Case Study: Parked Domains Outperform Search Ads
Friday, June 12th, 2009
Data from an advertising campaign shows that parked domains can convert better than search ads.
It’s been about 9 months since I last wrote about how I was getting better conversions from parked domain ads than Google search. Now that I have a lot more data, it’s time to update the stats.
As background, I own a college funds site that offers a free report about mistakes to avoid when setting up a 529 plan. I purchase ads on Google Adwords that direct users to a landing page specifically about the report, and track conversions on the back end.
So far the campaign has served over 4 million impressions and delivered over 30,000 clicks across Google search, the content network, error pages, and parked pages. The most cost effective channel: parked domains.
Here are the stats, ranked by conversion rate:
(Note: Parked pages and error pages are removed from content channel stats.)
You’ll notice that, not only does the parked domain channel have the highest conversion rate, but it also has the lowest cost per conversion. Google Search (which does not include the search network) has by far the lowest conversion rate, and its cost per conversion is worse than both the parking channel and content channel.
It doesn’t appear that smart pricing is the reason for this difference in cost per conversion. In fact, I’m paying about 2 cents more per click on parked pages than I’m paying on Google search.
This is just one example, but it’s proof that search marketers who don’t show ads on parked pages are throwing out the baby with the bathwater. If you hire someone to manage your online advertising and they say you should opt out of parked pages, that probably means the manager just isn’t good at optimizing your ad and ad placement.
Further Reading:
- Update: Domain Parking Still Converting
- Surprise! Parked Domain Names Convert For Advertisers
- Domain Parking Sites Convert at Twice that of Search
Tags: google adwords, parked domain name
Case Study: Parked Domains Outperform Search Ads – http://tinyurl.com/mzqzl9
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RT @domainnamewire: #domains Case Study: Parked Domains Outperform Search Ads: Data from an advertising campaign.. http://tinyurl.com/mzqzl9
Something with your data doesn’t make sense. On average, search outperforms content 2:1. Maybe even 2.5:1.
Your data is based on 1 category, and that is college funds. In order to effectively test this out, you’ll need to test across hundreds of different categories.
Although, I do want to say that Parking does offer great conversions. There is no doubt about it. The only problem is that today, parking companies have 10% or so fraud running on their network, usually sitting on high paying keywords. That is why parking doesn’t convert well for many advertisers.
If parking companies would do a much better job at cleaning up fraud, we’d have much higher conversions and parking would be a much more effective way of advertising. Unfortunately, companies like Sendori are sending junk traffic to advertisers and are only making things worse.
It is proven, type-in traffic converts better than search traffic. There is absolutely no questions about this.
Nice job.
Why has this not been done by some other ad industry research group yet?
If this became well known….it could change everyone’s fortune.
Thanks for the case study. Were the exact same campaigns being run across all networks (search, parked, etc..) or did they differ (The way the ads were written, etc…)?
Andrew, what do you count as a conversion – a signup for downloading the report via aweber?
Another thing you forgot. The search network actually includes some domain parking companies.
For instance, Oversee.net (DomainSponsor) is part of the Google Search Network.
@ Matt – that’s why I didn’t include the search network in my stats, just Google.com search. The Parking channel includes stats from parked domains on both the search network and domain channel.
Frank – yes
@ BF – same ads, same ‘keywords’, same landing page
@ Matt – yes, just one niche. But I’ve run it over a year now and the number stack up like this. I think it has a lot to do with my ‘product’ not being a specific product. If you’re trying to sell a Sony X500 camera, then search is going to do better because someone is specifically searching for that. But saving for college is a more general topic. Anyone who’s looking at a 529 savings plan is going to want to know what to look out for.
It’s interesting, I am trying to figure out a scenario why Parking would convert better than Search, since essential, natural type-in traffic is still a search through your address bar.
It is possible that the traffic you have received from those parked pages may be arbitrage traffic? Therefore, the visitors may have gone through 4-5 pages and redirects before they landed on your page, meaning they are the most interested visitors that stuck through all those pages.
It’s a fact that Parking does better than Content, but I am surprised Google Search came out last in your test.
@ Matt – or you just optimize your campaign. Remove or block the domains that aren’t producing conversions, leaving only the parked domains that seem to convert for your particular offer.
High CTRs on a parked AD page shouldn’t be surprising since there’s nowhere else to go. (If there’s no content.) But the traffic was paid for and sent there.
Most people think once a domain is parked that clicks will magically come. Yeah, there will still be a high CTR but as a percentage and not numbers!
John