When Content Beats Search

Comparison Shoppers got you by the tail?

For hyper-competitive ad spaces, content network advertising can sometimes convert more efficiently than search advertising.  One reason for this is that when a qualified prospect lands on an Advertiser’s landing page, the browser back button offers more alternatives for search sourced ads than it offers for content network ads.

Juicy Search Comparison Opportunities

While in many ad spaces we find that search delivers significantly higher quality traffic than the content network, our experience shows that this does not always hold true, particularly for hyper competitive ad spaces.  Search-based comparison shoppers are likely to click on a higher number of ads than normal in hyper-competitive ad spaces, so the higher quality associated with search is negated by the higher bounce rates from excessive comparison shopping.  We find this to apply to some online stores, particularly those in markets with low barriers to entry for commodity type products, as well as services available for purchase online or nationally (like merchant card services, home security, mortgage services).

For hyper-competitive search spaces we often recommend spending a disproportionately higher portion of an Advertiser’s budget on content network ads.

For such search spaces, we also often recommend below the fold, first page positions and look for bargain-priced search phrases.  Sometimes we combine these by deploying a PPC Double Nelson.