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A thread at WebmasterWorld and later a blog posting at Search Engine Watch draws attention to a document filed by second tier PPC, Pay Per Text and Pay Per Call network MIVA. In the document, it mentions a new partnership with Google to display AdWords on its network when they have spare inventory available. The deal follows the company’s non-renewal of a similar agreement previously made with Yahoo.
MIVA (a former e-commerce software) was acquired to primarily form a shell company and central brand after the merger of FindWhat and eSpotting in 2005. eSpotting was the first PPC network in Europe, and used to run the European advertising on Yahoo’s network before the search giant acquired Overture (now Yahoo Search Marketing).
Some AdWords users are unhappy about the decision, citing MIVA’s “poor quality traffic” as a possible threat to their Google AdWords conversion rates. Although I haven’t used the MIVA network personally, I have heard that it can be a good quality traffic source for certain verticals. In the UK it seems to have excellent conversion rates when marketing towards the “Chav” demographic. These are mostly low income households, who buy products and services such as high-rate loans, mortgages and cheap last minute holidays.
Further discussion on the pros and cons of the deal can be found at the WebmasterWorld forums.
