SEO Firm | Search Engine Optimization Tips & Advice

Pay-Per-Click Search

Although Organic Search Engine Optimization often leads to more clicks in the long run than any of the pay-per-click alternatives, the process of optimizing a site for search engines is often a tedious process, and sometimes even leads to sites which do not look exactly as you might hope.

Peppering of search terms throughout the site might often lead to pages which are more difficult to read.

Using text rather than images or Flash might lead to sites that seem too wordy, rather than using a picture or video to better convey the thoughts.

The organic search engine optimization among your competitors might require much more work on your part to compete with them than you are prepared to deal with.

You might not have the time to waste waiting for your site to slowly creep up the list to get to the first or second page.

If any or all of these reasons fit you, or if you are looking for a secondary source of traffic (in addition to your organic results), pay-per-click may be right for you.

Pay-per-click is offered by several search engines, but the most notable of these are Google, which offers Adsense, and Overture. The results of these two programs are seen on a multitude of sites from the major search engines to the smallest of web sites.

Pay-per-click involves bidding for clickable ads to appear on a site, and hopefully get clicked on. You only pay for those ads that are actually clicked on, not just how many times they are shown. Here is an example of how it might work. You offer to pay Google or Overture $0.05 per click to be shown on the web sites that are involved in displaying the ads on behalf of these companies. If $0.05 is high enough, you might be shown on a web site, and thus have the opportunity to have your link clicked and a new visitor and potential customer on your sites. If it is not enough, you might have to be willing to pay more money per click, bidding against other competition that have chosen the same search term that you have chosen. In some of the most sought-after terms, companies are willing to pay many dollars per click. Each click is not a guaranteed sale, so you have to decide whether you are willing to pay what might be required to be in the top 3 to 5 sites shown for your search term.