Is it worth doing a PPC advertising campaign on Yahoo or Bing?
The PPC rates on Yahoo & Bing seem more affordable than Google, but will they bring lower quality leads? Would I be better off going with another strategy all together or has anyone had good experience with advertising on those sites?
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Feb 21, 2021
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May 13, 2014
Hi Zack - Only just saw your message. I trust you probably have the info you need but based on experience of having run PPC across all three search engines in the past, Google was the primary driver with MSN and Yahoo while trailing behind in terms of volume, still delivering some quality click traffic. It's all relative to the popularity of each respective search engine. The other thing is, the advertising copy used and keywords bid on make all the different between good quality and bad quality leads being driven back to your site.
May 1, 2014
Zach, I must agree with John. Bing and Yahoo are a small part of the market, but a market you should not ignore. The cost per click is usually lower on them and if you are able to get a few leads from them they will really help lower your ROI. My company even expands the campaign to lots of the directories too, like superpages.com and City Search. I also agree to use a RCF phone number. We use them to optimize the keywords. We track the numbers and connect them with the keywords that created the phone call. It is important to higher a vender that can tract you conversions and optimize of the best converting keywords. Lots of PPC vendors are biding on high volume keywords and not focusing on conversion keywords. this will help your ROI.
Also can not agree more with CJ. lots of PPC campaign fail do to a poor landing page. Most of the companies blame it on the search engines, but reality is they have little conversions methods on the page and no call to action.
May 1, 2014
Zack, Yahoo and Bing is approximately 30% of the market. When I run SEM campaigns for our clients in Dallas, I always ask them if they would be willing to walk away from 30% of their potential leads. Everyone tells me NO of course. For that reason, I always launch a campaign with Google, Yahoo and Bing. We adjust our campaigns monthly for our clients. If Yahoo and Bing aren't delivering enough leads, then we adjust the campaign spend more towards Google. The other benefit to running on all 3 search engines is because you can typically lower your overall CPC which gives you more bang for your buck.
I also agree with CJ! Conversion is crucial to ROI. You need to launch with the right keywords, write effective ads, have great call-to-action on your landing page and then have a good propensity to close business for calls/email form submissions. I highly recommend using an RCF phone number for your PPC campaign so you can KNOW that your ads are producing leads.
I don't serve your market, but have 3 companies I refer business to based on the industry. If you want me to make an introduction for you, let's talk! Having a good SEM/SEO partner with industry experience can make a world of difference for you! All the best! - John
Apr 30, 2014
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Check out Hubary.com (we are pre-launch) and message me for a free 3-month trial. No commitment required after the trial, but should you wish to continue, we have a monthly flat rate instead of the widely variable PPC cost that produce limited results.
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Matt
Apr 30, 2014
I manage AdWords / PPC campaigns for a living. Generally speaking, I would focus on Google first, as they have the bulk of the search market. Once you are getting good results with AdWords, I would consider advertising on Bing / Yahoo, provided you have the extra budget and are not taking away from your Google advertising.
Bing / Yahoo has @ 20-30% of the search market, so especially with regional / state / national campaigns, there is opportunity. Demographics tend to be older and clicks tend to be cheaper. Note that it is a separate platform and needs to be managed individually. I don't think the quality of leads will be lower. I have a number of client's who have either used Bing or are currently advertising, most with good results. I have some Bing promotional coupons for new advertisers. If you'd like one, let me know and I'll send you the code, so you can give it a try. Best of luck to you.
Apr 30, 2014
My experience with Bing is a poor one. For the Australian market, which may be a reason(?). Imported Google campaigns etc and that process almost worked correctly, not quite. Then ads were apparently running for a couple of months with next to no traffic let alone clicks. The whole thing seemed to be a complete waste of my time. I will go back to give Bing another go but my experience thus far was poor. The help offered by the Bing support team was pretty good, but that ultimately didn't translate into any success.
Side note, Google can get very expensive. Be sure to set limits and only spend what you're comfortable with. Alternatively let it run loose if you have a specifically targeted and well constructed campaign as you should earn more than your spend in theory. If you need help with either google or bing, just contact them. They are both very helpful with setup and tweaking campaigns, plus they help for free.
Apr 30, 2014
If you aren't getting results from Google adwords, or you aren't doing it...don't bother with the other two. Google is the number one platform by a long shot and well worth the spend, but if you aren't getting results there...you're doing something wrong. Switching to another platform isn't going to suddenly find you customers.
Apr 30, 2014
There are good reasons why Yahoo and Bing are priced lower. Stick with the numero uno, Google.
Apr 30, 2014
Absolutely, Yes! To be honest Microsoft's Bing has a more sophisticated system than Google's. Back in 2007, Bing already has dynamic search ads in place and Google just came up with it last year. Also, Bing and Yahoo are partners so you will benefit from both Search Engines. They share the same ad network. Also, PPC spend does not depend on which Search Engine you are in. It really depends on the Campaign and Strategy so that you will have a good conversion rate. Bottom line is your marketing strategy should all be intergrated with one another.
Apr 30, 2014
Absolutely. You can import your Google campaign structure right into Bing to make it quick and easy. Bing and Yahoo! are managed through Bing Ads (search only), and display through those channels is a whole other beast. You can set up content campaigns in Bing, but they will only run on Bing. You will need to go through Yahoo! to set up specific display campaigns on their network.
I've seen a significant decrease in cost-per-click and cost-per-lead. The thing to keep in mind is that it isn't a replacement for Google. I have found that even though I increase my budgets to take advantage of the much cheaper lead cost, my campaigns don't ever really max out, and so they only spend about 30% of my overall advertising budget.
Apr 30, 2014
Speaking as someone certified by Bing, I can say there's very little difference in conversion figures and click-through ratios. Bing's backend is very much like Google's, in fact, everything seems like a very close copy of it.
If your ads are the same, you can expect roughly the same level of ratios, what you won't get though is the level of traffic that Google brings.
I run roughly 25% budget on Bing and 75% on Google knowing I won't get the same level of impressions through Bing but the cost will be cheaper.
Apr 30, 2014
There are two schools of thought: Google has such a dominant share of the search market that many businesses choose to focus their financial and human resources on managing just one set of campaigns. Alternatively, you may find that you are able to get high quality traffic at a lower cost on the Bing. In terms of quality, I think that is more a function of how well your campaigns are configured and targeted.
Apr 30, 2014
I think it really depends on your business? What do you do? I do B2B marketing and consulting, and have found a much higher success rate through Google. I had almost as many clicks from Yahoo!, but not as many conversions. I haven't used Bing. Even then, though, I haven't had a ton of business come in through search engine marketing. The leads I receive are mainly through evangelistic customers, email campaigns, and content production. That is personal experience. I look forward to hearing other people's experience, and I hope you find the route that grows your business the most!
I also use dedicated e-mail addresses on my landing pages so I know how they found me.