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AdWords or Yahoo! Search Marketing which one is better?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by InsightsDigital

Dani AI

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A short modern update that builds on the original thread: the market changed a lot since 2009. Google AdWords was rebranded to Google Ads in 2018 and the platform has moved toward automation and unified, multi‑channel campaign types (Performance Max) rather than the old keyword‑only workflows. Google still supplies the vast majority of global search volume (roughly 85–91% in recent global tallies), so it remains the primary place to buy high‑intent, large‑scale search traffic. | Performance Max announcement | StatCounter search market share. ()

Yahoo’s old “Search Marketing” auction is not the same competitive option it once was. Microsoft and Yahoo reached an agreement in 2009 that resulted in Microsoft (Bing) powering Yahoo search results, and today Yahoo search inventory is typically reached through Microsoft Advertising rather than a separate Yahoo self‑serve auction. Microsoft also offers tools to import and sync Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Advertising to capture Bing/Yahoo partner traffic. Microsoft 2009 announcement | Microsoft Advertising Google import. (news.microsoft.com)

Actionable guidance that complements earlier replies from , , , and : treat Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising as complementary. Run controlled tests with identical landing pages and conversion goals, measure cost per conversion (not just clicks), and be prepared to tweak bids, budgets and location/audience settings after importing. Use Google for scale and automated bidding/Performance Max for cross‑surface reach, and use Microsoft Advertising for incremental volume, often lower CPCs and different audience slices (and LinkedIn profile targeting for B2B). When importing, reduce budgets and recheck targeting — imports are a time saver, not a one‑click optimization. (blog.google)

Quick checklist:

  • Run short parallel tests (same creatives, same conversion tracking) across Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising.
  • Use Google Import to mirror campaigns into Microsoft Ads, then adjust bids/budgets and location granularity.
  • Install Google conversion tags and Microsoft UET separately; compare cost‑per‑conversion and lifetime value per channel.
  • Scale only where incremental conversions and ROAS meet business targets.

Recommended Answers

All 21 Replies

Member Avatar for Dani

Test them both out and see which converts better for you. In my industry, at least (tech), AdWords can deliver more traffic but there is also more competition with certain keywords. I believe Yahoo! also has a higher minimum cost per click. AdWords also has the whole AdSense side which is more robust than the Yahoo! publisher network. But it's all about return on investment ... so you never know until you try.

Member Avatar for OICUAM2

If I were just starting out, I would test Yahoo first because it is easier to get your ads on the Yahoo search engine.

Google AdWords can deliver a lot of traffic, but their "quality score" formula makes it difficult for some people to get their ads shown on Google.

Make sure you have a good stats program so you will know what the traffic does once it enters your site.

Member Avatar for mauconline

Google has better geo-targeting abilities than Yahoo! So if your target audience is outside Europe and the US, then I believe Google is the way to go.

Member Avatar for SteveSe939

AdWords is the route to go. I agree with what mauconline posted.

Member Avatar for janicejan

I believe that adwords can deliver a lot of traffic, but you shouldn't stop researching for other methods, try experimenting its worth a try..

Member Avatar for kerryjim42

Adwords is the best one as for as concerned me..

Member Avatar for ppcfreelancer

I have been using both Google adword and yahoo search marketing for years. The thing which exactly matters is the ROI.
The search engine performance depends on what type of product/ service you are marketing.
I observed that google adwords is giving more ROI(atleast in technology business) then yahoo. In yahoo the CPC are comparatively low than Google adwords.

One more thinng I wann add. most of the advertiser don't want to go much for yahoo search marketing because yahoo's reach in pay per click marketing is less and the advertising platform is soo complicated.

Thanks,

Member Avatar for ithelp

In this recession time both google adword and YSM suck.

Member Avatar for bobchrist

Adword becoming just more competitive so you may find rate differences from others, however as far as content matching is concerned Google shows more natural results than Yahoo! Search Marketing, this is just my personal view which may differ from others.

Member Avatar for ChiefLee

We use both extensively. Some phrases are just too expensive for us in Google, so sometimes we get more traffic from Yahoo for certain campaigns. But typically we get about 3x the traffic from Google as we do Yahoo.

Member Avatar for moverspacker

I think both are same, Both have big traffic

Member Avatar for Web Peak

absolutely GOOGLE NO. 1

Member Avatar for Fiveonline

Adwords is the answer. To be frank there is no competition between yahoo and google as google is way ahead.

Member Avatar for middletown77

AdWords or Yahoo! Search Marketing which one is better?

AdWords will give you higher search volume and is a good B2B market, generally somewhat younger demographic;

Yahoo is much lower search volume in the US, but has a better B2C market than google, much older demographic generally.

May want to experiment with both at some point. Track your conversions to see where your ROI is.

Member Avatar for mahgobb

niche dependent an your own efforts also count
but adwords is more profitable for me

Member Avatar for yourwebgurus

My experience is that both are very good search engines, google obviously having the largest reach available, which yahoo is less. Yahoo however I have seen many companies have much higher conversion rates there as opposed to google, especially in ecommerce.

Member Avatar for jrafique

Thanks for sharing. Keep it up.

Member Avatar for snapshot

When you take a look at the status and marketing procedures used fo the top Google ranking websites especially in competitive niches like, Hosting, Domain Registration and SEO, you would find nearly all of the sites also using Google AdWords as it still remains among the powerful traffic pushing plans.

Member Avatar for quicktpgo

I will vote Google adwords!

IMO, they provide excellent intelligence about the type, number and profitability of searches which can then be used for SEO purposes.

Google AdWords is one of the most readily measurable types of advertising available. The amount of data about your campaign available through Google AdWords reporting is incredible.

This enables the precise tracking of the effectiveness of each search phrase in your campaign. It is easy to determine what the most frequently searched phrases are, what the highest converting (conversion from visitor to lead for example) search phrases are, and what the most profitable search phrases are.

Member Avatar for aarthi123

I ll move to google adwords......

Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

Now that Bing is in the picture, will advertisers flock to advertise on Bing instead of Yahoo or even Google? Or is it too new to say?

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