November 29, 2007

Yahoo to Distribute Contextual Ads on PDFs

Advertisers on Yahoo's Content Match network may soon see their ads appearing alongside Adobe PDF (portable document format) documents. In a new deal with Adobe, Yahoo will begin testing a program that will allow publishers to monetize PDFs with with contextually targeted text ads. The program, dubbed Ads for Adobe PDF, displays contextual ads in a side panel of Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat when a user views the PDF.

PDFs will be added to the Content Match inventory, with no plans yet to allow advertisers to opt-out. But Josh Jacobs, VP for publisher solutions at Yahoo, told ClickZ News that Yahoo will consider allowing advertisers to opt out of the format or to specifically target readers of PDF documents.

"A big goal of the beta program for both of us is to gain more insight into how users are engaging with this," said Jacobs. "We'll continue to look at whether there are other types of creative and ad placements that make sense."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:53 PM | Permalink

April 16, 2007

Yahoo! and Newspaper Consortium Expand Ad Partnership

Today,Yahoo! and 12 leading U.S. newspaper companies announced a formal agreement to use Yahoo! as their exclusive paid search partner, and bring local newspaper content to 150 MM U.S. visitors per month.

The latest addition to the consortium is the McClatchy Company, making it the 12th member of the newspaper publishing group. This group represents more than 264 newspapers across 44 states.

The McClatchy Company is among the latest newspaper groups to join the consortium, currently participating in all aspects except the HotJobs component. Other new members since November 2006 include Calkins Media, Inc.; Media General, Inc.; Morris Communications Company, LLC; and Paddock Publications, Inc.

Consortium members announced last November include: Belo Corp.; Cox Newspapers; The E.W. Scripps Company; Hearst Newspapers; Journal Register Company; Lee Enterprises; and MediaNews Group, Inc.

The newspapers in this consortium include major market dailies such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis), The Dallas Morning News, The Denver Post, The Florida Times-Union, Houston Chronicle, The Miami Herald, New Haven Register, Rocky Mountain News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury-News and The Tampa Tribune.

Key points of the partnership from the official release:

-- Enhancing newspaper online advertising revenue using Yahoo!'s graphical advertising technology. For more than a decade, Yahoo! has been a leader in online graphical advertising. Advertisers and newspapers will be using Yahoo!'s sophisticated ad-serving, targeting and inventory management capabilities. This strategic alliance creates the newspaper industry's most comprehensive and integrated online advertising network.

-- Leveraging leading local and national online sales forces. This relationship creates an all-in-one buying opportunity for local advertisers, allowing newspaper sales representatives to offer the combined aggregated reach of local newspaper and local Yahoo! online audiences. Yahoo!'s sales force may sell newspaper inventory to their portfolio of national advertisers and newspapers' sales forces can sell Yahoo!'s local online inventory to local advertisers.

-- Integrating Yahoo!'s paid search technology across newspaper sites. Yahoo!'s search functionality will be deployed across hundreds of newspaper Web sites and exposed to more than 50 million users on a monthly basis. Additionally, users will benefit from having access to a customized Yahoo! toolbar which will be distributed on local newspaper Web sites, providing newspaper Web site users with easy access to the most comprehensive Internet search.

-- Distributing high-quality newspaper content broadly across the Yahoo! Network. Newspaper content will be fully integrated within local news modules and delivered to Yahoo! users interested in local news, sports, finance and other content in Yahoo! vertical areas. This will give readers superior local content developed by credible news professionals and community contributors across the country. Additionally, this strategic partnership paves the way for mobile distribution of newspaper content.

Posted by Elisabeth Osmeloski at 10:55 AM | Permalink

January 24, 2007

Yahoo UK Announces New Content Match Products

Yahoo UK announced today that it will be adding to the areas where and the methods how content ads will be served. The push of run of network placement is interesting.

The marketing newsletter is below.

New Content Match Products

As part of the Content Match product suite, Yahoo! Search Marketing is introducing new Content Match™ products for advertisers who are seeking traffic that leads to a higher number of conversions. You can now target a broad spectrum of online content across the Yahoo! Premium Partner network with certain keywords.

