Contextual PPC

Google Summaries

Updated - Thursday April 30, 2009
This evaluation chart compares the Google Adsense PPC program with the YPN Yahoo Publisher Network BETA PPC program, and the MS PubCenter BETA program. Publishers report the highest payout rates from Google AdSense. The Yahoo contextual advertising program pays less, due to a much lower CTR caused by poor Yahoo ad targeting.



I will be adding Microsoft PubCenter info as it becomes available, starting with eligibility and available ad formats. PubCenter is NOT for the Internet! It is ONLY FOR M$ products. You must be using Windoze on a PC! Once again, M$ is trying to redefine the Internet as "MicroSoft Only". With this continuing warped, no-standards, non-compliant mindset, they don't have a chance. The Ever-bungling Balmer guarantees failure.

Eligibility


Ad Presentation

  1 - Who may participate?
  2 - Languages

  3 - Number of Text formats
  4 - Banner Format Change
  5 - Number of Image Formats
  6 - Ad Links
  7 - AdSense for Search
  8 - AdSense for RSS Feeds
  9 - Ad Blocks per Page
10 - Change Ad Fonts?
11 - Change Ad Font Sizes?
12 - Alternate Ad Color?
13 - Alternate Ad URL?
14 - Custom Color Palette?
15 - Color Palette

Program Flexibility






Ad Statistics

28 - Long Term Confidence
29 - Publisher Online Help
30 - Forced Ad Management
31 - Self-Click on Ad?
32 - Auto Login Form?
33 - Idle Time to Logout

34 - # of Tracking Channels (2)
35 - Channel Management
36 - Stats Update Frequency
37 - Stats Update Speed
38 - Channel Update Frequency
39 - Reports
40 - Date Range of Reports
41 - EPC/ RPC Column

Ad Targeting







Ad Blocking

16 - Best Ads First View?
17 - Program Ad Targeting?
        - Google Targeting Cats.
18 - Ad Targeting Speed
19 - Publisher Ad Targeting?
        - YPN Targeting Cats.
20 - Ad Preview

21 - URL Blocking? (4)
22 - Advertiser Blocking? (6)
23 - Keyword Blocking? (3)
24 - Block Low-paying Ads? (1)
25 - Category Blocking
26 - CPM Ad Blocking?
27 - PSA/ RON Ad Blocking?

Ad Performance


Program Payout




Contact

42 - Overall CTR
43 - EPC - Smart Pricing (5)

44 - Direct Deposit
45 - Payment Delay
46 - Minimum Payment
47 - Balance Transfer

48 - Telephone #
49 - Email address

Advantages vs. Disadvantages Chart

Advertising Program Equivalence

Webmaster's personal opinions and conclusions, from reported forum data.
(Red. bold) numbers above refer to "most requested" missing features.



Green text below = Good
Red text below    = Bad
Blue text below   = Recently added comments

120

250-760

140

250

Eligibility

Top of Page

Who May Participate?

International
publishers

You must apply with a given site, and be accepted on the basis of that site.

Other sites may be added at will, but must comply with the TOS.

Beta only - US only
You must have a US address, plus a US Social Security number or a US IRS tax ID number.


By invitation only
You can ask to be considered at
YPN Publisher Application
Sometime in the future, YPN may go international. Nobody knows when. They will probably be bought out first.

Update Jan. 14, 2009 - Yahoo shuts down Europe YPN Program. Instead of expanding, YPN is shrinking - Now US ONLY!

YPN is not "gearing up" any more. They are "winding down."

Beta only - US only
You must have a US address, plus a US Social Security number or a US IRS tax ID number. You must also fill out an online W9 form.

By invitation only
You can ask to be considered at
PubCenter Publisher Application

Not only must your first site be approved, but ALL subsequent sites as well. There is a maximum of 10 sites allowed.

"Publishers subject to backup withholding are not eligible to participate in the adCenter Publisher program and will receive no payments." Not only does the IRS punish you for not paying your taxes, so does Microsoft. No soup for you! Fix up your finances.

You must also use ONLY Windoze on a PC. No other platforms are supported!

Apple Macintosh users are excluded! According to M$, it ain't Kosher, unless it is Micro$oft. M$ deserves to lose, due to this pompous attitude alone.

G - Initially, Google accepted everybody, which allowed them to grow very fast. However, now they have to prune the non-performers. They are VERY vague when they terminate publishers, because I believe the real underlying reason is non-performance. AdSense is now much tougher to get into. They can afford to be. They own the market.

Y - When Yahoo came along, they were somewhat more restrictive in who they would accept. Now, they are FAR more restrictive. They have not been able to attract enough advertisers, so that they can serve targeted ads. Their CTR remains abysmal, and hence payout. Initially, they paid very well, in an attempt to buy market share. But this could not overcome their lack of advertisers.

