Pay Per Click Search Engines
What is a Pay-Per-Click Search Engine?
The term Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Search Engine refers to a typical search engine, such as Google.com or Yahoo!, that offers a special Sponsored Results product. See a print screen of a sponsored results page below, or learn more about our PPC Advertising Service on our pay per click advertising page.
PPC in a nutshell is a way to bid for the highest spot (in the Sponsored Results section) of a given search engine. One of the first pioneers of this type of program was Overture, now Yahoo! Search Marketing. Bids started as low as 5 cents per click (anytime someone clicks your ad, it's a 'click'). Today, bids for popular keywords can start at over $10; many companies budget over $2,000 per month just on PPC alone.
Select a Pay Per Click Search Engine for More Info:
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Recommended Google AdWords Yahoo! Search Marketing MIVA |
LookSmart.com Search123 Enhance.com Kanoodle.com Lycos Insite AdBuyer ePilot.com GoClick.com SearchFeed.com |
Example of Sponsored Results
The best part of using pay per click search engines is the fact that you can set your own budget.
The bad part is that your budget may only buy you 200 unique visits, depending on how much your competitors are willing to bid.
Manage Your Ads Effectively
By using ad tracking software, you'll not only reduce the risk of fraud, but you'll also have an detailed reporting metrix to analyze your strategy & results.
Pick Your Audience
Don't get reamed by the pay per click search engines, be selective of the keywords you use so as to not blow your entire budget on one click. Use a program such as WordTracker to find the most effective keywords for your campaign.
By effective we mean lots of searchers, and little competition. Also be extremely specific in your ad, adding pricing or comparison data whenever possible.
Comparing the Pay Per Click Search Engines
Google AdWords [extracted from Google.com]
Google AdWords aims to provide the most effective advertising available for businesses of any size. They pledge to help you meet your customer acquisition needs by enabling you to:
- Reach people looking for your product or service
- Fully control your ad budget
- Easily create and edit your ads
- See your ads on Google within minutes of creating them
They also strive to give you the most friendly and knowledgeable customer service possible. You can expect a prompt response to your email questions, typically within one business day. You'll also have 24/7 access to detailed performance reports that help you track the effectiveness of your ad campaigns.
Google's ads are placed at Google.com as well as on America Online, Ask Jeeves, Earthlink, Lycos Canada, Netscape, Compuserve, AT&T Worldnet and NYTimes.com. Most recently added distribution through the Walt Disney Internet Group Web Properties - Disney.com, FamilyFun.com, Go.com and Movies.com.
Our Review
One definitely needs training before entering the Google AdWords battlefield. If you just creating ads for one company, then you only have two numbers ($$) to worry about: The maximum Cost Per Click (CPC) per ad group, and the daily budget of the campaign.
However, we learned that managing multiple campaigns takes a bid of math work and some indepth analysis of competitor CPC data. Thankfully, we were able to find some pay per click search engine info for AdWords, which definitely made the difference.
Our Rating of Google's Pay Per Click Search Engine:
- Reach: A+
- Speed of Ad Placement: A+
- Usability: B
- Keyword Analysis Tools: A-
- Online Documentation: A
- Reporting Tools: B+
Click here to signup for Google AdWords
Yahoo! Search Marketing [YSM] (formerly Overture), is our second choice in our search for pay-per-click search engines. Their program offers a suite of tools to automate your PPC Advertising campaign. While not as syndicated as Google's ad placement structure, the reach for Yahoo!'s ads is definitely a close second.
One of the tools that made Overture so popular was their Keyword Suggestion Tool, or KWST. However, many people are now discovering that the numbers derived from the results of the KWST are a bit skewed, since it merges singular and plural words and isn't case-sensitive.
YSM PPC ads are placed on Yahoo.com, MSN, Excite.com Altavista.com, MetaCrawler.com and the InfoSpace Network (Dogpile.com, Excite.com, etc).
Our Review
We were extremely pleased with the usability and tools that this pay per click search engine offered. However, we were disappointed at the time it took for our ads to be seen on YSM's network. Each ad we created had to be reviewed by YSM staff, in some cases taking up to 4 days.
The auto-pilot feature is a great way to make sure your bid remains the highest, so you can enjoy a nice vacation while knowing that you're not being out-bid while you're away.
Our rating of YSM's Pay Per Click Search Engine:
- Reach: B+
- Speed of Ad Placement: C
- Usability: A
- Keyword Analysis Tools: B
- Online Documentation: A-
- Reporting Tools: A
Click here to signup for Yahoo! Search Marketing
MIVA, formerly FindWhat, is a new and rapidly growing pay per click search engine. Outside of being more cost effective than Overture, this PPC site offers a unique feature that the others don't: It places its ads on the search results of the default Microsoft Internet Explorer search results.
MIVA faces two challenges, however. The first is the Google Toolbar, which replaces the default IE search. As more people start using this toolbar, MIVA's reach may significantly decrease. The second challenge is going to be keeping the cost down. Google, YSM and MSN don't like competition; MIVA may have a budget crisis if they don't eventually raise their cost.
Ads placed by MIVA appear on CNET's Search.com, Excite.com, Webcrawler, MetaCrawler, DogPile.com, and Microsoft Internet Explorer Autosearch.
Our Review
We fell in love with two things on MIVA: The price and the ROI tool. Yes, you can actually measure ROI on this pay per click search engine. We weren't super impressed with the overall reach of MIVA ads, and ad review can take up to 3 or 4 days. Overall, MIVA does a great job and offers some very nice tools to boot.
Our rating of MIVA's Pay Per Click Search Engine:
- Reach: B-
- Speed of Ad Placement: C
- Usability: A
- Keyword Analysis Tools: B
- Online Documentation: B+
- Reporting Tools: B+
Click here to sign up for MIVA