Pay for position search engines, also known as pay for rank or
pay per click engines were pioneered just a few years ago by
Goto.com. In the beginning, Goto.com was disregarded by many
Internet experts who were confident that Webmasters would not
choose to pay for a search engine position. At that time, the
assumption was valid, given that most popular search engines
accepted new sites into their listings free of charge.
Several years later, however, the Internet is a radically
different place. Many big player search engines are struggling
to break-even financially, their listings are populated with
spam, which over time has forced many worthy Websites to accept
low rankings or even to being banned for using one too many
keywords on the wrong page.
==> Goto.com
The Goto.com principle is simple -- you pay to be listed. To
many Webmasters this seems a terrible proposition at first
glance, however after further investigation, Goto.com clients
discover a flexible system that gives them far more control over
their listings than was previously achievable.
To be listed at Goto you need to create an account, deposit an
amount of your choosing (there is usually a minimum of $25) and
create your listings. Listings consist of titles, descriptions,
your Website address, keywords, and most importantly, a bid
amount. The bid amount is the amount of money that will be
deducted from your account every time a searcher at Goto clicks
on your listing.
The amount you bid is usually determined by the amounts other
Webmasters are bidding for the chosen keyword(s). So, if the
number one bid for 'health' is $0.90 then you would need to bid
$0.91 to become the top ranking site when someone searches for
that keyword. You could also bid $0.89 and be listed in second
place, which is still very effective.
==> Competition For Goto
The success of Goto.com is a problem for Webmasters with a small
advertising budget. The bid amount for the health keyword above
is just one example. In reality, popular keywords on Goto.com
can fetch as much as $3 or $4 for the top spot. Enter the
competition. Newer pay for position search engines such as
Kanoodle and FindWhat have less traffic than Goto, but at the
same time the cost of achieving a top listing is within the
reach of many Webmasters. The cost of being listed within the
top five positions at one of these newer engines can be reached
by almost anyone.
==> Regional -- A New Marketplace
New, regional, pay for position search engines are emerging.
Currently, the United Kingdom with its large base of online
users has the most choice, with some regional engines offering
to list national and international sites. The regional search
engines are allowing international entrepreneurs access to
markets that were previously difficult to reach -- giving a new
lease on life to affiliate programs, content sites and other Web
services.
==> Getting The Most From Pay For Position Search Engines
For the business owner with a very large advertising budget,
Goto.com may be the only search engine with whom you need to be
listed. Results from Goto now partially power sites such as
AltaVista and an array of metasearch engines. However, if your
budget is more modest, then the widely accepted solution is to
list on as many pay for position search engines as possible, and
to place low bids for as many keywords as possible. As with all
vibrant markets, increased competition is providing an
increasing choice for the Internet business owner.
==> Client Interfaces
All of the top pay for position engines provide dedicated Web
interfaces so that clients can control their listings easily.
These interfaces are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week
allowing fast updates to titles, descriptions and bid amounts as
well as allowing clients to add new sites as desired.
Most pay for position engines allow the creation of client
accounts before payment is required -- giving you the
opportunity to evaluate the ease of use of each particular
system.
==> Changing Times
In the search engine world, thousands of spammers have forced
the big search engines into implementing strict listing
policies, often at the expense of legitimate Websites seeking a
decent search engine ranking. Pay for position is helping to
level the field. Most spammers will not pay for a listing, as a
consequence, pay for position search engines are populated by
legitimate businesses and entrepreneurs seeking to advertise to
their desired markets.
With a pay for position search engine, there is no longer any
need to compete with spammers and homepages for top rankings.
The new rules are: * YOU choose your title * YOU choose your
description * YOU choose where you are ranked
It's a simple philosophy prevalent in the offline business world
-- and one that is now available to online businesses, as well.
More information can be found at:
GoTo.com
Kanoodle.com
FindWhat.com
UKSprite
PayPerClickSearchEngines
