The feed supply chain
How an advertiser’s search ad travels from Google, Bing or Yahoo through a syndication partner to a small publisher’s page, and who answers for it.
The feed supply chain
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Advertisers bid at the search engines
An advertiser sets up keyword campaigns in Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising. Almost all the money in search arbitrage starts in these few advertising systems. Yahoo’s search ads have for years been supplied largely through Microsoft.
- Advertisers bid at the search engines: An Advertiser sets up keyword campaigns in Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising. Almost all the money in search arbitrage starts in these few advertising systems. Yahoo’s search ads have for years been supplied largely through Microsoft.
- Engines lend their ads out: Search engines also show those ads on other companies’ sites. This is search syndication, and the sites together form a search partner network. Think of a wholesaler stocking many small shops.
- The feed provider holds the contract: A direct feed is a contract with the engine itself. Few companies have one. A feed provider (or syndication partner) does, and is answerable to the engine for everything shown under its account.
- Sub-publishers plug in: The provider gives approved publishers a hosted feed in return for a share of revenue. Each publisher, site or campaign is tagged with a channel ID so the provider and the engine can see whose traffic is whose.
- The ad reaches a visitor: The sub-publisher brings visitors, usually with paid traffic, and the engine’s ads appear on its results pages. The visitor rarely knows four companies stand between them and the advertiser.
- Money flows back up the chain: A click charges the advertiser, say, $1.00. In our example the engine passes $0.70 to the provider, and the provider passes $0.56 to the sub-publisher. Each hop is a toll booth.
- Responsibility flows down it: The engine audits clicks and pages across the chain. One sub-publisher with bad traffic can put the provider’s whole contract at risk, so providers police feed approval, traffic sources and volumes closely.
Step by step
- Advertisers bid at the search engines (Demand)An advertiser sets up keyword campaigns in Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising. Almost all the money in search arbitrage starts in these few advertising systems. Yahoo’s search ads have for years been supplied largely through Microsoft.
- Engines lend their ads out (Syndication)Search engines also show those ads on other companies’ sites. This is search syndication, and the sites together form a search partner network. Think of a wholesaler stocking many small shops.
- The feed provider holds the contract (Tier 1)A direct feed is a contract with the engine itself. Few companies have one. A feed provider (or syndication partner) does, and is answerable to the engine for everything shown under its account.
- Sub-publishers plug in (Tier 2)The provider gives approved publishers a hosted feed in return for a share of revenue. Each publisher, site or campaign is tagged with a channel ID so the provider and the engine can see whose traffic is whose.
- The ad reaches a visitor (Supply)The sub-publisher brings visitors, usually with paid traffic, and the engine’s ads appear on its results pages. The visitor rarely knows four companies stand between them and the advertiser.
- Money flows back up the chain ($1.00)A click charges the advertiser, say, $1.00. In our example the engine passes $0.70 to the provider, and the provider passes $0.56 to the sub-publisher. Each hop is a toll booth.
- Responsibility flows down it (Control)The engine audits clicks and pages across the chain. One sub-publisher with bad traffic can put the provider’s whole contract at risk, so providers police feed approval, traffic sources and volumes closely.