Google AdWords Select Japan Start

Google starts adwords select in Japanese market

[takah]

[adwords.google.co.jp...]

Not officially announced

[bill]

I go on vacation and all the fun stuff happens ;)

Good catch takah, and welcome to WebmasterWorld.

[whats up skip]

Yes, but look at the price!!!

Minimum of 50 Yen.

This seems too high for me.

I will try it, but we are going to significantly limit the amount we use it.

[angiolo]

50 Yen = 0.431406 USD

[whats up skip]

Yes, but you are assuming I am working in US dollars. In our case 50 yen = A$0.71

That is Australian dollars. Japan is Australia's largest export market. Our weaker currency (compared to US$1 = A$0.55) is just one of the many reasons why so many Japanese come to Australia, but it is a double edged sword because it makes it difficult to afford to advertise to the Japanese market in Japan.

[Oxford cabman]

We've had a red notice appear on our programme, that it's 40 US cents minimum for all of our adwords on the Japanese version, including some words that are 5 cents for everywhere else.
We've gone for it anyway, but wonder why it's so expensive.
Anyone know?

[Mike_Mackin]

>Anyone know?

NO

My feeling is that the formula is fundamentally flawed.

Cost can be 8 to 10 times more expensive than "elsewhere" for some terms while other terms can be 8 to 10 time less expensive.

[whats up skip]

I don't understand what you mean by some terms being more or less than on the Japanese program.

Are you using Japanese or English search terms?

I have not found a way of entering Japanese search terms into the English language site. Have found a way of doing this?

If you are using English language search terms, then unless it is cheaper, don't use the Japanese Google as I have found about half the Japanese use google.com to do Japanese language searches.

[Mike_Mackin]

>I don't understand what you mean by some terms being more or less than on the Japanese program.

sorry, I was speaking of the formula in general.

[angiolo]

> 40 US cents minimum

Does it mean that it could be higher and higher?

I know that Japan is one of the most expensive countries in the world ( a ticket bus costs more than a taxi in europe..), but in a "digital" world it has no sense.

[whats up skip]

The major cost issue for them is setting up the system in Japanese. This is more difficult as there are fewer systems that support Japanese.

In addition the market may be viewed as a smaller market compared to the English language market (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ etc) with 400 million compared to 120 million.

I have thought about sending Google an e-mail about the pricing, but I think it may just be a waste of time and effort.

[bill]

Why is Google AdWords Japan more expensive than elsewhere? Well, they're staffing offices in Tokyo and paying Japanese wages to Japanese staff and targeting the Japanese market. Any of you who are targeting the Japanese market know that this is a very insular country market that follows its own set of rules. It's not a real shocker for me to learn that AdWords Japan costs more than elsewhere. Sure it would be nice if they kept costs in line with the rest of the world, but look at Overture and LookSmart...they're charging more in Japan too.

Yes, the Japanese language market is smaller than other language groups, but they're probably also better potential customers overall if you know how to work with them.