Yandex.Direct and Google AdWords compared

By Alytics Director of Development Alexander Egorov, special to East-West Digital News / Jul 16, 2014

The Russian search engine marketing (SEM) market is unique and, to a large extent, different from the SEM-markets of other countries. The main difference lies in the fact that most of the search traffic is concentrated on the local search engine Yandex.
According to various estimates, Yandex’s share of search engine traffic in Russia ranges from 60% to 65%, while the share of Google, its closest follower, is about 25%. Thus, the main competition in the SEM market unfolds between the content providers Yandex.Direct and Google AdWords. In terms of functionality, these systems have differences.

• Ad formats

Both systems place text ads but with different restrictions. The header length on Yandex.Direct can be no longer than 33 characters, while Google AdWords allows for 25. The length of text ads is limited to 75 characters on Yandex.Direct and to two lines 35 word long lines on AdWords. The average length of words in Russian is longer than in English.Long titles and texts characterize Yandex.Direct as being a system that suits the peculiarities of the Russian language better and is more adapted for the Russian market.
In 2013, Yandex introduced another ad format that is different from the Google AdWords formats. For advertisements that are placed on partner sites of Yandex’s advertising network (called YAN), it is now possible to add images. The main feature of this format is that it can be added for remarketing ads, which undoubtedly greatly increases their effectiveness.

• Usability and flexibility

Yandex.Direct system has a relatively simple and intuitive interface. Its simplicity makes it more popular among Russian advertisers, especially those whose experiences in contextual advertising are relatively weak. However, for experienced advertisers, AdWords is a more user-friendly system that provides important tools for mass editing, flexible configuration, and quick optimization. All of these features make AdWords more attractive and very popular among advertisers with thousands, and even tens of thousands of ads and keyword phrases.

• Manage advertising display position

Yandex Direct shows each advertiser the recommended rates for taking up a specific position in the contextual landscape that allows an advertiser to at least get the right ad block. Google AdWords does not give this opportunity to be in a requested position. This factor is an issue for Russian advertisers when dealing with AdWords.

• Advertising networks

The major sources of traffic for both systems are their own search engines. However, both systems have a network of partner sites. The ad networks of both systems also includes a variety of content-based, news, entertainment, and business sites. In addition, Yandex.Direct shows up in the results of search engine portals Mail.ru and Rambler, which traditionally are third and fourth place in terms of search traffic.
The size and quality of these networks is difficult to compare objectively, but they can be compared on the flexibility of settings and placement targeting. Google AdWords offers more targeting options such as remarketing, targeting by user interest, targeting by site category, and targeting by keyword. Yandex offers the following targeting capabilities: retargeting, targeting by keyword, and targeting by user interest. However, it is impossible to control the interests, as they are automatically matched to the selected keywords. Yandex does not give a choice of partners for ad placement, while Google allows this. The format of ads placed on partner networks also differ. Yandex.Direct allows you to place text ads or text and image ads (ads with a picture), while Google AdWords allows you to place text ads, and banner ads in various formats, as well as promotional videos on Youtube.

• Competition and cost-per-click

Having the largest share of the search market makes Yandex.Direct more attractive to advertisers than Google AdWords. Today, according to experts, the number of advertisers is over 350,000. Therefore, it is generally believed that competition on Yandex.Direct is greater and fast growth bid in many niches. As a result, cost-per-click (CPC) for Yandex.Direct in higher on average than for Google AdWords.

• Management conversions and CPA

Every year Russian advertisers become more “advanced” and it is necessary to manage not only the placement of advertising, but also its economic returns. AdWords for many years now gives advertisers a tool that enables them to manage conversions with reference to CPA. Yandex has not yet provided anything like this. At the end of 2013, Yandex Direct finally released a similar tool, which allows the setting of weekly budgets and a desired target price action. Comparing the two tools is of course difficult. It can only be added that experts say the Yandex tool provides a significant impact on contextual media campaigns.

• Availability API for third-party developers

The growth of Internet penetration in Russia and the fact that Russia has become the European country with the largest number of Internet users have resulted in the growth of keyword queries on search engines. This makes large advertisers develop their own applications for context systems for the automation various processes via API. Yandex.Direct API is open to virtually anyone, while Google AdWords accepts only large advertisers with high turnover and a payment history of no less than six months. In addition, advertisers are forced to undergo a certification process of their applications for the Google AdWords API, which is certainly a barrier.

• Automation

The Russian contextual advertising market continues to grow at a rapid pace, which is resulting in a more complex environment for its management and control. Such a situation is driving the development of the automation advertising market in Russia. The period of 2013-2014 is marked by the advent of various automation systems. It is also worth noting the appearance of Russian startups in the segment, such as Alytics; the increased competition from foreign players like Marin Software and Adobe AdLens; and a change in strategy among market veterans, characterized by a round of new investments into the platform eLama.

