Looking for Reviews on Ad Matching Company "Vertical Search Works"
-
Hey there,
We got cold called by "Vertical Search Works" - VerticalSearchWorks.com and while it sounds great (low CPC compared to our current PPC stuff) on great networks (DIY, HGTV), no contracts, pause anytime...
But RipOffReport has two bad reviews on them and I have not been able to search out anything else on them online. If anyone has insight before we start working with them, let me know!
Thanks!
-
Have you had any luck with other companies that are selling the same kind of service? It seems to me that reaching out to the companies that they put your ads on and just bypassing VSW would be a better option. I don't know if the pricing would be the same as what VSW offers but at least you would reduce the possibility of being scammed.
-
Hi Fancois, this comment above from (Feb 13) is older. Did you see my above comment from March 16th, 2012?
-
Hi Pashmina,
Was wondering the results of your test. Have recently interacted with VSW and not sure if it's even worth giving it a trial run. Their CPC is much higher than Adwords and I question their contextual targeting ability.
The account manager is nice, but a fast talker. He seems to be more accustomed to dealing with people that know nothing about SEM.
Any feedback you have would be welcomed!
-
That's a bummer, Pashmina!
I hate that argument that some of the advertisers are giving.
"Please spend $1k for a banner ad on our site."Sorry, we didn't get anything from it last time we tried.
"You were expecting CONVERSIONS!? You know, banner ads are really just a branding opportunity..."
Maybe for YOU, buddy...
-
Soooo... we ran our test with Vertical Search Works. Like Kristi's experience, we received traffic but the conversion rate was terrible, and well below par of our other paid advertising campaigns.
While I think their account service people were very nice, I did get into a bit of a healthy discussion (argument) with one of their Sales dudes about the "value" of their service and product.
This guy spent a good 15 minutes trying to convince me that the value shouldn't be measured in just conversions, but also in the 2 million plus impressions the ads received. I shot back and said that aside from lack of conversions which was obviously a driving force for an e-commerce client, site engagement in way of bounce rate, time on site, and page views were also below par. I also said impressions was a weak argument and a point with no merit given the client's goals (MORE SALES). This discussion then devolved into him defending the efficacy of their ad program, with me making funny faces as I listened (which thankfully he could not see).
Look, VSW sales dude: performance of your ads sucked. Plain and simple. I was both a little amused and a little annoyed that this guy was trying to convince me I was wrong.
Anyone care to agree, (laugh with me), or play devil's advocate?
-
Interesting. Okay we're are planning to run a test for one of our clients too. I'll post back in a couple months if we see any results. Thanks for the quick reply.
-
Hi Pashmina,
They were very nice but we didn't receive any conversions for what we spent. We spent about $500 and got some traffic from some high profile sites but nothing happened. I think some of it came from recipes which was not supposed to happen.
We did not have the budget to continue to test further.
-
Kristi, Did you ever go for the program with Vertical Search and how did it turn out?
-
Thanks David
-
Can't tell you about them - but i will say that cpc isn't as important as what type of quality visitor they send ie bounce rate , time on site , conv rate etc
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Unsolved Google Ads Not Getting Clicks or Impressions
I have been running some google ads - in the past 7 days I've had no clicks or impressions is this common? #ads
Paid Search Marketing | | PermaTherm0 -
Adwords Broad Match Quality Score
** This question is about QS of Broad Match and how it pertains to THE AUCTION ONLY. Not looking for opinions on campaign/ad group structure/strategies. For an Adwords account where all the ad groups are using modified broad match keywords I see that some keywords are assigned quality score. Obviously a broad match keyword can be triggered by a very wide variety of actual keyword searches. So I assume/guess that Adwords assigns a quality score for every single keyword entered that matches with that broad match and then makes the quality score for the broad match an average of the actual search term used quality score weighted by the volume of searches for that search term? Or am I wrong and the quality score for a broad match is the exact match quality score for that term (I doubt that since broad match the words can be in any order.) So for example, let's same I have this broad match score: +auto +insurance This is going to match with: auto insurance companies, auto insurance prices, luxury auto insurance, auto insurance brokers, and on and on and on. Let's say my landing page happens to have a lot of content about ratings for auto insurance brokers. If the CTR for that terms is high, when it's matching my modified broad match, does that mean Adwords assigns a higher quality score, internally, to the search term "auto insurance broker" so if that term is entered, for the purpose of the auction, Adwords doesn't use the quality score of the broad match but the quality score it has calculated for that specific search term -- I just can't see what it is because I don't have that term as an exact match term on my account. Or, does it use the broad match quality score no matter what search term is used that matched the broad match? I would be highly surprised if that was true. If this were true, then you would want to break out the important terms into their own exact match keywords. In many cases, the more efficient strategy for an account is to have fairly narrow modified broad match terms coupled with a very large negative keyword list. The question is mainly, is there any advantage from the perspective of competing in the auction to have the term be an exact match versus matching a modified broad match keyword? If QS is stored for the actual search term, then I would assume the answer is NO. I know it would provide more granular reporting and the ability to more fine tune landing pages etc etc etc but I'm just talking purely from the perspective of the auction.
Paid Search Marketing | | Searchout0 -
Looking for a competent SEO firm or consultant
Hello Folks, I run an eCommerce site for video surveillance equipment. We used to be on top of page one for related terms until about a year ago and now we are in page 2 or 3. We have 2 in house full time web developers and I have tried 3 different SEO firms with very poor results. I am looking for a competent SEO firm or consultant with proven & verifiable track record. If you or someone you know has used an SEO firm or consultant with good results, I would appreciate if you could point me to them. Thank You!
Paid Search Marketing | | 9Studios0 -
Adwords Search with Display select. Better ROI than just Adwords Search only?
What is your experience running Adwords Search with Display select? Are you getting a better ROI then just running Adwords Search only?
Paid Search Marketing | | marketvantageteam0 -
Have you used an ad network other than Google Adwords?
We received a cold call from a company called Division-D. They make a lot of promises which sound good (but that's what marketers do 🙂 ). Advertising on a non-Google network probably would have fewer restrictions than an Adwords campaign and they say that they are fully transparent. Would it be worth it to listen to their whole pitch?
Paid Search Marketing | | Linda-Vassily0 -
Top Ad in Google Adwords
Hello. How much of a difference does it make in click-throughs to be the first listing in Google Adwords versus the second or third (still at the top of the page)? Thank you!
Paid Search Marketing | | nyc-seo0 -
Enhanced Campaigns: Can you disable the call extension from desktop/laptop ads and only show it for mobile ads?
I "upgraded" one of my campaigns to Enhanced Campaigns. Now my text ads appears with a phone number to the right of the Headline. Can I turn this off for desktop and laptops and only show our phone number / click to call button on mobile devices? That's how I had it set up before. Now it seems like Enhanced Campaigns is forcing the phone number in your text ads across all devices. Thanks.
Paid Search Marketing | | FSS0 -
Adwords "Display Network" tab buggy?
Anyone else notice the new Display Network tab in Google Adwords is buggier than a cheap NY motel bed? Everytime I load it in firefox I end up twiddling my thumbs for several minutes before hard closing the program. Very frustrating morning... In case anyone else is feeling this pain, I just tried it in opera and it finally loaded ok.
Paid Search Marketing | | AdoptionHelp0