M - Microsoft is rather restrictive, out of the gate. The secret to their future success, is getting tons of advertisers fast, so that they can serve targeted ads. This will be much easier to do, if they limit the publishers they accept to "top quality". That's what the advertisers want to see, in order to sign up. However, Microsoft's biggest problem is their lack of search share. The searches they get, and the traffic they send, is a tiny fraction of Google's volume - about 1/25 in my case. "Google Images" ALONE sends me 3 times the total traffic I get from Microsoft.

Languages Supported
(29)

Arabic (6)

Bulgarian

Chinese (1)
Chinese (trad.)

Croatian
Czech (53)

Danish
Dutch

English (4)

Finnish
French (11)

German (10)
Greek (53)

Hebrew
Hungarian (50)

Italian (23)

Japanese (9)

Korean (15)

Norwegian

Polish (31)
Portuguese (7)

Romanian (39)
Russian (8)

Serbian
Slovak
Spanish (3)
Swedish (62)

Thai (26)
Turkish (24)

29 total

English
(but U.S. only)








(The numbers in parentheses
on the left refer to
World Language Rank
by number of speakers.)

English
(but U.S. only)
(Except that MS offers support phone numbers for Canada, Singapore and the UK, as well as for the U.S.




I speculate that the
next countries to be added
will be -

Australia
Canada
England
Ireland
New Zealand
Scotland

No brainer, right?
All English.

Note that AdSense does not
support Hindi (2), Bengali (5), Punjabi (14), or Urdu (13).
English only in India and Pakistan. And in Malaysia (12).

Supporting each language is very difficult. The person must be in the 96th percentile in his native language skills, as well as be in the 96th percentile in computer skills. Plus his English skills must be quite good. Plus excellent temperament. There are not a lot of these people walking around. And you probably need more than two.

25

110

125-885

125

250

250

Ad Presentation

Top of Page

Number of
Text Ad
Formats

12 Display Formats

200 x 200 Small Square
Google has added the 200x200 small square format.

10 Display Formats

YPN copied all the Adsense ad formats, except for the "button" - 125x125.

This makes it very easy to switch ads from one program to the other. One does not have to deal with "ad fitting".

728 x 90 - Leaderboard
600 x 250 - Wide rectangle (new)
468 x 60 - Full banner
(336 x 280 - no)
300 x 250 - Medium rectangle
(250 x 250 - no)
240 x 400 - Vertical rectangle (new)
234 x 60 - Half banner
180 x 150 - Rectangle
160 x 600 - Wide skyscraper
125 x 125 - Square button
120 x 600 - Skyscraper
120 x 240 - Vertical banner

250 x 250 - Square pop-up

MS - dares to be different.
This is interesting to me, since the 250 x 250 is the ONLY format I ever use! But never as a pop-up. It has the advantages of larger font size and only 3 ads max.

Equally astounding, is the absence of the 336 x 280 - admittedly Google's #1 top performing format of all. And MS doesn't offer another similar-sized, similar-aspect-ratiod option? Very surprising. Maybe it is a lawyer "See, we didn't copy" kind of thing? Who knows. Maybe? After all, 2 new ads were added to replace them.

According to Fibonacci and Golden Mean theory, the most aesthetically pleasing rectangle has proportions where the longer side is 1.62 times the shorter side. The new Microsoft 240 x 400 ad comes the closest to this ratio yet. I expect it to perform very well. It is the format that I would use. Hopefully, it will limit the maximum number of ads to three, for best results. I wonder if MS will allow us to specify the number of ads in each block?

Banner Format Change

New Adsense Banner Format:

Advertiser Title
Description looked good

I don't like this change.

New YPN Banner Format:

Advertiser Title
advertiser-url.com

I don't like this change.

Old Banner Format for BOTH:            Looked Great!
Advertiser Title
Description looked good
advertiser-url.com

Number of
Image Ad
Formats

Leaderboard (728x90)
Banner (468x60)
Skyscraper (120x600)
M. rectangle (300x250)
W. skyscraper (160x600)
Added 9-21-06:
S. square (200x200)
Added 4-22-06:
Square (250x250)
L. Rectangle - (336x280)

No image ad stats provided
Aggregate stats only
Google does not provide image ad statistics, so you cannot determine how they perform.

Most forum posters insist that image ads pay far less than text ads. This is probably the main reason that image ad stats are NOT broken out.

MS pubCenter does offer image ads, but non-members cannot see the formats.

"You can always set ad units to run with Text ads selected, or with both Text and Image ads selected. If you select both Text and Image ads, Image ads will display when they are available. Text ads will display when no relevant image ads are available."

"Do not set any ad units to run with only Image ads selected. This can result in blank spaces showing in your ad slot." Then why even offer the option of "Image Ads Only"?

