Very surprised by Yahoo

The CPC is amazing

[Ducain3]

I just briefly browsed the 'honeymoon is over' thread, and I have to tell you, I don't agree at all.

I surf here often, but don't post much (sorry guys). I run a fairly busy game site (don't worry, no URLs), and over the last 6 months, Google has barely been worth the code on my pages. Most clicks are worth a few cents, and by 'few', I mean less than 5. Even with a fair amount of clicks per day, the income is next to nothing.

Out of...well, spite I guess, I switched my Google spots over to Yahoo a few weeks ago, and I'm pleased to say that the ads are performing wonderfully. They are well targeted, interesting, and the earnings per click simply amazes me. I'm not really sure what I'm allowed to share here, and please forgive me for not pouring over rules before I write a quick post, but I've been averaging more than 10 x as much per click than what Google was paying.

Is this a trend that will soon vanish? Probably, just like the great CPM ads I used to run that have gone the way of the dodo, but until then...

...I'm laughin mate.

:)

[Roe352]

I have similiar experiences.

All I have to say is, competition is good :)

The days of Google controlling the world are over. We are NOT at Googles mercy anymore. With YPN and Adcenter coming, there is always going to be competition to have the best features and payouts, IMO.

[FTFlash]

I think the "honeymoon is over" thread was made by some greedy webmasters who want to scare away people who are interested in YPN to hog all the awesome CPC rates to themselves... Just Kidding!

In all seriousness though, I haven't experienced any dramatic reduction in my income in the past few months (as other people claim). Sure, CPC has gone down a little, but my income has hardly changed! With the increased relevancy of the ads, more clicks with a slightly reduced CPC still make the same amount of money.

[JoeHouse]

Hi Guys

I just started yesterday with YPN....and I too am receving more $$$ per CTR.

Now the question is...is this just while in BETA and Yahoo grabs more advertisers/publishers? Or is this deal and ROI for keeps?

What I am extremely impressed about is the fact that Yahoo lets you place your ads throughout your site and in very visable areas were as their competitor (we all know who) you are very limited.

I think if Yahoo continues on this trail they will win the hearts of many publishers and then the advertisers will follow.

GREAT JOB YAHOO! Continue with the great work!

[wileystudios]

YPN still makes me more money than Adsense but YPN is also a rollercoaster ride as far as revenue. I find it best to go for the ride and try not to understand how the revenue can be so different each day. Also with Adsense you knew that certain days would be good and bad. With YPN I cannot find any trend. One Monday it will be low then the next Monday it will be 5 times more. I think that YPN is trying new ad placment code (it is a beta) and it will be a few more months before they can start fine tuning. In the mean time enjoy the CPC.

[garyr_h]

Actually, for the past few weeks YPN has been very steady for me. It goes right along with my traffic... great on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, then slides off for the 'weekend'.

I have it set so YPN shows to US visitors only and of course Adsense to the rest... YPN is far more steady income wise than Adsense ever was for me.

I just hope I don't jinx anything after I say this.

[saraah]

I share an opposite view compared to you guys.

I put Yahoo ads on my site this month listening to all the news about how high ppl are earning with Yahoo compared to Google.

Its been 2 weeks and still my yahoo earnings are way below what i used to make on Google - atleast 5 times less I would say.

Planning to go back on Google

:(

[asp4bunnies]

saraah, what is your industry? Have you tried playing with url targetting at all?

[saraah]

Well I have several but the site on which I'm testing yahoo deals with computer security and its related softwares.

Yes I did setup Ad Targetting - and as far as I can see the ads are very well targetted - but the number of clicks are very few....

I mean for the same number of visitors - if I show Google ads - say I get 100 clicks a day - but if I show Yahoo - i get like 15-16 - so no wonder i'm not making any money....Although Yahoo's cost per click is higher - but very few ppl click.....

Sometimes makes me wonder if the ads that I see on my pages are different than what other ppl see hmmmm...

[JoeHouse]

saraah

You need to take advantage of the location in which you can place these Yahoo ads.

unlike their competitor yahoo allows you to place their code almost anywhere on your site and multiple times on a page.

Based on what you are saying the low amount of clicks you are getting may be just the location of your ads.

Take advantage of this and you will see a big difference.

[saraah]

Hey Joe

thanks for the advice. the reason I dont put multiple yahoo ads is cos the same ads are repeated in all the blocks......its like they have limited ads or something and the same ads are shown in each ad unit.....

I just thought that it would discourage ppl from clicking. Anyways let me try ur suggestion and see how it goes.....

thanks
--sarah

[GeeWhizzler]

"Sometimes makes me wonder if the ads that I see on my pages are different than what other ppl see hmmmm... "

I often wondered about that too Sarah. I talked about that several times that YPN seems to "cloak" their ads to me and offers different ads to visitors.

Go to Google, Yahoo, and other search engines and look at your pages in their cache. Are the cache snapshots showing totally different targeted ad types? Then, surf back to those pages. Same ads or different?

Doesnt feel right and noone believes me.

[saraah]

OMG WHIZZLER you are SOOO right. I just checked on Googles cache and the YAHOO ads are completely off target.

When I see, I'm seeing all computer related ads, and on the cache snapshot of Google, all the ADS I see are

"play games", "Yahoo music", "yahoo hosting", "learn what men have to say" and "super mario".

When I go back to my page, I dont see any of these ads and see all relevant computer security Ads.....Whats happening!

Any advice guys.

Thanks
--Sarah

[saraah]

And on Yahoo's cache, all the Ad units are showing just one ad

***************
"Find the best..
Take the quiz to find americas best cities to retire"
****************

This is weird...I had no idea about it. No wonder - i'm not getting any clicks with yahoo ads.

Is any one else experiencing the same thing.

[saraah]

I'm starting this as a new topic

[JoeHouse]

Saraah

Stop and think for a minute. These ads (Yahoo) are dynamically generated. So when you click on Yahoo cache (about your site) you will get computer stuff because that is what Yahoo is all about and you are still within their site (not yours)because the code is reading Yahoo content and not yours!

Because they are dynamically generated even though you are looking at your site you are still on Yahoo (website) so you will get targeted ads for Yahoo and not your site.

Hope that makes sense?

If you go to Google cache about your site it too will display computer/email/search engine related topics because its within the google server/website even though you are looking at your cache/website, but you are still on Google's website, so again the ads will show targeted ads to google's content and not yours.

There is nothing wrong with Yahoo targeted ads. Occasionally I do admit they are a bit off, but for the most part they are on target.

[saraah]

Yep Joe

you are right. It makes sense what you are saying. But I guess I wasnt thinking straight after reading GeeWhizzler post in an earlier forum

These are the steps I took.

1) With browser open, remove all cookies, close browser
2) Launch browser and go to YPN and login. Several yahoo cookies get created.
3) Go back to your site in same browser session
4) Very carefully note the ads on your home page.
Are they the targeted ads you specified?

5) Remove all cookies
6) Go back to your site
7) Note the ads on your home page.
Are the targeted ads or low cost CPC ads?

For me in #4 as a known YPN publisher:
I get the targeted ads shown

For me in #7 as a visitor:
I get low CPC ads that are nowhere near targeted

Well to confirm this I went to the local library and DUH - I saw targetted ads.

I guess it just did'nt make sense to me as to why with the same number of ppl, by placing the ads in the same positions, with AS I get way more clicks then Yahoo.......maybe i'm just unlucky with Yahoo

Thanks to all of you for your insight
--Sarah