2nd Tier PPC Search Engines - the good , the bad and the downright ugly !!!!

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snakeeye1968

snakeeye1968

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Jan 20, 2009
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Just wanted some advise from you more experienced guys on a more diverse range of traffic sources.

In particualr I wanted some advise on 2nd Tier Search Engines, as I've heard good reports and bad about them and with so many to choose from I wanted some feedback on where to invest my time and cash.

The list I've looked at so far is:

7Search
Looksmart
Kanoodle
Enhance
Findology
ePilot
Valid Click
Clicksor
Genie KNows
Search123
Pageseeker

Are AOL and Ask classed as 2nd Tier ??

Thanks for your help guys - I know you'll give frank and honest feedback from your experiences.

Rich
 


I tried 7Search and ABCSearch. I need advice like you about remaining, just like you. However, if no one advice, Ill just try each :), I am willing to put effort and have no problem to lose money...

ABCSearch sucks so bad for me.. I kept trying them, tweaking campaigns and never ever had any value, users NEVER even clicked on the affiliate links.. I kinda felt there is a big fraud problem.. I tried them for around 2000 clicks, I was patient yes!

Also, My daytime company (one of the top 10 sites in the US) bought from them 30k clicks in one day, and severe the majority of these clicks did not do any interaction... They suck!

7Search: I tried them for 300 clicks, they suck also.. But some of their clicks did click on Aff links, but no conversions...

Right now, I am testing another 2nd tier engine and seems working.. I need to test for few more days before giving final judgment.

My Two cents!

Adi
 
I don't know if "goclick" is still operating, but I tested it once and am pretty sure it's 90%+ robots/fake traffic.

I tend to think most of the tier 2 and 3 engines are just utter crap.

EDIT: also tried 7search once.. crap traffic. i was bidding on big keywords and getting like 3 clicks per day... also they limit each account to like 2000 keywords.. just really amateur crap all around.
 
If you're running P202, you will see just how crappy these bot networks truly are. I was getting clicks from different partner sites all from the same IP addresses, using clicktale I could see there was absolutely zero interaction from these 'visitors' as well. This was with Looksmart. - total waste of money.

The only real traffic I got from them was when their feed was used as remnant backfill for the Kontera network.
 
I tried goclick, you'd better wipe your ass with the money you would use with goclick

looksmart has better looking interface, but traffic sucked more or less like goclick ( I am not sure but I think I got one conversion on some offer with looksmart... crap compared to adwords or msn anyway )
 
I've looked into some of the 2nd tier networks before and haven't had too much success. I have, however, had great luck with ask. I am not sure if they are considered 2nd tier or not, but they definitely are not able to deliver as much traffic as google, yahoo, and msn.

Great conversion rates though depending on niche as far as i have seen.
 
I was going to try Ask.com myself but their interface is the same as Looksmart's so I ran for the door. Somehow these two networks are either related or use the same technology.
 
I've had really bad results w/ AdBrite & Looksmart, but it's been at least a year or two since I've used them so it may have gotten better. Ask has been pretty decent, but as someone else pointed out, the volume is really low.
 
LotsOfZeros said:
I was going to try Ask.com myself but their interface is the same as Looksmart's so I ran for the door. Somehow these two networks are either related or use the same technology.
Click to expand...

This is pretty cool: Search Engine Decoder | Relationship Chart

Not sure how up to date it is, but it shows the information. Bruce Clay used to have a good one, but it seems like he's dropped a lot of the second tier relationships in the past few iterations.
 
LotsOfZeros said:
I was going to try Ask.com myself but their interface is the same as Looksmart's so I ran for the door. Somehow these two networks are either related or use the same technology.
Click to expand...

Funny enough aren't they both Google partner sites as well? I wonder what determines if a Goog ad shows vs one of their own ads. I know I've got a ton of traffic from Ask through adwords. Never converted well for me though.
 
nvanprooyen said:
This is pretty cool: Search Engine Decoder | Relationship Chart

Not sure how up to date it is, but it shows the information. Bruce Clay used to have a good one, but it seems like he's dropped a lot of the second tier relationships in the past few iterations.
Click to expand...

Think it's pretty old. I don't think YSM has been serving ads on MSN for awhile, unless I'm wrong. I know it continued for a little while post Overture, but I'm pretty sure it's been a few years since that was going on.
 
goddfadda said:
Funny enough aren't they both Google partner sites as well? I wonder what determines if a Goog ad shows vs one of their own ads. I know I've got a ton of traffic from Ask through adwords. Never converted well for me though.
Click to expand...

Strangely, I have received clicks from Looksmart where the referrer was google.com, and they have converted.
 
I would echo the other opinions. I've used Looksmart, ASK, ABC Search and 7 Search. I'm running P202 and ClickTale. With Clicktale you can see that most of this traffic is crap and not real. My advide: Stay Away...
 
Keep it up

Thanks guys - I have started a trial on Ask.com and will keep posting results from it - clicks / conversions etc.

I was watching Nickycakes interview with 202 and he mentioned in there that he has one successfull 2nd tier ppc search, so I'm sure there are a few good ones out there and the others just prey on people who are not using any tracking software or p202.

Rich
 
Good second tiers PPC se's are like good dive bars. When you find one, you spend a lot of time there but you dont tell everyone about it because if it gets popular it will start to suck.
 
chriogenix said:
i'm sending traffic to adbrite right now...crap results. no experience with the second tier networks you mentioned. i've only heard bad things.
Click to expand...

1. Adbrite isn't a search engine
2. If you've never worked with the companies in question, why bring up a month old thread?
3. Fail.
 
7Search is pretty much all garbage. Ive tried them before and half of it was legit click fraud and the rest were from "smaller search engines" aka robots and more shit traffic.
 
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