USA vs. Canada Part 3: Microsoft adCenter
Aug 17, 2007 Microsoft adCenter
The final part in our three part series on pay-per-click search share focuses on the little search engine that could. Could be bigger, could be better, could be badder — could buy most of the Eastern Seaboard. Microsoft adCenter has come quite a long way in recent months, with a heavy push back into the PPC advertising market. Whereas Google and Yahoo dominate the US markets, MSN seems to favor Canadian markets.
See how Microsoft adCenter’s traffic is divided along our country’s borders.
Why, oh why does Microsoft search data have to be so cute? Honestly, it doesn’t do much for a poor pay-per-click marketing blogger, if all our categories break down to the same distributions. One thing that says for sure, our numbers are either way off, or right on the money. You be the judge.
Overall Search Share
After an introduction like that, it’s clear where Microsoft’s loyalty lies.
That’s right, Canadian search volume dominates Microsoft adCenter by nearly 3:2. You’re not likely to see much action if your campaigns are geo-targeted to the United States, believe me. Actually, with all the conversion data I’m not allowed to show you, I’m surprised the numbers are so even. Let’s just say that my Canadian-targeted campaigns are magnitudes more valuable than my US-targeted ads in terms of ROI.
So, why is it that MSN dominates the Canadian search market?
Probably timing. Just as Yahoo joined forces with Rogers Cable some years ago as a content partner, Microsoft (MSN) joined forces with Bell Sympatico. If you’re in a rural Canadian city that hasn’t fallen prey to Ted Roger’s vast empire (think Dark Side), you lose out on Yahoo. However, a few years ago everyone had a telephone line and some relationship with Bell. If you had internet access, it probably came through dial-up, DSL, digital connections (T1, T3, etc) or fibre - all provided at some point by Bell Canada.
We all know how Microsoft loves dominating everything, so to me, it’s no surprise.
The bottom line is this: If you have extra search budget to spare and you’re contemplating targeting Canadian search traffic, put your money on Microsoft adCenter.
Until next time! Once again, if you’ve enjoyed this post or any of the previous blog posts in this series, please hit that little icon below and Digg it!
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