With online advertisers jumping ship as of late, site owners are looking for more ways to generate new replacement revenue, and search engines are no exception.

Looking to capitalize on the main reason people come to them in the first place — namely to locate specific information and conduct research — search engines have started serving up results that help bring them revenue. GoTo’s paid listings and Google’s Sponsored Link & AdWords programs (discussed previously in tip “Google AdWords - Search Engine Advertising That Makes Sense“) were some of the first innovators of this form of for-fee listings. Now, some of the other major search engines, hoping to make money as well as happy, loyal advertisers, are getting in on the game.

Yahoo Sells Out Their Categories

On the heels of the Google AdWord program, Yahoo has started a “Sponsored Listings” program when serving their category results. These listings are prominently displayed at the top of each category before the “Most Popular” and standard alphabetized search results. The pricing structure is based upon popularity of the category and can range from $25 to more that $1,000 per month.

Yahoo Sponsored Listings do come with one caveat: in order to qualify to purchase a sponsored listing, your site must already be listed in the category you’d like to sponsor. Additionally, Yahoo does not enable you to use a unique URL for tracking your Sponsored Listings. For more info, visit Yahoo Sponsored Listings.

Big Changes at Excite

Excite is the latest search engine which has added sponsorship opportunities to their marketing mix. Their Sponsored Link appears at the top of each search result page for the purchased search keyterm. Advertisers can purchase a Sponsored Link on a CPM (cost per thousand impression) basis.

For an example go to Excite and search for “cars.” You’ll notice that AutoWeb.com has purchased the Sponsored Link. Unlike some other search engine advertising options, Excite’s Sponsored Link placement is very distinguished and could be a great opportunity to drive targeted traffic to your web site.

Excite and FindWhat.com Partner Up

For frugal Internet marketers this partnership is extremely useful since listings on FindWhat.com can be purchased for a fraction of the price of what they cost on GoTo. Since announcing its partnerships with other search engines, however, GoTo’s bid pricing has shot through the roof. If FindWhat.com manages to do likewise, you might expect the same increases in the future.

For more information on purchasing listings on FindWhat.com and other pay-for-placement search engines, please read our tip, “Tackling the GoTo Goliath.”