Higher EPC vs Higher CTR

Low paying targeted ads versus higher paying untargeted ones

[SlimKim]

Some publishers see more revenue with YPN's higher earnings per click and untargeted ads than with a higher click thru rate of targeted ads supplied by Adsense.

Just for a moment lets drop the YPN and Adsense tags. Has your experience shown that higher paying ads with lower click thru rates are better than lower paying ads with targeted ads?

I'll start by saying it looks like a close call but for me targeted will edge out non-targeted.

[FTFlash]

For me, it's the bottom line that matters.

I could care less about the difference between the two companies or the targeting of the ads.

Both companies serve high-quality ads, and I will go with the one that pays me more money in the end.

I'm sure that 90% of the other members here on WW feel the same as well.

[Rodney]

Actually, I think in the long term I would prefer more targeted clicks.

You are more likely to have a stable income by having ads that are relevant to your page show up consistenly. Sure you might have some high days sometimes with YPN's seemingly higher EPC, but I actually prefer the idea of having consistently on target ads.

Makes the ads on the site seem less "spammy".

[willmullis]

I agree with Flash, whatever company wants to shell out the most coin, that is who I'm going with. Right now I'm making 3X more on my worst days with YPN than I have made on the best days with Adsense. Money talks, targetting walks.

[epfantasia]

My results have been very similar daily earnings for both networks on the same impressions (but vastly different EPC/CTR). I sort of like the fact that I can make comparable earnings with YPN without "losing" as many visitors clicking through :)

[annej]

I guess I'm concerned about how the spammy looking untargeted Yahoo ads look to my visitors. But on some pages Yahoo targets quite well. I wish I knew if Yahoo does better on well targeted pages but it's hard to measure page by page.

[FTFlash]

...but I actually prefer the idea of having consistently on target ads.

Makes the ads on the site seem less "spammy".

I agree that spammy ads look bad, however, the off-target ads on my sites don't look spammy at all. They just look off-target.

[billcale]

My own experience is similar to that of others, discussed here frequently, of Yahoo ads paying more but fewer clicks. I feel the lower quantity of clicks on my pages is directly related to the lack of highly targeted ads and in my case, these fewer clicks add up to less revenue. Compounding this is having to diddle with Ad Targeting and Ad Blocking - both of which produce questionable results - and I find myself spending much more time with my Yahoo! ads than Google ads. Further, the semi-targeted nature of Yahoo! ads do not complement my pages appropriately but make them appear "bait-and-switch" spammy. This can't be good for my website's long term growth.

From a publisher perspective, I'm happy to see that others can make Yahoo!'s program work but I don't see a bright future for any company that can't match where Google has set the bar. In a short term, non-focused arena this thread's comparison may be valid but this is, after all, the business of contextual ads. That the Yahoo! ad program works for some publishers I'm sure is of no great comfort to Yahoo!.

[annej]

Interestingly Yahoo targets some pages extremely well. In fact on a page I have about sewing needles Yahoo seems to understand it's about sewing needles only while AdSense gives me hypodermic needles.

Unfortunately on many pages Yahoo doesn't target at all well. If they would expand the choices in their targeting option it would solve this problem. (for example if when you select hobbies then within that we need to be able to select the specific hobby)

[Heartlander]

Interesting, as I was pondering all of this today.
Was looking at very poor relevancy on my main site, was just about to go back to Adsense on those pages- when I noticed I averaged over a buck a click for the last 2 days!

Not sure how long that can keep up, however.

As Will stated_
"Right now I'm making 3X more on my worst days with YPN than I have made on the best days with Adsense. Money talks, targetting walks."

Amen, brother!