Article printed from SEO-News: http://www.seo-news.com
  HTML version available at: http://www.seo-news.com/archives.html

A Beginner's Guide to Pay Per Click Marketing
By Kalena Jordan (c) 2008

Pay Per Click (PPC) search engine marketing refers to a specific
type of advertising where you pay a search engine every time a
potential customer clicks on your ad. These ads appear on search
engine results pages and sometimes on sites within a search
engine's network of partners.

How do Pay Per Click Ads Work?

If you look at a search engine results page (SERP) carefully,
you can generally distinguish between search results that are
regular algorithmic or "organic" search listings and PPC search
results which are actually paid advertisements. The latter are
generally listed under the headings "sponsored results" or
"featured listings" and consist of specially designed text,
image or video ads that are triggered to display when your
target keywords are used in a search query. The PPC ads
generally appear on the right hand side and/or at the top of the
search results pages.

To appear in the PPC results, advertisers sign up for the PPC
program of their choice and create short text ads, image ads or
videos describing the product or service available on their site
in a way that will best entice searchers to visit it. During the
program setup, an advertiser will decide which trigger
keywords/phrases they wish to bid on and how much they are
willing to pay when a visitor clicks on their ad. Generally, the
higher the bid, the more likely their ad will show above their
competitor's.

The Origins of Pay Per Click Marketing

The PPC industry was pioneered by GoTo.com (later re-branded as
Overture (http://www.overture.com/) before it was purchased by
Yahoo! in July 2003). Despite their enormous success, GoTo's PPC
model was met with a lot of skepticism in the industry following
their IPO in 1999. Their eventual purchase by Yahoo put to rest
any doubts that pay per click advertising was here to stay.

In October 2000, Google (http://www.google.com/) which was
eventually to become the world's most popular search engine,
launched (http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/
pressrelease39.html) their own keywords advertising model
(Google AdWords), blending algorithmic search results with pay
per impression ads.

In 2002, in an attempt to compete more successfully with
Overture, Google expanded (http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/
pressrel/select.html) AdWords to include the pay per click
pricing model we are familiar with today. This model proved
both more popular and more successful and eventually replaced
the pay-per-impression model as the default system.

By 2002, GoTo (by then rebranded as Overture), had distribution
deals with an impressive range of search engines including
Yahoo!, MSN, AltaVista, InfoSpace and a number of meta search
engines including MetaCrawler and Ixquick. Overture's powerful
distribution network guaranteed advertisers placement of their
ads in front of a LOT of eyeballs and it became clear that many
were willing to pay big bucks for the privilege. Other major
search engines also formed successful distribution partnerships
with PPC providers during this time, noticeably AOL, AskJeeves
and MSN with Google AdWords. The pay per click industry had
officially arrived.

Scores of PPC search engines began to spring up following
Overture's lead, however the PPC industry continued to be
dominated by the two big PPC players, Overture and Google
AdWords, while Yahoo!, MSN, AOL and Google fought it out for
dominance in the general search market.

In July 2003, in a move that shocked the industry, Yahoo!
purchased Overture to enable them to better compete with market
leader Google. In April 2005 they rebranded (http://docs.yahoo.com/
docs/pr/release1229.html) the PPC engine as Yahoo! Search
Marketing (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/) and in 2006 they
launched (http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/
ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=221751) a revamped version of the
service, code-named Panama.

Meanwhile, in October 2005, Microsoft quietly launched their own
PPC service (http://battellemedia.com/archives/001943.php) called
MSN adCenter (https://adcenter.microsoft.com/).  An official
launch (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/may06/
05-03SAS7PR.mspx) in the US, together with a name change to
Microsoft AdCenter occurred in May 2006. In May 2007, Microsoft
revamped AdCenter with new features and rolled it out
(http://advertising.microsoft.com/news-events/adCenter-upgrade?
s_int=us_20070514_hp_adcenter_001) to advertisers worldwide.

Currently, Yahoo and Google continue to dominate the PPC
landscape, although Microsoft AdCenter is beginning to make an
impact. Second tier PPC engines such as MIVA
(http://www.espotting.com/) (formerly Espotting
and FindWhat) and Kanoodle (http://www.kanoodle.com/) are fast
catching up to the majors.

There are now hundreds of PPC search engines worldwide,
servicing global, regional and niche markets, but only a few
that have achieved a significant market share of advertising
revenue. A summary of the majors are listed below.

