Pay per click search engines and pay per click advertising provides web site owners the opportunity to buy their way to better positions on search results pages. Learn about pay per click, the costs, and if it is a viable option for your site.

1. What Is Pay Per Click?

Pay per click advertising on search engines allows you choose keywords you would like your site to appear for when a search is performed. You decide how much you are willing to pay each time a person clicks on the search results. The more you are willing to pay per click, the higher your site will appear in the results for the keywords you choose.

There are hundreds of pay per click search engines.

Generally, the larger the pay per click search engine, the more you will have to bid to get to the top for your keywords. This is why it is worth investigating different search engines to find what it would cost to bid on your keywords and how much traffic they draw.

The largest companies in the pay per click industry are Yahoo! and Google. Google is not a pay per click search engine, but it does provide pay per click advertising in text ad boxes to the right of search results it delivers. It also delivers pay per click ads to other content sites.

To find more pay per click search engines, take a look at those listed in the box in the right column of this page.

These pay per click search engines are not as large as Overture and Google, but they are worth a look. As mentioned above, one advantage these search engines can provide is they generally have lower costs per click to rank for a keyword than the larger search engines.

In addition to the general pay per click search engines, you may also be able to find thematic search engines that serve your industry or specifically cater to your target audience.

A very important point to keep in mind with pay per click is you must test, test, and test some more. Don't start off with a major investment. Start with the minimum and see how the search engine performs in terms of the traffic it delivers and how well that traffic converts into paying customers.

An essential part of your testing is having a method in place that allows you to track your return on money invested.

For example, if your goal is to bring in new subscribers to your newsletter, you could direct visitors arriving from your pay per click link to a subscription form set up just for them. You can then monitor how many clicks actually result in a new subscription. As such, you will know how much you are paying for each new subscriber.

Before spending any money with a pay per click search engine, be sure they can answer the following questions:

• How many searches a month are performed at the search engine?

• What major search partners or affiliates does the search engine have?

• How many searches are generated each month by the search partners or affiliates?

• Is it possible to opt out of having your listing appear in the results of the affiliate sites?

• What fraud prevention mechanisms are in place?

• What is the procedure for filing a "fraudulent clicks" report?

• Will an account be credited for fraudulent clicks discovered?

• Is it possible to opt out of having a listing appear for searches originating from specific countries?

• Is there a posted terms of service for search partners or affiliates. Look for search engines that have very strict guidelines for dealing with their search affiliates. This is important because you want to be sure the search engine is working hard to prevent fraud among its affiliates.

Recommended Articles:

• Managing a Responsible Pay-Per-Click Campaign - It is crucial to the success of the campaign that you pay a reasonable price for each visitor, that each visitor is highly targeted, and that you monitor your positions to maintain your exposure over time.

Check the Article Archives:

• More Articles About Pay Per Click - Check the Search Engine News Archives for articles about Pay Per Click. The articles are arranged by date with the newest articles first. This will allow you to get the most up to date information and then do further research on older articles.

4. Pay Per Click Affiliate Programs

Some pay per click search engines run affiliate programs that allow you to place their search form on your site. You are then paid for the visitors from your site that use the search form and click on one of the results.

5. Pay Per Click Search Engines

Be sure and visit our Pay Per Click Search Engines directory.