Yandex Advertising

Yandex advertising is the practice of running paid search and network campaigns on Yandex Direct to reach audiences who search in Russian. For businesses in Antalya and across Türkiye — particularly in tourism, hospitality, real estate and health services — it reaches a customer base that Google campaigns largely miss.

Moon Workshop treats Yandex as a specific tool with a specific job. We recommend it when the audience is genuinely there and we say so plainly when it is not.

When Yandex is worth the budget

Yandex is the right channel when a meaningful share of your customers search and read in Russian. In practice this means:

• Hotels, resorts and tourism operators serving Russian-speaking visitors
• Real estate agencies selling property to international buyers
• Clinics and health service providers with Russian-speaking patients
• E-commerce brands shipping to Russian-speaking regions
• B2B suppliers whose buyers research in Russian

If none of these describe your customer base, a Yandex budget is better spent elsewhere. We would rather turn down the work than run a channel that cannot produce results.

Yandex Direct compared with Google Ads

The two platforms share a family resemblance, but the operational differences are real.

The single most important operational difference is negative keyword discipline. The Yandex Advertising Network can deliver very broad traffic very quickly, and an account launched without a well-built exclusion list will spend real money on irrelevant impressions in the first week.

Keyword research in Russian is not translation

Russian search behavior does not mirror Turkish or English patterns. Word order, case endings and regional vocabulary all change which queries actually carry volume. Transliterated brand names appear in multiple spellings, and users frequently search with different word forms that a naive keyword list will miss.

Our research process:

1. Wordstat analysis for the target regions, including seasonal patterns
2. Word form and case variation mapping so that match handling is correct
3. Transliteration variants for brand and location names
4. Competitor query coverage to identify gaps rather than copy their list
5. Negative keyword architecture built before launch, not after the first invoice

Yandex Metrica: the measurement advantage

Yandex Metrica includes features that are useful beyond Yandex campaigns themselves. Session replay, click heatmaps and scroll maps show how visitors actually behave on the page, which frequently explains why a well-targeted campaign converts poorly.

We install Metrica alongside GA4, configure goals that match your existing conversion definitions, and check that both systems report the same events. When the two disagree, we resolve the discrepancy before optimizing against either.

Localization: the part that decides conversion

Sending Russian-language traffic to an English or Turkish page wastes the click. Proper localization covers:

• Language. Native Russian copy on the landing page, not machine translation.
• Currency and pricing. Displayed in a currency the visitor recognizes, with any conversion clearly explained.
• Contact expectations. Russian-speaking visitors frequently prefer messaging apps over email forms. WhatsApp and Telegram contact options materially affect response rates.
• Trust signals. Certifications, addresses, registered company details and clearly stated policies.
• Payment methods. Payment options and their availability should be stated before checkout, not discovered during it.

We review each of these as part of campaign setup and flag what needs to change on the site side.

Campaign structure

We separate campaigns by intent and by network, never mixing search and network delivery in one campaign:

• Search campaigns by product or service line, with region-level segmentation where bid differences justify it
• Advertising Network campaigns with aggressive site exclusions and separate budgets
• Retargeting campaigns built from Metrica audience segments
• Brand campaigns isolated so branded volume does not disguise acquisition cost

Bid strategies are tested rather than assumed. Automated strategies need conversion volume to work; below that threshold manual control usually performs better.

Working from Antalya with international markets

Moon Workshop is based in Antalya, Türkiye. A large part of Antalya’s economy depends on international visitors, and Russian-speaking demand is a permanent part of that picture. We have run campaigns for local businesses whose customers arrive from abroad and for exporters selling outward from Türkiye.

Alongside Yandex, we manage Google Ads and Meta campaigns targeting Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States. Running several markets under one measurement framework means budget decisions can be compared honestly across channels instead of each platform grading its own homework.

Reporting

Monthly reporting covers spend, qualified traffic, goal completions, cost per lead or order, search query quality and network placement quality. Where Yandex and Google both run, we present a combined view so that the total acquisition picture is visible in one place.

Last updated: August 2026.