Parked Domains Outperform Search Ads: Case Study

Data from an advertising campaign shows that parked domains can convert better than search ads.

It’s been regarding 9 months since I last wrote regarding 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 note regarding mistakes to avoid when setting up a 529 plan. I purchase ads on Google Adwords that direct users to a landing page specifically regarding the note, 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 regarding 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 ought to opt out of parked pages, that probably means the manager just isn’t good at optimizing your ad and ad placement.