What are Google Search Partners and Why Do They Matter?

When working with AdWords, you can choose not to include search partners by unclicking the button that says “include search partners” that you find on your campaign settings page, which is shown below:

According to Paid Search/Display Account Manager at Hanapin Marketing Sam Owen in his Search Engine land article, it’s a good idea to use the segment button in your “all campaigns” menu and then segment by “Network (with search partners)” to see if it’s a worthwhile feature for you to use. Ask yourself a few questions:

• Is your account on a tight budget? If so, it might be a good idea to turn them off because they often have a higher cost per conversion.
• Are you getting at least 20 percent more clicks with Search Partners? This is a good number; so if you have enough data to make an analysis, use this as a benchmark.
• Are Search Partners underperforming on only certain campaigns? If yes, you can go back and pause your Search Partners by going to your settings.

Optimizing your campaigns for Search Partners is tough and many (including Owen) agree that it might be more trouble than it’s worth. Bing makes it easy to optimize because you can setup Search Partner-only campaigns and even section off your campaign to certain search partners, so you may want to try and use that data to help you understand how it’s working on your Google campaigns (flashbacks to advice about the encrypted data announcement, anyone?).

Any Negatives to Google Search Partners?

This is one topic where users seem to be very much divided on their thoughts. You’ll see negatives to Search Parnters all over the Internet, so it’s tough to know what to believe. People disagree with Search Partners because sites where consumers filter down through categories to come up with a search are included. In other words, Search Partners counts clicks for those who didn’t type in a search directly. When this happens you will see your number of clicks skyrocket (along with your bill) while not seeing many more sales.

Founder of Richman SEO Training Danny Richman posted about this on Moz where he explains that Google needs to make advertisers more aware. A slew of comments shows that he wasn’t the only one dealing with this huge negative, not to mention it’s proof that Search Partners, no matter how long they’ve been around, are not explained well by Google and therefore not understood well by marketers.

The Verdict: Is Search Partners Worth it for Your AdWords Campaigns This Year?

In my opinion, they are going to be worth it for most companies because it is another way to put your ad in front of relevant users. Of course, it’s always important to use your own data and analysis to make sure it is working for you, not to mention to be aware of some of the negatives out there surrounding this feature.

Have you tried Search Partners in the past? Did you find it to be successful? Let us know your story and your thoughts in the comments below.