Rank Tracker vs. SEMrush: Which Tool Is Best For PPC Ads

Every digital marketer who’s been on the search engine optimization (SEO) boat for quite some time knows that a good SEO strategy isn’t always enough.

Consequently, most marketing professionals select paid advertising to complement their SEO tactics. Paid advertising for search ads promises a boost in search engine results pages (SERPs), which SEO can’t offer until weeks or months of keyword research and link building.

In 2021, spending on search advertising in the US hiked by 84.7 billion US dollars, according to Statista. Marketers utilize pay-per-click or PPC ads that show up with organic search results. Using a free or paid PPC tool, they build a PPC campaign.

To understand the impact of a PPC tool in a successful campaign, read the Rank Tracker vs SEMrush PPC tool guide.

What Are the Benefits of PPC Ads?

When a potential customer or lead searches for a product or service on a search engine, the resulting page or SERP provides relevant websites and pay-per-click ads. These results are labeled “Ad” and are common in search engines like Google and Bing, as discussed by the American Marketing Association.

Because of this searching mechanism, selecting a targeted keyword is just as crucial in a PPC campaign as in SEO strategies. With successful PPC ads come the following benefits:

1. Quality leads – people who are interested in your product or service.
2. Faster results – sometimes, as soon as the ad is launched.
3. Cost-effective – only pay based on when a potential customer cli

cks the PPC ad.

The challenge in the PPC approach is determining which keywords a company’s customer will likely use when searching for the product. The onus lies in selecting the best PPC tool—one that can support marketers in finding targeted keywords.

To run PPC campaigns, marketers also need to do keyword research. They need to be able to draft good ad copy and build effective landing pages. PPC tools come in handy for this level of research and analysis.

Many analysts and experts have studied and tested various marketing and advertising strategies to see how well they work. Resources like Bizpedia can help you learn more about PPC ads and other digital marketing strategies.

What Do You Need to Create PPC Ads?

Marketers need four main things to build and launch their PPC ads:

Keywords

Finding the right keywords calls for wearing the customer’s hat and asking: “What keyword should I use when searching for this product?” The specific (and local) keywords can connect businesses to potential customers. Companies that run PPC ads through targeted keywords get higher click-throughs and conversions.

Ad campaign

Companies need to figure out what message they want to convey with their PPC ads. Ad copy needs to grab the target audience’s attention. Experts from Harvard Business School advise offering a unique value proposition.

Landing page

When potential customers click on a PPC ad, they end up on the product’s landing page. The motivation behind clicking an ad is to learn more about the ad content, so the landing page must meet that expectation. A good landing page results in conversions.

PPC tool

Companies must select the right tool that helps with keyword research and analysis. Some platforms go beyond by offering competitor insights as well.

PPC Tool Battle: Rank Tracker vs. SEMrush

Several tools have been developed to support PPC campaigns. Some of these tools focus on PPC ads alone, while others work as an integration for other digital marketing features, such as SEO.

However, the right pay-per-click tool should be able to support marketers in building a PPC campaign efficiently. Two popular PPC tools demonstrate this point: Rank Tracker and SEMrush.

Building a PPC campaign using Rank Tracker

SEO PowerSuite’s Rank Tracker is one of its four marketing products. It was specially designed to help SEO professionals with keyword research and position tracking.

• PPC feature: PPC Analysis tab for keyword and traffic metrics of PPC campaigns.
• Free trial: Rank Tracker offers a free trial so marketers can use the keyword research tool with some limitations on storage and reporting features.
• Other tools: Besides Rank Tracker, SEO PowerSuite also offers these online marketing tools: WebSite Auditor, SEO SpyGlass backlink checker, and LinkAssistant for email outreach.

The tool includes a feature for PPC campaigns that helps marketers determine the spending necessary to drive traffic through the PPC ad. This PPC Analysis tab covers keyword and traffic metrics for SEO and PPC campaigns.

The first metric is called cost-per-click (CPC). Following the Cambridge Dictionary definition, the CPC metric informs marketers of the estimated cost per clicking a PPC ad per keyword. The second metric is similar, except it focuses on the monthly fee. The estimated PPC cost per month is the cost of a PPC campaign for a particular keyword per month.

Both metrics are essential because it highlights the importance of selecting the right keywords for your PPC ads. While not all keywords will work for the campaign, you will find that the right ones help you get more clicks. This helps improve the efficiency of your PPC strategy and lowers the cost per click.

Building a PPC campaign using SEMrush PPC

SEMrush is a SaaS platform with 40 tools used by over five million users. It’s an SEO tool popularized by its user-friendly design and focus on user experience.

• PPC feature: Keyword research, cross-group negatives, and advanced filters to find keywords by cost-per-click (CPC).
• Free trial: Both Pro and Guru subscription plans can be tried for a week, free of charge.
• Other tools: Another helpful tool to complement your PPC tool is SEMrush Rank. This tool helps marketers find the domains with the most online traffic.

Its PPC features involve keyword research so marketers can quickly build a keyword list for their PPC campaign. The SEMrush PPC tool helps you select specific keywords and avoid generic keywords that a searching consumer isn’t likely to use.

Another PPC aspect where SEMrush can support marketers is identifying and removing duplicates, especially for Google Ad campaigns. This ensures that companies only get to spend on keywords that attract clicks.

In addition, some keywords can pose unnecessary competition to your other keywords. SEMrush allows you to avoid conflicting keywords through the cross-group negatives feature.

No PPC tool is complete without tools that help estimate costs per PPC ad. SEMrush includes advanced filters that can help find keywords based on CPC.

A/B Testing Your PPC Ads

After choosing a PPC tool and building a campaign, marketers will need to perform A/B testing to tweak kinks and ensure a return on investment (ROI). Marketers run two similar versions of the PPC ad and monitor which ad is performing better.

For PPC ads, marketers always test for clickthrough and conversion rates. They must check the ad’s keywords, headlines, description, landing page, and call-to-action (CTA). Prospective buyers are responsive with clear and concise CTAs, so marketers need to be critical of this component.

Besides modifying the winning version of your PPC ad, you can also leverage extensions that boost the ad’s appearance. Some services that offer ad extensions include Google Ads and Microsoft Ads.

The Final Verdict

Companies looking for a robust PPC tool and planning to do more paid advertising in the future should go for SEMrush. Rank Tracker is an excellent option for marketers who want a combined SEO and PPC tool to support their digital marketing campaigns.

Selecting the appropriate PPC tool can help you get started with your PPC ads. But for long-term advertising plans, marketers should try both SEMrush and Rank Tracker alongside other tools (free-trial versions), so they can better grasp each tool’s experience and convenience levels.

About the Author

Ivan Serrano has been a technology and business writer since 2015 working with companies like SmallBizClub, StartupNation, Namecheap and Time Doctor. He has loved writing his whole life and being in business development has given him unique perspective. He’s obsessed with our constantly evolving fast-paced society and finding new ways to integrate that into amazing content that teaches the readers something new.