Search engines often run Pay Per Click advertising programmes. These involve advertisers bidding in order to have their search results show in certain premium positions – usually including a block above the main search engine results. These search listings are called the ‘sponsored listings’ and are often identified as such (although other terms may also be used identifying them as advertisements). The advertisers will then only pay when actual users click the links and visit their landing pages.
Sponsored listings can also extend to content sites on the Internet which will often sign up to programmes where blocks of sponsored links will be shown in exchange for a share of the revenue. The biggest such programme is Google AdSense. Most types of advertising are catered for ranging from text and banner ads and pay per click to cost per thousand impressions.