If you’re a regular Google user, you’ll have noticed that on Google’s search results pages there is a couple of sections – one across the top, and another running down the right-hand side – that are given over to what’s known as ‘sponsored links’. A sponsored link is a link that the advertiser pays to have featured in these sections when a user does a search relating to the products or services that the advertiser offers. Sponsored links aren’t unique to Google – all the major search engines make use of sponsored link sections on their search results pages.
Why pay for a sponsored link when ‘natural’ links are free?
A sponsored link is useful in certain situations, such as in markets where natural search listings are hard to achieve due to fierce competition (mobile phones or credit cards, for example), or for new sites whose Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies haven’t been established long enough to generate high enough rankings in the natural search results. Large companies also use sponsored links for wider branding objectives through reinforcing their market dominance and their association with certain products and services in the perception of consumers. Natural links are great, and long-term exposure in natural search listings should be a long-term objective of any online business, but sponsored links have their place alongside SEO and are a strong component of any comprehensive online marketing strategy.
How is one sponsored link ranked against others?
A sponsored link gains its ranking position through a combination of how much the advertiser pays to feature in search results for specific words and phrases, and also through how relevant the individual page being linked to is to those search words. The latter is calculated by Google in particular through its unique Quality Score metric, which assesses a range of undisclosed criteria relating to the quality of the advertiser’s individual linked page, and also the relevance, popularity and conversion effectiveness of their website in general. The fee payable for the advert by the advertiser depends on how much they’ve bid to feature in search results for specific words on a particular search engine, and the fee is levied on a ‘per click’ basis, hence the term ‘Pay Per Cick’ (PPC) which is widely used in reference to sponsored search engine advertising. The means by which companies bid for the words to be used in sponsored link ads on Google is the ‘Google Adwords’ program.
Need to delegate your sponsored link management requirements?
At the Web Marketing Group, we’re well versed in sponsored link management. Our PPC specialists can devise and execute a PPC campaign to complement and enhance your wider SEO and internet marketing strategies.
Click here or give us a call on 0845 555 5040.
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