Filed under: Search Engines | Tags: bing, bing search, microhoo, microsoft, ppc, Search Engines, sem, yahoo
In order to help the interested better understand the new Yahoo! and Microsoft deal I am passing along an official letter from Yahoo themselves.
The following is a letter I received from my Yahoo rep this morning:
Hello,
With the announcement this morning of a deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft, I wanted to reach out so you would have the latest news on the deal and how it will affect your accounts short-term.
Essentially, we pretty much know same as you do from the recent press releases and articles online. You can read a little more about the deal at the URL below.
http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=399781
There was also a webcast this morning that you are welcome to listen to. To access the archive of this webcast, please use the URL below.
http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=71395
As you can imagine, a deal like this will take some time to take effect. Not only are there the questions of migrating systems, but the government still has to approve it. For right now, it is business as usual around here. As more details become available over the next few days, I’ll be sure to keep you updated.
Thanks!
Filed under: Search Engines | Tags: bing, bing search, live search, microsoft, microsoft live, microsoft search, msn, msn live
…And just like that Microsoft is back in the search game! Maybe. Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine due out Wednesday, launched on Saturday. Does anything not “drop” early these days?! While Google Killer it is not, Microsoft says it is not intended to be. I do think it offers a solid user experience though. This should make current users happy, but the question is then how many new users will be happy about Bing? Microsoft is planning to put a significant amount of money behind marketing Bing. The goal will not be to compete with Google, but to offer something unique to differentiate themselves in the search market. (a good strategy, and really all anyone can do at this point).
With that said, it will be interesting to see how they market Bing to consumers. They are calling it a decision engine instead of a search engine, and Ballmer thinks that ditching the MSN Live and Live Search brand names in favor of Bing will create a better connection with consumers. Time will always tell. If anything it should help to bolster a stale product, and give it a fresher look and some much needed media hype. With the new breed (facebook, twitter, etc.) stealing the spotlight, some media hype couldn’t hurt. At the very least, Bing should help to cement MSN firmly in its current third place ranking in the Big Three.
Bing search results page.
I’ve tried a bunch of searches already this morning and I like how it builds a search history for you in the left side nav under the related searches area (which is also a nice feature to help you refine your search). Also, as you scroll over the search results, an (ajax-like) window allows you to preview the page before you click on the result link.
Currently the home page works to merchandise a particular search theme, or discovery topic. One thing I didn’t see while searching on Bing were the Sponsored Links. Which makes me wonder how Microsoft plans to monetize the search traffic on Bing. I’m sure this is all part of the courtship and the ads will return soon enough. Launching and marketing a new product like Bing seems ambitious given the fact that Microsoft will need to get behind Microsoft 7 any day now. But the subject of how much money Microsoft has for marketing is another topic altogether.
Filed under: Search Engines | Tags: 2nd tier search engine, click fraud, click fraud settlement, content networks, miva, ppc, ppc management, sem
Unless you just haven’t been paying attention, you already know that there’s a fire burning in the 2nd Tier. These are the search firms that are outside the Big Three (Google, Yahoo, and MSN – who also syndicate search results) like Looksmart, Marchex, MIVA, Kontera, eZanga, etc. Yes, I’m talking about the knee-deep web, land of bots, spiders and Indian sweat shops. Second tier engines are more vertical, niche, and include things like local search sites. If you’re a publisher looking to optimize your page views, then chances are you’ve probably tried the 2nd Tier by now. Purchasing ad space on more than just Google makes good sense if:
- You need volume.
- You need low cost traffic.
- You have a CPM model in place.
Good deals can be secured on these low cost, high volume traffic providers but only for the proper business model. I’ve used this traffic to monetize a CPM model, and it works great. But at the end of the day, you are expecting that traffic to be legit, and so are your advertisers. But at $.01, .02, or even .03 per click, you know you are taking the good with the bad and if you don’t, well…you’re just naive. So for some it can be a necessary evil, with the power for good. And to some, it can be a lifeline to riches – dirty deeds done dirt cheap.
