Pay-Per-Click: Do You Need The Content Network?
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Sunday, 26 of August , 2007 at 8:50 pm
With Google Pay-Per-Click, advertisers get the option of sticking with the search network or using the content network. The search network is simply having your ads placed on Google SERPs whenever the keywords in your ad campaign match a searchers search query. Pretty simple.
The content network is a little bit more complicated. Advertisers who are a part of the content network include those advertisers who have opted to allow Google AdSense ads on their websites. But the ads that appear on their websites will match the keywords that their web pages are optimized for. To add another element, you can choose certain sites for your ads to appear on and you can choose certain sites for your ads to not be featured on. The members of the content network also can elect to have certain ads not appear on their sites.
If it benefits a certain website owner to ban a competitor from having ads appear on his site then that website owner can ban the ads. So when you join the content network it is not predictable where your ads will appear. And results from the content network can be spurious as well. The content network will usually yield a lower CTR, but you could be reaching a more targeted end user as well. It’s really a mixed bag.
One danger to the content network is a competitor could easily use your PPC ads to wage an aggressive campaign to drive you out of the PPC market with something that has been called click fraud. Some advertisers will pay someone to make malicious clicks for the sole purpose of draining their competitors’ budgets. This is very difficult to detect. If you are in a highly competitive industry then the content network may not benefit you as much as the search network.
You may also not gain as much benefit from the content network if the items you sell are low-dollar items. If you are selling units that cost $3-$5 each then Google may be out of your budget anyway. Most PPC ads will cost you too much for you to get a reasonable return. If you do engage in PPC you’ll likely want to stick with the search network for the low-dollar items and leave the content network for the big players.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including SEO, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
Category: PPC
- Add this post to Del.icio.us - Digg
Comment by Armand Rousso
Made Monday, 27 of August , 2007 at 3:24 am
Pay per click will still be a great Ad system but Pay per lead is for me the next generation system for Adverstising
Armand Rousso
http://internet.armandrousso.biz/
Comment by jamry
Made Monday, 27 of August , 2007 at 10:25 am
what is ivip?
Comment by jamry
Made Monday, 27 of August , 2007 at 10:26 am
im have to try register,but not complet to register..why?
Comment by Matt Houldsworth(Earning From Affiliates)
Made Saturday, 29 of September , 2007 at 5:09 pm
“Some advertisers will pay someone to make malicious clicks for the sole purpose of draining their competitors’ budgets. ”
Does that really happen? I have suspected that this is happening on some of the campaigns I am running, but as you say it is very hard to detect, probably impossible to prove and downright underhand.
Comment by namecritic
Made Saturday, 29 of September , 2007 at 5:28 pm
It’s like murphy’s law. If it can happen, it does happen. And yes, underhanded.
