What is pay per click advertising? Pay per clicks are part of a internet advertising model that is used on advertising networks, content websites and search engines. It is where an advertiser is only required to pay for their advertising effort when a user actually clicks on their advertisement and travels to their website.
When it comes to search engines, advertisers can bid on keywords that match their keyword list. Then when someone performs a search engine query that matches the keyword, the advertisement will display. If the searcher clicks on the displayed advertisement, which is often referred to as a sponsored ad or a sponsored link, then the advertiser pays a specific bid amount for the “pay per clicks” results. The bid is always placed ahead of time based on the popularity of and competition of the keyword.
These advertisements for pay per clicks can also appear on a content page in any place that a webmaster or a blogger chooses. This form of advertising is especially popular on websites that are heavy in terms of content. The theory being the advertisements can be placed on each individual content page and the webmaster or blogger that maintains the website can earn a share of the income generated by the advertisements.
Content websites can generally charge a fixed price for a click instead of using the bidding mechanism that programs designed for pay per clicks offer, like Yahoo Search Marketing and Google AdWords for example. The third largest network for pay per click advertising is the Microsoft AdCenter, at least as of around 2007.
Minimum prices for pay per clicks, known as cost per click or CPC, can vary significantly depending on the search engine that you use as well as the level of competition that exists for the specific phrase or keyword. Some CPCs are only US $0.01, while others can easily cost as much as $14.00 or $15.00 USD.
How Keyword Based Pay Per Click Advertising Works
Keyword based pay per click advertising is based on bidding on search terms, which are keywords consisting of a single word or a phrase, and even a product model number or the name of a company. When a user searches for that particular keyword, the list of advertiser links will appear in the search engine results based on how much was bid by each advertiser for the given keyword in question.
For this reason, a keyword like “blog” is going to come with higher bid rates and much more competition. Whereas a keyword like “learn how to write a blog post” (known as a longtail keyword/keyword phrase), will have fewer competitors and a lower bid price. Ultimately it is up to the discretion of the advertiser which keywords they choose for their pay per click campaigns.
Keywords are the very heart and sole of the concept of PPC or Pay Per Click advertising, and many advertisers regard them as trade secrets which are highly valued by those who use them. In addition to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, there are numerous other PPC search engines that are notable, including Ask.com, Baidu, LookSmart, MIVA and Yandex.
Pay per click advertising is one of the main advertising strategies for businesses across all industries. But when it comes to growing your business, there are thousands of little things that your digital marketing team should be doing for you to make sure that you are reaching your target audience.
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