Pay-per-click Marketing

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites, such as blogs, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an advertisement to visit the advertiser’s website. Typically, advertisers bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market so when a user searches said keyword or views a webpage with relevant content, the advertisements may be displayed. These advertisements are referred to as sponsored links or sponsored ads and usually appear alongside or above the "natural" or organic results on search engine result pages, or wherever a blogger or webmaster chooses on a content page. Content websites usually charge a fixed price for a click rather than use a bidding mechanism.

There are many PPC providers; however, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter are the largest network operators as of 2008. Minimum prices per click, also known as costs per click (CPC), vary depending on the search engine and the level of competition for a particular phrase or keyword list – with some CPCs as low as $0.01. The more popular the search term and the better known the search engine the more expensive a CPC can be. Although Google and other search engines have carried out systems to guard against click fraud by competitors or corrupt webmasters, the PPC advertising model is still open to it, thus monitored carefully.