"Image ads will display when they are available." WHAT? Regardless of the fact that they pay LESS?

As with Google, I believe that "Text Only" is the way to go.

Ad Links?

AdSense for
Search?

Added 4-22-06:
"Site-Flavored" targeting

Indonesian and Vietnamese are also supported.

AdSense for
RSS Feeds

Yahoo has dropped YPN ads for RSS Feeds on Feb. 2, 2009.

Ad Blocks
per Page

AdSense Tip: "Placing more than one ad unit on a page often generates more revenue."
Some publishers don't believe this, due to lower EPC and eCPM factors. I am one of them.

1 block (or 5)
This is currently ambiguous.
Depends where you are reading, FAQs, TOS, or Reps.

YPN still does not yet "support" multiple ad blocks - duplicate ads are served, which is not advised.
Added Jan. 31, 2007 - Now, all the ads will be unique.

"Publisher pages may contain up to 3 ad units."

Change Ad Fonts?

Ariel, Times or Verdana

You can change "Font Face", which I assume is Type Face, or simply, Font. Which ones?

Change Ad Font Sizes?

You can change the Title, Description, and URL font sizes from 9 to 14.

Alternate
Ad Color?

Alternate
Ad URL?

Custom
Color Palette?

Very small - hard to see the colors on a white background.
Update 3-20-06 -
You can now rename and delete custom pallettes.

Google Color Palette = 216 (6x36) + 6 shades of grey

 

Yahoo YPN Color Palette = 216 colors (8x27) NOW, 225 colors (9x25) (Mar.20, 2006) (old palette still showing)

Ad Targeting

Top of Page

Appropriate Ads Served On First Page View?

Sometimes, the first ads served are PSAs - subsequent refreshes produce targeted ads.

Example for this page -
First and all subsequent servings
(11-26-05)
PERFECT!

For this page, the first ads served are RONs - subsequent refreshes produce targeted ads, sometimes.

Example for this page -
First serving
First refresh (second serving)

Sometimes, no ads at all, according to early reports.

It is understandable that they would have ad serving issues, since their system is all so new. However, they need to "cock the gun". ANY paying ad is superior to NO ad.

Have you ever heard the expression, "There are no second chances?" It certainly applies here.
I guess it's a case of "sell what you have". The RON advertisers seem to have infinite budgets.

Adsense and YPN BOTH do this, but YPN is worse.
My YPN theory - the first call for ads does not allow enough time for the targeted ads to be "pulled up", but the page must be delivered NOW - subsequent refreshes DO allow enough time - simple as that. No matter why it happens, the problem is that the first ads shown ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT MATTER! Precious few users will refresh to get the appropriate, semantically targeted ads. This is a great reason to specify an alternate URL (in Adsense). This is a HUGE FACTOR WHICH DETERMINES HOW WELL A PROGRAM PERFORMS.

Program
Ad Targeting

Certain Adsense ads only get shown on certain ??? sites. On one page, Adsense would NEVER give me the appropriate ads, even using ad targeting - I moved it to YPN, and got the appropriate ads instantly. Sometimes, YPN serves the RIGHT ads, when Google simply refuses to. The reason escapes me - they most assuredly have the ads.

Here are the new Google AdSense "Interest-based"
Google Targeting Categories (unless they ask me to remove them).

Good to horrible
If it can't find ads, you get the same 4 RON ads over and over.
If one "apt" ad is found, it is presented at the BOTTOM or MIDDLE of the 4 ad set, NOT at the top! Yowza!

ADDED: LACK of consistency is a big problem; one cannot optimize something that won't HOLD STILL. Yahoo's targeting seems to change daily - there is NO WAY to know what is best. I have abandoned all targeting attempts. There just isn't enough time.
My CTR remains very low.

But not as good as Google, according to early reports. Since MS is new to this, it will take a while to accumulate advertisers.

If they can accumulate quality advertisers fast enough, they may have a chance.

Google is clearly superior -
YPN is either good or terrible. Vonage and LendingTree ads were everywhere.
Some people feel it's better to have NO ADS than THE SAME RON ads, over and over again, for esthetic reasons.
(Run Of Network = Ad blindness) But YPN compensates for poorly targeted ads, by displaying RON ads that pay fairly well.

The craziest thing of all is that even when Yahoo serves great, razor-targeted ads, the CTR is STILL ABYSMAL. This is the biggest mystery of all. I just can't understand this. Are they not counting properly? I don't think Google is over-counting.

Ad Targeting Speed for A New Page

Publisher
Ad Targeting

Google does NOT tell you the minimum text or minimum percentage of text that must be targeted to make this option work reliably. You may spend many hours trying to make this work, as I have! Without any clues from Google, I'm done with it.

