Pay per click or, PPC, advertisement programs are usually an option offered by different kinds of search engines. The basic definition of PPC, is the guaranteed display of an ad on a search results page, for a specific keyword, or keywords, in return for a certain amount of money. But this only works, when a visitor clicks on the ad that belongs to that person. The person whom the ad belongs to, pays nothing for it to be displayed on the search results page. The advertiser pays the amount that they had agreed to, aka “bid for”– when the visitor does click on the ad, and is directed back to the advertiser’s specified page.

The display of the PPC ad on the search page results can vary, depending on which PPC program an advertiser happens to be using; but for the most part, there are general looks to a search results ad. For instance, the advertiser’s website name, or heading, is usually below fifty character, and then there’s a short description or hook, to get people interested, consisting of around two hundred characters at most. Some PPC programs are more open to the advertiser using their own text; other are more controlling and have regulations, preferring to use their own text.