With our Premium Run of Network product, you can target a broad spectrum of online content including local news, global events and human interest stories across the Yahoo! Premium Partner network with a single keyword. Advertisers who opt into Premium Run of Network will have their listings displayed on the Premium Network only.

Our Premium Category product allows you to receive category based distribution for your Content Match ads. Premium Content Match category keywords can help you better manage your ad distribution—enabling you to target specific audiences and vertical content categories with a single keyword. For example, you can bid on a single travel category keyword to receive distribution across typically higher converting sites within the travel content category

Seasonal Content Match will distribute seasonally targeted ads on the entire Yahoo! Content Match Partner Network. Increase your website’s traffic volume by simply opting into Seasonal Run of Network and bidding on a single seasonal keyword. The top seasonal listings will be shown and users who click on the listings will be taken to your landing page highlighting your seasonal products and services

For further information on our new Content Match products, please contact your Yahoo! Search Marketing Account Manager.

Posted by aussiewebmaster at 2:03 PM | Permalink

November 20, 2006

New Compliance Manager from Yahoo Publisher Network

Yahoo Publisher Network has launched a new feature that alerts publishers to any compliancy issues within their account, such as URLs that contain content in direct violation of the YPN Terms. These alerts would show up on the homepage of a publisher's YPN account, meaning publishers don't need to worry about compliancy emails going astray. For full details and screenshots of the new compliance manager interface, visit JenSense.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 10:36 AM | Permalink

November 13, 2006

Yahoo Publisher Network Executives Leaving Yahoo

PaidContent.org has confirmation of rumors from Valleywag that two top executives in the Yahoo Publisher Network group are leaving Yahoo. Bill Demas, the Senior VP of Yahoo Publishing Network, is departing Yahoo to "pursue his goal of leading a small company or venture." Also, Will Johnson, VP and GM, of Yahoo Publishing Network won't be with YPN much longer. Yahoo says that Josh Siegel will replace Will Johnson.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:52 AM | Permalink

October 24, 2006

New Yahoo Publisher Network Home Page

Yahoo has redesigned and reorganized the Yahoo Publisher Network home page. With the redesign comes integration of the most recent YPN Blog entries, public access to enhance your site, drive traffic to your site, build your site and earn money on your site. There is also a new flash tutorial to explain all about it. JenSense has more details and I have the forum coverage.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:08 AM | Permalink

September 12, 2006

Search Bugs At Yahoo & Google

In the past twenty-four hours I have discovered and documented four different bugs or weird occurrences at both Yahoo and Google. I will cover the four bugs, include adult ads displaying in Google and Yahoo's contextual programs, Yahoo's contextual ads not displaying ads at all, Google's site operator not functioning properly and Google's AdWords statistics not showing the right data.

(1) The first I named Adult Ads Displayed Within Google's AdSense Program? but it actually affects Yahoo as well. Basically, some people found Google AdSense ads that displayed adult oriented content, something that should not happen on AdSense. But what was amusing, was that after I posted this article, people noticed that when the Yahoo Publisher Network ads showed up, they were showing adult ads as well.

(2) If you were not able to load the ads in example one, then it may be because the Yahoo Publisher Network Ads Still Have Accessibility Issues, even after I reported it last Friday. Basically, some ISPs are not able to resolve the DNS information that hosts those Yahoo ads. This was first documented on August 31st, then acknowledged by a Yahoo representative on September 7th and is still an issue today.

(3) The next issue is that Google's Site Operator Shows Sites Off Domain. It does, I have seen screen captures myself, showing someone searching using the site: command and Google returning results from sites off of that domain. I have pictures and more details at the Search Engine Roundtable.

(4) The final bug I found today was that AdWords Statistics Mixing the Search & Content Network. So you are an advertiser, you set a campaign to only run on Google's content network, but for some reason, your stats in AdWords shows impressions and clicks for that campaign in the search network. This bug is confirmed by Google but stated as a small tiny problem.

