12 Pay Per Click Networks Tested and Rated

This is summarized from my blog post on the subject, I thought it might helpfull to some people here.

To review:

12 of the most popular PPC networks were tested. These networks were all tested running the same PPC campaign (meaning the keywords and the ad texts were the same) to an affiliate offer with the exact same landing page.

Scoring system:

I threw out the interface rating as many people thought it skewed the results of bad performing networks that had a good interface. I agree that performance is king and if something converts well I can live with a bad interface (MSN, cough, cough). Now the scoring is based on 3 factors with 2 being double weighted. This should more accurately show the total performance of a PPC network.

• Traffic Volume (Highest volume = 10 out of possible 10)
• Conversion Rate (Best conversion rate = 10 out of possible 10)
• Click Pricing (Lowest pricing = 5 out of possible 5)

For a possible total score of 30

The Results:




Traffic Volume Winner:

As always Google is king of traffic volume. The only thing that keeps it from the overall leader is its stiff click pricing.

Conversion Rate Winner:

MSN is the tops for conversions. Too bad their volume isn’t up to Google or Yahoo’s levels.

Recommended:
• MSN
• Yahoo
• Google
• Searchfeed
• Looksmart
• Miva

Stay Away!
• Adbrite
• 7Search
• Enhance
• Kanoodle
• Search 123
• Bidvertiser

Remember these results are based on my campaign and niche, your results may vary wildly.

 

Interesting research. Nice to see that the AdSense halo is slipping. Maybe they wont be dominating the market for too much longer.

 

Fair play going to all the effort and cost to do that bit of research!

Just wondering what you used as the benchmark for the research. I.E a budget of $5 at each site?

 

I'm really supprised to looksmart conversion above a zero...

All I've ever been able to get from them is trash traffic. 100% drop on first page. It was to the point where I thought it was fake traffic.

 

The minimum spent at each PPC network was $50, with most of the test running in the $100-$300 range. If it was clear the traffic was not going to convert, I cut the test short, but if it showed some promise I let it run for a while.

Looksmart converts very well for me. I have them running unbudgeted still.

 

The Looksmart site is so incredibly slow. Really stupid.

 

Nice reseach, and interesting to say the least. Thanks for sharing.

 

Great writeup, thank you for the info. I'll be checking out MSN for some advertising soon, good to have a heads up.

 

Interesting, I found the opposite to be true for the 3rd Tier Networks: Miva converts like SHIT, I got 300 visits from them accross 10 different niche site and ZERO clicks, while other traffic sources were giving me decent to good conversions on the same sites (!). Searchfeed is a little better, but 7search did on 30+ sites the best so far.

 

Interesting

Thanks for research

 

Very good study on PPC.

Just a thought about AdBrite. May be their web site targeted where you pay a flat sum for a number of days regard less the number of clicks would perform better?

Who else use 7search? Any other experience with them?

 

Many thanks for the article. Useful info.

 

Yes, it is always interesting to see research like this...

 

Lots of problems and insights from this study. He posted it on another board where they tore the post apart.

Bottom line for me - if you test something and it works, it pays you every day. If you test something and it fails it only costs you money a single time.

 

Ha!, one guy "tore it apart" because I wouldn't give up anymore secrets about what niche I was using and how to make money with PPC. Many people have found this helpful, so if you don't like it don't read it.

 

im thinking about using msn, but i dont know if they have the same add types as google, and msn is paying more right?

 

Agreed, miva stinks the place up!

 

Nice reseach, Useful info. Thanks for sharing.

 

how is it out of 30?

• Traffic Volume (Highest volume = 10 out of possible 10)
• Conversion Rate (Best conversion rate = 10 out of possible 10)
• Click Pricing (Lowest pricing = 5 out of possible 5)

For a possible total score of 30


10 + 10 + 5 = 25?

 

Excellent post, Sonic. Thanks for sharing. Goes to show that The Big G isn't everything. I could easily fall in love with MSN if they had any traffic to speak of.