USA vs. Canada Part 2: Yahoo Search Marketing
Part two in our three part series on geo-targeted search share analysis focuses on the multi-talented Yahoo. I’ve been a big fan of Yahoo over the years because of all the tools that are readily at an advertiser’s fingers. Despite their minuscule traffic numbers compared to Google, there is a place for Yahoo in your paid search portfolio. But what kind of numbers should you expect when comparing US and Canadian geo-targeted campaigns?
Read more to find out.
Ever since the release of Panama, there has been more to Yahoo than meets the eye. Although search numbers are inflated in keyword estimates and real-world impressions are relatively small, the quality of traffic is usually less diluted than that of Google Adwords. Sad but true.
Let’s face it, most of us will be testing and retesting the waters with Yahoo for quite some time, until numbers significantly improve. So if you’re a cross-border marketer, you’re wondering how much of your advertising spend should be budgeted for YSM. To make your decision a bit easier, here are the numbers we’ve pulled from our campaigns.
Branding Campaigns
Depending on your industry and trademarks, branding in Yahoo could be as tempting as forbidden fruit – ripe for the picking. Here are our numbers on branding campaigns in YSM:
As you can see from the graphic, American traffic has the slight edge in dominating Yahoo searches. Due to the various boring statistics and recognizing that error probably had a part in our numbers, we’ll call this one a tie.
Products and Services
Where Yahoo really shines for US-targeted campaigns is in the commercial keywords. The raw numbers certainly do suggest a greater demand for keywords related to products and services. Unlike our branding campaigns, we have a clear winner in e-commerce:
American traffic rules for keywords related to products and services, with a 3:2 lead on Canadian searches. Personally, I’m not surprised because Yahoo has made enormous strides in dominating the home pages of millions of Americans by partnering with ISPs and content providers. Yahoo is also front and center with a plethora of entertainment and lifestyle products such as personals, games, hosting, HotJobs, etc.
Overall Search Share
Surprisingly, the overall search share dividing the US and Canada is somewhat of a compromise between branding and e-commerce keywords.
American loyalty to Yahoo is clear, and the megalithic search founder has done several things to make moves into the Canadian search market. They’ve successfully migrated their content partnerships with leading Canadian ISPs such as Rogers Cable, and ensured that all their products and brands were represented equally in both nations.
Perhaps the only thing they lack are a greater share of Google’s numbers.
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