<Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Pay - per - click (PPC), also known as cost per click (CPC), is an internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a website owner or a network of websites) when the ad is clicked . </P> <P> Pay - per - click is commonly associated with first - tier search engines (such as Google AdWords and Microsoft Bing Ads). With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market . In contrast, content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system . PPC "display" advertisements, also known as "banner" ads, are shown on web sites with related content that have agreed to show ads and are typically not pay - per - click advertising . Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have also adopted pay - per - click as one of their advertising models . </P> <P> However, websites can offer PPC ads . Websites that utilize PPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertiser's keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content . Such advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads, and appear adjacent to, above, or beneath organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a web developer chooses on a content site . </P>

Google’s version of sponsored links that appear for certain keywords is called