I was wondering what people's results have been using the search network. Has the traffic been of similar quality to that of Google.com ad traffic? Sites like shopzilla.com (one of the many sites in the Google Search Network) don't seem to add much value for many of my clients, and I am wondering if opting out of the search network could have any real negative effects on the campaign? It's all or nothing with the search partners, unlike the Content Network, where you can opt out of individual sites.
search network quality is really good. Maybe not as good as google, but the search network has lots of value. 90% of my campaigns always include both so that I can get maximum exposure
I think the quality is the same, if your pre-select which sites you want your ads on, with the Content Network. And of course, the CTR will be quite different...but hey...a click is a click, right?
He is not talking about content, he is talking about search network. Which is Google's syndicated search partners.
ya i see a lot of crap sites in the search network, and the inability to select which ones to allow, makes me weary. i see a lot of wasted clicks coming from sites like shopzilla.com. dollar for dollar, isnt real estate on google.com more valuable than the rest?
yes quality will be different and therefore google charges you accordingly. They already know that some sites are more or less expensive and they discount the click based on source and relevance to the market. If Google.com charges $1 for click on keyword X, then the same click on shopzilla may only cost $0.25. The clicks are already discounted based on relevance. Such as, google knows shopzilla is a product search engine, so therefore is probably not a good source of traffic for say dating or mortgage lead. Therefore these clicks are discounted greatly, plus the search volume for those types of clicks are most likely little to none. Remember, people are most likely going to search for relateable terms to your industry on the syndicated partner Also, Google picks their syndicated partners very wisely and exclusively, so volume of irrelevant clicks will be minimal to zilch