Google Adwords Vs MSN Adcenter

[kittychuk]

Hi,

What is difference between Google Adwords Vs MSN Adcenter? Which is a better one?

Thanks
Kitty

[poster_boy]

MSN is very much in beta mode. Very little volume. Trying their best to copy Google, but they're fairly far behind.

[humblebeginnings]

And is it open to non-US residents?

[gopi]

The volume sucks, for the same keywords adword produces almost 100x traffic for me

[poster_boy]

Select few advertisers at this point, but you can apply to be part of the beta.

[advertising.msn.com...]

[OrlandoTodd]

MSN is in beta and they're only giving a small fraction of volume to it in this stage. I have a site in Beta and I really don't care for their system at all. It is missing some vital optimization tools and they make it difficult to mass manage/edit the account. Bidding on MSN is not like finding a bid amount, you have to give them a max and let them find the best spot. Billing seems to also be a chore as they do not accept credit cards. So far, if it were released today, it's a far inferior product.

[Eurydice]

MSN adCenter is in beta. This means real beta, i.e., a version under development, instead of Google's so-called "beta", which means a "version that is released, but they haven't figured yet out how to make money on it."

We have accts on MSN AC. It is being developed. It's very rough to use; constantly crashes, it's buggy, etc. To get something done, you have to enter it 6-8 times.

But it does work. And it accepts credit cards.

MSN AC will be publicly available in June. Until then, it's only a few agencies that can use this. We test it, submit bug reports, write suggestions for add-ons or changes, etc.

It's like GAW: it's a PPC tool. The ads have the same format as GAW. They're shown on MSN search.

But there are diffs. It has very cool features. I was thinking of coming to NYC SES and present the new features, but I have to be at another event. So I'll tell you here.

MSN AC lets you see demographic data for your keyword. Enter a KW (such as "organic cat food") and it shows you graphs of users who search for those KWs: age, sex, city, income, and so on.

You can then bid by those criteria. If your market for cat food is 80% women, then bid $2 for women searchers, and 25c for male. If it's women 24-35 yrs old, then bid higher for those, and less for women 55+. You can focus your adspend precisely on the target market for your KW or products.

These are great features. Google doesn't have this.

Best of all, you can use MSN AC to do research on your KWs, and then use the info in GAW. If you find that 40% of your market is in Dallas and 20% in Phoenix, then you can focus your Google ad campaigns on those cities.

There's more stuff. This gives you an idea of MSN AC. Don't have an AC acct? Don't worry :-( Be happy :-) You'd tear your hair out over how buggy it is at the moment. It'll be a properly-functioning tool when it's ready for general release.

Pay attention to MSN AC. When it comes out, it'll become one of your top PPC tools.

[Israel]

it shows you graphs of users who search for those KWs: age, sex, city, income, and so on

Thanks Eurydice for the heads up!

Sounds pretty nice for the target stats. Any idea where they get it from (MSN Toolbar)? - I mean age, income!

Surprised no one is screaming about "big brother"! There was a piece in the NYT(?) today about the US Government's request for a week of search data from Google. Some people expressed a fear of typing in certain things out of "curiousity" for fear it may lead back to them.

BTW, it's not just agencies. I know an "ordinary" person like me who is advertising on MSN Ad Center.

Israel

[poster_boy]

MSN gets it from Passport. Neat idea, but they only have data for a very small percentage of users.

[szetela]

Expect the demographic data, and other data upon which adCenter bases its very valuable Targeting feature, to improve quickly. Microsoft is on the verge of releasing major new products/services, like live.com and Office Live, that will enable Microsoft to collect (legally and safely) more end-user characteristics.