PPC Pay per Click Search Engine Advertising

By Mark Sceats

PPC ‘Pay Per Click’ advertising enables you to have your website listed at the very top of the crucial first page search results in Google, Yahoo! and other top search engines. Because it is so effective in delivery customers to websites PPC advertising has shown huge growth in recent times.

With PPC engines you bid for position. Essentially the highest bids get the highest rankings (there are twists, but that's it in a nutshell).

Whilst there are numerous smaller PPC search engines Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing dominate the space and are the ones you should focus on first.

Google AdWords

Google didn't invent PPC and in fact were a relatively late starter. However, common to most things Google does, they have become the world's leading player in this space because they do it so well.

Google AdWords listings appear on search result pages as text advertisements on the top and right hand side of Google search result pages.

This provides massive high visibility exposure due to Google’s popularity as the leading global search engine. AdWords advertisements get further exposure by also being run on Google's network of search partners, such as AOL. Google's AdWords program is the largest and fastest growing ad platform in the world.

AdWords ads can also be displayed on non-search sites that are in the Google "AdSense" network. AdSense allows website publishers to display relevant Google ads on their website's content pages and share the money Google earns each time an ad is clicked on. A surprisingly number of website owners earn big money doing this.

Yahoo Search Marketing

This is used to be called Overture and before that "Goto". Goto was the very first PPC search engine and pioneered the wholes concept. Today Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM) has to play second fiddle to Google AdWords, however it's still the #2 player and shouldn't be overlooked. (Based on Nielsen//NetRatings, Q3 2005 YSM claim to each over 90% of active Internet users on top search engine sites).

Yahoo! Search Marketing advertisements are the ‘sponsor listings’ that appear on the top of search results of leading sites like Yahoo! plus numerous partner web sites, such as MSN & CNN.com.

To sign up for YSM and get a $25 credit click this button:

Now you've met the key PPC players let's look at why PPC advertising is so effective at driving buying customers to websites.

You Only Pay if it Works!

One of the most appealing aspects of PPC advertising to marketers is that its costs are performance-based. Payment is on a per click basis and you only pay for people who click through to your site.

This is a fundamental difference to most other forms of advertising.

If you currently advertise on TV, radio, or newspapers etc how many of them say only pay us if your advertising works?

I'll bet the answer is a big fat zero. They'll readily take your money but the risk is all yours.

That's just one reason for you to consider shifting some of the advertising budget you spend with them to PPC advertising. More reasons to do this are given below...

In case you're wondering. PPC advertising is different to online banner advertising both in terms of effectiveness (PPC is more effective) and charge model (banner advertising is charged on a cost per view or impression basis).

According to Internet research firm Jupiter Media Metrix search engines are faring well in the current soft online advertising market because they are among the few that have successfully aligned the needs of both consumers and marketers.

Paid search placement models are succeeding because consumers are finding relevant listings much faster on paid search engines, while advertisers are only paying for qualified lead traffic on a per-click basis. This makes paid search engine listings a win-win situation.

Pay-per-click search engines are much like auctions - they allow you to bid for top-ranking positions under keywords of your choice. For each visitor who searches the keyword(s) you rank under and then clicks through to your website, you pay whatever you bid. Prices range from 5 cents to many dollars per click-through for popular keywords.

1. You only pay for advertising that works because you only pay when someone actually clicks through to your web site. This means that, managed well, pay-per-click search engines can be a cheap way to draw targeted traffic to your web site.
    
2. Pay-per-click search engines will list your site almost immediately (times range from a few hours to a few days depending on the PPC engine). So rather than waiting weeks or months for your web site to be listed as with free inclusion search engines, you can start profiting from the increased traffic and sales almost immediately.
    
3. By outbidding other competing sites you'll rank Number 1 in most PPC search engines (Google Adwords Select have a relevancy factor built in that ensures the most relevant ads bidding appear highest).