The search engines were looking for money and the advertisers had it. At the same time, the search engines did not want to give up on the basic sanctity of the search results page by plastering it with advertisers' graphics and banners. The search engines realized that banner ads would not be as lucrative as the PPC ads because a search page could accommodate only 1-2 banners at the most whereas it could accommodate 8-10 PPC ads. So, the idea was to integrate advertisements with the natural search results - this would keep the user experience intact, deliver the goods for the advertiser, and make money for the search engine. This is where the basic structure and style of a PPC ad in PPC search engine Internet marketing took shape.

Next, search engines wanted to attract not only the big advertisers but also small companies, so that their revenues could come from a vast number of advertisers. This is why PPC advertising grew so immensely popular.

How PPC search engine marketing works

PPC search engine marketing has spread like a virus and is seen all over nowadays. PPC search engines internet advertising such as Google, Yahoo (Overture), Ask, Miva, and many more, require the advertisers to bid on keywords and key phrases - which are nothing but the words that a visitor will search for - and every time the advertiser's ad is clicked upon, he is charged the bid amount.

If the advertiser bids high on keywords, he is given a good ranking on the search results page. Before unleashing a PPC campaign, the advertiser has to pay up an initial deposit which will keep getting adjusted as and when his keywords are clicked upon.

Major PPC search engines

You may already be knowing that Google and Yahoo are the top PPC search engine web marketing and you may feel that you do not need to know any more. What you do not know is that your product or service may be better off on a different search engine. Here then is a list of the top 10 pay per click search engines in the US:

• Google AdWords
• Yahoo Search Marketing (also called Overture)
• Search123
• Enhance
• SearchFeed
• MIVA (formerly, FindWhat)
• Look Smart
• Kanoodle
• ePilot
• GoClick

Remember, the larger the search engine, the more you have to bid for the keywords.

PPC search engine features

There are mass PPC search engines and there are niche engines. And each PPC search engine has some or the other basic features that they jazz up to lure in advertisers. Here are some of the important features you must look for in a PPC search engine:

Basic traffic

Every search engine boasts of traffic and what percentage of the global eyeballs they have captured. You must spend some time to find out how much of the total traffic is the original traffic and how much of it is coming from affiliates. Also, if you are planning to sell a product or a service within the US, then you must find out how much traffic is coming from abroad, which is of no use to you.

Anti-fraud software

Every PPC search engine regularly proclaims that it is equipped with the best anti-fraud software. Well, do not accept anything without first checking on it.

Opt-out facility

Can you opt out of your PPC campaign anytime you wish? Or, are there shackles imposed by the PPC search engine?

Fraud reimbursement

If a click fraud happens on your PPC ad, will the search engine compensate you?

Strict affiliate policy

Check to see if the PPC search engine has a very strict policy about their affiliates: whether they monitor the affiliate sites strictly and ban them if they are a source of click fraud. Any search engine that has a loose affiliate policy is not worth its salt.

Experts say that Google is the best for hardware and software, while Yahoo is great for consumer products. Likewise, there will be different search engines that are more tailored to your product than Google or Yahoo.