The term PPC is short for Pay-Per-Click, and is now one of the most popular forms of internet advertising. Online ads appear in the form of text or images, and are displayed on blogs, search engines, and websites. Advertisers compete for and bid on keyword phrases. When their ads appear in search results and receive a click, the advertisers are charged for each click.
There are numerous PPC advertising networks, but the most prominent are Google AdWords, MSN adCenter, and Yahoo Search Marketing. Google delivers significantly more ad impressions, and therefore is the most widely utilized of any search engine. Advertisers typically pay more in CPC (Cost-Per-Click) in comparison to other search engines.
The cost an advertiser pays for a click is dependent on type of keywords being targeted. Typically, higher traffic keywords result in higher CPC and less traffic keywords have a lower CPC. Keyword costs will be different from one advertiser to another due to the variety of factors that search engines use to help determine what an advertiser's minimum CPC should be.
Search engines can determine the amount to charge on CPC by measuring how relevant an offer is to an advertisers targeted keyword. Google, for example, uses a Quality Score (QS) system that determines the relevancy of keywords to the ads being used on a landing page. If the Quality score is high, a keywords CPC will be lowered, and the ad position will be increased. Click-Through-Ration and the relevancy of landing pages are also factors which determine a favorable, or unfavorable quality score.
Most PPC ads are placed on the top right hand side of most Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). They are typically identified or labeled as Sponsored Links, Sponsored Results, Sponsored Sites, or some similar description. The remaining section of a Search Engine Result Page displays natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO) results.
PPC has fast emerged as one of the most popular online advertising methods. The main reason is that an advertiser will only pay for "click" results in PPC advertising. Another reason that follows a close second is that PPC campaigns appear quickly in search engine queries"often within minutes or a few days. These results are far better that what can expected through SEO, where it can take several months or longer to rank for the same key terms. PPC, if planned and executed correctly, can provide a great ROI for an internet business owner.
An effective PPC campaign can be set up fairly easy in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. However, setting up an effective campaign often proves tricky for most individuals because the variables involved. Choosing key terms is immensely important, and can prove to be quite costly if the wrong key terms are chosen. Success is a combination of how a campaign is structured, effective landing page creation, continuous testing, and cost effective bid optimization.
Many successful companies are taking complete advantage of the benefits PPC can offer; and branding and profit are at the top of the list. There are some people that can manage their own PPC campaign with limited success, but it is highly recommended to employ search marketing professionals who understand the business inside and out. The business of PPC is continually evolving, and with competitors entering the playing field daily, a business will need the latest search marketing techniques to stay on top of it's game.