Yahoo vs. Google Adwords To compare the 2 giants of the PPC world, we must first look at the types of advertisers themselves. First the advertiser that has a keyword campaign that consists of a few hundred keywords, which I do not think justifies the use of the word "campaign". Then we have the advertisers like myself that has over 1/2 million keywords with overture and 200,000 with Google. I was the other advertiser for many years. I used 300 of my industries major keywords, spent $3000 to $7000 a monthly on Overture alone. Now I receive much more revenue from Overture/Yahoo spending only $750 per month. I accomplished this by using specific keywords, misspellings & keystroke errors. Which has greatly cut down on click fraud giving me more bang for the buck. Let's not forget lost sleep checking bids. I now average 12 cents a click and can now frankly careless if my competitors click on my ads, before, this used to drive me crazy. Why did I stop at only 200,000 for Google? The campaign that is so effect for Yahoo/Overture does not work for Google. To receive the same amount of page views and clicks on Google, I would need to plunk down $10,000 a month. I am now paying only $200 a month with Google, as I refuse to ever pay $2 or $3 dollars a click ever again. Here are the differences and for an aggressive advertiser they are huge; Yahoo/Overture: You can add an unlimited amount of keywords to your account. Google: You are limited to 60,000 per account, so in my case I have 4 accounts, with 4 separate email addresses. Yahoo/Overture: Displays specific keyword advertisers first, followed by generic keyword advertisers next. Example: I am the only one with the keyword, used car financing Medford Oregon, my bid is 10 cents. Another advertiser is spending $5 for top placement on Used Car Financing. So when an advertiser types, "used car financing Medford Oregon" my ad appears at the top left hand side of the page followed by my competitor spending $5. The consumer checks us both out, I just spent a dime, he spent $5. Google: Ignores specific keywords and as in the above scenario, will have the guy spending $5 bucks some where on the far right of the page mixed somewhere between 8 other advertisers. My 10 cents specific keyword bid will not appear. Yahoo/Overture: Lists advertisers with misspelled keywords. Google: Ignores misspellings and displays corrected keyword advertisers. Yahoo/Overture: Complete control as where your ad will be displayed. Google: No control, can only hope they will display it at all. This being said, there are some other important factors to bring up, Click fraud for one. Very specific keywords allows you to fly below the radar and avoid the paid clickers. They are busy with the big money keywords, like "Used Car Financing". That goes for both Overture and Google, but at least with Overture and some hard work you have an alternative. So my question is why would I pay Google $333 a day to receive 200 clicks a day, when I can spend $25 for the same results on Overture. Just my thoughts, Jack
Google agravates me with the minimum bid, but I like their interface much more. Overture has been hell to get activated. Call now, call later, wait until your ads are approved. It's just a much more drawn out process getting started with Overture. I don't really care about that though. We'll see the ROI, and then I'll post.
Matt, Overture/Yahoo marketing advertisements are distributed on US search engines, directed at US Consumers. I have never had a problem with out of the country clicks, it could happen though, if someone in England is on the USA version of Yahoo or any other Yahoo affiliate. What product or service do you sell? Just courious.. Jack
Thanks for the info! I have to admit my understanding of the specific/general keyword ordering was completely wrong. Google's min. bid and misspelling system are terrible. I knew I needed to take a look at other PPC systems but just haven't gotten around to it. I will now certainly though.