In addition to providing users with their own PPC service, displaying ads to YP visitors, the new platform will also allow users to manage paid search ads on major platforms like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Users will be able to consolidate all of their advertising into a single campaign, which can run across multiple different platforms simultaneously.
YP has been on friendly terms with search engines for years, serving as a Yahoo Bing Network Strategic Ambassador and as a Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner. It’s no surprise that they’ve been able to build a platform that accommodates all three major search engines while remaining an independent product.
According to YP, YP-based PPC advertising will be more valuable to business because YP searchers are generally closer to making a purchasing decision. However, the same logic could be applied to any local or mobile searcher, since local and mobile searches tend to be performed by people looking to make a purchasing decision within a few hours.
Diversity in PPC campaigns
The key value to businesses, other than the fact that consumers are closer to a buying decision, is the ability to manage multiple PPC campaigns on one consolidated platform. The diversifying world of PPC advertising is making it difficult for advertisers to come up with a comprehensive game plan, or even to decide which platforms to use.
When PPC advertising first came onto the scene, Google was the undisputed champion. Its keyword planning tools, campaign management system, and overall ad visibility made it the unparalleled choice in online advertising, limiting the competition to almost zero. But recently, the rising popularity of Google PPC has influenced a sharp increase in prices, and the emergence of new PPC competitors has threatened the otherwise unchallenged juggernaut.
Bing’s PPC advertising solution has begun to grow more sophisticated and, by extension, more popular among users. Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, have rolled out PPC advertising for businesses, and have taken efforts to challenge the industry with new features, such as Facebook’s recently unveiled relevance scores.
Google is still the leading provider of PPC advertising, with more than $59 billion in ad revenue in 2014. But advertisers have more options than ever when it comes to paying for extra visibility online.
The future of PPC
It’s hard to tell exactly how YP’s new approach to PPC advertising will affect the industry this early in the game, but it is an indication of where things could go from here. Currently, users are enjoying the benefits of having multiple PPC options; PPC on a diversity of platforms mean users have greater control over the types of audiences that see their ads, and the cost of placing ads will be lower due to lower levels of competition. However, as more social, search, and general online platforms begin to offer their own PPC programs, it will become increasingly difficult to choose the most effective route.
YP’s tool is groundbreaking because it allows users to manage multiple different PPC campaigns at once, but it still doesn’t draw in social advertising platforms like Facebook or Twitter. In the future, it’s not unreasonable to think that there will be a platform where a user can submit an ad to almost anywhere on the web, similar to the way that press release syndication tools like PRWeb submit a single piece of content to thousands of online outlets.
In the meantime, small- to medium-sized business owners can take advantage of YP’s new PPC solution. It may not completely change how we see and purchase advertising online, but it is a step toward consolidating and simplifying the ever-branching evolution of online advertising.
