Whilst Microsoft’s search engines have historically delivered good ROI (return on investment) with PPC (pay per click) advertising, they have delivered less traffic. This is another reason the partnership of Yahoo and Microsoft is good news for all of us. By combining the two we get more traffic and excellent ROI.
This chart from 2009 shows that the “Ad Click Rate” or click through rate (i.e. the number of ad clicks relative to the number of times the ad is presented) served by Yahoo and Bing were outperforming Google.
This is a reason not to simply dismiss Yahoo and Bing on the grounds of their traffic alone. You should consider them carefully as they offer good ROI. This is also true of other ad networks. CTR is a crucial element in working out the profitability of an ad.
Here are three other ways you can optimise your click through rate (CTR).
- Make sure your ads have a clear call to action, aimed at getting the click.
- Choose relevant URLs (both the one you display and the actual destination)
- Split test to find your Best Ad: Write multiple versions of your ad within your ad groups, and monitor which gets the best CTR (click through rate) and only run that ad.