target audience seo Archives - Gravity Search Marketing

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Services Comparison

April 23, 2008
by Gradiva Couzin

In our book, we call Yahoo! Search Marketing and Google AdWords the “wonder twins” of pay-per-click. Read reviews and comparisons of the two major U.S. PPC services, and their newer competitor, Microsoft adCenter, here.

Yahoo! Search Marketing

Yahoo! Search Marketing (YSM) [Yahoo! Link] is actually a suite of several online marketing tools, including sponsored search, local advertising, and the Yahoo! Directory submittal. However, when people talk about YSM they’re generally referring to the sponsored search – that is, the pay-per-click service. Currently the #2 service in the U.S. (second to Google AdWords, discussed below). The service has a respectably large reach, including all the Yahoo! properties as well as many meta search engines, smaller search sites, and content sites such as ESPN (see partial partners list [Yahoo! link]). Advertisers can choose to be displayed on additional sites through the “Content Match” option.

YSM ad campaigns are generally considered easier to set up than Google AdWords campaigns, but lack some of the geekier (and fun!) features, like comparing performance for multiple ads and dynamic keyword insertion. There is also an editorial review period for new listings that can take a couple of business days. Conversion tracking is included.

Rumor has it that YSM will slowly but surely become more like Google AdWords in the year 2006. Changes may include: speeding up their campaign setup, implementing geotargeting and possibly other Google-like features, and changing the PPC ranking algorithm so that it takes more factors into account, rather than just the dollar amount of the advertiser bid. [Editors’ note: The late 2006/early 2007 upgrade, called Panama, reflects these changes]

YSM’s Sponsored Search
YSM’s Keyword Selector Tool
YSM’s Listing Guidelines
YSM’s Advertiser Workbook (PDF)
All about the 2007 Panama upgrade from Yahoo!

Google AdWords

Google AdWords [Google Link] is a PPC service with a fabulous, ready-made venue for advertisement display: Google’s own wildly popular search engine. In addition, Google offers advertisers the option of displaying ads on thousands of affiliate sites linked through the AdSense program and matched algorithmically with the ad content.

AdWords offers many helpful features for advertisers, including: quick campaign setup, the ability to rotate multiple ads for the same group of keywords, advanced keyword matching options and geotargeting. One disadvantage of AdWords is that advertisers can’t just pay their way to the top of the heap – rankings are based on a number of factors, including bid price and predicted clickthrough rate. Conversion tracking is included.

Future AdWords features may include behavioral targeting, in which searchers can be targeted based on past searches or other web activities.

Google AdWords
AdWords Learning Center
AdWords Program Comparison
The Maximum Effect, a 2003 Google AdWords guide to improving ad performance (PDF) (also mentioned in our article about dynamic keyword insertion)
View Google AdWords’ most expensive listings as of March 2006, as researched by blogger Cyberwyre.
Google Adwords Keyword Tool
Aaron Wall’s free downloadable PPC report
YSM vs. Adwords on seomoz.org
Read Overture vs. Adwords originally published on Jill Whalen’s newsletter
Yahoo!’s John Battelle on Google Adwords
Bruce Clay gives further descriptions and comparisons of Google and YSM.

Microsoft adCenter

Microsoft launched its pay-per-click service, Microsoft adCenter [MSN Link], in May of 2006 to compete with Yahoo and Google for a chunk of the growing SEM/PPC advertising market. The Microsoft offering follows the same basic model of the other two: advertisers pay a per-click fee to display their listings above or near “organic” search results for chosen search queries. MSN differentiated its offering with more advanced demographic targeting options than Yahoo and Google, including the capability of adjusting keyword bid costs for differing demographics (for example, paying full price for female searchers and bidding at the 50% level for male searchers). The accuracy of these demographics has been debated. The adCenter control interface, while rather difficult to use, does offer a dynamic keyword insertion feature in the ad displays that vastly improves upon Google’s dynamic keyword insertion functionality.

In our experience of early 2007, traffic levels at MSN were still too low for it to be a primary source of PPC site traffic; however, per-click costs are also significantly lower than Google and Yahoo. We were also surprised at the very strict editorial reviews that our ads received.

Microsoft adCenter
A Sept, 2006 article states: “adCenter Advertisers Like Returns, Want More“
Read the adCenter blog
Read the adCenter FAQ

ask the experts

Ask the Experts: How Should I Integrate Articles Onto…

December 31, 2007
by Gradiva Couzin

Q: I would like to create an area for our customers to read articles or news about our industry and our company. Should I institute some kind of blog format so that customers can comment on stories or articles? Will this be complicated to set up? Is there any advantage over standard web pages for posting articles?

A: Many people wonder whether to use a blog format for posting articles online, or whether a classic, tree-structured website navigation is better. We’d look at this situation from a few angles: where it fits into your conversion goals, your available labor, inbound link potential, and target audience preferences. Here’s a bit more on each of these:

Conversion Goals
If you are developing content that is clearly helpful in driving conversions, such as “Perfect sizing tips for your baseball cleats” or “Which is the right softball for you?” then we’d argue that it belongs on your site as an article. This is our gut feeling, because we think this type of content is generated less frequently and tends to appeal to a newbie audience, so it’s just better suited for a static page within your global navigation.

On the other hand, if you have “newsy” content – promotions, events, etc., that is meant to engage interested visitors and spark return visits, then it would be perfectly reasonable to post the content in a blog format. Similarly, if you often post brief commentary and observations, industry notes and links, rather than longer, essay-like research and articles, a blog would provide a better venue.

Do you have both conversion-minded articles and news items? You can always create a hybrid situation in which you use the blog primarily for news, but create a post on the blog containing a “promo” for, and a link to, every new article you create.

Your Available Labor
You sound concerned about technical work involved, but what about writing work? Do you have the writing staff to keep a blog current and populated with compelling content? Is blog-style content generation realistic for your particular industry and company? A lot of companies use blog authoring software to post their press releases, which is perfectly kosher, but that kind of arrangement rarely comes close to using the blogosphere to its full potential.

Inbound Link Potential
We think it’s reasonable to assume that a well-written, interesting blog will generate more links than articles, because you can generate more discussion on a compelling and dynamic blog than in a static article.

Notice how we went overboard with the adjectives there? “Well-written, interesting, compelling, dynamic?” Just a friendly reminder that content is king no matter how you add it to your website.

In order to gain the full benefits of integrating a blog into your existing site, you should make sure it is part of your domain, i.e. yoursite.com/blog. Then, start linking out to other relevant blogs. The blogosphere is a two-way street: you should link out if you want to get links in.

Target Audience
Think about your target audience and how comfortable they would be with your choice. Would your internet-savvy audience find a classic navigation boring and old-fashioned? Or would your more traditional or newbie audience get lost trying to use page tags as navigation? Keep a clear eye on your target audience and your long-term business goals, and make your choice accordingly.