Google and yahoo

[luigitfn]

I have a client that is advertising on both google and yahoo UK, Now something odd is happening. My ctr on google is 13% my conv rate is 1.83% at an avg cpc of 0.34 euros.
Now, My ctr on yahoo is 4.5% my conv rate is 5.5% at an avg cpc of 0.16 euros.

How can this be possible that at half the ctr and cpc on yahoo, yahoo has double the conversions

Please can someone explain this to me

[humblebeginnings]

Well, for example;

- The ad copy is different.
- The ad layout is different.
- The ratio search-network/content-network for both ads is different.
- The page on wich the ads are shown are different.
- The ads are targeted at or displayed for different audiences.

Etcetera, etcetera.

It's like; hey, today it rains, and yesterday it didn't! Yet the place, time and altitude are exactly the same. How is that possible?

[mike031]

why are you complaining? ;)

anything is possible. they are two totally different and seperate networks. doh!

[deep_alley]

What kind of volumes do you see on google and yahoo luigitfn? Do you get the same absolute number of conversions on both? Yahoo does seem to convert at a lower cost...

[Hissingsid]

Hi luigitfn,

I wonder if the hypothesis that you are not saying but perhaps are thinking is "there's more click fraud on Google than Yahoo".

If that is the case it is something that I have also thought. I suspect that if you bid for a top 3 slot on Google there is a greater chance of competitor click fraud than if you have a lower bid. Also since Google dominates the SE market competitors are more likely to commit click fraud on this search engine than others. They are more likely to and it is more in their interests to do so as they have more to gain by doing so on Google.

Clearly there may be other reasons why there is a greater CTR on Google and a lower conversion rate but I do not think that you can rule out differential click fraud until you test it.

I'm going to install "Who's clicking who" next week in order to test my hypothesis and try to put a stop to click fraud on all of our PPC campaigns. I fully expect this to be most successful on Google Adwords.

Sid

[luigitfn]

Hi deep_alley, thanks for your reply, well google got 641 click for month to date and yahoo got 951 so lets say yahoo has 50 % more clicks on the same advert, keywords, which is logical, based on cpc, where advert shows up etc, but i got 11 conversions on google and 50 on yahoo nearly 5 times more conversions on yahoo.

I am starting to think that yahoo is a good tool for small clients and google for the big clients,

The reason i say this is that i have a client with a massive budget, and it is converting like a gem

Luigi

[luigitfn]

Hi Hissingsid, thanks for your reply.

I have been thinking exactly this, of click fraud, but as i am a google adwords professional, i have to believe that google is not letting this happen. hehe, Seriously, i hope that click fraud is not taking place as i would realy be very diappointed with google.

Anyway i am also thinking perhaps it is a question of money, the bigger clients perform better on google than yahoo, and vica versa for smaller clients.

What do you think about this thoery.