Truth 7. Goto.com and the birth of PPC search
Goto.com, launched in 1997, heralded the dawn of the CPC advertising method. Charging advertisers by the click instead of the impression had been tried before in 1996 (by OpenText, LinkStar, and Yahoo!), but Goto.com’s implementation of this method was the first widely successful instance of a CPC-based ad model. After users entered a query, they were exposed to a SERP containing both “natural” search results compiled by the search engine, as well as text advertisements generated by the keyword. Goto.com established the basic model by which advertisers were able to gain visibility on SERPs. Keywords were sold in an electronic auction, and the marketer who paid the most would be rewarded ...
Get The Truth About Pay-Per-Click Search Advertising now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