EDIT: I tried it again. It WORKED! But my problem remained. On some pages, there is NOTHING you can do to get targeted ads, because they don't exist. If your page is kinda "off-the-wall", it is possible that NO AD will work well. This is sadly the case, on one of my most popular pages. I don't think that there is ANY solution.

Added 3-24-06 - Further exhortation from YPN to use ad targeting - I'm not convinced.

The 20 Ad Categories -
Apparel and Jewelry
Automotive
B2B
Books - Movies - Music - Tickets
Computing
Education and Career
Electronics and Appliances
Entertainment - Social Events
Financial Services
Flowers and Candy
Health and Beauty
Home and Garden
Mass Merchants
Professional Services
Real Estate
Reference
Sporting Goods
Telecom - ISPs
Toys and Hobbies
Travel
132 Total YPN Subcategories

Works sometimes, often doesn't

In the Yahoo case, I think the default semantic targeting does a WAY BETTER job than the user "targeting" tools - even the 132 "subcategories" are far too general. Presently, avoid using targeting if you want to maximize revenue.

ADDED: I no longer use YPN "Ad Targeting". It's good, it's bad, who knows. What day of the week is it?

Update: EVEN THOUGH I wasn't using it, Yahoo has disabled Ad Targeting on my account, and those of many others. Why? Nobody can figure it out. I always used the most appropriate ad category that I could find. What did I do wrong? NOTHING! Just one more example of YPN cluelessness, which many have taken note of.

Ad Preview

But there are many complaints, because you don't get to see ALL the ads that will be served - just some.

Now, with "interest-based" ads, you won't get to see them AT ALL.

This would be counterproductive for YPN at this point - users would be put off by the untargeted results.

Ad Blocking

Top of Page

URL blocking?
(Filtering)


More blocking slots is the FOURTH "most-requested" publisher feature.

Update 4-09-09 - AdSense has secretly changed the number of URLs that you can block from 200 to 500. (There is no way to verify this limit until you reach it).
Update 4-06-09 - Now, with the introduction of "Interest-based" ads, you won't be able to block them AT ALL, since you CAN'T SEE them!

Consider blocking those ads which appear everywhere, that -
1. are made for adsense
2. are YPN click-flippers
3. pay very little (override ads)
4. annoy your visitors -
5. are of low quality
6. displace better ads

such as eBay.com, and
some-hokey-bs.com

Some publishers complain that 200 URLs are just not enough. New, low-paying, poor-quality ads continue to be shown (they avoid the auction process, and override higher-paying ads). These ads are from big corporations, that must be served - at a penny each.

AdSense Tip: "You may be filtering ads that monetize well on your site."
And then again, maybe not.

You can block the following
RON (Run Of Network) ads -
www.borrellassociates.com
www.classesusa.com
www.comcastoffers.com
www.ebay.com
www.florist.com
www.ftd.com
www.lendingtree.com
www.lowermybills.com
www.nextag.com
www.roadrunneroffers.com
www.shopping.com
www.vonage.com
(plus new ones daily)

www.ftd.com\blah-blah and
www.florist.com\blah-blah
cannot be blocked because of the back slash replacing the proper forward slash - produces a Yahoo error. Interesting that this is allowed.

Blocking is achieved through the complex implementation of custom channels.

"Filters need to be associated with channels in order to work. Just creating a filter isn't enough. Once you've created the filter(s), create your channel(s). While you're setting up the channel, associate the desired filter with it."

In other words, filtering by PAGE. Who is going to want to filter an undesirable ad from some pages, but allow it on others? To me, this seems like unnecessary complexity. If I don't want an ad, I don't want the ad PERIOD.

Block ads from specific URLs

The YPN RON ads pay very well, but the CTR rate is extremely poor, since they are not targeted.
In most cases, blocking YPN RON ads results in lower overall revenue. This has been confirmed by a YPN rep.

Later on, down the road, if CTR rate becomes as important to Yahoo as it is to Google, you may want to block these RON ads. But not now, if total revenue is your goal.

ADDED: I no longer block RON ads.

Ad Blocking by Advertiser?

This is a HIGHLY "most-requested" publisher feature.

There are MANY non-sexual sites that NEVER want to see ads extolling the wonders of h0m0sexual love.
Many other examples of inappropriate ads have been given.
ALL publishers need to be able to deny certain advertisers COMPLETELY!

Ad Blocking by Keyword?

This is the THIRD "most-requested" publisher feature.

Microsoft is the first to offer this feature. It is HIGHLY requested!

Low-Paying
Ad Blocking -
Can Publisher Set A Minimum EPC?

This is the FIRST "most-requested" publisher feature.

Advertisers set their price,
why can't the publishers?
Take it or leave it!
You get what you get.

