Targeting Options (Dayparting)
Return to Ad Copy and Rotation
Targeting Options (Dayparting) -- Microsoft in a Walkover
Dayparting is the ability to set your bids based on time-of-day and day-of-week. Yahoo does not currently offer this feature.
Microsoft did a good job of implementing dayparting. You have the flexibility to schedule your ads and to adjust bids at different times of the day or days of the week. To its credit, Microsoft even bested search leader Google on this one by basing the time of day on the location where the user sees the ads. So if you are trying to reach a lunch-time user anywhere in the country, you only have to select a one-hour setting. On Google, for example, you would have to set your ads to run from 12 noon (EST) to 3 p.m. (EST) to reach lunch-time users in California. Kudos to Microsoft for its elegant approach to dayparting!
Targeting Options (Demographics) -- Microsoft in a Walkover
Microsoft is the only search engine to currently offer demographic targeting for search ads. If your perfect customers are 35-44-year-old women, then you can set your bids so your ads get better positions when this demographic group is clicking around. Microsoft has years of Passport and other data it is now putting to use without compromising personally identifiable information. Although Microsoft does not disclose how many searches it is able to demographically segment, we generally see better conversion rates when targeting options are turned on.
Targeting Options (Geo Targeting) -- Slight Advantage: Yahoo
Yahoo's implementation of geo targeting is intuitive and easy to set up at the campaign level. A handy map highlights your DMAs or states/provinces choices as you click each area.
Microsoft's geo-targeting implementation may not be as sexy as Yahoo's, but it is still a solid offering. In adCenter, you implement geo targeting at the ad group level, not at the campaign level. This makes a great deal more sense to advertisers who have distinct product lines but different marketing programs state-by-state.
Trademark -- Gold Stars for Everyone
Both Yahoo and Microsoft take strong positions to protect their advertisers' trademarks. Neither permits competitive bidding on trademarked terms, nor the display of ads that infringe on trademarks. They both take prompt, aggressive action on trademark claims. As with any trademark protection, it is up to the advertiser to report instances of trademark infringement. Affiliate marketers may not be so happy with this arrangement, especially the legit ones who have to take extraordinary steps to get their ads and keywords accepted.
Power Tools -- Advantage: Microsoft
Other than offering pretty decent keyword generation tools, neither Microsoft nor Yahoo are big on stand-alone productivity tools like those offered by Google.
Within adCenter, Microsoft's keyword suggestion tool gives you a demographic profile of searchers, which can be helpful in many ways other than building keyword lists. On its related adlabs.microsoft.com site, Microsoft shows off early versions of tools in development, all of which are fun to look at, but none are that useful for everyday campaign management.
Reporting -- Advantage: Microsoft, But Not For Long
The reports available in Yahoo Panama's interface are absolutely stunning. Interactive charts let you analyze many campaign performance issues online, without having to download and manipulate in Excel or other tools. That said, there are many common reports that are just not available in Panama, yet. Microsoft's reporting interface is intuitive, gives you plenty of reporting and scheduling options and runs quickly.
Relevancy Ranking -- Advantage: Yahoo
It is refreshing that PPC advertisers have something new and positive to obsess over instead of click fraud. Quality Indexing and ad relevancy ranking are now hot topics of conversation at SEM cocktail hours. Yahoo is doing an exceptionally good job of educating its advertisers on the why's and how-to's of quality improvement in its system.
While Yahoo doesn't disclose exactly how it weights relevancy factors, it does provide feedback in its reporting dashboards on a five-bar scale, so you can see at a glance which of your ads are considered most relevant and which need work.
Conclusion
Yahoo's search traffic volume -- and the new Panama interface -- have kept it solidly in second place behind Google. However, with Microsoft deploying tremendous technological resources into paid search and making strategic acquisitions, it may be angling to simply take over Yahoo rather than overtake them in second place behind Google.
Paul J. Bruemmer is director of search marketing for Red Door Interactive. Read full bio.
Matt Van Wagner is president and founder of Find Me Faster, a paid search marketing agency. Read full bio.