Pay Per Click Search Engines - A Summary

Last Updated: 27 October 2006


The popularity of banner advertising on the Internet, and paying to be included in directories (called "paid inclusion") is waning.

One of the main reasons for this is because of the real uncertainty about whether you are getting value for money or not. People are becoming reluctant to hand over $100 for a banner ad on a web site, or $500 for a year's listing in a major search directory, because they may not get good traffic out of it. What if you're site only gets 10 visitors from your banner ad? Then you've effectively paid $10 per visitor.






Pay-per-click advertising has become extremely popular because it gets around the above problem by only charging you when you actually get visitors. Pay-per-click search engines are big business. The way they work is that you tell the search engine how much you are willing to pay per visitor. It could be 5 cents, it could be $2.00, whatever. Your site is then listed, and you are only charged each time someone actually clicks on your link or ad, and visits your site.

Pay-per-click advertising has become so popular that there are literally hundreds of opportunities out there to advertise your site in this way. We have tested and tried a few of them, and what we've done for you below is a quick summary of the top pay-per-click search engines so that you can compare them.

In future editions, we hope to do an in-depth article on each of these, telling you how to get the most out of them. In the meantime, however, we hope that this gives you some basic pointers as to which ones might be appropriate for you.

Search Engine Opening Balance
Required		 Minimum Bid
Required per click		 Notes
Google Adwords $10.00 Account fee $0.01 Australian (some terms higher) Google Adwords is separate to their normal free listings. Once account is approved, listings are "live" within minutes. Can target specific countries, states, even towns. Has one of the largest advertising reaches.
Yahoo (formerly Overture) Varies depening on country. US$50.00 Varies depending on country.
US$0.10		 Takes a few days for account to be approved. Takes a few days for all listings to be reviewed and approved before going "live". Results appear in many other engines, and therefore has one of the largest advertising reaches. Has minimum monthly spend requirements (eg. US$20 per month for US accounts).
Miva US$25.00 US$0.05 Takes a few days for account to be approved. Takes a few days for all listings to be reviewed and approved before going "live". Has quite a good reach, and keywords are generally a bit cheaper than the major two engines above.
Pulse US$50.00 US$0.05 Takes a few days for account to be approved. Takes a few days for all listings to be reviewed and approved before going "live". Has quite a good reach, and keywords are generally a bit cheaper than the major two engines above.
GoClick US$10.00 US$0.01 A cheaper alternative, although hasn't got the reach of other engines. Bids start as low as 1 cent, and listings go live almost instantly.
7-Search US$25.00 US$0.05 A cheaper alternative, although hasn't got the reach of other engines. Bids start as low as 1 cent, and listings go live almost instantly.



Contact us for more information on this topic.


Disclaimer: This page is designed to provide information only and is not a substitute for advice that is specific to your business. Before acting on any of the information above it is important you seek further advice from a professional who has taken into consideration the nature and circumstances of your business.

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