Google to start charging for search queries – Pay Per Search

I just got word today that Google will be releasing a Pay Per Search service for it’s end users. This service will be available to end users that are not interesting in seeing the ads, powered by Google Adwords. Users will be allowed to purchase credits using Google Checkout, and can opt to pay (estimated at 1c) for each search query that they run through Google.

This is a great idea for users who don’t want to be bombarded with ads, however the problem for PPC marketers, is that if Google starts to see a lot of users opting to pay for searches, our PPC traffic from the campaigns will drop – resulting in far more traffic that will end up through natural search. Yet again, the constant battle between paid and natural search is heating up!

It’s actually been a full year since I announced that Google was looking at reverting to CPM from CPC. The argument was that Google was looking to boost revenues on low Clickthrough Rate search terms – perhaps Pay Per Search is a better way of achieving this? Only time will tell!

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Comments On This Post

  1. stefano Says:
    April 1, 2008 at 12:01 pm

    ya…. 01/04/08

  2. stefano Says:
    April 1, 2008 at 10:01 am

    ya…. 01/04/08

  3. [...] Click here for full article. [...]

  4. Jesse Bouman Says:
    April 3, 2008 at 4:55 pm

    Hey Vinny, I know I am kinda late to react on this post but I was fooling around myself.

    I am not sure if I should take your post seriously or take it as an April fool, I am so surprised that you don’t have more reactions on this as it is again a good post…. Again, I am not sure if this would be smart for Google from a financial point of view….

    Vinny why don’t you start a new tradition something like May’s fool, June’s fool…….

    Would bring lot’s of fun to this world.

    Tot ziens….

  5. HoTsTePPa Says:
    April 3, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    April fools joke for sure.
    But, i do see the value of paid searched for things like Google Directory perhaps. Or maybe taking out all the online stores from their normal SERPS and creating a special section for paid searches of products for their collection of online stores.

    Just an idea!

  6. Jesse Bouman Says:
    April 3, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    Hey Vinny, I know I am kinda late to react on this post but I was fooling around myself.

    I am not sure if I should take your post seriously or take it as an April fool, I am so surprised that you don’t have more reactions on this as it is again a good post…. Again, I am not sure if this would be smart for Google from a financial point of view….

    Vinny why don’t you start a new tradition something like May’s fool, June’s fool…….

    Would bring lot’s of fun to this world.

    Tot ziens….

  7. HoTsTePPa Says:
    April 3, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    April fools joke for sure.
    But, i do see the value of paid searched for things like Google Directory perhaps. Or maybe taking out all the online stores from their normal SERPS and creating a special section for paid searches of products for their collection of online stores.

    Just an idea!

  8. John Says:
    April 4, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    This should be about April Fool link bait. Why people put so much effort into April stories and the link bait it creates?

  9. John Says:
    April 4, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    This should be about April Fool link bait. Why people put so much effort into April stories and the link bait it creates?

  10. Forumistan Says:
    April 5, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    Pay per search, it is good idea but I dont think that it pays more money…

  11. Steve Says:
    April 6, 2008 at 1:51 am

    Thank goodness they are finally doing it! I was just about tired of clicking on all of those ads!

  12. Forumistan Says:
    April 5, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    Pay per search, it is good idea but I dont think that it pays more money…

  13. Steve Says:
    April 5, 2008 at 11:51 pm

    Thank goodness they are finally doing it! I was just about tired of clicking on all of those ads!

  14. Jayson Says:
    April 7, 2008 at 4:52 am

    LOL – I wonder how much money they could lose/make. I think I’m going to track down monthly revenues and monthly searches and see what the numbers look like. I doubt anyone would opt to pay for ads free searches but???

    You even brought up a negative! Nice fool

  15. Jayson Says:
    April 7, 2008 at 2:52 am

    LOL – I wonder how much money they could lose/make. I think I’m going to track down monthly revenues and monthly searches and see what the numbers look like. I doubt anyone would opt to pay for ads free searches but???

    You even brought up a negative! Nice fool

  16. DaveJ Says:
    April 18, 2008 at 7:50 pm

    Maybe the fact that they have just released quarterly results of +31% on last years growth might encourage them to forget this silly idea ;-)

  17. DaveJ Says:
    April 18, 2008 at 5:50 pm

    Maybe the fact that they have just released quarterly results of +31% on last years growth might encourage them to forget this silly idea ;-)

  18. SEOrious Results Says:
    April 22, 2008 at 8:49 am

    Hiya All, have just discovered this blog, and as a proud South African would like to congratulate you on your accomplishments, Vinny!

    This post grabbed my eye, but after reading the comments and checking the date it does seem like an April Fool’s prank…a very good one too!

    Nothing wrong with linkbait, this was good for a decent chuckle…hahahahahahah

  19. SEOrious Results Says:
    April 22, 2008 at 6:49 am

    Hiya All, have just discovered this blog, and as a proud South African would like to congratulate you on your accomplishments, Vinny!

    This post grabbed my eye, but after reading the comments and checking the date it does seem like an April Fool’s prank…a very good one too!

    Nothing wrong with linkbait, this was good for a decent chuckle…hahahahahahah

  20. Acupuncture Says:
    April 24, 2008 at 12:02 am

    I got a chuckle out of this post also…
    First thing came to mind was, and what difference would that make? I don’t click on the adds in the search results, but I still find lots of adsense wherever I do….
    So I thought, hmmmm, will google drop sites that have adds on them. Now wouldn’t that throw a monkey wrench in everything ;)

  21. Acupuncture Says:
    April 23, 2008 at 10:02 pm

    I got a chuckle out of this post also…
    First thing came to mind was, and what difference would that make? I don’t click on the adds in the search results, but I still find lots of adsense wherever I do….
    So I thought, hmmmm, will google drop sites that have adds on them. Now wouldn’t that throw a monkey wrench in everything ;)

  22. Shawn Says:
    May 12, 2008 at 6:25 pm

    Google will never succeed with pay per search. They blew up overnight with AdWords and now gonna kill themselves with this? Oh no way dude…lol

    http://www.Drewryonline.net

    http://www.Barack-Obama-News.Drewryonline.net

    http://www.Social-Networking.Drewryonline.net

  23. Shawn Says:
    May 13, 2008 at 1:25 am

    Google will never succeed with pay per search. They blew up overnight with AdWords and now gonna kill themselves with this? Oh no way dude…lol

    http://www.Drewryonline.net

    http://www.Barack-Obama-News.Drewryonline.net

    http://www.Social-Networking.Drewryonline.net

  24. Chile Travel Agent Says:
    March 9, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    Google contact me and ask me to work as an SEO in google to build some links for them…lolz

  25. Link Degisimi Says:
    July 26, 2009 at 1:11 pm

    Pay per search, it is good idea but I dont think that it pays more money…

  26. Credit Repair Texas Says:
    August 7, 2009 at 7:12 am

    thats a major financial development

  27. Blog Tips Says:
    August 16, 2009 at 10:29 pm

    thank you for sharing

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Vinny Lingham is an International Award winning Entrepreneur & Search Engine Marketer. He is currently CEO of Free Website maker, Yola.

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