Search Marketing Sage

Yahoo used to advertise that it’s Sponsored Search  (Syndicated Search) Product “reaches active users on top search engines“  and they said that “ads are shown in search results on the webs top portals and search engines“  There really isn’t any language like that on the Yahoo Sponsored Search pages for advertisers, in fact it’s hard to even find any explanation about what Syndicated Search traffic even is on Yahoo right now.  Which seems intentionally vague considering that the overwhelming majority of Yahoo PPC traffic isn’t even coming from searches on Yahoo.com.

Yahoo has also publicized how it was improving its traffic quality.  See:

• http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/trafficquality/ – The Yahoo Traffic Quality Center;
• How the Yahoo Click Protection Center is ‘working around the clock to identify clicks Yahoo  believes you shouldn’t have to pay for’; and
• How Yahoo expanded the number of domains that you can exclude from showing your Yahoo ads up to  500 sites.
• How Yahoo is paying site owners less based on their traffic quality – which isn’t supposed to hurt advertisers as bad…

But, Yahoo never gave advertisers any insight into where it’s Search Network traffic was actually coming from, until late last week when it introduced the new Ad Delivery Report.  We absolutely applaud that Yahoo did this for its advertisers, although I think it has more to do with integrating Syndicated Partner traffic with Bing in the future, than for actually helping advertisers.

After reviewing the first few days of Yahoo Ad Delivery Reports, all of our beliefs about the quality of Yahoo Syndicated Search traffic have been reaffirmed.  We believe that a significant portion of this traffic is rife with click fraud and is not providing ANY value to Yahoo’s advertisers.  Yahoo has been making significant sums of money off of this traffic for years, and has looked the other way rather than look out for the interests of its advertisers. The Yahoo Click Protection System isn’t working around the clock on this traffic.

We have been VERY vocal about the quality (or lack of quality) of Yahoo’s syndicated search partners in the past.  See:

• I think I might want 55% less Yahoo Sponsored Search Traffic
• Let’s Make a Deal to Find and Exclude as many Yahoo Distribution Partner Domains as Possible
• Yahoo Demographic Targeting For Search – More Questions Than Answers
• And our comments on the Yahoo Yodel Anecdotal Blog to Carol Bartz:  Getting our house in order

The gist of our rants is that Yahoo’s Sponsored Search PPC traffic was mostly not from searches on Yahoo.com but from it’s syndicated search partners.  Yahoo didn’t give advertisers ANY insight into who these search syndication partners were, and we actually took it upon ourselves to report who they were as we found them.

But this morning I saw a notice on Yahoo Sponsored Search about the new Ad Delivery Report and there is a post on the Yahoo Search Marketing Blog called “Do You Know Where Your Ads Are?“.  The Ad Delivery Report now gives advertisers the list of sites where your ads appear on those syndicated partner sites.

Yahoo apparently is changing the payment procedures to they syndication partners – now factoring Conversion metrics into the Cost Per Click:

Pay for what you get
As you’ll see when you start looking at your Ad Delivery Report, not every partner will perform the same for you. We’ve discounted our click charges accordingly for some time now. We’re now expanding the adjustments we make to our click charges based on our assessment of the performance of traffic coming from sources within our distribution network.

This will include deeper discounts on click charges for lower-performing traffic, and potential premiums on click charges for higher-performing traffic—in other words, your click charges will be more closely aligned to the performance of the traffic you receive.

How does it affect you? Based on our analysis, we expect that most advertisers will see click charges drop or remain unchanged, while a small fraction of advertisers may experience an increase in click charges. These adjustments are based on the performance of the traffic source, and won’t be affected by the quality of your ads. And, as always, you will never pay more for a click than the amount you set as your bid.

After running my first Ad Delivery Report, all of what I believed about the quality of this traffic has been reconfirmed (a lot of this traffic is CRAP).  I would encourage All Yahoo Sponsored Search Advertisers to check out the Ad Delivery Report ASAP, and actually go the URLs that are delivering clicks and impressions.  I’m finding lots of questionable sites that look like they are designed more for getting revenues off of sponsored search than actually helping searchers find what they want.

It’s bordering on criminal where Yahoo as looked the other way for years on this revenue stream.  I’m seeing several foreign language websites that my clients would never want to have their ad show on.  I really wonder if they are cleaning up their act with this traffic as part of their future search deal with Bing.

After you examine your Ad Delivery Report and evaluate the syndicated search partner websites where your ads have shown you can block your ads from showing anymore.

#1 on my removal list is this site for what appears to be Vietnamese Web Hosting Services:  http://vnparking.com/

Most the the text isn’t even in English!

So did Carol Bartz actually listen to my comments on the “Getting Our House in Order” Yodel Blog Post?  I’m going to say yes.  It’s probably not true, but my Ego is 10 Feet Tall this morning after seeing this new report!

Whether you are starting a campaign from scratch, or just taking a different approach to your account and making some edits, keyword destination URLs should be on your list of things to consider. Keyword destination URLs are the specific URLs you can enter that can help your AdWords efforts become even more customized to the searcher’s needs. If a query is a specific product or product number, you can land them directly on the corresponding product page, making the landing page as relevant as possible. Another reason you would use keyword destination URLs would be if you have created a custom landing page for the ad group, and would like to see dynamic headlines on the page. With some additional coding within the URL, you can match the headline to the searcher’s exact query, once again, increasing relevance.

Google AdWords. In Google AdWords, you can either filter down to the exact keyword you’d like to edit, or you can use the new spreadsheet edit feature if you have many keyword destination URLs to add/edit. To edit within the interface itself, simply check the box next to the keyword and select edit. There you’ll find the box to enter a destination URL. Another way to edit them is in AdWords Editor, the desktop application. You can easily track your changes, revert edits back to their original state, and quickly upload the changes to the online interface.

Wouldn’t it be great to walk into a business and create your own title? For example, a Starbuck’s employee wears the title Barista and some deli employees call themselves Sandwich Artists. Hmmm, I like the ring of that; perhaps I’ll quit my Account Manager position and become a Director of First Impressions. (Just kidding Janet).

Not many businesses will allow you to waltz in and create your own title, but Google will! What do I mean? In the natural or organic listings of the Google SERP (search engine results page) you can decide what your company’s Headline or Title is by simply editing the title tag of your site’s HTML code!

Whether your PPC account needs a major overhaul, or just a few simple tweaks, you’ve come to the right place to pick up a few tips to improve the performance of your Pay-Per Click advertising campaigns.

1. Trim the fat and add muscle with Search Query Reports.

Search Query Reports are one way Google helps us out with understanding what queries searchers actually use to find us. Use them often to add negatives to either whole campaigns or to specific ad groups to make sure you are advertising to the right audience. The same goes with using the SQR to find new additions for your account. You may come across keywords you may not have initially included in your PPC build-out.