Google Ads on Yahoo - Screenshot as proof

On the East coast my colleague has seen our client advertising campaigns on Yahoo switch from Yahoo/Overture to Google AdWords. On the West coast I can not duplicate the appearance. Here is a screen shot from the East.

Search yourselves for VMware or Vonage and send me what you see. DON'T CLICK unless you are interested in the product ;) We measure everything!

Sigh...One Less Search Advertising Opportunity

While everyone else is thinking about the benefits of having Yahoo's user base merged with MSN's, I just see it as one less media outlet for advertising. Maybe I should say one half less as I could envision the integration of Yahoo and MSN search distribution outlets create maybe one and one half (1 1/2) the reach that they do separately. In the pure search advertising world, no matter how low the traffic volume, we need more opportunities, not less.

Online to Offline Effects of a Search - A Report from Yahoo!

MarketingVox reports: "Consumers who search online for televisions and digital cameras on average choose to spend 10 percent more when making their purchase in-store, compared with those who did not use a search engine, according to new research from Yahoo!, ChannelForce and MarketingCharts reports."

So the assumption is that they start with a search engine and click through on a result (paid would be good for Yahoo of course). I wonder if there is a correlation between which site they visited to find information on what to buy and where they went offline to buy it. Meaning, if they were at hp.com did they then go and purchase an hp camera in no particular store? Or were they at cnet.com comparing cameras and headed to bestbuy to purchase an HP camera? Or maybe found the camera on bestbuy.com and bought it at the closest bestbuy store because they were headed there anyways?

And remember that Yahoo is working hard to show an increase in conversions based on the Panama changes, which didn't really increase conversion. I expect they commissioned this report to get press for themselves about the search lift of online to offline conversions.

Different Search Marketing Tactics Require Different Success Metrics

The art of search engine marketing requires at least one spreadsheet addict. That addict creates reams & reams of data showing cost-per-click (CPC), click-through rate (CTR), Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA) and other minutia too numerous to mention here. We have spoiled the upper class of management by providing them with edible data that blows all other marketing campaign numbers out of the water.

But..there is only so much pure search inventory available. In order to expand lead generation campaigns we need to move into the next set of search engines' advertising offerings - contextual or content-based ads - specifically by Yahoo and Google (and MSN has just launched). It is still based on keyword groups, it is still CPC, and it is still text-based BUT it doesn't convert at the same rate as pure search. We have addicted our clients to the high returns of the 'real' search visitors and, after all, they say, it is all coming from the same agency and the same budget and the numbers are telling a different story. Oops!

So, education must ensue. Clients need to be trained that not all traffic from Google advertising #2 (ie AdSense) will convert to bottom line sales as Google advertising #1 (ie AdWords) does. A different success metric needs to be put in place. Best of luck to other agencies to get this one across. I haven't been able to retrain many of my clients.

Is Panama Making Yahoo More Money? WebMama Logic...

Today's buzz about the Comscore report on Yahoo is telling the financial world that Yahoo's new ad ranking algorithm is increasing clicks to relevant (ie big spending) advertisers. This makes advertisers happy - especially when the cost for each of those clicks has dropped, which it has. So, if the advertisers' cost-per-click has dropped at the same time as the number of clicks has increased - is it a wash? Not quite. I think it is a win on Yahoo's side but only slightly right now. One thing needs to happen (or be shown to be happening) for Yahoo to truly need to make more money.
More money needs to be spent on Yahoo Search Ads.

This means an increasing in budget for advertisers. Relevant advertisers (ie - the ones that will show up at the top of the search results) will increase their budget for a few reasons:

1 - they preceive Yahoo results as being a better place to do branding and awareness advertising since they will be at the top, or closer to the top, of the results and in the company of their main competitors. This I believe will happen

2 - they are burning through their current budgets and have always wanted to buy more on Yahoo but couldn't get the search volume. This I believe will happen.

3 - agencies will recommend that clients spend some money testing Yahoo and agencies will be able to better optimize current campaigns in a timely manner. This will definitely be a win.

4 - conversions to sale increase and the new Yahoo adds to the advertisers bottom line. I am not so sure this will happen. When all is said and done the people who visit Yahoo and do a 'search' are still the same people and, presumably, will convert at the same rate which is substantial lower than Google conversion for the the same words at the same price. In the world where search is measured, to the micro-level, this may be the reason Panama does not increase Yahoo's bottom line. Then again, if #1, #2 and #3 happen .....