The Long and Short of It: Yahoo Follows Google’s Lead in Shrinking Search Text
Back in December, Yahoo announced that they were migrating to a shorter character length within their sponsored search text ads; very Googlesque. Last week, the roll-over began with many ads truncated after the first 70 characters, moving from 190 characters to a mere 70.
Is this a good or bad thing? Let’s review:
The Advantages
One can look at this move as a way to standardize text length across multiple Paid Search platforms. Google and MSN have chosen the shorter length, and with the Yahoo move to a similar character length, the homogenization of these programs is underway. Marketers may have an easier time managing their text ads; however, this might not be the scenario in every campaign; see Disadvantages.
Search marketers that have homed in on their sweet spot with consumers using Google’s AdWords program could breathe easily with the knowledge that they can transition their current ad text in their Google program over to Yahoo. After rigorous rounds of copy testing, marketers have exhausted what works and what does not work, given the character limitations within Google’s system. However, as mentioned above, transferring Google copy directly over to Yahoo might work in the short term to avoid any truncation in ad copy.
The Disadvantages
So, what are the disadvantages? For one, it’s important to understand that Google’s and Yahoo’s audiences are different, and that ad copy created on Google might not work at its peak within Yahoo. In instances such as these, using a Search firm knowledgeable in understanding these engines idiosyncrasies, and what creative works best when targeted to the Yahoo audience.
Another point to keep in mind is that limitations on text do severely restrict the creativity, call to action, promotional nature, location, or offline action within these ads. I happened to stumble across a discussion board that talked about a test in which Google was conducting on a longer version of their copy. Here’s a screen shot of what was witnessed:
By comparison, here’s a screen shot from a Yahoo search for New York weather:
Upon fact-checking with the friendly folks over at Google, I was told that this test, more or less, has been put on hold. However, what I find to be interesting is that if Google wanted to test it in the first place, there is definitely some validity to the longer creative copy model that allows advertisers to pre-qualify at a more finite level prior to the click occurring. In addition, who wouldn’t want to have this type of creative control? They have this ability in display advertising, why not search?
In my opinion, testing various character lengths would greatly contribute to the overall effectiveness of your Search campaign. We in this industry have been preaching advertiser control for years now. This is just another area in a long laundry-list of wants and needs in which creating, testing and optimizing will provide an avenue for advertisers to have more control over creativity and bottom line results.
Do you agree to text ad cropping? What are your thoughts?
Reader Comments.
I have been using paid search since GOTO.com created the industry, and therefore have a long term perspective - and I am extremely troubled by the long term slide in integrity in the industry, as best evidenced by the growth in various kinds of fraud (which benefit the engines) and the concomitant slide in conversion rates.
I agree that, whether intentional or not, the shorter text results in less effective advertising and therefore more wasted time and clicks by consumers. That is bad enough, but in addition, it causes far higher costs for advertisers who pay for clicks from customers that don’t have enough information to know whether to click or not. Everybody but the search engine loses when this happens. The concern you note in your article is part of a trend, and needs to be objectively viewed from that long term perspective.
And that, in a nutshell, is the story of PPC advertising today, from Google on down. It is very unhealthy when search engines win at the same time advertisers and consumers lose. Crises in confidence lead to crashes, so GOO and YHOO should consider this, even if all they care about is their stock price.
I’m glad to see someone calling Google and Yahoo out on their greediness - something has to be done to this monopoly-grip they have on all of us since we have no other search choices as well-known and trafficked as these two.
I, too, have noticed that the search engines are claiming to forge a better user experience when in reality they are just running a scam operation to increase their profits at the expense of the advertiser and the consumer.
It is obvious that longer descriptions, when used correctly, qualify the traffic for the advertiser while simultaneously helping the untargeted user avoid a waste of time.
Google’s increased CPC minimums only serve to generate revenue for Google at unreasonable costs for many advertisers.
If you wanted to pay $0.10, $0.05 or $0.01 CPC on a particular keyword, and others were paying $1.00 or $5.00 CPC, you would understand your ad would appear relatively low to the others, even considering Google’s formula, and perhaps raise your maximum bid based on the performance of the keyword.
But enforcing $1.00 or $5.00 CPCs on advertisers who only stand to gain $1.00 to $5.00 in revenue from only ONE transaction originating from that ad is a lose-lose situation for everyone involved: if you do try out the $1.00 to $5.00 CPCs, you mostly likely will find that you lose out on the performance of the campaign; if you don’t bother running the campaign because it is too expensive to do so, you lose out on traffic and Google loses out on the potential revenue that could come from a lower-placed ranking ad.
The revenue may not be up to par with the desired $1.00 or $5.00 CPC that they would like to enforce, but it is revenue nonetheless, and even better, if the $0.10-priced ad is what consumer is actually looking for, and the $5.00-priced ad is not, then the lack of exposure may force the consumer not to click on anything at all.
I realize that there is a higher demand for some keywords over others, but aren’t we paying for that demand in volume by sheer quantity of clicks alone?
Don’t get me started on Yahoo. At least they let you bid a reasonable $0.10 minimum and you can actually see what you’re dealing with in relation to costs and rankings between you and other advertisers.
Yahoo’s shortening of their ads, as bas for the consumer and advertiser that it is, is nothing in comparison to the creative license they impose on you in their terms and conditions.
I’ve had quality targeted copy changed to LESS quality copy by Yahoo’s editorial team for the obvious purpose of generating more clicks and less quality traffic to the landing page.
I’ve even been forced to turn off some keywords myself because of this and their unwillingness to change the ads back to the more appropriate targeted copy that would allow me to spend even more with them due to the great ROI resulting from the listing.
The search engines’ greediness will be their downfall - if not in revenue immediately, in consumer and advertiser confidence, and in the development of advertising alternatives that will provide exactly what they claim to do: enable a better user experience.
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