Google only vs Search Network

Interesting experiment

[realgames]

My main campaign has been running search network enabled for some time (not content network) and I have refined it to the point where I have good copy, good keywords, bespoke landing pages and masses of negative keywords to try to eliminate the ad from showing for irrelevant searches. Yet the main keyword has had a disappointing CTR and ROI.

Then by chance I found my ad being displayed on E-Bay if a user searches E-bay for this keyword - something I would not have expected and certainly not wanted as E-Bay is not the sort of place we would sell and E-bay users are searching E-bay not the internet - and hence unlikely to heed any ads thrown up by google. I would certainly not call it an internet search engine.

I was somewhat annoyed by this so I set up a new campaign using google only (ie not search network) and the results have been amazing. The CTR for the same keyword is 15% on google only but 3-4% on the search network.

[Zuckerman]

I've had mixed results with the search network - some sites convert well, others very poorly, which drags down the overall conversion rate. Are you able to work out which ones are converting well/poorly, and add the poor performers as negative sites?

[UnitedRigo]

You cannot exclude sites from the Search Network. Olny from the Content Network.

[realgames]

You cannot exclude sites in the Search Network. It is all or nothing. I do think Google are acting wrongly by including E-Bay in the Search Network. It should be content network if anything. It is not a search engine but rather an online marketplace. If someone goes to E-Bay to look for a product they are unlikely to be interested in seeing Google adwords advertisers.

[Zuckerman]

sorry, meant the content network for negative sites etc

[sacX]

How long must me wait until we can block sites from search network. Until that day comes it remains turned off in my accounts.

[realgames]

A couple of follow on points:

1. Is there any reliable source of which sites are included within the Google search network. I was certainly shocked to find that EBay was and I suspect there are many others which are not true internet search engines. As an example I have found that exactly the same keyword, using the same match type with the same Max CPC and the same negative keywords is getting a 15% CTR on Google only (ie with the search network disabled) and just 1.5% on the search network (excluding Google). This shows to me that the search network must include many sites on which people are not really searching the internet.

2. Is the CTR which Google uses to assess relevancy based on the CTR on Google only or on Google plus the search network?

[Zuckerman]

I've heard from Google that the CTR which determines relevancy, quality score etc is purely from the Google engine, that search partners doesn't count - not sure how true this is...

[Widestrides]

realgames,

You cannot chose Google Only for search! So you have not done that. It's not possible.

Not sure what you have done to notice the difference.

[chief72]

Widestrides, go to 'Edit Campaign Settings' and deselect 'Search Network'. Provided you have already opted out of the content network you will find yourself left only with 'Google Search'.

Following this you may wish to apologise to realgames.

[Miamijuice]

According to Ebay

Sponsored Links

Sponsored Links are provided by Yahoo! Search Marketing, which generates sponsored search results by allowing advertisers to bid for placement order based on specific search keywords. Matches are based upon relevance to the specific search terms used in your query.

[jkwilson78]

To get an idea for the sites in the search network setup three campaigns, one for content network, one for Google only search, and then one for the search network (to do this you need to setup a campaign with Google and Search Network enabled and adjust your bids lower than the Google only campaign which results in getting most traffic from the search network only)

Next, send all traffic from the Search Network Campaign to a totally different page, then use your analytics software to see all the referring sites to that page.

You now have a pretty good list of search network sites....some are pretty questionable for sure. Ultimately though you can't use the data to block the sites but at least you know where the clicks are coming from.

[Widestrides]

chief72, and realgames,

You are right. You CAN choose Google-only search.

Sorry. My bad. I didn't check first. I was going on past experience. I was sure at one time, we had no choice, because at one time I wanted to opt-out of the search partners, but couldn't.

But now with the new high minimum bids, I am so desperate for traffic that I think I will keep the search partners.

[chief72]

No worries mate.