So what is the difference between paid inclusion and pay per click advertising ? First, let’s agree to a few definitions.
Paid inclusion is a search engine marketing product where the search engine company charges fees related to the inclusion of websites in their search index. Let’s new say you launch a new website and you want to get the word out about your site. Paid inclusion is one way to get noticed; specifically, you can contact the search engines directly and register your site for a fee. For example, Alta Vista offers such a service for a fee.
Paid inclusion products are provided by many search engine companies, the most notable exception being Google. Inktomi, Alta Vista, and many other specialized search engine firms charge to list your website. The fee covers an annual subscription for one web page, which will automatically be cataloged on a regular basis.
Pay per click is a form of advertising found on search engines, advertising networks, websites and blogs. The advertiser pays when a visitor actually clicks on an “ad” to visit the advertiser’s website. Advertisers bid on keywords or terms that they believe their target customers use to find information on products or services.
Both hope to drive traffic to the website. Paid inclusion positions itself as a registration process for “legitimate” websites which basically means those websites that can afford the fees. It could be argued that paid inclusion is simply advertising. Yet, paid inclusion really works; in fact, many SEO (search engine optimization) companies rely on paid inclusion as a part of their “secret sauce” to help improve site rankings.
Paid inclusion is like being a member of a special club which advertises its members. Pay per click is like the yellow pages. The end game is the same.
John Bradley Jackson
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