Here is an excepert from a former MIVA employee…
How do you think they fulfill large traffic volumes? Well, if you are willing to pay $.03 and someone else can create the traffic for $.01, everyone gets paid. To do this nefarious publishers and affiliates create bots that simulate real clicks, even performing actions once they land on your site so they appear to your analytics as human in nature. As you can imagine if you are a spammer sending bots out and they are clicking on Google AdSense, which is a popular revenue stream for many, then money is exchanging hands at an alarming rate. In other cases, there are reports of actual sweat shops where people are getting paid pennines to generate traffic by clicking on ads. And also, your competitor can be clicking on your ads in order to spend your money.But some do their jobs very well, causing “spikey” activity, like abnormal high CTR on things like Google AdSense or banner ads. On the surface everything looks copacetic, but an analysis of variance reveals the source. A best practice is to channelize your traffic, so you can isolate sketchy activity.
All of this is called click fraud, and we all know that your at risk of getting burned when you leave the Big Three. And the content networks just can’t say no to money (who can these days?). So they fill the requests, and then get busted. Like MIVA – which ignites the whole tier. MIVA’s $4MM click fraud settlement has sounded the alarms – We’ve got a full blown mess up here! (And this isn’t the first for them.) Now the engines will tell you that they are working to curb this type of activity, but the fact of the matter is they aren’t really. Any smart player knows that these types of content networks are in the business to provide traffic, any which way. If you spend significant money, you may not get the cold shoulder when you ask for a refund, but don’t count on it. And since the people who profit the most from the fire are the internet lawyers, every engine that doesn’t start with the letter G better start forming a bucket brigade right now, because fires spread really fast.
Filed under: Marchex, Search Engines | Tags: adcenter, Marchex, marchex adhere, marchex enhance, pageviews, panama, qualified traffic, search engine land
Looks like Marchex is doing some big things these days. I noticed this story about them over at Search Engine Land last week. Can’t wait for their launch party on Tuesday. Free booze, free food and networking potential. My girl, Kyla will not be making the trip down from Seattle for the party, but I’ll catch up with her during the next shindig at Moscone Center.
They have a new name, a new look, and a new traffic partner mix…so fresh and so clean! I like the new blue color of the UI instead of the old orange Enhance look. There are a few new features here as well, but it’s pretty much the same. And your old accounts are still there. Gone is Enhance and in is Marchex’s AdHere. They boast a premium line of content sites in their network. One things for sure, they are definitely planting themselves firmly in the second-tier of search engines/traffic sources. I work with Marchex’s Enhance…err…AdHere advertising platform a lot, and I’m usually pretty satisfied with the traffic that I get from them.
Their UI is easy enough and surprisingly self explanatory. And while Google it is not, it’s still pretty easy to navigate, start campaigns, change bids, and all that other good stuff. You know…the basic stuff that SHOULD be easy to do (insert derogatory comment about MSN adcenter or Yahoo Panama here) Plus, your ads are launched right away, and there’s no annoying review process (insert another derogatory comment about Panama). It does take a little time to get your terms popping on the network, so be patient at first. My advice, is – was – and always will be, if you are spending significant dough then get yourself an account manager to help you optimize. Track the referring sites that send traffic to your domain and then adjust accordingly based on your conversion metrics.
For the most part, their traffic usually does what I need it to do, which is pageviews per visit. There’s not much need in going granular here, although you can, and I have. But I usually get the results I need by running the same amount of keywords that I would run in a couple of different groups, and running them in the just one group. The key here is to write a good ad that will convert nicely regardless of the slight differences in your keyword bucket. Your not running multiple ads in an adgroup with Marchex, so this is easier to justify. Belive me, I’m a big, big fan of granular, but like I said, this isn’t Google. Plus I just find that you get more traffic, faster, this way. Also, it saves you time on PPC management; build out time is shorter, ads go up fairly quick, large keyword groups allow more high level mass cpc bid changes, etc.
I’m currently using Enhance/Marchex to drive traffic to a large publisher site where the only conversion is a pageview (PV), with mostly a CPM ad model. We do a decent amount of CPC as well, with AdSense, and the traffic works good with that as well. Naturally in the CPM rev model you want as many pageviews as you can get per visit (PVPV).
For the most part these guys will send traffic that turns at least a couple pages with a reasonable bounce rate for a second-tier traffic source, which tells me that these ads are getting at least some amount of exposure with a fairly qualified audience. Their traffic partners are many and they list Yahoo as one of them. Well Yahoo certainly has a lot of traffic (relatively, of course), but to be honest I get better results from Marchex than when I buy direct from Yahoo. (insert derogatory comment about Yahoo’s ability to keep up in search)
Have you used Marchex yet? Check em’ out. If you have, see you at the party!
