You may have heard them called PPC ads, paid search ads, or simply search ads (just to keep things nice and confusing).
Whatever you call them, the basic idea is the same: someone searches for something, and an advertiser pays to appear among the sponsored results.
But what actually happens between someone typing something into Google and an ad appearing in front of them?
This post breaks down how search ads work, why some of the seemingly tiny details can make a surprisingly big difference, and how teams across your brand or business - not just marketing - can help make them more effective.
What do search ads actually do?
Search ads aren’t magic (although the speed at which all of this happens is pretty impressive). They follow a fairly logical sequence:
Someone searches. A person types a query into a search engine — perhaps looking for a topic, journal, book, or resource we publish.
An auction happens — almost instantly. Advertisers bid on keywords and phrases related to that search. But the biggest budget doesn’t automatically win: relevance and ad quality matter too.
The ad appears. If our ad is eligible to show, it can appear in the sponsored section of the results page, often near the top.
Someone clicks. We’ve matched what they’re looking for closely enough that they want to know more.
They reach the landing page. And this is where the real test begins: does the page actually deliver what the ad promised?
That last point is a big one.
You can write a brilliant ad that gets the click, but if someone arrives on a confusing or irrelevant page, you’ve potentially lost them anyway. More on that later.
Why do keywords and phrases matter so much?
Keywords are at the heart of search advertising.
Choose the wrong ones and you can end up spending budget on searches that aren’t particularly relevant — or completely miss the people you actually want to reach.
But keywords aren’t just about matching a topic. They’re about understanding intent.
Someone searching for “textbook for graduate statistics course” wants something very different from someone searching for “statistics journal submission guidelines.”
Both searches could be relevant to Sage, but we’d probably want to show those people very different ads and send them to very different pages.
Broader keywords can help when you’re trying to reach a wider audience, while more specific, long-tail searches can help us reach people looking for something very particular.
There’s no magic keyword formula. It comes down to understanding what we’re trying to achieve and what the person behind the search is actually looking for.
Why do we split search campaigns across regions?
People don’t search in exactly the same way everywhere — and our campaigns shouldn’t assume they do.
Language and terminology can differ between markets. Someone in the UK might describe something differently from someone in the US, Australia, or Germany.
The search landscape can differ too. Google is the obvious giant, but other search engines, including Microsoft Bing, can still play a role depending on the audience and market.
And then there’s budget. We want to understand where demand is actually coming from rather than simply putting the majority of our spend somewhere because that’s where we’ve historically focused.
Splitting campaigns geographically gives us more control over targeting, messaging, and budgets — and, importantly, a much clearer view of what’s actually working where.
Where does subject-matter expertise come in?
Quite a lot, actually.
It’s easy to think search advertising sits entirely within marketing. But some of the most useful campaign knowledge often comes from people who know the subject and audience inside out.
Keywords are a great example. Someone close to a discipline knows the terminology researchers actually use, how language in the field is changing, and the difference between a term that sounds relevant and one people genuinely search for.
The same goes for geography. Where are particular research communities concentrated? Where are they growing? Are there markets or audiences we’re overlooking?
And then there’s the messaging itself. An ad is much more likely to resonate if it uses the language its audience actually uses rather than generic marketing speak.
Finally, there’s what happens after the click.
If an ad promises a particular journal, book, course, or resource, that thing should be immediately obvious when someone reaches the page. Nobody wants to click a promising ad only to go on a three-click treasure hunt for the thing they were promised.
That’s why subject expertise is so useful early in the process. Editorial teams, author relations, platform teams and marketing all bring slightly different pieces of the puzzle.
But what happens before someone searches?
There’s one limitation to search ads: someone has to search first.
Search advertising is brilliant at responding to existing demand. Someone has actively typed something because they’re looking for an answer, product, journal, resource, or solution.
But what about the people who don’t know what to search for yet?
That’s where awareness channels such as LinkedIn, Meta, YouTube, and research communities can come in. Instead of waiting for someone to express intent, they can introduce people to content, resources, or products they didn’t know existed.
Think of it less as separate channels competing for credit and more as a relationship.
Someone might first see Sage content on LinkedIn. A few days later, they come across us again. Then, when they actually need something, they search for it — and that’s where a search ad can meet them.
One channel can create the interest; another can capture it.
Every click is a small window — make it count
Search advertising ultimately comes down to lots of small decisions.
The keyword we choose. The sentence in an ad. The audience we’re targeting. The page someone lands on.
And those decisions don’t have to sit within one team.
The people who understand our audiences, subjects, authors, content and platforms all have knowledge that can make our advertising better.
So next time you’re reviewing a landing page, drafting messaging, or thinking about how a title should be positioned, there’s a useful question to ask:
If someone searched for this right now, would they find what they’re looking for?
Hopefully this has made the slightly mysterious world of search ads a little less mysterious — and shown why what happens outside the paid media team can have a surprisingly big impact on what happens inside it.
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