The best Search Engines for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing

Advertise on the Internet with Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Get found on the Internet. Advertise with Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Search Engines and drive traffic, customers, and profits to your website.
On this page we have selected the best and most important companies for search engine marketing (SEM).

Major Pay-Per-Click search engines

Google AdWords - https://adwords.google.com
The Google Adwords program places paid listings within Google's search results, as well as on other sites that carry its listing. Google actually supplies the search results for a number of different search engines. AdWords ads are featured on all the Google Network search sites, including AOL, Netscape, The New York Times, CompuServe, EarthLink, AT&T, AskJeeves, Shopping.com, USNews.com, About.com, Lycos, Forbes.com, ABC.com, Economist.com, InfoSpace, FoxSports.com, Allrecipes.com, Lowestfare.com, Viacom and MacWorld.com.
Minimum bid: no minimum bid (depends on quality score)
Microsoft Search Advertising - https://advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising
You can advertise on Microsoft's new search engine Bing.com and Microsoft Content Ads Network.
Minimum bid: $0.10
Yahoo! Search Marketing - https://searchmarketing.yahoo.com
Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly known as Overture) is the oldest major pay-per-click advertising service. Overture launched as GoTo in 1997, it was purchased by Yahoo in October 2001.
  • Yahoo's Sponsored Search (formerly Overture's Precision Match) prominently displays businesses in search results on premier sites like Yahoo!, MSN, and CNN.com, where advertisers can reach over 80% of active Internet users.
  • Yahoo's Local Sponsored Search (formerly Overture's Local Match) allows advertisers with physical locations or service areas to target customers who prefer to research online but purchase locally.
Actual promotion: Click here - Sign-up now and get a $25 credit!
Minimum bid: $0.10

Second Tier Pay-Per-Click search engines

Kanoodle.com - https://www.kanoodle.com
Kanoodle provides advertisers an opportunity to leverage text-based, cost-per-click sponsored links to reach their customers on the Web's search engines and content destinations. Kanoodle's products
  • ContextTarget™ for content-targeted sponsored links,
  • LocalTarget™ for locally-targeted sponsored links,
  • BehaviorTarget™ for behavioral-targeted sponsored links, and
  • KeywordTarget™ for search-targeted sponsored links
are distributed on networks of high quality search and content providers, including MarketWatch.com, MSNBC.com, USAToday.com, CNET's Search.com, the InfoSpace search properties and on Kanoodle.com.
Minimum bid: $0.05
Miva.com (former FindWhat) - https://www.miva.com
MIVA is the new name for the FindWhat.com Group. MIVA brings together FindWhat.com, Espotting Media, Miva Corporation, Comet Systems and B&B Advertising.
FindWhat has distribution on hundreds of high-traffic websites - including large search engines as CNET's Search.com, Excite, Webcrawler, MetaCrawler, DogPile, and Microsoft Internet Explorer Autosearch. FindWhat also partner with speciality sites serving niche markets in order to drive then most targeted traffic to your website.
FindWhat offers also Pay-Per-Call Advertising: An advertiser only pays when an Internet user sees their ad, then picks up the telephone and calls the toll free number listed on the ad (the toll free number is connected to the advertiser's regular phone number).
Actual promotion: Receive a FREE credit
Minimum bid: $0.05
Search123.com - https://www.search123.com
Launched in October 2000 as one of the first pay-per-click search engine platforms, Search123 allows advertisers to list their sites, bid on keywords and receive targeted search traffic from hundreds of high quality content sites, directories and search engines. Search123 features an industry-leading user interface, cost-effective CPCs across all major categories, no minimum monthly spending requirements, and free account management services.
Minimum bid: $0.05

What is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising?

With Pay-Per-Click Advertising an advertiser only pays when an Internet user clicks on their keyword-targeted ad and gets transferred to their website.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) is also called Cost-Per-Click Advertising (CPC). More broader terms are Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Advertising (SEA), and Paid Search Placement.

How much does a click cost?
Paid search affiliates "bid" on placements by declaring maximum bid amounts; those with the highest bids are usually listed highest. Advertisers will never be charged more than the declared maximum and, when there are no competing bids, will automatically be charged the minimum amount (which ranges between $0.01 and $0.10) depending upon the PPC program.