There you go, four bugs documented in the past twenty-four hours.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:00 AM | Permalink

August 28, 2006

New Search Patent Filings: August 28, 2006 - Identifying Web Spam and Adult Images

New Microsoft patent applications include one that attempts to identify web spam based upon signals within the content of a page, another looks at ways to search using pattern matching and relevance to answer specific questions, a third describes a method of relating people to each other during a search based upon things such as being co-authors of documents, a fourth defines a process of refining searches based upon previous searches for the same query or by providing additional context to searchers, and a fifth allows users or communities of users to provide reviews of web pages independently of the owners of sites being reviewed.

Yahoo (Overture) was granted a patent on the bidding and ranking of pages through paid search. Yahoo also had published two patent applications which explore social networks, and previewing, inviting and granting authorization for others to view specific pages within that social network.

Ask.com looks at adult images, and a way to identify them as being adult content without performing a visual analysis of those images, but instead by looking a query sessions related to the pictures.

Oracle was granted a patent which mines information about users from query logs and user profiles to retrieve recommendations for pages, expansion of queries based upon that information, and a thematic clustering of those search results.

Microsoft

The following patent application covers some very similar ground as a white paper from Microsoft Research titled Detecting Spam Web Pages through Content Analysis (pdf). It looks at a number of ways that web spam might be identified from the content on a page, though the authors note that the methods involved would likely be used in conjunction with other indications of web spam, perhaps like the ones discussed in Spam, Damn Spam, and Statistics, and in an earlier patent application on Content Evaluation.

Using content analysis to detect spam web pages Invented by Marc Alexander Najork, Dennis Craig Fetterly, Mark Steven Manasse, and Alexandros Ntoulas Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060184500 Published August 17, 2006 Filed on February 11, 2005

Abstract

Evaluating content includes receiving content, analyzing the content for web spam using a content-based identification technique, and classifying the content according to the analysis. An index of analyzed contents may be created. A system for evaluating content includes a storage device configured to store data and a processor configured to analyze content using content-based identification techniques to determine whether web spam is present.

Search methods and associated systems Invented by Larry Israel and John Solaro Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060184523 Published August 17, 2006 Filed on February 15, 2005

Abstract

Search methods and associated systems are disclosed. One aspect of the invention is directed toward search methods and associated systems. One aspect of the invention is directed toward a computer-implemented searching method that includes receiving an input having a format. The method further includes finding a pattern that matches the format of the input using a rule set. The method still further includes determining a subject of the input based on the pattern, finding a result record corresponding to the subject, and sending an output based on the result record. In certain embodiments, the method can further include determining at least one qualifier based on the pattern and finding a result record corresponding to the subject and the at least one qualifier. In still other embodiments, the method can further include determining a subject of the input based on the pattern and at least one synonym rule.

Method and system for mining information based on relationships Invented by Benyu Zhang, Wei-Ying Ma, Gu Xu, Hongbin Gao, Zheng Chen, Randy Hinrichs, Hua-Jun Zeng Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060184481 Published August 17, 2006 Filed on February 11, 2005

Abstract

A method and system for identifying information about people is provided. The information system identifies groups of people that have relationships based on their relationships to documents or more generally to objects. The information system initially is provided with an indication of which people have which relationships to which documents. The information system then identifies clusters of people based on having a relationship to the same objects. The information system may also identify clusters of related objects associated with a cluster of people. When a user wants to identify information about a person, the user can provide the name of that person to the information system. The information system then can retrieve and display the names of the other people who are in the same cluster as the person.

Content searching and configuration of search results Invented by Greg A. Kohanim, Jonathan L. Wiedemann, Christine A. Jefson, and David Aaron Ward Snelling Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060184512 Published August 17, 2006 Filed on February 17, 2005

Abstract

Content searching and configuration of search results are described. In an implementation, a method includes in response to a search query, selecting a keyword based on heuristic data which describes a plurality of previously performed searched. A search is performed utilizing the search query and the selected keyword to locate content.

Method and system for contextual site rating Invented by Peter G. Williams, Mark A. Wilson-Thomas, Martin Peck, Robert J. Wilcox, Andrew Burns, Martin Grayson Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060184608 Published August 17, 2006 Filed on February 11, 2005

Abstract

The present invention allows a user or community of users to rate content across a variety of web sites and display contextual sensitive reviews. Rather than the rating information being controlled by the web site owner, the rating information may be owned and controlled by a third party. Users have the ability to rate a web site, review ratings from a web site, or operate a web site rating system.