Advertisers set their price,
why can't the publishers?
Take it or leave it!
You get what you get.

MS - here's your chance to make some friends - allow publishers to set a minimum price for which they will display ads - don't just take them for granted. I would set mine at about 4 to 5 cents.

Publisher desired feature - if you are only paying out one-half of a penny per click, you are wasting our time. Allow publishers to specify a minimum payout, or don't serve the ads. Not all publishers are begging for scraps - their real estate is NOT FREE!

25

Ad Blocking By Category

April 22, 2009 - In the new "Ad Review" control panel in the "AdSense Setup" tab, you can block up to 5 out of 11 Subject areas -

Cosmetic Procedures
Dating
Drugs and Supplements
Get Rich Quick
Politics
Religion
Ringtones and Downloads
Sexual and Reproductive Health
Sexually Suggestive
Video Games
Weight Loss

Unfortunately, it will be "block by account", and not "block by page", or "block-by-site".

Also, it is not clear WHO does the categorizing - is it Google, or the advertiser? If it is the advertiser, there is a HUGE potential for abuse.

CPM Ad Blocking?

Everyone is automatically "opted in". You can "opt out" by special email request. Cannot easily tell which ads are CPM - expanded text is a clue. If you can determine which ads are CPM, you can use Ad Blocking to get rid of them.
No CPM stats
You don't know how much you are getting, from whom, or when. Analysis vs. PPC can't be done.

Google now offers "site-targeted" stats under "Advanced Reports". These CPM impressions pay FAR less than 1 penny for most. You need huge traffic to make money from these ads. And why would you want to substitute them for regular PPC ads, which can pay up to 50 times as much?

CPM ads pay per ad impression, clicks on these ads pay nothing. Be suspicious of anything that automatically "opts you in" - changes the meaning of "opt", which used to mean optional. Kind of like SPAM email - there is no "opt in" involved. You are getting it, even though you didn't ask for it.

Without analysis, some say that CPM is a way to lower costs for advertisers, and LOWER payout for publishers.

pubCenter FAQs mentions CPM ads, but they offer no details. Maybe they are coming soon.

Or maybe they are like Google, and they get served to you in "stealth mode", as in "stealth opt-in".

PSA/ RON
Ad Blocking?

AdSense PSA ads pay zero $, but you can disable them, by specifying a blank color instead.

YPN RON ads do pay $., and you can disable them!

Does MS even have PSAs? Who knows? MS doesn't say.

25

110

250-885

250

250

Program
Flexibility

Top of Page

Long Term Confidence

POOR - For all 3 programs - It is a life of constant terror.
One begins to live in fear of the in-box.
A publisher has no guarantee whatsoever that he/ she will not be terminated at any time, in all 3 programs. Publishers may be terminated at any time, for any reason, or NO REASON, with essentially no recourse.
Example: For some Google employees, blending is good. For others, blending is bad. Specific advice has encouraged blending, while other specific advice has discouraged blending.

The rules are ambiguous, subjective, and constantly change. The people who write the rules, are different from the people who interpret the rules.

For logistical reasons, the basic publisher management tool is FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Since it is too difficult and expensive to monitor each publisher, publishers are kept compliant through the use of intimidation. In effect, there is a "Sword of Damocles" hanging over every publisher's head by a thread. A number of employees can arbitrarily sever that thread at any time. This CONSTANT THREAT can erode publisher confidence, and result in less than whole hardy participation.

A perceptive PPC program manager may wish to consider some type of "publisher value ranking system" to help overcome this negative situation. A zero-to-10 "publisher confidence" scale might be employed. Factors which determine each publisher's score WOULD BE PUBLISHED, so that publishers could improve their score, as well as confidence. Possible factors might be age of website, length of time of publisher, number of previous violations, conversion rates, speed of correcting problems, etc.

Many publishers are using other programs, JUST BECAUSE of the fear of random termination. How many times have we heard, "If you don't diversify, then you are STUPID." The need to diversify would not be so intense, if a program could provide greater publisher confidence, regarding the threat of random termination.

Publisher Online Help

google.com/adsense/support/

Here is a link to the new Google "interest-categories, previously not indexed -
Google Interest Categories List
(until Google tells me not to)

since "YPN" is not on the page - they need some SEO work here.)

Here is the link to YPN help, which can be difficult to find -
publisher.yahoo.com/help/HowToGuide

MS uses the un-indexabel, piecemeal, pop-up approach found here -
beta.pubcenter.microsoft.com/

I decided to make the entire MS PubCenter help directly findable here -
Microsoft PubCenter Help
(until MS tells me not to)

Unfortunately, always trying to redefine the web, MS only provides most PubCenter information internally, on their onsite "Help", which cannot be linked to, or indexed. In addition, searching MS Help provides bogus answers. A search for CPM ads yields 28 results, NOT ONE OF WHICH says anything about CPM. It is one of those "Help systems" that frequently provides either no results, or every single irrelevant page available.

