Pay-per-click marketing seems to be changing all the time. With Yahoo!’s new Panama system now rolled out, and Google consistently tweaking the AdWords platform, it seems appropriate to revisit the pros and cons of using each for your pay-per-click advertising. While there is still much room for improvement, I have included MSN Adcenter for those that are thinking of trying it.

Yahoo! Pros and Cons

Yahoo! and Google are very similar in the services that they provide. Both are looking at ways of getting better-targeted ads, especially with the release of Yahoo’s new Panama system that has bridged the gap between AdWords considerably. Time will only tell whether Yahoo! can match Google on all levels considering they are always proactively looking for better ways to reach potential customers, (e.g. radio advertising program).


Google is by far the easiest and most feature rich of the two however are the most expensive in terms of click prices. So it looks like it is up to Yahoo! to continue improving the usability of their services while also keeping a close eye on the rising keyword costs and the potential bugs that seem to be popping up. In terms of MSN they are growing, however the search volume is still dwarfed by the competition. Hopefully, they will continue to grow and make a better presence in the marketplace just to create a little more competition for the big guys.