AdWords launched as a self-service advertising program with CPM pricing

Google opened AdWords to any advertiser as a self-serve extension of its premium sponsorship program, with keyword-targeted text ads appearing on google.com results pages. Ads went live as soon as they were created, and campaigns were managed and reported on entirely through the web.

The program had run as a beta earlier in October 2000 with roughly 350 businesses and agencies. Pricing was per thousand impressions, starting at $10 CPM for the lowest of three ad slots on the right side of the page.