‘Sponsored links’ refer to hypertext links that appear in the special ‘sponsored listings’ section of the search engine or map application because an advertiser participating in a search engine marketing or affiliate marketing program like Google AdWords, Google AdSense, Google Maps, Yahoo Search Marketing, or Microsoft adCenter for example, has paid for placement.
Advertisers who wish to pay for placement register with the specific search engine’s program. Generally these programs are based on ‘competitive bidding’ as part of a performance-based model. Advertisers accumulate costs based either on a ‘pay-per-click’ (ppc) or ‘cost per thousand impressions’ (CPM) model, depending on the rules of the individual program.
Search engine optimization of ‘sponsored links’ is critical to the success of your ‘search engine marketing’ (SEM) campaign for the effective management of budgets, which can be eaten up quickly if the keyword lists and text ads do not attract the right audiences, and to ensure the greatest possible return on advertising spend (ROAS). See ‘Pay Per Click – PPC’ and ‘Search Engine Marketing – SEM’ for more information.
