Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay per click (PPC) is an advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites/blogs, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an ad to visit the advertiser's website. Advertisers bid on keywords they believe their target market would type in the search bar when they are looking for a product or service. When a user types a keyword query matching the advertiser's keyword list, or views a page with relevant content, the advertiser's ad may be shown. These ads are called a "Sponsored link" or "sponsored ads" and appear next to, and sometimes, above the natural or organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a webmaster/blogger chooses on a content page.

Pay per click ads may also appear on content network websites. In this case, ad networks such as Google Adsense and Yahoo! Publisher Network attempt to provide ads that are relevant to the content of the page where they appear, and no search function is involved.

While many companies exist in this space, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter are the largest network operators as of 2007. Depending on the search engine, minimum prices per click start at US$0.01 (up to US$0.50). Very popular search terms can cost much more on popular engines. Arguably this advertising model may be open to abuse through click fraud, although Google and other search engines have implemented automated systems to guard against this.

More and more companies are learning the value of search engine marketing. Search engine placement is probably the most effective means of driving highly pre-qualified prospective customers to any web site. The most controllable form of search engine placement is the pay-per-click model. Pay-per-click search listings allow companies to bid for placement within the search results users select. Those willing to pay more can appear higher in the search results. Companies bid for the specific search terms that their listings will appear as search results for. When a user searches for, or is using, a search term you have bid for, your listing will be displayed as one of the search results.

Unlike other forms of search engine marketing, PPC is agreeable to all parties. While SEO through tweaking HTML and exploiting loopholes in algorithms can be seen by search engines as destructive and damaging, PPC is seen as supportive and healthy. Basically, PPC is the one way you can get whatever relevant placement you wish on search engines without being an enemy to the engine in question. It does cost more in many cases, but the predictability and stability means that the ROI is also more stable.