in the top navigation bar. But there is a Paid Search section with information on how to most effectively use ad platforms. Topics covered include PPC bid management, multiple campaigns management, ad copy and landing page optimisation tips.
Search Engine Land may have a stronger focus on organic rather than paid media but they regularly update their blog with PPC marketing advice and news.
Read Search Engine Land if you’re interested in: search engines, Google Ads updates, Microsoft advertising
Recommended reading: SEO vs. PPC: Differences, pros, cons & an integrated approach
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Subscribe to Search Engine Land | Subscribe to Search Engine Land on YouTube | Follow Search Engine Land on Facebook
Search Engine Watch
- Established: 1996
- Stats: 80,000+ visits a month
- DA: 79
- Post frequency: 18 articles per week
- Perfect for: Search engine optimisers
The oldest site on the list, Search Engine Watch has been around since 1996. Back then, PPC wasn’t really a thing but the internet was and people were slowly finding ways to make their money. Fast forward to 2019 and the site doesn’t have the updated style of SEJ or Moz but digital marketing blogs aren’t about aesthetics.
SEW is one of the few non-PPC marketing-specific blogs with a PPC section. The link in the navbar brings up a category archives page but it also comes with a few paragraphs defining what PPC actually is.
SEW has been around for most of the search engine era and even predates the existence of Google (by two years). That means Search Engine Watch’s authors know exactly what search engines have been, are, and will be about. That also means they know a thing or two about PPC marketing so this is another blog that you need to add to your feed reader of choice.
Read Search Engine Watch if you’re interested in: PPC remarketing, Amazon PPC management, PPC landing pages
Recommended reading: A beginner’s guide to using negative keywords in PPC
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Subscribe to SEW | Follow SEW on Facebook
Moz Blog
- Established: 2004
- Stats: 60,000+ visits a month
- DA: 89
- Post frequency: 4 articles per week
- Perfect for: Rand Fishkin fan club members, PPC newbies, and SEOs
There should be an adage like Godwin’s law for digital marketing that states “as a digital marketing discussion grows longer, the probability of a sentence involving Moz or Rand Fishkin approaches 1”. Moz is one of three go-to SEO/PPC software tools (along with SEMrush and Ahrefs) so their blog supplements their expansive knowledge. Like Search Engine Watch, their PPC section is a category page. It’s not updated regularly (the first page has posts ranging from 2007 to 2019) but there’s still key info to be learned.
Rand may no longer be with Moz, but he’s left a remarkable search industry asset in very capable hands. It’s not the #1 PPC marketing blog in terms of regular coverage or groundbreaking studies but everything is transferable.
Read Moz Blog if you’re interested in: where PPC can succeed and fail, how organic and PPC can co-exist, Google Ads advice
Recommended reading: How Google AdWords (PPC) Does and Doesn’t Affect Organic Results
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Subscribe to Moz blog | Subscribe to Moz on YouTube | Follow Moz on Facebook
SEMrush Blog
- Established: 2008
- Stats: 150,000+ visits a month
- DA: 82
- Post frequency: 5 articles per week
- Perfect for: People who can’t stop thinking about PPC keywords
SEMrush is an SEO tool platform we use extensively here at Adzooma. It boasts the biggest keyword index with over 8 billion and helps us write the best content that answers the world’s PPC-related questions. But they also have a blog with another PPC category-cum-section (although it’s called a tag on the main page).
What’s good about this is the little block in the sidebar with targeted articles about Paid Search, Display Advertising, and PPC Retargeting. Pay-per-click is a broad subject so finer details like this can really help you improve your PPC marketing campaigns.
A search platform (akin to Google in some ways) needs to have a PPC tool and SEMrush’s is one of the best in that category. And that’s why they have a blog section dedicated to Paid Search and all its offshoots.
Read SEMrush blog if you’re interested in: display advertising, retargeting strategies, ways to use SEMrush to improve your PPC campaigns
Recommended reading: How to Plan a Successful PPC Campaign in 2019
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Subscribe to the SEMrush blog | Subscribe to SEMrush on YouTube | Follow SEMrush on Facebook
Adzooma Blog
- Established: 2016
- Stats: 30,000 visits a month
- DA: 29
- Post frequency: 3 articles per week
- Perfect for: PPC management service providers and generally awesome people
And last but not least is our blog. We’re not calling this a shameless plug; we’re proud of our work and if you’re reading this, you think so too. You’ll find everything from the benefits of PPC marketing to guides on the best PPC marketing strategies and the latest news and updates in the community.
As a final trumpet-blowing serenade, I will say there’s lots more to come from the Adzooma blog regarding PPC marketing, both in the research of existing practices and brand new concepts.
Read Adzooma blog if you’re interested in: automation and AI in Google Ads, Facebook Ads opportunities, marketing strategies
Recommended reading: 5 Brilliant Examples of Effective Search Campaigns
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Subscribe to the Adzooma blog | Subscribe to Adzooma on YouTube | Follow Adzooma on Facebook
Honourable mentions
This is by no means an exhaustive list. If you use a feed reader like Feedly or want some non-marketing blog resources, I highly recommend the following:
SEO might rule the roost when it comes to online discussions but pay-per-click can’t be ignored. After all, when you Google search a product, the top results are ads.
How they got there and how well they convert depends on good PPC management. And where can you learn about that? From PPC marketing blogs like the ones above.
