Why Yahoo PPC Is 2nd Place

I created a Google Adwords campaign for a client that is doing very well right now. Since it's been tested and proven on Google, my client asked me to roll it out to Yahoo Search (a.k.a. Overture).

In a past life, I dealt with Overture a lot. I hated it.

Why? Because they had advertising dimwits who approved or rejected ads. Many times they would reject mine, even though they had already been tested and proven on Google. Sometimes they would edit the ad... water it down... and had the gall to tell me their changes "made the ad more relevant."

Oh, the rage.

I do not have a temper. And yet somehow those editors had a way of bringing me to a boil in about 2 seconds flat.

I hated advertising with Overture so much I actually stopped doing PPC with them. It wasn't worth the hassle. I've been avoiding them ever since...

But this morning I ventured back into their system and copied over an Adwords campaign into the Yahoo Search interface. Instantly, I saw a major design flaw that could be easily fixed. (I'm not even a designer!)

I pushed ahead and submitted the ads for approval. Nearly all of them... rejected... because of "Duplicate Keyword" or something like that.

Oh, yeah. I forgot. With Yahoo Search, everything is automatically broad match. "Copy writing" is the same as "copywriting" is the same as "copywritting," etc.

And no geographical targeting either.

I tried to edit the rejected ads, but that's not an option. I had to start over. Can't just tweak a word. Got to recreate the whole friggin' ad.

Anyway, after a few minutes of stress, I finally got some ads into their system.

Question: Does Yahoo Search intentionally try to repel advertisers? 'Cuz it sure seems that way to me...

Comments

[Matt]

I have 9 of my own websites now. I drive traffic using Google PPC.

In theory, if I started using Overture PPC too, I could double my income (in theory).

I've tried Overture PPC. But I get so freakin' frustrated that I end up throwing in the towel every time.

Seriously, the first person to take a "Perry Marshall" position with overture PPC will make a fortune.

I got $95 bucks right here... just waiting for somebody to step up and teach me how to make overture PPC easy to use.

Who wants to be the overture guru?

[David Coyne]

I tried PPC to promote my own business a couple of years ago and found it extremely frustrating and time-consuming. I finally gave up on it. I read an interesting article by marketing consultant and copywriter Bob Serling. The title is "Why Pay-Per-Click Is A Sucker's Game." You can read it at
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/issue13.html

[Karl Barndt]

Overture is extremely frustrating, but can be very productive for the right markets. I have a real estate client who gets more traffic from Yahoo PPC (Overture) than from Google Adwords. Do a search on "Search engine demographics." You'll be surprised to learn who uses which engines.