Google PPC

Paid Search Engines (PPC)

Pay Per Click Search Engines can be one of the most powerful strategies in your arsenal as an affiliate marketer. It can also be very expensive if not done properly.

PPC is the fastest way to generate traffic to your website. PPC requires some money to get started but you don't need to have a lot to start driving a substantial amount of traffic to your website. Pay per click ads are the ads you see when you're searching in Google or any or other search engine. Take a look at the screenshot below if you're uncertain what PPC ads look like or where they appear.

How They Work

Pay Per Click Search Engines work on a bidding system. There are three basic ideas that you need to understand.

  1. You bid on keywords.
  2. The search engine then determines where your ad will be shown when that keyword is searched for.
  3. You don't pay until your ad is clicked.

It's a simple yet effective system and you only pay for interested searchers. There are two kinds of PPC bidding systems: Linear and Quality Score.

Linear Bid Systems

The linear bidding system is basic and more obvious than the quality score system. If you bid higher on a keyword than your competitor then you'll be placed higher in the sponsored listing. If you bid lower you'll be placed lower. It's as simple as that.

In the case of equal bidding between advertisers the higher ranking goes to the advertiser with the most time in the system.

MIVA.com is an example of a linear bid PPC search engine.