"Google vs. Yahoo: Which Paid Search Is Best?" I still remember the television advertisements where consumers were given a taste test and asked to choose which was best:  Coke or Pepsi?

Just as these two soda drinks dominate the cola market, Yahoo and Google dominate the world of paid search marketing.  And just like Coke and Pepsi, many people find it somewhat difficult to tell much difference between the two.

To most marketers their goal seems identical:  to connect advertisers (the marketer) with consumers (the buyer).

Are there differences?  Are these differences significant enough to justify spending all your marketing dollars on one and ignoring the other?  Perhaps at one time the answer given by many marketers to both questions was "Yes!"

Recent research indicates that with a campaign of 1,000 viewers and 10 keywords, you would be much better off taking the five best performing campaigns and using them on both Google and Yahoo.  That's why most BIG pay-per-click marketers use both these search engines... often with the identical same keywords.

Here's why:  There are differences in each which results in different keyword performance on Yahoo and Google.  Some of these differences include ad positioning, demographics, and psychographics.  But the most significant difference is...

... how Google and Yahoo rank the paid listings on their pages!

A relevancy algorithm is used by Google.  It combines the number of clicks a listing gets from users with what you as a marketer pays for each click.  This determines the ranking of the paid results list for the keyword you are using. 

On Yahoo, you can actually control whether you're in the top position by boosting your payment per click.  With Yahoo it is simply a bid for position.  Pay the highest cost per click and you're in the top position.  This is important to some PPC marketers.

Obviously, Google's system benefits the marketer who has a strong click-through rate.  And, there are other differences.

One of these is audience differences.  Google still gets the most searches.  During one recent month for both paid and unpaid searches Google searches totaled 79.96 million compared to Yahoo's 64.03 million searches.

As far as gender is concerned:  Yahoo is about 50% male and female and the Google audience is 51.5% male and 48.5% female according to comScore research data.

This same data research revealed that Google search users were 42% more likely to buy than the average Internet online buyer.  With Yahoo the number was 31% more likely.

Persons using Google were found to use more complex search terms compared to those using the Yahoo portal.  This suggests that consumers who have challenging research tend to favor Google over Yahoo.

If you're a marketer selling in the "business-to-business" marketplace (B2B), you will find better conversion rates using Google PPC search ads.  If, on the other hand, you're selling in the "business-to-consumer" marketplace (B2C) you'll get better retail sales results using Yahoo.  But, don't let the statistics mislead you.

The difference for B2C is only half a percent between the two search engine giants!  To improve your results... read that conversions... you need to use more specific search terms for keywords.

The best way to understand and benefit from the potential of any keyword on Google vs. Yahoo is to test and measure your clicks and sales using keywords, landing pages, and other variables.  This can become difficult because you're limited as to the number of words your Google ad contains.  With Yahoo you have the opportunity to use more words which could motivate the reader to click on your ad.

So which paid search is best:  Google or Yahoo?  The answer is found only by testing and understanding the key differences between the two.  Maybe for you there's not much difference ... just like Coke and Pepsi.  The secret is to test... test... test.  And when you've finished testing...

....test some more!  That's the secret.

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