All the MS Help files still refer to AdCenter Publisher, even though the name has been changed to PubCenter.

April 22, 2009 - Microsoft has added a new "Publisher Forum", which is private, and for members only.

Forced
Ad Management


Hoop
Jumping

Automation Trumps Control

Now there is a 10 minute delay to implementation, which heretofore did not exist.

Some say it's better because the java code is shorter. A few lines? One half of a millisecond saved during load time!
Oh, boy!

Who knows? MS doesn't say.

About "Manage Ads"
* I ended up with multiple ads (2-6) for many pages, mainly because the ad names, and channel names, do NOT alphabetize properly. (See #34). You may have many multiples of the same, identical "Ad Name/ Channel" combination, all with the same "Edit Date". The only thing different is the "Ad Number".This is very bad. They should be unique, beyond just the ad number.
     - I don't know which ad is currently on the page. Since I have edited the Names/ Channels, I don't know which one came first.
     - I can't delete the ads.

* I always want to alphabetize by channel, so now I must add an additional name to the code, which is identical to my ad channel.

* Some ads "Status" say "Inactive", when they are, in fact, "Active".
- Some ads "Status" say "Active", when they are, infact, "Inactive".
     After many months, I STILL have no idea what determines "Status." I have even looked for a manual way.

* EVERY time I edit an ad, I must reselect "Inactive aAds" again and wait, and then
     I must reselect "Hidden Ads" again, and then wait some more - over and over again.
     Why not, "Show All"?

* "Last Edited" should be "First Created", and STAY that way! Otherwise, you have NO IDEA when the ad was first created. A FIRST reference point is needed, NOT a CHANGING point! Although, the last edit date should also be shown. If you do any edits, you quickly lose track which Name/ Channel you created first.

What happened to KISS! Why take something simple and make it complicated? Why fix what isn't broken, and then force it upon us? Later, they relented, and now allow us to "import our old code". And just how do we get the old code? The Wayback Machine? Now it is really complicated! Hide, unhide, activate, deactivate, wonder which one is running, try and find the old one, pluck old code from archives, etc., etc., etc. And there is no color info to be seen when viewing a page's source code. The added complexity is not an improvement, IMHO. It is a monumental PITA.

I will not be updating any old ads much any more. They can stay the way they are, forever, so they aren't captured by "Manage Ads". I am not going to throw more old ads into the hodge-podge "jumble box" of "Manage Ads", and create more problems for myself. Such as those noted above.

On the other hand, a programmer could easily create a liittle "generate-old-code" program, but the ad channel number may present problems. What happens if you go back to old AdSense code, after you have used the new AdSense code? Is it OK? Dunno. The big problem might be getting the Ad Names and Channels out of "Manage Ads", once they get in there. NO deleting!

Self-Click
on Own Ad

Why engender an atmosphere of abject fear, when it is trivial to simply discount a publisher's infrequent errant click?
YPN can do it, why won't Google?

Yahoo is doing what Google should have been doing. Rather than using self-clicks to ban folks, Yahoo simply ignores the click, just the way it should be! If you work on your site a lot, you are going to make mistakes. I have made 2 self-clicks myself, simply by falling asleep, mouse in hand! The erroneous click noise woke me right up. I had to run straight to Google, and turn myself in! Makes you feel like a criminal.

Will they chastise publishers like Google does, or just discount the click like Yahoo does?

Auto Fill-in of
Log-in Form

You do not have to type in your User Name and Password, if you are using the Firefox browser.

Added 3-24-06 - YPN has added both User Name and Password "Remember Me" features to the Firefox browser. This feature was unannounced, AFAIK.
Excellent!

Although this is a no-brainer, MS may only make it work with IE. Which has not been available to Mac users for 3 years. I am a Mac user since 1985.

MS insists upon a MS-centric interface, as opposed to a web standards-centric interface, I won't be participating.

If you are not using Firefox, you need to switch now, for many reasons - features, security, many excellent plug-ins, default pop-up blocking, superb Mozilla support, etc. Download Firefox, it's awesome.
Update - I am now using FF Ver. 2.0.0.20, which works fine, after I added another 512M of RAM. I will switch to FF Ver. 3, somewhere around version 3.0.0.12. I am a late adapter. I don't do beta. I hope to try Chrome this year.

My web stats show that Firefox users not constitute 25% of my visitors. Safari has risen to 9%.

Idle Time to
Auto Logout

Ten minutes?

This can be incredibly annoying, when you are doing this stuff every day, all day long. You are hauling butt, and there are all these little trip wires. Aaaaarrrrrggggg. Of course, if the issue is better security, well, then, I'll just shut-up. I'm for that.

