Paid search marketing – or pay per click / PPC (see a full list of names paid search goes by below) –allows you to buy advertisements with the search engines.  It first entered the marketplace (with any kind of success) in 1998 via GoTo.com, which was the fore bearer to Yahoo! Search Marketing (now in a long-term contract to utilize the Microsoft adCenter interface) and an inspiration for today’s largest paid search provider, Google AdWords.

PPC Providers

Virtually all major search engines provide options to advertise with them, either:

  • Directly with them
    Ex.    : Google AdWords for Google
  • Directly with them and through another major provider
    Ex.1    : AOL Advertising and Google AdWords – via its search network – for AOL
    Ex. 2    : Naver and Yahoo! Search Marketing for Naver and its other search engines
  • Through a major provider or providers only
    Ex.    : Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing on MetaCrawler

The largest true search engine providers of paid search opportunities (mostly, but not always pay per click) follow, in order of size based on December 2009 comScore rankings* are the following search engines, with their paid search platform in parentheses:

  1. Google (Google AdWords)
  2. Yahoo! (Yahoo! Search Marketing at the time; Microsoft adCenter since November 2011)
  3. Baidu (Baidu Phoenix Nest)
  4. Microsoft (Microsoft adCenter)
  5. NHN Corporation (Naver)
  6. Yandex (Yandex Direct – the English language version)
  7. Ask (Ask Sponsored Listings)

* A couple notes here – 1. We eliminated sites like eBay and facebook that aren’t true search engines.  2. Obviously rankings taken today would look much different with bing having overtaken Yahoo! (and soon swallowing it) and Yandex experiencing huge growth.  As of mid-January 2011, this is still the latest data provided by comScore

Paid Search Names

Paid search goes by many names, including:

  • Pay Per Click, or PPC
  • Paid search, paid search marketing, & paid search engine marketing
  • Google AdWords, generically
  • Search Engine Marketing, or SEM (wrong, but common misconception)

Think of it like colas.  These may be referred to as:

  • Pop.  We get a lot of stares when we travel, but that’s what we say here in the Wheeling – Pittsburgh region.
  • Soda
  • Soda pop
  • Cola
  • Soft drink
  • Coke, generically
  • Fizzy sugar water whose acid eats away at your stomach lining

Unlike paid search, however, the term one uses for cola depends mainly on where one was born.  View our favorite statistical map of all time.

To learn more about paid search and the PPC services we offer, please use the following resources in this section and throughout our Web site:

  • Benefits of Paid Search. If you’re new to paid search, learn why so many advertisers are using pay per click services like Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter to increase their sales, leads, and branding efforts.
  • Our Paid Search Offerings. From full account management to set up and makeovers and specific tasks like negative keyword lists, learn more about the paid search services we provide.
  • Our Paid Search Certifications. Find out more about our certifications as a Google AdWords Certified Partner and from other sources.
  • The Found Blog. Our blog features news and insights on the world of search engine marketing and how to get more out of your campaigns.

Free Google AdWords Audit Offer

If you are currently running Google AdWords campaigns of $1,000 to $20,000 per month or more, you are eligible for a free Google AdWords Audit.  To learn more about this offer – or just to inquire about our paid search services – please call 800.979.3177 or click here.