PPC Search Advertising
Sponsored search listings are the direct result of pay per click search campaigning.
Sponsored search listings are found within search engine results pages alongside organic search listings.
A visual example of PPC sponsored listings can be found for each of the major search engines below. The areas described by the blue windows are sponsored pay per click listings, with the top ad ranked number 1 for that particular keyword.
Google Sponsored Search Listings - Click On Image To Zoom
Google Sponsored Search Listings (Paid-for Referrals)
Yahoo! Sponsored Search Listings - Click On Image To Zoom
Yahoo! Sponsored Search Listings (Paid-for Referrals)
MSN Sponsored Search Listings - Click On Image To Zoom
MSN Sponsored Search Listings (Paid-for Referrals)
When looking at how common search engines rank competing pay per click adverts, there are 2 determining factors that search engines use to rank adverts:
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Quality Score
The adverts associated quality between keywords, ad text and landing page content. User experience is of great importance to search engines and that is the reason this factor is included.
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CPC Maximum Bid Amount
The maximum cost per click bid you are willing to pay for a specific search query.
The product of the factors, called a Rank Number, is compared to the rank numbers calculated for all other PPC ads competing for the same keyword and is sorted according to Rank Number. The highest rank number is given position number 1 within the SERP for that keyword.