Yahoo

System and method for influencing a position on a search result list generated by a computer network search engine Invented by Darren J. Davis, Matthew Derer, Johann Garcia, Larry Greco, Tod E. Kurt, Thomas Kwong, Jonathan C. Lee, Ka Luk Lee, Preston Pfarner, and Steve Skovran Assigned to Overture United States Patent 7,092,901 Granted August 15, 2006 Filed on July 24, 2001

Abstract

A system and method for enabling information providers using a computer network such as the Internet to influence a position for a search listing within a search result list generated by an Internet search engine. The system and method of the present invention provides a database having accounts for the network information providers. Each account contains contact and billing information for a network information provider. In addition, each account contains at least one search listing having at least three components: a description, a search term comprising one or more keywords, and a bid amount. The network information provider may add, delete, or modify a search listing after logging into his or her account via an authentication process. The network information provider influences a position for a search listing in the provider's account by first selecting a search term relevant to the content of the web site or other information source to be listed. The network information provider enters the search term and the description into a search listing. The network information provider influences the position for a search listing through a continuous online competitive bidding process. The bidding process occurs when the network information provider enters a new bid amount, which is preferably a money amount, for a search listing. The system and method of the present invention then compares this bid amount with all other bid amounts for the same search term, and generates a rank value for all search listings having that search term. The rank value generated by the bidding process determines where the network information providers listing will appear on the search results list page that is generated in response to a query of the search term by a searcher located at a client computer on the computer network. A higher bid by a network information provider will result in a higher rank value and a more advantageous placement.

Control for enabling a user to preview display of selected content based on another user's authorization level Invented by Michael La Rotonda, Neal Sample, Paul Brody, Ellen Sue Perelman, Ericson DeJesus Assigned to Yahoo US Patent Application 20060184578 Published August 17, 2006 Filed on December 20, 2005

Abstract

Enabling a first user to preview content as it would be seen by a second user, if the second user had a selected user relationship with the first user. The selected user relationship may comprise a relationship degree, a relationship category, a relationship rating, and/or other form of relationship. In one embodiment, a user interface enables the first user to assign user relationships to portions of content and to other users. The first user selects a user relationship, which is used to access those portions of content that are associated with the first user and assigned the selected user relationship. The corresponding portions of content are used to generate a preview display for the first user, illustrating the portions of content that would be accessible to other users assigned the same user relationship or assigned a closer user relationship. Preview may be generated by a server or a local client.

Control for inviting an unauthenticated user to gain access to display of content that is otherwise accessible with an authentication mechanism Invented by Michael La Rotonda, Neal Sample; ; (Santa Cruz, CA) ; F. Randall Farmer, Paul Brody, and Ellen Sue Perelman Assigned to Yahoo US Patent Application 20060184997 Published August 17, 2006 Filed on December 20, 2005

Abstract

Enabling an unauthenticated user to access content associated with an authenticated user as though the unauthenticated user had a selected user relationship with the authenticated user. The user relationship may comprise a relationship degree, a relationship category, a relationship rating, and/or the like. An invitation to join an electronic service, such as an online social network, is sent to the unauthenticated user at an address known to the authenticated user. The invitation includes a time-limited token, such as a URL, that includes an invitation identifier, which relates the invitation to the authenticated user content. The token may be encrypted in the invitation. The unauthenticated user returns the token as a request to preview the authenticated user content without first becoming an authenticated user of the electronic service. If the token is still valid, access is granted. The unauthenticated user may also request to establish a connection with the authenticated user.

Ask.com

Methods and apparatuses to determine adult images by query association Invented by Kaushal Kurapati and Rahul Lahiri US Patent Application 20060184577 Published August 17, 2006 Filed on May 18, 2005

Abstract

Various methods and apparatuses are described for an adult content detection implementation. In one embodiment, a method detects adult content images by tracked query association to a user's query for an image search. The set of images returned in response to the user's query on a search engine are based on whether one or more images in the set are classified as an adult content image.

