Pay Per-Click or PPC can be seen in most search engines under the headings ‘paid’ or ‘sponsored’ links. They are usually located on the right hand side of a search results page or shaded at the top. The advertisements are displayed based on users bidding on industry related keywords. The most popular and profitable Pay Per-Click service is operated through Google and is called AdWords.

AdWords is the largest and most popular of all pay per-click search engines. In fact, it is in a class of its own, with an index reaching over 10 billion web pages and 100 different language versions.

Google AdWords offers numerous benefits, which simply would not be found with other PPC search engines. Even if a site appears in Google's organic search results, using Google AdWords increases the exposure by listing the site prominently in its search results and related search networks. The ads are highly customisable, with the ability to regularly edit ads and tweak the budget until the desired results are achieved. In addition, the ad format and text can be continually refined, for example changing text or image ads, to target an advertisement for specific geographic locations and languages.

For instance, if your client was in the floristry industry; “buy flowers” would be the keyword phrase to bid on. When a user searches for this phrase, your client’s ad will be displayed with a link to their company’s website.