This is an update to the first Pay Per Click Network challenge of a few weeks ago. There is new data, new PPC networks included, and a new scoring system based on everyone’s input from the last one. Hopefully it will be even more helpful now.
To review:
These networks were all tested running the same PPC campaign (meaning the keywords and the ad texts were the same) to an affiliate offer with the exact same landing page.
Scoring system:
I threw out the interface rating as many people thought it skewed the results of bad performing networks that had a good interface. I agree that performance is king and if something converts well I can live with a bad interface (MSN, cough, cough). Now the scoring is based on 3 factors with 2 being double weighted. This should more accurately show the total performance of a PPC network.
• 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 possible total score of 30
The Results:
| PPC Network | Traffic Volume |
Conversion Rate |
Click Pricing |
Total Score |
| MSN | 6 | 9 | 4 | 19 |
| Yahoo | 8 | 7 | 3 | 18 |
| 10 | 7 | 1 | 18 | |
| Searchfeed | 6 | 6 | 3 | 15 |
| Looksmart | 3 | 7 | 4 | 14 |
| Miva | 2 | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| 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 |
Traffic Volume Winner:
As always Google is king of traffic volume. The only thing that keeps it from the overall leader is its stiff click pricing.
Conversion Rate Winner:
MSN is the tops for conversions. Too bad their volume isn’t up to Google or Yahoo’s levels.
Recommended:
• MSN
• Yahoo
• Google
• Searchfeed
• Looksmart
• Miva
Stay Away!
• Adbrite
• 7Search
• Enhance
• Kanoodle
• Search 123
• Bidvertiser
Remember these results are based on my campaign and niche, your results may vary wildly.
yep!
also shit PPCs like 7search even do not offer geo-targeting! 8(
Awesome information. Thanks for posting this. I was thinking about trying 7search, now I think i will save my money.
Nice research
Do you mind if blog about this post and put a link to your blog ?
Don’t mind at all, thanks!
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sourcer Says:
January 16th, 2007 at 10:13 am e
Nice research
Do you mind if blog about this post and put a link to your blog ?
I have to agree with your experiment results with exception of 7Search and enhance. Depending on your niche these two can also work quite well. I will have to say STAY AWAY from KANOODLE and FINDOLOGY. Adbrite can be good but you have to target the right blog with the correct offer in the whole scheme adbrite can lose you a LOT of money.
You should give us some more numbers.
I’m interested in the volume of your test. How many impressions, clicks, CTR,…
Great Post!
Niche is very important with PPC. If you could mention the niche you tested PPC perfomance with that would make your research even more valuable.
Did anyone notice that the DNS for searchfeed.com is findwhat.com?
I have found MIVA to convert far worse for me than these results would imply.
Are these numbers actual arithmetic percentages, or what methodology did you employ to come up with the numbers assigned?
[...] 12 Pay Per Click Networks Tested and Rated [...]
Thanks for sharing these findings! Save us a lot of time!
Cheers for the results. This is really useful. Setting up pay per click campaigns is the one thing that really does my head 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 [...]
Great study – now if I can just keep MSN from disabling extremely relevant keywords on extremely relevant landing pages, seemingly at random…
Hi Chad,
This is good scoring and analysis for per per click advertisers.
I would heed the note all on this: this is for ONE niche; that means you may have completely different experiences. You have to believe in the possibilities! I have tried 7search recently with some success already. I will be testing some others. The key is looking at overall ROI – not just the conversion rate but the CPC and how much did you actually pay per sale or lead? Then you will know if it’s worth it. If you aren’t able to track this, then forget it, don’t waste your time.