Oracle

System and method for search and recommendation based on usage mining Invented by Omar Alonso and Atul Kumar Assigned to Oracle United States Patent 7,092,936 Granted August 15, 2006 Filed on August 22, 2001

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for performing searching that generates improved queries, retrieves meaningful and relevant information, and presents the retrieved information to the user in a useful and comprehensive manner is described. The method of searching comprises the steps of: receiving from a user a search query requesting information, retrieving at least one recommendation relating to the search query, generating an expanded query based on the received query, performing a search using the expanded query to retrieve documents, and generating themes relating to the retrieved documents. The at least one recommendation relating to the search query is retrieved from a recommendation database. The recommendation database is generated by performing the steps of: performing data mining using users search query logs, user search patterns, and user profile information to generate a plurality of recommendations relating to search query strings, generating a data structure including the recommendations relating to search query strings, and generating a text index based on information in the data structure.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 6:29 PM | Permalink

June 29, 2006

Changes for the Yahoo Publisher Network

The Yahoo Publisher Network has made a series of changes to their interface and support documents which seem to be appealing to the new publishers. They have also added a new "RPC" column to reporting, meaning publishers can see their average earning per click.

Lastly, they have increased the payment time from 25 days to 27 days, although it is unclear if it is a permanent change or if it is only to accomodate the weekend.

I also was fortunate to interview Cody Simms, the YPN product manager behind all the updates on my radio show Click This! You can download the MP3 here if you would like to listen Cody detail the changes and the decisions behind making them.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 8:34 PM | Permalink

Changes for the Yahoo Publisher Network

The Yahoo Publisher Network has made a series of changes to their interface and support documents which seem to be appealing to the new publishers. They have also added a new "RPC" column to reporting, meaning publishers can see their average earning per click.

Lastly, they have increased the payment time from 25 days to 27 days, although it is unclear if it is a permanent change or if it is only to accomodate the weekend.

I also was fortunate to interview Cody Simms, the YPN product manager behind all the updates on my radio show Click This! You can download the MP3 here if you would like to listen Cody detail the changes and the decisions behind making them.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:34 PM | Permalink

Changes for the Yahoo Publisher Network

The Yahoo Publisher Network has made a series of changes to their interface and support documents which seem to be appealing to the new publishers. They have also added a new "RPC" column to reporting, meaning publishers can see their average earning per click.

Lastly, they have increased the payment time from 25 days to 27 days, although it is unclear if it is a permanent change or if it is only to accomodate the weekend.

I also was fortunate to interview Cody Simms, the YPN product manager behind all the updates on my radio show Click This! You can download the MP3 here if you would like to listen Cody detail the changes and the decisions behind making them.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:34 PM | Permalink

Changes for the Yahoo Publisher Network

The Yahoo Publisher Network has made a series of changes to their interface and support documents which seem to be appealing to the new publishers. They have also added a new "RPC" column to reporting, meaning publishers can see their average earning per click.

Lastly, they have increased the payment time from 25 days to 27 days, although it is unclear if it is a permanent change or if it is only to accomodate the weekend.

I also was fortunate to interview Cody Simms, the YPN product manager behind all the updates on my radio show Click This! You can download the MP3 here if you would like to listen Cody detail the changes and the decisions behind making them.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 8:34 PM | Permalink

June 15, 2006

New Yahoo Publisher Network Changes Focus on New Publishers

Yahoo Publisher Network released a new version of the control panel today which focuses on helping a new user get the most out of Yahoo, both within and outside the Publisher Network realm. For new publishers many how-tos, help guides and demos were added. But also included is a new Publisher Services tab which promotes other areas of Yahoo.

Included in the new tab are links to things such as Yahoo domains and hosting, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Site Explorer. There are also links to submit podcasts, RSS, videos and images to Yahoo. This new tab definitely pushes some Yahoo products that publishers might not be currently aware of.

All the new changes are now active in all Yahoo Publisher Network accounts.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 4:28 AM | Permalink

New Yahoo Publisher Network Changes Focus on New Publishers

Yahoo Publisher Network released a new version of the control panel today which focuses on helping a new user get the most out of Yahoo, both within and outside the Publisher Network realm. For new publishers many how-tos, help guides and demos were added. But also included is a new Publisher Services tab which promotes other areas of Yahoo.