• Discount policy

Yandex.Direct has a special Discount policy for regular customers with large advertising budgets. The discounts can be as high as 23%. Google AdWords does not offer discounts to its customers.

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Summing up the comparison of the two systems, there are several key points. Yandex.Direct is a leader in search engine traffic. Google AdWords provides more sophisticated and advanced tools for settings and targeting. Competition on Yandex.Direct is more intense than on Google AdWords. It is worth noting that, despite the many differences between the systems over the past few years, they approach each other and inevitably become more like each other. This trend will continue in the future, while each player will hope to come up with something unique to strengthen his position and push out his competitor.
Alexander Egorov is the Director of Development for the smart content platform Alytics. He is also an expert on CPA-campaigns and effective online media, and a consultant for CPA-contextual advertising campaigns. He has more than 9 years of experience in integrated online marketing (including to some degree within CPA and ROI) and contextual advertising campaigns for: Price.ru, Credit Bank of Moscow, Aeroflot Airlines, Tour Operators Pegas, DSBW and TezTour, Svyaznoy Bank, Saxo Bank, Central Department Store, MIAN, publisher Ferra, and the Finn Flare store.
This article is an excerpt from a comprehensive research study on Russian e-commerce and online marketing channels by East-West Digital News. To receive an executive summary at no charge please contact report@ewn.com. 

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Baidu Wangmeng vs Google AdWords – Which Display Network Should You Use?

Tait Lawton — Mon, 02/18/2013 - 06:09

I found this question on Quora: “How does Baidu compares to Google when it comes to display ads rather than search ads?”
Good question.
First some background…
Baidu Wangmeng is similar to Google AdWords’ display network. Both allow advertisers to have their advertisements placed on a wide network of websites that have signed up with Baidu or Google. They are by no means the only display networks out there, but they are big ones.
Both networks allow contextual targeting as well as several other targeting methods. Baidu allows targeting via user behavior (remarketing), geography and target website, while Google allows targeting via these methods as well as “interest categories”, topics and language.
So, for advertisers, which platform is better?
The simple answer: AdWords.
We’ve used both for various projects. We find AdWords to provide better quality traffic, with fewer suspicious-looking visitors. While Baidu click fraud is taken seriously by Baidu, and we do believe they do quite well in protecting against it for paid search advertising, they still seem to be having more problems when it comes to guarding against click fraud with their display network. Click fraud aside, Google’s targeting methods seem to be more reliable as well.
Note that we use both of these networks sparingly. While we find that we can make paid search advertising effective for most projects we work on (80% +), display networks should be tested carefully and will only be suitable for some projects.
Ultimately, it comes down to money, and we feel advertisers are more likely to make money from AdWords than from Baidu Wangmeng.
With that being said, we also recommend Baidu’s behavioral targeting tool.
Baidu’s behavioral targeting (retargeting) feature is quite useful, and we’ve made it part of our ‘best practice’ Chinese paid search marketing strategy due to a high success rate. We love that it can be used to target users based on search behavior, click behavior or visit behavior.
And what do other marketers think?
We asked some other digital advertising specialists whether they prefer to advertise with Google AdWords or Baidu Wangmeng.

1. 3 preferred Baidu Wangmeng.
2. 4 preferred Google AdWords display network.
3. 3 said the 2 networks were about the same, including one person that said they were both no good.

But what about volume? Which platform can be scaled better?
Baidu Wangmeng has over 600,000 registered publisher websites according to Baidu. Google AdSense has 2 million publisher sites according to Google, but we don’t know exactly how many of those are Chinese-language sites.
Some data from a DCCI report I found on Lu Songsong’s blog gives us some more numbers to chew on. Based on a webmaster survey, 49% said they use Baidu Lianmeng (the publisher-side brand of Baidu Wangmeng), while 31% said they use Google Adsense. Also noteworthy are the presence of Discuz! and Taobao Lianmeng, with 33% and 23% usage respectively. The list is rounded out with Sogou, Yiqifa, Heima8, 9lianmeng and UnionSky.

So, there you have it. Hope this info was useful for you.
Of course, all of the information above is meant to be a general overview.
Actual marketing strategies should be determined on a case-by-case basis. If you want help with a specific display advertising or search advertising project in China, feel free to contact me.

About the author

Tait Lawton is an online marketer focused on the Chinese market. He is the founder of Nanjing Marketing Group, a company that provides Chinese-language Internet marketing services to Western clients.

You can follow him on Twitter, see his profile on Google + or check out the other contact methods here.