COST PER LEAD REDUCTION · リード獲得単価削減

Your Yahoo Japan and Google Ads Spend Has More Waste Than You Realise

Japanese paid search accounts carry structural waste that most advertisers have never audited. Default broad match settings on Yahoo Japan Ads, unexcluded placement networks, and campaigns configured without the Japan market in mind drive CPL figures far above what they should be. Ignited Nepal identifies and removes that waste — without cutting the spend that is generating qualified leads.

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This is for you if

Which Japan Accounts Benefit Most

Accounts spending ¥500,000 or more per month.

Campaigns set up outside Japan.

Accounts that have never had a Japan-specific audit.

What's broken

Why CPL Stays High in Japanese Paid Search

Yahoo Japan Ads running on default broad match.

Yahoo Japan Ads, managed through Yahoo! JAPAN Promotional Ads, defaults to broad match for most keyword types. Without explicit match type selection and a structured negative keyword build, campaigns generate impression and click volume across loosely related queries. Advertisers pay for clicks from searches that share a word with their target keyword but carry entirely different intent. This is the single largest source of CPL inflation in Japan accounts we audit.

Yahoo Japan with no placement exclusions.

Yahoo Japan's content network (Yahoo! Display Ads network) spans a wide range of publishers. Without placement-level exclusions, ad spend distributes across properties with highly variable quality and conversion potential. Many accounts have never applied a single placement exclusion.

Google Display Network quality variance in Japan.

The Google Display Network includes a large number of Japanese partner sites that vary significantly in audience quality and brand safety. Japanese-language content networks require separate exclusion lists from English-language accounts — the sites and their audiences differ. Accounts running GDN in Japan without Japan-specific exclusion lists are serving impressions to audiences far outside their target segment.

Language and keyword structure misalignment.

Japanese queries use a combination of hiragana, katakana, and kanji, and the same concept can be expressed in multiple scripts. Campaigns built without considering script variation — or built by non-Japanese speakers — miss qualified intent signals and bid on terms that sound related but aren't. This creates both waste (irrelevant clicks) and lost opportunity (missed qualified queries).

What we engineer

How We Reduce Cost Per Lead in Japan

Waste Audit Across Yahoo Japan and Google Ads

We pull search term reports from both platforms, map spend against conversion data, and calculate the cost of waste in JPY before touching anything. Yahoo Japan Ads and Google Ads have different reporting structures and require separate audit processes.

Yahoo Japan Match Type Correction

We audit all active keyword match types on Yahoo Japan Ads, identify broad match terms generating irrelevant traffic, and restructure match types where evidence supports it. This alone typically produces a meaningful CPL reduction within the first billing cycle.

Negative Keyword Expansion (300+ terms, bilingual)

We build negative keyword lists in hiragana, katakana, kanji, and romanised forms where applicable. A negative keyword list built only in one script will not suppress irrelevant queries written in another. Our negative build covers all script variants relevant to your industry and keyword set.

Placement Exclusions for Yahoo Japan and GDN

We build placement exclusion lists for Yahoo Japan's content network and Google's Display Network using Japan-specific publisher data. These are not translated versions of English-market exclusion lists — they are built from Japanese placement performance data.

Audience Suppression

We configure audience suppression to exclude existing customers, recent converters, and visitor segments that do not match your target buyer profile. For B2B accounts in Japan, this frequently includes excluding non-decision-maker job function categories.

Bid Strategy Review

We audit bid strategy settings across both platforms. Yahoo Japan Ads and Google Ads handle automated bidding differently, and accounts that have imported Google Ads bid logic into Yahoo Japan without adjustment frequently experience erratic bidding behaviour.

Landing Page Alignment

We review landing page alignment with ad copy and keyword intent, with specific attention to Japanese-language page speed, form UX conventions in Japan (which differ from Western standards), and trust signals relevant to the Japanese market.

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Evidence

What Changes When Waste Is Removed

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Common questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Yahoo Japan Ads really need to be managed separately from Google Ads?

Yes. Yahoo Japan Ads operates on a different platform (Yahoo! JAPAN Promotional Ads), has different default settings, different match type behaviour, and a separate content network. Search term data, placement reports, and bid strategy settings are all distinct. Applying Google Ads logic directly to Yahoo Japan without adjustment is a consistent source of waste.

Can you work with accounts where the existing setup is in Japanese only?

Yes. We work in both English and Japanese. Audit reports and communications can be delivered in either language based on your preference.

How many negative keywords do you typically add to a Japan account?

Our standard negative build for Japan accounts covers 300 or more terms. Because Japanese uses multiple writing systems, each concept may require negatives in hiragana, katakana, and kanji. The actual count is often higher than for equivalent English-language accounts.

Does CPL reduction affect lead quality?

Removing waste — irrelevant queries, low-quality placements, unqualified audiences — typically improves lead quality alongside CPL. You are paying for the same or better leads at a lower cost per conversion.

What access is required?

We require read and edit access to Yahoo Japan Promotional Ads and Google Ads. Read access to Google Analytics 4 is useful but not required for the initial audit.

How long does the engagement take?

The initial audit and change implementation runs over two to three weeks. CPL improvements begin to appear in data within 30 days. We recommend a 90-day measurement window for a reliable trend.

Our team

The people behind the work

Not a black box. Real specialists you can call, with their names on the work.

Niraj Raut

Founder — Ecommerce SEO

Keshab Joshi

PPC Expert

Hawrry Bhattarai

Google Ads Expert

Arogya Rijal

SaaS SEO Expert

About Us →

Start here

Request a CPL Reduction Audit — Japan

The audit covers your Yahoo Japan Ads and Google Ads accounts, identifies the specific waste sources driving your current CPL, and produces a prioritised action list with estimated impact in JPY.

Request a CPL Reduction Audit →

We review every Japan audit request personally. A senior growth engineer will respond within 2 business days.