Included in the new tab are links to things such as Yahoo domains and hosting, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Site Explorer. There are also links to submit podcasts, RSS, videos and images to Yahoo. This new tab definitely pushes some Yahoo products that publishers might not be currently aware of.

All the new changes are now active in all Yahoo Publisher Network accounts.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:28 AM | Permalink

New Yahoo Publisher Network Changes Focus on New Publishers

Yahoo Publisher Network released a new version of the control panel today which focuses on helping a new user get the most out of Yahoo, both within and outside the Publisher Network realm. For new publishers many how-tos, help guides and demos were added. But also included is a new Publisher Services tab which promotes other areas of Yahoo.

Included in the new tab are links to things such as Yahoo domains and hosting, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Site Explorer. There are also links to submit podcasts, RSS, videos and images to Yahoo. This new tab definitely pushes some Yahoo products that publishers might not be currently aware of.

All the new changes are now active in all Yahoo Publisher Network accounts.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:28 AM | Permalink

New Yahoo Publisher Network Changes Focus on New Publishers

Yahoo Publisher Network released a new version of the control panel today which focuses on helping a new user get the most out of Yahoo, both within and outside the Publisher Network realm. For new publishers many how-tos, help guides and demos were added. But also included is a new Publisher Services tab which promotes other areas of Yahoo.

Included in the new tab are links to things such as Yahoo domains and hosting, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Site Explorer. There are also links to submit podcasts, RSS, videos and images to Yahoo. This new tab definitely pushes some Yahoo products that publishers might not be currently aware of.

All the new changes are now active in all Yahoo Publisher Network accounts.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 4:28 AM | Permalink

May 20, 2006

Yahoo Publisher Network Launches Direct Deposit & Tax Withholding

Yahoo! Publisher Network has just launched a few new features for publishers, including the much longed for direct deposit. They have also included an option for publishers to automatically allow YPN to do tax withholding on their earnings. And lastly, they have announced that they will pay publishers on the 25th of the month, which puts them several days ahead of when Google AdSense sends their payments to publishers.

For more details on all the changes, please see YPN launches direct deposit, tax withholding and faster payment turnaround on JenSense.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 2:54 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Publisher Network Launches Direct Deposit & Tax Withholding

Yahoo! Publisher Network has just launched a few new features for publishers, including the much longed for direct deposit. They have also included an option for publishers to automatically allow YPN to do tax withholding on their earnings. And lastly, they have announced that they will pay publishers on the 25th of the month, which puts them several days ahead of when Google AdSense sends their payments to publishers.

For more details on all the changes, please see YPN launches direct deposit, tax withholding and faster payment turnaround on JenSense.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 2:54 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Publisher Network Launches Direct Deposit & Tax Withholding

Yahoo! Publisher Network has just launched a few new features for publishers, including the much longed for direct deposit. They have also included an option for publishers to automatically allow YPN to do tax withholding on their earnings. And lastly, they have announced that they will pay publishers on the 25th of the month, which puts them several days ahead of when Google AdSense sends their payments to publishers.

For more details on all the changes, please see YPN launches direct deposit, tax withholding and faster payment turnaround on JenSense.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 2:54 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Publisher Network Launches Direct Deposit & Tax Withholding

Yahoo! Publisher Network has just launched a few new features for publishers, including the much longed for direct deposit. They have also included an option for publishers to automatically allow YPN to do tax withholding on their earnings. And lastly, they have announced that they will pay publishers on the 25th of the month, which puts them several days ahead of when Google AdSense sends their payments to publishers.

For more details on all the changes, please see YPN launches direct deposit, tax withholding and faster payment turnaround on JenSense.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 2:54 PM | Permalink

May 5, 2006

Yahoo Publisher Network Suspending Accounts for Poor Traffic Quality

It is no surprise that contextual advertising networks want good quality traffic for their advertisers and periodically clean house of publishers generating poor quality traffic. Yahoo Publisher Network has addressed the issue of their recent suspensions of publisher accounts monetizing through MySpace.com and publicly making it known that poor traffic sources will not be tolerated.

