Paid Search Engine Listings

Paid search engine listings are a particularly effective form of pay per click advertising (PPC). Paid listing is an advertising method where advertisers only pay when a user clicks on an ad and visits the advertiser's website. Ads are served primarily through search engines and advertising networks. A successful pay per click campaign hinges on the keywords that are selected for it. Keywords are chosen based on what the target market will use as search-terms in the search engines to find given goods and services. When a user types a query related to one of the keywords an advertiser has bid on into a search engine, the user will be presented with with advertiser's ad. The ad may be displayed in the "sponsored links" or "sponsored ads" section next to, and possibly above the regular or "organic" results on search engine results pages.

Keywords are treated like commodities and are bid on, more popular keywords cost more than than less sought after keywords. Minimum prices per click can be as low as a few cents, more popular keywords and phrases cost more.

Contextual ads are very affordable costing upwards from a few cents per click based on how comptitive the placement in the website is. More highly sought placements cost more and are bid on the same way paid search engine listings are.