The 13 Pay Per Click Network Challenge
Author: glend
About the test:
In January of this year, I posted my extensive test results of 12 PPC networks. Since 8 months is an eternity in affiliate marketing, I decided to revisit this test with a brand new niche and see who performed best and worst. I also added 1 more network, Ask.com, into the mix. The test ran for most of the month of August, and it took me the last 10 days to really analyze the data. Please don’t ask what the offer or niche was, I still need to make a living guys! The keyword list and ads were kept as close as possible on all the different networks. Some minor changes had to be made based on ad copy length restrictions. All landing pages were identical. Bid prices were adjusted to try to keep ad positions as close as possible throughout the duration of the test.
Scoring system:
I rated each network on 3 criteria. Traffic, conversions, and pricing. I had a scoring framework for the different point levels, but obviously some subjective decisions were made in determining each score. Traffic and concerversion rate were given the highest weight, and click pricing was give half weight.
• Traffic Volume (Highest volume = 10 out of possible 10)
• Conversion Rate (Best conversion rate = 10 out of possible 10)
• Click Pricing (Lowest pricing = 5 out of possible 5)
For a best possible total score of 25
The Results:
| PPC Network | Traffic Volume |
Conversion Rate |
Click Pricing |
Total Score |
| Yahoo | 8 | 8 | 3 | 19 |
| MSN | 6 | 8 | 3 | 17 |
| 10 | 6 | 1 | 17 | |
| Looksmart | 3 | 7 | 4 | 14 |
| ASK | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 |
| Miva | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| Searchfeed | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| Adbrite | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 7Search | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| Enhance | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Kanoodle | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Search 123 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Bidvertiser | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
Overall Winner:
Yahoo came out on top. With their strong traffic volume, and strong conversions, Yahoo surged to past rivals MSN and Google. Their moderately priced traffic and more lenient quality score (compared to Adwords) also helped Yahoo grab the top spot.
Traffic Volume Winner:
No suprise that Google Adwords is the leader in this category. As the king of search and a 2/3 market share for most keyword searches, they reign supreme as the volume leader.
Conversion Rate Winner:
Yahoo and MSN tied for the top conversion rates. The traffic from both of theses networks continues to convert better than Google for most of the niches we have tested. This may be surprising to some, but our data clearly shows big G behind the other 2. Also notable, Looksmart produced strong conversion rates.
Recommended list:
Based on the test results, these are the networks that I would consider testing any offer on:
• MSN
• Yahoo
• Google
• ASK
• Looksmart
• Miva
Avoid list!
These are the networks that are probably not worth your time. But you never know until you test!
• Adbrite
• 7Search
• Enhance
• Kanoodle
• Searchfeed
• Search 123
• Bidvertiser
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