Google Inc., the most-used Internet search engine, is testing a form of online advertisements where clients pay only when Web surfers click on an ad and buy a product or generate a sales lead.

So-called “cost-per-action’’ ads are being tested on the Google AdSense advertising network, Mountain View, California- based Google said today in an e-mailed statement. AdSense is a program that lets third-party publishers, such as writers of Web logs, show ads sold by Google on their sites.

Adding cost-per-action pricing may help companies more effectively track whether their online ad spending is generating sales. The approach may also assuage concerns from some advertisers about click-fraud, a practice whereby users maliciously click on ads to raise costs for competitors or line their own pockets.

“People have been asking for cost-per-action advertising for ages,’’ said Danny Sullivan, editor of London-based SearchEngineWatch.com, which tracks the search industry. “It’s definitely nice to have the additional option.’’

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