Content too expensive & less quality

...is site targeting the better alternative?

[Syzygy]

Since 'the change' to the adwords system we are getting less for our money than we did before.

In looking a little closer I notice it's the Content clicks that are eating away at what little budget we have. Content clicks are now coming in at 20-30% more expensive than those from the Search network.

At the same time the conversion rates from Content are noticeably less. More money - less quality. Why is this? More importantly, what to do about it?

Operating in niche sectors and at a very small scale, site targeting just seems like too much trouble. Is it worth investigating? Are there pitfalls? Perhaps I should just dump Content all together?

Syzygy

[Frequent]

Although I agree that content targeting tends to convert less for us, it is much cheaper per click due to smart pricing.

Site targeting, I have had pretty good luck with.

Assuming you have some good sites to choose from that really target your audience I would definately test it out.

One note on site targeting, ad blindness sets in really quick. I have very good results for about 2-3 weeks then the traffic dries up, but the impressions keep racking up. I have gotten around this by removing sites for a couple of weeks and then targeting them again. It's a pain but it's worth it. On the good weeks I get my clicks for less than .01.

Freq---