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I've been advertising on Google Adwords for quite sometime. I currently advertise a certain widget. I have close to 500,000 *successful* keywords for this widget on file. Google was accomodating for these keywords.....
However, at this point in time, Google's CPC has gone too high for me to earn a positive ROI. This is because of increasing competition.
I've now moved to Yahoo where it seems that 75% of my keywords would have an average of 45% less CPC. So, that's 45% more in my pocket.
Now, I go into my yahoo account and as you guys probably already know there's a 500 term submission maximum. So, I prepare myself to submit my 1,000 most successful keywords.....RIGHT....
I go through MANUALLY on each keyword (because each title is different) and the darn system crashes over and over and over and over. Overture support admits that their keyword submission system is lousy and is prone to glitches....
So, they recommend an LSO (Large Spreadsheet Order)....I submit one of these with 1,000 keywords and guess what? NOTHING has HAPPENED!
I have no dedicated rep since I am a new advertiser. I must keep calling support and keep being issued mediocre support reps who simply give me a case number -- which means nothing, I've found out.
Then, to make matters worse, after I did submit about a 150 keywords -- HALF get approved and HALF get denied....
and they all follow the same pattern....
X widgets
Get X today. Don't wait. Limited time offer.
http://www.example.com
Y widgets
Get Y today. Don't wait. Limited time offer.
http://www.example.com
One gets approved one doesn't. The reasons vary from "SITE OWNERSHIP" to "LACK OF PERSONALIZATION."
How inconsistent! The sad part is that my SITE and my keywords advertisement copy is more personalized than ANY of the competitors in my niche....
Here I am, someone who spends $5,000 a month on Google Adwords with royal service stranded with Yahoo.
I'm beginning to think that their entire system is useless and that they don't want my money.
Please let me know what you're experiences are.
[edited by: werty at 3:50 pm (utc) on Feb. 10, 2006]
[edit reason] switched urls to example.com [/edit]
Yahoo does NOT want my money.
0800 039 0031
You will need to add the Uk code which is 0044 and drop the zero if you are calling from outside the UK.
Good luck, and dont submit over 500 keywords at once again!
Thanks kindly for your reply..
I am in the US...
And I will never submit 500 keywords again :-)
I spend anywhere from 12-25k per month with them and they drive me absolutely crazy. Im not sure how much you actually have to spend to be a "Platinum" member but I have been a "gold" member for some time and I am extremely unhappy with the quality of the support. Most of their reps have absolutely no knowledge of their product and it takes me generally 30 minutes plus talking on the phone to get to someone who can really help me with my issues.
Also, be prepared for ALOT of junk traffic. Under my niche 80% of the traffic I receive is from "Affiliate Parters" and is utter junk. Hopefully you will have better luck with your niche in this regard.
Google has a feature to "block" unwanted websites from displaying your ads, Yahoo has this feature as well, but they only allow "certain" advertisers to use it, and you basically have to pull their teeth for months and months to get them to do it.
Their system is extremely unsophisticated compared to that of Googles, and hopefully soon they will bring their system up to par.
Overall I would say dealing with Yahoo/Overture has been one of the most flat out frustrating experiences in my internet marketing career.
That being said, even with the mediocre traffic some of their terms, they still produce adequate results. You just have to be ready to dig deep into the pocket book.
Good Luck.
J
Unfortunately the Platinum Service Account Managers really aren't much better than the Gold Team. Few, if any, have any techincal undertanding of computers, servers, etc.
Sounds like you've already learned the most important thing, whenever you call ask for a supervisor.
Also Yahoo is a sinking ship in terms of their paid search. It's filled with click fraud and pathetic websites that they called search partners.
I'd move your money to Google. You might lose some sales volume, but your profitability will be so much better. And the most important thing is that you'll better about not getting scammed by Yahoo.
My 2 cents.
Yahoo simply makes me freaking sick these days, dealing with them is just utterly frustrating. I have a close relationship with another website that spends the next tier higher then us with Yahoo, ie.. $30k+ per month and they have to break teeth to get service with them.
It just absolutely baffles me as to what they think they are doing?
We have already moved 80% of our overture budget into Google and are seeing decent results, however much higher CPC which inevitably results in a lower bottom line. Frankly, i would rather endure the lower bottom line, then feeling like I am getting scammed by a company that doesnt give a rats patooty about you.
J
I am also worried that anyday now they will become a FindWhat-Miva and I'll have much bigger click fraud issues to deal with. When (and to be fair) if they reach this level, I don't want massive amounts of credits when all the credits are going to worth is more fraudulent clicks. I'm also worried that the good contacts I have there are aggressively job hunting, which again would leave me exposed in my dealings with Yahoo.
