Google Ad Auction

Mercury News | Google will let Web sites bid for higher rankings in ad listings: "Under a new feature scheduled to launch Tuesday night, the rankings of a search engine devoted to advertisers will be determined in part by how much Web sites offer to be listed in specific categories.

"The system lets Web sites raise their bids to increase their chances for higher placement on the section of Google’s site that’s devoted to sponsored links."

It’s not made entirely clear in this article, but Google does not intend to take money for search engine placement. This program is for the Sponsored Link section of their site. Sponsored Links are text ads that appear at the top of the listing in a shaded box.

What Google is doing is essentially auctioning off those ads instead of using a random rotation. The more money you pay to Google, the more often your ad will appear under the keywords you have bought.