It is defined as a form of sponsored Internet advertising that is applied in a broad variety of websites (this covers the search engines), where advertisers only pay when a site visitor hovers their cursor over the ad and clicks it. This is the reason why it is called “pay-per-click”. It is an inexpensive method of promoting your official site and your products while allowing other online marketing plans to boost the official site’s search engine ranking potential.
PPC promotions operate similar to a silent auction in a way. The advertisers will put a bid on phrases or keywords that they hope will market their websites to their target audience based on their internet searching and purchasing habits. The moment a user types an inquiry in the search engine and an advertiser’s keyword is in it, or if the user lands on a web page that has content which is related to the advertiser’s chosen phrases or keywords, the page might show the pay-per-click advertisement. The SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) would normally display the aforementioned link at the top or upper right of the search results where the users can easily spot them. Other sites will place these ads in the area where it is the most advantageous for the advertiser and the website.
Going back to the search engines, the webmasters will regularly separate the natural search results from the pay-per-clicks by labeling the ads with “Sponsored Links” or “Sponsored Ads”. This will also make them more obvious on a web page that is filled with text or other objects that are vying for the attention of the user.
At the end of the day, this type of promotion is beneficial to both web users and advertisers. The target audience will be aware of the advertiser, and the advertiser will only be charged whenever a site visitor clicks on their PPC link. The users on the other hand get to choose from sites that could be related to what they are searching for without bothering with despicable pop-ups and banners that distract and flash.
