Average CTR of local ads (ppclick, ppcall.)?

imported from SEW forums

[Cule]

(I'm copying this post from SEW forums to here - as I was thinking it might be also nice to hear more views. There was an interesting answer there about an 11% CTR of local ads)

Basically I'm interested to look from a local search site (publisher) point of view, and was curious about 2 general figures:

CTR of ppclick

• Is there an average figure for CTR of ppclick ads that are shown on local sites (YP, verticals, SE local search)?

• I've tried to look at many resources - I haven't found a solid statement about it, but I saw people who talk about 3-6%

• Obviously, it depends a lot in category, ad text and other factors - so we can also focus just to IYP - like superpages

• Or an alternate question -> what is considered a good CTR for local ad compaing (plumber, lawyer, dentist - the classic types)

CTR of ppcall

• This one is harder, and I'm sure there are enough stats -> but is there a general estimation for the CTR on ppcall ads? Does Ingenio hold such a stat?

• Look like superpages and smartpages are the places that could have this data, and also A9. Is there a way to seek for it? Has there been any publication of ppcall campaigns CTR's? (we had a nice feature on ClickZ about conversion rates and advertisers views).

• eStara had their forrester research - but it was mainly reviewing click-to-call Vs. click-to-callback.
  

Thanks in advance to any reply.

[inbound]

Here are my PPClick observations.

Is there an average figure for CTR of ppclick ads that are shown on local sites (YP, verticals, SE local search)?

There are too many variables there to give a meaningful 'average'. It depends on ad placement, ad copy, search relevance (how well the algo matches ads), user demographics etc..

I have seen average CTR on an entire page of relevant ads steady at around 40%. For that particular site (one of ours) it means an average CTR of 8.9% for position 1 dropping down at the standard curve to 1.9% for position 10

I've tried to look at many resources - I haven't found a solid statement about it, but I saw people who talk about 3-6%

That is entirely plausable. I don't think you will get a solid (and reliable) overall figure.

Obviously, it depends a lot in category, ad text and other factors - so we can also focus just to IYP - like superpages

Getting figures from large sites is not going to be easy, they don't tend to throw them about (and if they do give them out they will be to trusted parties under NDAs). A problem with relying on the experiences of advertisers (rather than getting the figures from the IYPs) is that people in this, or any other, local search forum who do use the IYPs will get a better conversion than most.

Or an alternate question -> what is considered a good CTR for local ad compaing (plumber, lawyer, dentist - the classic types

A high CTR can be one which costs too much, making it a 'poor' CTR. On some less intelligent bidding systems you can see massive differences in CPC for very little difference in ad position.

As for a 'good' CTR, that depends on the impressions served and the amount of traffic that will satisfy the business (how many conversions they can cope with). It's can be very complex if you look at all of the factors, but if you want a figure then I would say that 4-8% would be doing well depending on the market. 2-4% would be OK and below that would need work.

[Cule]

Many thanks for the insights and explanation, inbound.

It definitely made the picture clearer to me now.

Would you say that there aren't really any stats about ppcall CTR at the moment?

I wonder if eventually the best place to try and dig stats from is A9, since it's click-to-call is the widest one.

[inbound]

PPCall is mostly about expectations at the moment, just getting a programme up and running on networks that serve enough searches is where the battle lines are currently drawn (certainly in the UK).

I didn't give you any PPCall stats as we do not have sufficient data. Also, I'd not want to give too much away. On the other hand PPClick is well understood by many so nothing that I posted as a reply to your questions should be a major shock to anyone with access to good data.

I don't think that the big players are selling based on stats, it's about potential. That potential can be summed up by the amount of small businesses that do not have websites but would like an alternative/addition to the print YPs.

[Cule]

Thanks once again Inbound.

I agree - measuring the impact of PPcall could be done through its key potential.