PPC Marketing

Emerging from the banner ads and click through rankings of the early 2000s, pay per click saw initial innovation when Google introduced AdWords Select in early 2002. Google now controls about 50% of the PPC Market share, followed by Yahoo at 25%. AdWords shows the selected ad near relevant search results, as well as on content and search sites within the Google Network.

Pay per click is an Internet-based advertising model used on search engines, content websites and advertising networks where advertising clients pay only when a consumer clicks though the ad to visit that client's website.

Typically the PPC ad is based on keywords to reach a designated target market. When the consumer enters a keyword or phrase into the search engine that matches the client's keyword list, the ad is displayed. The ads appear adjacent to or above the natural search engine results.

The largest PPC providers currently are Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft Ad Center. The minimum cost per click (CPC) varies based upon competition for the keywords and the search engines’ standards.

Since the design of PPC is performance-driven, the client pays only when a consumer clicks on the ad. PPC allows constant control of what the ad says on the results page, and can be changed quickly.

The client chooses the bid total for each keyword term, controls how much is spent each day and can alter the campaign with a click of the mouse.