Trust Overture impression and click numbers?

Hard to believe these key words are gettting so much traffic at Overture

[SFReader]

After many years on Adwords, I have been experimenting with Overture for a few months. Last week I added some low volume key words and was surprised at how much traffic and clicks they got.

So I checked back on the same KW on Google.

Adwords for two months had 104 impressions and 3 clicks

Overture for 5 days had 246 impressions and 16 clicks.

Hard to trust this.

[bostonseo]

Honestly I get way more impressions/clicks on the same keywords in the same positions on Yahoo. Depends largely on the industry.

[StupidScript]

Did you see the 16 visitors in your log files?

If so, you can see that the CTR is much higher in the Overture account than the Google account, in addition to the impressions being higher.

Overture/Yahoo's affiliate system is surprisingly large when compared to Google's. It's also extremely mysterious ... one never know exactly how large it is. If you want to try a little experiement, do not show your ads on Overture's content network ... just the search network.

You'll see a big drop on all fronts. Check your ROI frequently to see how it is impacted.

[bostonseo]

I don't use content match on yahoo or google and get more clicks from Yahoo(Overture) every day.

[SFReader]

> Did you see the 16 visitors in your log files?

For reasons beyond my control, that site is hosted on a server with minimal tools. The log is not available to me.

[StupidScript]

bostonseo, yep ... Overture has a greater reach than Google. I was suggesting that SFReader compare Yahoo with no content match to Google ... which probably is set up without content match, as well ... from the looks of it. Or, set both up with content match.

Ya gotta compare apples to apples. If SFReader has content match enabled on Yahoo but not on Google, that explains the disparity, right there.

And I do agree that Yahoo/Overture has a generally higher CTR than Google. For the past few years I've been attributing that to the reasons why a visitor would use either service, or their affiliates. Google is for ... Googling, getting information more than purchasing. Yahoo is a big shopping network, so I figure more of its users would be inclined to click an ad.

[eWhisper]

The way these two systems handle matching options makes the keyword tail much longer at yahoo. It has nothing todo with search volume, but by what actually triggers an ad.

Consider this keyword:
super blue widgets

On Google, a bid on widget (or possibly blue) could trigger your ad. A search for super widget widget or blue widgets should trigger your ad (if it's at all relevant - but that's another discussion).

On Yahoo, super widets and/or blue widgets might trigger your ad. A bid on the keyword widget won't trigger this ad.

This makes it so on Yahoo, you really need to go after the longer keyword phrase variations, where some people can be successful on Google by just broad matching a few keywords.

[SFReader]

Content match is not enabled on either one.

[bostonseo]

"Content match is not enabled on either one."

Smart man!

[StupidScript]

Thanks for that, eWhisper. Sounds good. Better than mine! ;)

[lrbs]

Truly speaking, one cannot rely on any of the systems (whether its google, overture, findwhat, etc.). You never know how many clicks are true & how many fraudulent. I have heard that many companies have 'bots' which tend to click on the ads by themeselves, showing traffic to your website (I may be wrong also)