Ad Statistics

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Number of
tracking
channels


More channels is the SECOND "most-requested" publisher feature.

UPDATE FEB. 10, 2008: Google has now upgraded many AdSense accounts to 500 channels. YES!

200 Total -
Sum of URL and custom channels
400 would be better!

YPN has doubled their channels. One channel per page is MANDATORY for analysis purposes, IMHO. This was my most-wanted feature! Unfortunately, since Yahoo can only give me 200 channels, I can only give them 200 pages.

Added 3-20-06
Added 50 more channels - now 100 Total
200 would be better!

Maybe they haven't decided yet.

Channel Management

BUG: When selecting channels, Google does not alphabetize channels properly. For instance. I get -
g-adsense-stop
g-adsense-targeting
g-adsense-tips
geo-features
geo-lakes
g-google-factors
g-top-paying

p-alternative
p-foreign
ph-logic
ph-philosophers
p-think-tanks
p-usa

This bug has caused me to screw up many times, because I think that a channel is not there. Using a hyphen as a second character causes Google to not alphabetize properly, it appears.

This occurs both when viewing "Channels", and when selecting channels during "Get Ads".
BEWARE OF HYPHENS!

Added 3-24-06 - Can now delete YPN channels

Statistics Updating Frequency

but sometimes
2 to 20 several hours behind.

Yahoo is improving, but is still given to "stutter-stepping".

Statistics Updating Speed

After you Refresh your "Reports Page" and sign-in again, how long until you get back control of your browser?

Channel Data Update Frequency

augments the "fun" factor - see what just happened 15 minutes ago! You can also take corrective action, in almost real time!

(You get NO info from midnight to 4AM)

Google wins by a mile.
YPN performs retrograde motion - they give initial daily info, take it away for 4 hours, then give it back in detail.

After 4 years, Yahoo really should fix this. I guess they still need those extra 4 hours, to try to sort things out.

"Starting every business day at 6 a.m., Pacific Time, data will be available for the previous day's ad impressions. The previous day ends at 12 a.m., Pacific Time."

I interpret this as "6 to 30 hours" delay. Eventually, I would hope to see this fixed, although YPN still isn't fixed yet, after 4 years.

Reports

Offers advanced (summary) reports, which aren't cluttered with all the daily data.


I love to be able to see specified or all channels compared over ANY time period I specify, NOT by EVERY SINGLE date, like YPN!

Google calls these summary reports "Advanced Reports". I call them "extremely useful reports". YPN does not offer these.

Can't see summary channel data compared, over any time period (month), like Google.

Added 3-24-06 - YPN now defaults to showing 10 channels at-a-time, requiring the viewing of MANY pages - Reset the default to 100.

BUG: When ordering channels by # of Impressions, YPN thinks that 1,000 or more is less than 1. It has been this way for years.
EXAMPLE LIST:
900
500
200
80
30
10
5
1
1,970
1
etc.

* Account performance. This is the most general of the reports, showing performance data for everything associated with the account you've used to log in when you run the report.

* Ad Unit performance. This shows general performance data for all the ad units in an account.

* Channel performance. This shows performance data for all the ad units within a given account, broken down by channel.

* Property performance. This shows performance data for all the ad units within a given account, broken down by property.

Until someone explains it to me, I don't see any difference from Google. I can see ALL of this data in my AdSense reports. Google allows me to slice-and-dice in ANY way I choose, and name and save the report. For instance, I don't see any "By Defined Dates" option, which Google offers.

Date Range
of Reports

"All Time" is a great option when analyzing your site's performance over time.

and even that frequently results in "Report Not Available".

Who knows? MS doesn't say.

Report
Convenience
EPC Column

They don't want to make it too easy to see EPC, when it is in a dropping phase.

Solution? Download your CSV report into Excel, and then add an EPC column.

Revenue Per Click
Why not? Overdue. No more forced mental calculations, which everybody does, and must do, to determine cents per click - the ever-so-important EPC.

Who knows? MS doesn't say.

Ad
Performance

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Overall CTR

Mine is about one-twelfth.
There are page exceptions.

YPN is lower due to the hopelessly poor targeting.

(Which is actually GREAT, when compared with YPN.)
This has been attributed to poorer targeting, resulting from a smaller ad inventory. This is to be expected during the initial build-up phase.

EPC
Payout $


Info about "Smart-Pricing" is the FIFTH most requested publisher feature.

I used to get tons of 7-cent clicks. Now, I get tons of 6-cent clicks.

Yahoo pays MORE! For now. The YPN payout is steadily decreasing over time. With the recent introduction of YPN's version of Smart-Pricing, many are reporting that payout has been dropping like a rock.