Yahoo! Sponsored Search

Yahoo! Sponsored Search (http://www.jdoqocy.com/
click-1701995-9460467) is the current name for what was
originally called Overture Precision Match. Yahoo! Sponsored
Search prominently displays your site in search results on some
of the top U.S. search properties that Yahoo! partners with.
With Sponsored Search, you set the price you're willing to pay
for each customer who clicks on your listing.

Your ads appear at the top, bottom or right hand side of Yahoo
search results pages under the heading "Sponsor Results". Your
ads are triggered on search result pages when searchers enter
the keyword combinations that you've bid on. Your ads can be
targeted by language and country.

If you create a keyword campaign and you use the ContentMatch
option, your bid also buys you top listings on Yahoo's partner
sites (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/
srch_affnw.php?mkt=us) AltaVista, InfoSpace, eBay, CitySearch,
AllTheWeb and a range of news and content portals, such as
USAToday, National Geographic, iVillage and NBC.

Google AdWords

Google AdWords (https://adwords.google.com/) gives web site
owners the ability to promote their site when particular keyword
or phrase searches are conducted at Google and partner sites.
Your ads appear at the top or on the right side of search
results pages in a "call out" box under the heading "Sponsored
Links". Your AdWords text, image or video ads appear on search
result pages for the keywords you buy, and can be targeted by
language and country.

With Google AdWords cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, you pay only
when a customer clicks on your ad, regardless of how many times
it's shown. Google adjusts your bids automatically to keep you
ahead of your competition at the lowest possible price. Google
AdWords results appear on Google search results pages, Google's
distribution partner sites, Google Gmail, and numerous content
sites which are syndicated through the Google AdSense program.

Microsoft AdCenter

Microsoft adCenter (https://adcenter.microsoft.com/) is the
newest kid on the Pay Per Click block. It includes the ability
to target your ads to MSN Live Search (http://www.live.com/)
users who match your target regional and demographic criteria.

Microsoft adCenter allows you to submit base bids for keywords
or phrases you associate with your ads. This base bid is the
maximum amount you are willing to pay if any Live Search user
searches for one of your keywords and clicks your ad. You can
also increase your bid in order to reach specific audience
targets, which help increase the chance your ad will appear for
a user who fits your buyer profile.

Targeted bidding in the Campaigns tab allows you to add amounts
to your base bid to increase the possibility that your ad will
show to searchers who fit your optimum buyer profile. You can
use your bid amounts to influence your ad's position in the Live
Search results. In general, the more you bid, the higher the
position your ad will have.

You can use Microsoft's Intelligent Targeting feature to adjust
your ads to match these variables:

  • Geographical location
  • Age and gender
  • Day of the week
  • Time of day (morning, afternoon, or night)

Interestingly, Microsoft pitches the ability to "build brand
awareness" with their PPC program, due to the continued exposure
of your ad and brand to a large market, regardless of whether
that ad attracts clicks. This is an important feature of all
major PPC programs but one that is rarely promoted by Google or
Yahoo!

Perhaps brand-building is adCenter's Unique Selling Proposition
(USP) because Microsoft claim to reach more potential eyeballs
than their competitors: over 99 million people per month have
access to their Live Search tool across MSN (http://www.msn.com/)
and Windows Live (http://www.live.com/).

The Advantages of Pay Per Click Advertising

The growth of the search industry worldwide has created a huge
market for paid search advertising and most search engines and
directories now have some type of Pay For Performance or Pay Per
Click (PPC) element to them.

Pay Per Click advertising:

  • Enables webmasters to target geographical and niche
    markets more precisely via specific search queries.

  • Enables webmasters to have their page URL displayed at
    the top of the search engine results pages without having
    to figure out complex search engine algorithms or pay an
    SEO expert to tweak their site for higher rankings.

  • Enables webmasters to receive new traffic instantly.

  • Enables a website or offline store to be found by
    search engine users even if no site exists or the site
    is not search engine compatible.

  • Enables small businesses to operate globally and
    compete on an equal footing with much larger competitors.

  • Enables instant sales and more measurable ROI via
    conversion tracking.

  • Enables more precise visitor pathways to be plotted
   (e.g. by leading visitors to specific landing pages).

  • Enables campaigns to be switched on and off on-demand
    to meet specific needs, search trends or specific events
   (e.g. Christmas sale)
================================================================
Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine
optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and
respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as
running a daily Search Engine Advice Column
(http://www.searchenginecollege.com/blog.htm), Kalena manages
Search Engine College (http://www.searchenginecollege.com/) - an
online training institution offering instructor-led short courses
and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization
and other Search Engine Marketing subjects.
================================================================

Copyright © 2008 Jayde Online, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

SEO-News is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.