GOOGLE: Invisible Made Visible

THE WRATH OF GOOGLE:

Before creating this blog, I had always wondered how search engines like Google made their money and gain a profit; surely if they provide a free service they must be getting the money from somewhere else?

Then I found out how: Pay Per Click.

http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/ads/

If you're a company gets 5000 hits (visits onto your website) a day, you can potentially make a decent profit if people choose to buy your product. This flock of consumers and searchers online are called traffic. This is where google come in. If during a search, a person types in "Muffins" and your website link is the number one search result on the list, 9 times out of 10 the potential customer is going to click on your website. This is the 'Organic' search aspect of google; if your site is deemed to be the most relevant by google (which searched through keywords, and reputatble site links, i.e. to a .gov or .ac.uk site) then you move up the rankings. HOWEVER...

Google will try exploit this. The organic search on google is free (the lefthand column), so google make no money. So, when you have had your moment of being higher up in the rankings, google will knock you off of the organic pedestal and to a lower rank (e.g. page 10). You're company's traffic to the site will dramatically fall and you will lose profit, potential buyers and customers...

BUT there is a lifeline thrown out by google, and of course it means reaching into your wallet;
AdWords and AdSense. Bidding on space for advertisement (on the right hand column of the search site) is where buisnesses compete with eachother for a prime position to get customers back and be on top of the rankings again. THIS is how google makes its money; through fierce competition and out bidding eachother for the number one spot.