If you search popular terms like "business", you’ll find the cost to be number one is quite high and the position is usually held by a large enterprise like Inc. magazine or Entrepreneur magazine. Large companies are often willing to invest millions of dollars in building their brands so they’ll pay more for traffic than it would normally be worth. It is strongly recommended that you don’t compete with them unless you are absolutely sure your business model will justify it.

Often, you’ll be able to find a top ten ranking for a third or less than the price to be number "One". Since you’re limited to buying only traffic that’s profitable for you, this position will be better suited for you. Even if you end up far lower in the rankings, you must stay within your proper range for investment. You’ll probably get less traffic than the number one ranking, but you’ll get traffic you can make money on.

However, if your budget permits, you must consider going for the Premium Listings (Top 3 positions). This will give your ad maximum exposure. Classic Listings as discussed earlier are not displayed in sites such as Yahoo, MSN, Lycos, or AltaVista. Overture claims that premium listings reach as high as 80% of all active Internet users, whereas listings at position number 4 have much lower exposure, and listings after number 10 have very little exposure.. The higher the exposure, the better are your chances for higher revenue.

Always include search terms in the title as well as description lines for your ad. This helps immensely in increasing the click through rate of your listings.