A typical CTR difference of 10 times totally offsets an EPC difference of 2 times, or even 5 times. Because of this, in almost all cases, you will make more money using Google.

according to early reports.

High payout typifies early PPC program introductions. These high payouts will drop over time to more sustainable levels. "Get while the gettin's good!"

Program
Payout

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Direct Deposit

Added May 20, 2006

although there is a "Payment Method" form mentioned.

Payment Delay

Checks go out earlier, but take longer for delivery.

Checks go out earlier, but take longer for delivery.

Sooo, when does posting occur?

Minimum Balance for Payment

Very small publishers can get their money faster.

Balance
Transfer

You cannot transfer a balance from a Google AdSense account to a Google Ad Words account.

YPN provides a balance transfer feature from your YPN account to your YSM account.

Contact
Information

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Telephone #

Telephone support - NONE
Google does not offer telephone support, unless you are a premium publisher.

Telephone - Yahoo! Publisher Network Support at (866) 785-2636

Telephone - PubCenter support at (800) 518-5689

Email address

AdSense Publisher Support -
adesense-support@google.com

Report Adsense Violation -
adsense-abuse@google.com

Contact Us (form) -
https://www.google.com/ adsense/support/bin/ request.py?

Category Choices -
Ad Code troubleshooting
AdSense for Search
Ad Targeting
Earnings
Login Issues
Receiving Payments
Referrals
Reports and Channels
Suggest A Feature
Updating Account Information
Other

Email support - NONE





YPN Support Form -
https://publisher.yahoo.com/ help/support.php

Inquiry Type -
Accounting Management Issue
Ad Serving Issue
Enhancement Request
Payment Issue
Product Config. Issue
Reporting Issue
Other

MS offers email support.
ad-pub@microsoft.com




"Email" (which isn't email at all)
It is a "Contact Form" -
https://support.adcenter.msn.com/eform. aspx?productKey=adcenterss&ct=eformts
(this is really more oriented toward advertisers than publishers)


MS also offers a "Trademarks Complaint Form".

Google, Yahoo, and MS ALL use "Contact Forms". Unfortunately, using these forms does NOT put a copy of your communication into the "Sent" folder of your email application. So you have no record of what you sent. You must write your email in Word or a text editor, and then copy and paste it into the "Contact Form". Content forms do not take YOU into account.

This is why I hate contact forms.
- You have NO RECORD of the communication.
- Contents can be disputed - they can deny whatever you said.
- If unanswered, you have no "tickler" - no way to remind yourself that you even sent it - or when - or what it contained.

It is NOT email - it is a private one-way communication with no record, no cc, and no forwarding. Even though you wrote it, it no longer exists for you, just the form creator. Very frustrating. VERY FRUSTRATING! Their way, or no way.</rant> Good Lord, get ahold of yourself, man. The point could be made less strongly. You always do this. Sometimes, things are best left at 90%, and then left alone. Too much information. Go do something else.

25

110

250-885

250

250

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Excellent targeting
Excellent CTR (>5%)
EXCELLENT reporting
"Advanced Reports"
Highest Payout
Ad Links
Adsense for Search

Falling payout*
Smart-Pricing
Sporadic ad quality
MFAs, MFYs, MFEs

EPC reported (RPC)

POOR ad targeting
"Quality-based" pricing
Terrible CTR (<1%)
No "Advanced Reports"
No Real Time reports
Poor report design
Serving issues (no ads)

Ad sizes
Font sizes
Reports
Image Ads

US only
Lack of Advertisers
- Targeting Issues
- Serving issues
No ad links
No PC for search
No Real Time reports

Email support
CPM ads
Image Ads option
Alternate URL feature
rss feed product in beta

Ban by other's actions
No phone help
Cannot transfer funds
PPA (Referrals)


*For smaller publishers

Phone number help
$ transfer to ad account

Report response time
Flaky reports
Poor performance bans
USA domestic only
USA traffic only
No ad links
No YPN for Search
No "Referrals"
No CPM ads
No image ads
No alternate URL
No email help
Europe beta kaput
YPN for rss feeds 2-2-09

Email support
Phone number help
Minimum payout $50
Ad blocking by Keyword
Change ad font sizes
Change background
Large Golden Rectangle

Flaky, unstable
Limited to 10 web sites
No CPM ads
No "Referrals"
No RSS feed product
"Help" Forum is private

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Google

Microsoft

Yahoo

This page covers the programs listed above in column 3.

Disclaimer
This page consists of a compilation of public information, commonly available on the internet, at multiple sites, as well as public webmaster forums, and simple manual tests.
The opinions stated above are merely the personal opinions of the author.
I am not privy to any inside information.
This information is continually changing, and may not be correct when you read it.
Although the author makes every effort to verify the information on this page, no information on this page is guaranteed to be correct, and any data contained herein may be erroneous.

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