Google AdWords™ For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Introducing AdWords

The Google search engine, found at www.google.com, processes hundreds of millions of searches per day. Every one of those searches represents a human being trying to solve a problem or satisfy an itch through finding the right information on the World Wide Web. The AdWords program allows advertisers to purchase text and links on the Google results page, which is the page the searcher sees after entering a word or phrase and then clicking the Google Search button.

You pay for the ad only when someone clicks it and visits your website. The amount you pay for each visitor can be as low as one penny or as high as $80, depending on the quality of your ad, your website, and the competitiveness of the market defined by the word or phrase (known as a keyword, even though it may be several words long) typed by the visitor.

The typical text ad on the results page consists of four lines and up to 130 characters (see Figure 1-1 for an example ad):

• Line 1: Blue underlined hyperlinked headline of up to 25 characters
• Line 2: Green display URL of up to 35 characters
• Line 3: Black description line 1 of up to 35 characters
• Line 4: Black description line 2 of up to 35 characters

Figure 1-1: This AdWords ad targets people interested in barefoot running.

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