Pay per click, also known as PPC, is a form of internet advertising that is used to promote web sites to users who are searching for individual keywords, products, information, or any type of search result you can think of. Search engines have millions of visitors using their site to find the best content online, which allows advertisers to find a whole new audience by tapping into PPC advertising on these search engines.
Advertisers will pay a cost per click amount, which will vary depending on the keyword they are trying to display for, and the amount of volume and competition in that niche. If there are multiple advertisers bidding on the same keyword, the advertiser that is paying the most money per click is usually shown at the top of the list
It’s very important that you understand the costs and methods used to promote a web site through pay per click marketing. Google won’t display just any advertiser on their site, instead they qualify advertisers based on the quality of their site and content. The better your site content, and more relevant to the keywords you are attempting to bid on, the less money you will have to pay per click.
As an advertiser on a search engine, your advertisement will be displayed every time someone searches for your specific keyword or phrase. You will only need to pay for your advertising whenever someone clicks on your search listing advertisement.
In addition to Google, two other major search engines that rely on pay per click advertising as their main source of revenue, are Bing.com (Microsoft) and Yahoo.com.
The concept of pay per click and search marketing is nothing new. in February 1998, Goto.com was the first search engine to bring pay per click marketing to live. Then, just a 25 per company, was later acquired by Yahoo for $1.63 billion. While PPC marketing probably would have been created anyway, the original credit goes to Bill Gross, who was the founder of Idealab and Goto.com.
