Overture

If your not in the top three?

[duhboy]

Hello all
If Overture shows only the three top paid listings at other search engines, and if you are unable to compete with the top three bids, is there any value in spending limited funds in the first place?
Thanks for your time, Duhboy.

[Brett_Tabke]

Yes, but do so appropriatly and consider how wide the ad is going to be seen. You'll notice a pretty big drop off in prices after 3.

[Mike_Mackin]

dogpile.com is currently showing the top 5 and displays Overture results 1st.

[webdiversity]

Every keyword should have ROI calcuations carried out to establish if there is any value. In some cases the drop from 3 to 4 will be over a dollar/pound, so if you can supplement the traffic figures with more keyword variations and mispellings then you can still make positive ROI.

Freeserve in the UK are showing way past the top 3. You might also want to put yourself in the top 3 periodically for a bit a turbo traffic boost.

[duhboy]

Thanks everyone.
As always, great points of view worth trying.
Duhboy.

[Brett_Tabke]

Ya, Dogpile is the one exception. Any value in submitting to dogpile?

[Dante_Maure]

If Overture shows only the three top paid listings at other search engines

Yahoo (their largest source of traffic) is currently displaying the top 4 listings for most searches.

I've found that in choosing a lower ranking you trade sheer traffic volume for a much higher ROI due to the decreased CPC, and surprisingly, can get an even higher conversion ratio per click.

Some attribute the higher conversions to the fact that a lower lisiting is less likely to be a victim of click fraud and that serious consumers will often click through dozens of results before purchasing.

[martinibuster]

Also take into consideration who is bidding for those top 3 spots. If they aren't in the same industry as you or selling different a item, then it's safe to go to number 4.

Remember, keywords have different meanings and can be relevant for more than just your own industry.

[coconutz]

>>Yahoo (their largest source of traffic) is currently displaying the top 4 listings for most searches.

Someone else also brought up in a past discussion that if eBay is bidding on any of the search terms, their listing is not displayed on Yahoo. So you can be in the top four at Yahoo by bidding on position #5.

[werty]

On yahoo it shows 5 listings,

3 on the top and 2 on the bottom.

at least for the search i did, and it is pulling the top 5 overture bids.

[bigjohnt]

..ahem...
Actually, on some keywords..(and I would venture "most"), Yahoo goes through the list, at least to number 60 (I lost interest here), putting approx 6 per page.

I just searched for a term from one client, and despite their being #13 for that particular high competition search term, if I click "Next 20" link at the bottom, I get a whole new set of OV sponsor matches. This continues for several pages. This listing at #OV13 appears as the TOP sponsor listing of page 3 (of 20 "real" results per page")

There is a value, however small, based just on Yahoo's rotation of the OV results, and the depth to which users search for your particular set of keywords.

Of course this is all subject to change at a nanoseconds notice... YMMV

[sem4u]

>Any value in submitting to dogpile? (Brett)

Not sure - Dogpile currently has:

1.Overture
2.Dogpile Picks (may be Google Adwords
3.Google (regular results)
4.LookSmart

plus more.

I don't know where the actual Dogpile results would go.

Also, it is worth noting that Dogpile is now in the UK (HQ in Woking, Surrey) and I think they are now using UK search engines for their results.

[tedster]

On some campaigns I've run, number 5 is a big winner - conversions being so much better that even with lower click-through there are nearly as many as a number 2 bid and much better than number 4. Something about being at the end of the list catches the eye.

I found this out by accident at first when a client needed to cut their budget. And then I looked like a hero bringing in nearly the same income for much better ROI.