Adwords Disasters

Why you should be cautious with Yahoo Search Marketing Partners

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:10:00 +0000

This week I've been down, feeling I was just another Yahoo Paid Search newbie.

That deserves an explanation.

Monday: I get a call from one of my customers, who had bought sponsored links directly to an affiliate website. In the same box on the website, there were also some of our Yahoo ads (you could tell with the tracked URLs) served by Search123.

Quite funny when you think about it: Yahoo had stopped its Content Match offer since March 09 in Europe.

Calling Yahoo to get an explanation, I was told these ads were distributed through their Search Partners network from which you can't opt out. Nice!

One sentence struck me : "We occasionnaly fetch ads in the search feed to distribute them through our Search Partners network, but we do remain a Search Network you can trust".

Trust ? Hmmm, I'm not comfortable with that for now.

Insisting a bit, they told me that :

1. "You can opt out of any Search Partner by excluding it in your account"

2. "We don't give out our Search Partners list"

Very useful !

So I started investigating. There's a whole litterature that has spread online, so here are the most interesting links I could come up with:

The Secret Yahoo Doesn't Want You To Know - http://www.whizclick.com/2009/03/25/the-secret-yahoo-doesnt-want-you-to-know/
More Than Half Of Yahoo's Paid Search Clicks Come From Partners (Efficient Frontier Study) - http://searchengineland.com/more-than-half-of-yahoos-paid-search-clicks-come-from-partners-13983
[Forum] Are these sites really part of the Sponsored search network? - http://www.webmasterworld.com/yahoo_search_marketing_overture_ppc/3231796.htm
[Forum] Yahoo "sponsored search" ads going to link-only sites - http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=18336
Let’s Make a Deal to Find and Exclude as many Yahoo Distribution Partner Domains as Possible - http://blog.search-mojo.com/2008/06/17/lets-make-a-deal-to-find-and-exclude-as-many-yahoo-distribution-partner-domains-as-possible/

I was then convinced I had to check on that, at least.

So I set up additional Google Analytics profiles for all of my websites with incoming traffic from Yahoo Paid Search, in order to check all referers. The process is quite simple, you just have to set up some filters :

Include only traffic from source "yahoo"
Include only traffic from medium "cpc"
Advanced filter : Append Source field with Referer URL

You can refer to http://www.ga-experts.com/blog/2006/11/how-to-assess-search-content-network-advertising-using-google-analytics/ (screenshots included).

What I've found out is just stunning: 65% of my overall Yahoo Paid Search traffic comes from partners, with domain names suggesting a very small percentage of them is qualified. Performances just speak for themselves: 5 times less pageviews than pure Yahoo Search, 2 times less time spent on website... this is wasted money!

Do Yahoo really fetches ads "occasionnaly" ? Can you really "trust" them for being a "Search Network" ? I don't think so anymore. What I trust are accountable facts and figures, and I urge everyone here to set up profiles to check on that.

New in Adwords: Diagnose your keywords in 1-click

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:20:00 +0000

I really like getting new features on Adwords. Google Teams generally release new features every other month or two, not always major improvements.
On one of my accounts, I've recently discovered an extension to the already existing "Keyword Diagnosis Tool", which has not yet been activated on my other accounts. This basically lets you check if the keywords you're bidding generate impressions, but was available keyword by keyword (Yes, that can be long). Crap (and sorry for my French):

Now you can run a complete batched diagnosis on adgroups or campaigns:
This leads you to the same tool already available today, with a small difference:
After processing for a few seconds, you get a list detailing keywords that do not generate impressions, segmented by causes:

Now watch out your accounts, that may arrive soon!

In case you wonder

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:57:00 +0000

Today, I got my first post published on Rue89, i'ts about yesterday's bug on Google. You can read it here.

Oh come on...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:07:00 +0000

Everyday, we all try things and stuff we're not really sure of! That's how we improve our campaigns and keep up with what's new @ Google...

But sometimes, you wish someone hadn't pulled the trigger that far :
- Iz take alle adwurdz in existin accaunt
- Iz stuff me copy wid relevant keewurdz
- Then we ooze Google Translate to reeche all over zhe world!! Ayy it's done!

Thanks to Merry Marie for the tip!!

Dead Squirrels

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Ewwwww! I didn't know there were several brands for that one!

Fresh Start : Crisis & More...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:22:00 +0000

As you may have noticed, this blog aims at relating stories of bad PPC text ads : poor copies, wrong targeting, unexpected stuff & more!
We'll also be posting stuff about PPC platforms news, and keeping a prospective view.

This week's adtexts :

When #1 Position becomes crucial…We have a say that's "Google is blind"...

Stupid {keyword}
Query : "prix" (5 days before Winter Sales Openings)
Ask.com is really becoming an uncanny valley where lost users of MSN Live Search tend to lose themselves... along with advertisers!

Please enroll world panic :
Query : "World Crisis"
Hadn't noticed "Surivival kits".