Google AdWords vs. Yahoo Gemini
When Yahoo Gemini launched in early 2014, it set out to be the premier marketplace for both mobile search and native advertising. Though it is not near as robust as Google AdWords, it offers some benefits to those willing to experiment with the new platform. We’ve seen good results with one of our e-commerce clients through Gemini, realizing the potential the platform has with its lower cost-per-clicks and less competition. We thought it would be helpful to outline some of the benefits and drawbacks we’ve found when using Gemini and how it compares to Google AdWords.
Google AdWords Benefits
Industry Standard
AdWords is unarguably the search platform that all other platforms look to as they expand their offerings. It’s always interesting to see AdWords’ competitors follow their lead, occasionally putting a slight spin on some new ad extension or reporting feature AdWords rolled out, but often times imitating the industry benchmark almost exactly.
Search Volume
Google’s search engine is utilized more than all the other search engines combined. All this volume translates to potentially more traffic to your site. In general, once you build effective campaigns in AdWords with positive ROI, the opportunity for scaling is there.
Intuitive, Convenient Layout
This could be due to familiarity because we are working on this platform more than the others, but AdWords’ layout gives you the quick, convenient access to campaign data, reports, and tools that just isn’t found on the other platforms. While being the more complex platform with the most features, it manages to also be the most user-friendly with its neat layout.
Support
There will obviously be mixed reviews here but AdWords support—whether through phone, live chat, or email—has generally been very helpful and efficient whenever we have an issue. Questions and concerns are often resolved quickly and their support can help minimize roadblocks and delays when building out or managing your campaigns.
Google AdWords Drawbacks
Potential Cost
Google has the most businesses advertising on their platform and vying for a position which drives the auction up, resulting in higher cost-per-clicks and potentially higher cost-per-conversions.
Tech Savvy Users With Lower Buying Intent
Google’s users are generally younger and more tech-savvy as compared to those of Yahoo. Being more tech-savvy translates to more comparison shopping and potentially lower conversion rates and higher cost-per-conversions. Tech-savvy users may not have as much buying intent initially and are clicking through and doing more research before making a purchase decision. Every situation is different and it won’t always be the case that conversion rates are lower on Google, but the data does show this tech-savvy distinction between Google users and those of the other major search engines.
Yahoo Gemini benefits
CPC
We generally find the cost-per-clicks to be significantly lower on Gemini versus the other platforms. This makes sense as there is less competition on this newer platform. There is a lot of opportunities here for businesses to capitalize on before more and more competitors are advertising on the platform.
AdWords Import
Gemini allows you to import your campaigns directly from AdWords. A good chunk of the features and settings can also carry over and you can have very similar campaigns up and running in no time showing to Yahoo searchers. It is nice to move a bulk of your work from one platform to another in a few easy clicks.
New Users/Demographic
Data has shown that many users of Bing and Yahoo use that search engine exclusively, meaning that they would not be effectively reached through AdWords etc. Yahoo also has a relatively older demographic as well as users that show slightly higher buying intent, meaning they are more likely to convert. Advertising through Gemini can help you tap into a new user base and can be very lucrative for companies targeting an older demographic.
Yahoo Gemini drawbacks
Unusual Layout
Gemini’s layout is set up with the hierarchy of the account in a horizontal bar as opposed to the fixed, vertical menu on the left side of both Google AdWords and Bing Ads. This horizontal menu lowers the reporting view and since it is not fixed it becomes unavailable as you scroll down to view your data. This may sound trivial but makes for a very cumbersome platform that involves a lot of scrolling and page loads. Yahoo would do well to follow AdWords’ lead and implement a fixed, vertical bar on the left side of the page.
Inconvenient & Incomplete Reporting
The reporting in Yahoo Gemini is not near as complete as Google AdWords. AdWords’ dimension tab is not really matched in any way in Yahoo Gemini, nor does Gemini have as many columns to choose from when viewing your data. To generate reports one has to load a separate page, choose your report settings, and export the report to view.
Low Search Volume
Yahoo doesn’t have anywhere near the search traffic of Google and won’t be a feasible platform to advertise on for many businesses just due to the lack of search volume. Even if there is enough search traffic there generally is not a lot of room for scaling up budgets once you have a positive ROI.
Less Support
We have not yet needed to contact support much with Gemini but I could not find any chat feature or even a phone number on their site. The only way to reach them appears to be through email at this time.
In conclusion
Though Yahoo Gemini is a relatively new platform without as many features as the more refined Google AdWords, it still offers a lot of opportunity for businesses if the search volume is there for your product or service. The low CPCs can help you generate leads or sales at a lower cost than AdWords or even Bing. We recommend taking advantage of their importing feature and moving campaigns you have previously set up in AdWords over to Gemini and monitoring your ROI from there. You might find that even through AdWords is still the dominant platform in search advertising, the newer Yahoo Gemini can definitely have a place in your digital marketing strategy.
