Yahoo! breaks out the flashlight and vaseline
May 8, 2006 at 08:05 AM
If you've spent any time at all dealing with Google's AdWords program, you know that it is superb. Google gets how to make mind-reading-ly good tools that help you do just exactly what you want to do. Their usability is second to none.
But that's not saying much. Their only real competitor is Yahoo! (formerly Overture).
The difference between the two is like the difference between shooting a bullet, and throwing one.*
Where Google amazes, Yahoo! actually lowers your IQ. You become dumber the more time you spend with their tools. They are not just useless, they're infuriating. They're broken, stale, horrid, and I refuse to work with them unless I have to. It's not worth the agony. Life is too short.
But the puzzling thing is that Yahoo has bright people. They understand good web applications, they get usability. They're playing me-too to Google in many areas, sure. But with the license to print money that AdWords has given Google, it's been extremely puzzling that Yahoo has let so much opportunity pass uncaptured.
Well, it looks like this fall things will change. And it can't happen soon enough. I got an email from them this morning promising the following, as part of a complete overhaul:
Easy-to-Use Control Panel
A completely redesigned, easy-to-navigate control panel will help you see what's working and what's not--at the level of detail you choose--so you can take action and get even better results.Fast Ad Activation
Most new ads will go online within minutes, allowing you to connect with customers quickly, and easily make changes to your ads whenever you need to.Ad Testing
Easily test multiple versions of an ad to find the message that works best for your customers and provides the greatest return on your advertising investment. You can then choose to shift impressions to the ad that performs best.Geo-Targeting
Display your ads broadly or narrow your geographic distribution to better target your customers, customize your ads and control your costs.Campaign Budgeting, Forecasting and Scheduling
Create, budget and schedule individual advertising campaigns for greater control over your advertising strategy and spending. Review forecasts of your potential clicks based on your bids and budget and see how many clicks you're leaving to your competitors.Visibility
Understand how well your ads are performing relative to your competitors with the new Quality Index displayed for each ad. You'll also see the bid range necessary for premium placement at the top of the search results page.Easy-to-Use Control Panel
A completely redesigned, easy-to-navigate control panel will help you see what's working and what's not--at the level of detail you choose--so you can take action and get even better results.
In other words, exactly what Google AdWords has now. But that's a good thing. It's about flippin' time.
* Thanks Scott, for the metaphor.
Strange, I find Google SEM tools pretty frustrating in that you can't see exactly who you competitors are, what your exact placement is or what your bid is in relation to theirs. You can see some odds and averages but that seems to be about it - and in campaigns with thousands of keyphrases those features are pretty handy.
As for the Geo Targeting, that's a nice feature - when it works. In my own tests I've seen African inquiries come in from campaigns that were only supposed to display in the UK, for example. I'm guessing that they are better guesses than WHOIS or IP2LOCATION but it's not quite "there yet" as far as I can tell.
There are occasional things I like better about Google though - like the ability to weed out specific spam sites from displaying the ads.
To tell you the truth, I've used both for a number of years now and have found consistantly better conversions using Overture (Yahoo) than Google SEM products. In my experience, Google results in greater traffic but less conversions.
Posted by: Sam | May 18, 2006 at 10:31 PM