Like many I have purposely delayed converting client accounts over to Yahoo Search’s Project Panama. I had a sneak peek months ago and knew about the new fresh look but was not convinced our agency should be the first to expose our clients to this unproven platform.
I learned one year ago at the 2006 SES Conference in New York directly from Yahoo that Panama would be using a quality score to determine the cost per click opposed to the traditional Overture bidding that we have grown accustomed to. There was a small uproar with some attendees when this was announced. To be honest I was kind of relieved. I still cringe when I think of the inflated bid prices that have been artificial set by hyperactive bidders who didn’t take time to romance the campaign instead of trying to seduce it. Now these individuals will have to spend time in writing good ads and landing pages, or pay more than the ones who do.
I have seen the blog postings of some who are unimpressed with Panama. A reoccurring theme is that they are happy with the new user interface but will not be satisfied until Yahoo Search increases the volume of available searches.
I actually agree with both these points but will point out one thing I have not yet seen discussed in a blog posting. Yahoo’s implementation of local search has paid off well for us and our clients. Our firm has a heavy emphasis on geo-targeted searches and have campaigns that target up to 20 DMAs for one client. The goal, of course, is to generate traffic only within these geographic pockets. Up to this point Google and MSN have allowed this but Yahoo Search was a non performer. And no, Yahoo Local was not the answer.
We didn’t want to miss the coverage that Yahoo offered so we made location a part of each and every search term. This is very tedious and made for a lot of search terms but we have done this for years with many clients and thought the results were worth the effort.
The initial results of our Panama geo targeted campaigns are extremely promising. The volume of searches has increased of course, but with the added benefit of multiple ad groups and the ability to test them we have also increased the click through rate. Since we have a good quality score, we are paying less for more.
What is truly note worthy is the increase in conversions. We have to study this over a longer period but first indications are, in proportion to the clicks, we are getting more conversions from Yahoo than with Google. For the client in this particular study we track conversions by telephone appointments with each call recorded. We are seeing cases where the phone appointments are up while the overall click costs are down. We contribute this to Yahoo having, for this industry, a better conversion rate than Google.
Again these are early results but look promising. I will give it another month and report back with further details. Let me know what you have seen.
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