Probably 80% of these people are looking for information. If you are a for-profit business then you don’t care too much about those people; they aren’t spending any money. But the other 20% of the people in this pipe are actively looking for products and services. Of those 20%, we are still talking about multiple millions of people, but all we care about are the .0001% of that 20% that are looking for a product or service that you provide. Search engines provide the best method to pinpoint and attract the exact people you want, sifted out of hundreds of millions of online participants. It is the opposite of mass marketing. The goal of paid search is to only pay for the best, most targeted individuals available pulled with laser-like precision out of that big virtual pipeline of people.

Paid search is the first open, international market for advertising that has ever been created. There are no sales reps or traffic coordinators to deal with or pay indirectly for. As the advertising buyer, you need absolutely no negotiating skills. There are no discounts granted to ‘deeper-pocket’ advertisers that spend more. This is pure, unadulterated, efficient marketing.