Posted On 04/30/06
Contributed by Frances

Hey, guess what? I'm not going to talk about Google this week. Instead, I want to highlight some changes that are finally starting to make a difference at one of the smaller PPC search engines - Kanoodle.

Kanoodle has been in the news a few times over the last year announcing a number of innovations and additions to their ad network that are just now beginning to show a cumulative effect that has got to be good news for PPC advertisers looking for a place other than Google or Yahoo! to place their ad dollars.

This week (April 26) Kanoodle announced the availability of geo-targeting for advertisers, with the built-in convenience of choosing the time of day your ads will run. As well, the search engine recently signed an exclusive sponsored link contract with Dow Jones Online, which resulted in addition of all the sites in the Dow Jones Online network, including The Wall Street Journal and Barron's Online, to Kanoodle's ad network. The mega-deal comes after Kanoodle's successful performance providing sponsored ads to MarketWatch.com over the past year.

Throughout the past year (2005), Kanoodle has worked to expand its network every few months. During that time, Kanoodle has gathered sites such as MSNBC.com, MSN Spaces, USATODAY.com, about 75 CBS radio sites, more than 30 sites of CBS television stations, and the official NASCAR sites into its network. This week, they also added LifeScript to the mix, which publishes the world's fastest-growing e-magazine on health issues (half a million new signups a month) and has a large group of health-related sites on the web.

What does this mean for the average PPC advertiser? Those of us who may have doubted the wisdom of placing too much of our ad spend on Kanoodle just might have to reconsider that position. Although many have had good experiences with Kanoodle in the past, other PPC advertisers have been disappointed by quickly disappearing ad dollars with dismal ROIs and have expressed disappointment with Kanoodle's performance as a PPC search engine.

However, by forging agreements with these heavyweight online properties, Kanoodle is in a position to become a force to be reckoned with in the search engine wars. Targeting specific niches, such as financial information and news-related items, puts Kanoodle in position to become the preferred choice for PPC advertisers also targeting these markets. Add the ability to geo-target and run your ad campaigns during peak online times only, and Kanoodle may be able to persuade disillusioned PPC advertisers to give it another chance.

If the move is successful, it can't come too soon for Kanoodle, whose traffic seemed ready to hit rock bottom in January. The past couple of months have rebounded nicely to match third-quarter 2005 levels, perhaps due to the news of its expanded network of sites available to show its PPC ads.

If you've been looking for an alternative to Google and Yahoo! as a place to experiment with PPC, especially if you are in the financial or entertainment/electronic media field, Kanoodle may be just what you're looking for. The cost per click is only going to go up for relevant keywords if Kanoodle makes the transition work, so right now may be the moment to garner the largest gains from your advertising dollars.

Time will tell how much of a difference the expansion of the Kanoodle network in these specific areas makes to the overall performance of the search engine, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. Changes were necessary and those made seem well planned and executed.

Personally, I'm glad that in their move into affiliations with relatively mainstream, conservative properties like the Dow Jones sites, Kanoodle hasn't closed down the Kanoodle Kams - you can still check out their offices and see if that sales rep you just talked to is actually setting up your campaign or just sitting with his feet up on his desk gazing off into the distance dreaming of the next big Kanoodle move!