Content Networks vs Search Networks conversions

[grnidone]

In both google and overture, your pay per click ads are sent to both the search networks and to content networks.

I have studied my metrics, and I have found that I get clickthroughs on content networks, but the conversions aren't even 0.5%. The conversion on the search networks are normal -- around 2 to 3%.

In my mind, it makes sense to save the money by not putting my ppc ads on the content networks and upping my per click spend on the ads only on the search networks. I spend less overall, and my ROI goes up.

Most of my PPC clients are business to business and not business to customer. And it makes me wonder if perhaps others have had good ROI on the ads they run on the content networks.

So I ask:

Does anyone here have decent conversion/ ROI on the pay per click ads they run on the content networks?

[PPC]

No. Content conversions are almost non-existent.

[Drastic]

Have you considered the fact that users clicking on content ads may be driven or pitched more effectively with different ad copy than search users?

[Mel66]

I think it depends on your product. For us, conversion on content is almost as good as it is on search. Click-thru rate is very low, but once someone clicks, they buy at almost the same rate as a search clicker.

That said, I would love to see the following improvements in content targeting:
1. The ability to place different copy in content than in search
2. The ability to bid different amounts in content and search (and this assumes results can be broken out separately as well)
3. The ability to pick and choose content sites to weed out the losers and bolster up the winners.

Melissa

[AussieWebmaster]

We have set up a separate account for content and opted out of the search content (except for Google) and weighed in with lower bids and different creatives.
We are now getting good conversion for our lower terms ... we do not use the high cost terms we do in search... but we do use the under $1 terms... we run 1,000+ terms in search and about 200 in content after filtering through about 500.

[andrewgoodman]

I recently presented on this topic at SES along with Josh Stylman and Brad Byrd. A couple of points:

Google in partnership with Atlas DMT report a 50% increase in content ROI in the past year. However, keep in mind that this may mean content ROI has improved from a low base. Much of the improvement is likely as a result of improved strategy and tracking on the part of advertisers. (The Westinghouse effect: as soon as you start to measure anything where a clear goal is implied, it improves.) Google also implemented Smart Pricing which is better than the old Dumb Pricing (TM) but still mysterious.

Using the split-up campaign method AussieWebmaster recommends is highly recommended. But what I found, after initial success with this method, was that content performance degraded significantly from June's success to a recent snapshot in November. The decline in performance was mostly associated with higher CPC's and more non-converting clicks on "core" words. The content-focused campaign + ad groups containing "tail" words continued to perform very well.

It is difficult to interpret this result any other way but to point the finger at greedy low-quality AdSense publishers who are reaping the benefit Inventory has increased and CTR's have gone up threefold. All it seems to mean is that we're back to getting bad clicks, and certain publishers and the ad network are pocketing the advertiser money. This is a throwback to the very early days of PPC and certainly doesn't reflect well on Google AdSense.

This aside, I wouldn't discount content. It works if you segregate, test, and track.

[AussieWebmaster]

Using the split-up campaign method AussieWebmaster recommends is highly recommended. But what I found, after initial success with this method, was that content performance degraded significantly from June's success to a recent snapshot in November. The decline in performance was mostly associated with higher CPC's and more non-converting clicks on "core" words. The content-focused campaign + ad groups containing "tail" words continued to perform very well.

It is difficult to interpret this result any other way but to point the finger at greedy low-quality AdSense publishers who are reaping the benefit Inventory has increased and CTR's have gone up threefold. All it seems to mean is that we're back to getting bad clicks, and certain publishers and the ad network are pocketing the advertiser money. This is a throwback to the very early days of PPC and certainly doesn't reflect well on Google AdSense.

This aside, I wouldn't discount content. It works if you segregate, test, and track.

There is actully another reason for this drop off to be considered. The ads appear on publications that may have a large base of regular users who click and convert early and then still impact the impressions but are not going to convert again.
Even changing up the ads will not work if you are not offering a rotating line of products.