For those who follow contextual advertising, YPN's move is not surprising. Google AdSense has been well known for suspending publishers who participate in traffic generation schemes such as traffic exchanges or paid-to-surf programs. But this marks the first time YPN has been active in suspending groups of publishers for a reason other than international clicks.

Their public acknowledgment of the issue also brings it to the attention of those who may be using these traffic generating methods on their sites running YPN and give publishers fair warning to clean up their acts before the next wave of suspensions comes down.

For a more in-depth look at the issue, please see JenSense.

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 10:03 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Publisher Network Suspending Accounts for Poor Traffic Quality

It is no surprise that contextual advertising networks want good quality traffic for their advertisers and periodically clean house of publishers generating poor quality traffic. Yahoo Publisher Network has addressed the issue of their recent suspensions of publisher accounts monetizing through MySpace.com and publicly making it known that poor traffic sources will not be tolerated.

For those who follow contextual advertising, YPN's move is not surprising. Google AdSense has been well known for suspending publishers who participate in traffic generation schemes such as traffic exchanges or paid-to-surf programs. But this marks the first time YPN has been active in suspending groups of publishers for a reason other than international clicks.

Their public acknowledgment of the issue also brings it to the attention of those who may be using these traffic generating methods on their sites running YPN and give publishers fair warning to clean up their acts before the next wave of suspensions comes down.

For a more in-depth look at the issue, please see JenSense.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:03 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Publisher Network Suspending Accounts for Poor Traffic Quality

It is no surprise that contextual advertising networks want good quality traffic for their advertisers and periodically clean house of publishers generating poor quality traffic. Yahoo Publisher Network has addressed the issue of their recent suspensions of publisher accounts monetizing through MySpace.com and publicly making it known that poor traffic sources will not be tolerated.

For those who follow contextual advertising, YPN's move is not surprising. Google AdSense has been well known for suspending publishers who participate in traffic generation schemes such as traffic exchanges or paid-to-surf programs. But this marks the first time YPN has been active in suspending groups of publishers for a reason other than international clicks.

Their public acknowledgment of the issue also brings it to the attention of those who may be using these traffic generating methods on their sites running YPN and give publishers fair warning to clean up their acts before the next wave of suspensions comes down.

For a more in-depth look at the issue, please see JenSense.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:03 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Publisher Network Suspending Accounts for Poor Traffic Quality

It is no surprise that contextual advertising networks want good quality traffic for their advertisers and periodically clean house of publishers generating poor quality traffic. Yahoo Publisher Network has addressed the issue of their recent suspensions of publisher accounts monetizing through MySpace.com and publicly making it known that poor traffic sources will not be tolerated.

For those who follow contextual advertising, YPN's move is not surprising. Google AdSense has been well known for suspending publishers who participate in traffic generation schemes such as traffic exchanges or paid-to-surf programs. But this marks the first time YPN has been active in suspending groups of publishers for a reason other than international clicks.

Their public acknowledgment of the issue also brings it to the attention of those who may be using these traffic generating methods on their sites running YPN and give publishers fair warning to clean up their acts before the next wave of suspensions comes down.

For a more in-depth look at the issue, please see JenSense.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 10:03 AM | Permalink

January 16, 2006

No Page Reload Required: See Sponsored Ads in Various Categories on Yahoo Movies Pages

Is Yahoo testing something new with sponsored links on some pages found on Yahoo Movies?

Allow me to explain.

Sponsored links on Yahoo Movie pages for thousands of films and actors are found at the very bottom of the page in a box labeled "sponsored links." Here's an example using one the page for one of the best (IMHO) films of 2005, Good Night, And Good Luck.

Once at the bottom of the page you should see the ad box.

What's interesting (and possibly new) is that instead of seeing actual ads and links, you should spot links to various ad categories. For example, George Clooney (the director of GNGL, he also acts in it), Satellite television, Movie posters, Movie by mail, etc.

So where are the actual ads?

Click on any ad category and a new box should open below with the actual ads and links. To view ads in a different category, the user can simply select another category and a new box with new ads will immediately appear. In other words, the user can look at a variety of ad categories without having to reload the page. Interesting.

If for some reason you're unable to see these ads, I've posted screen caps here, here, and here.

I'm checking with Yahoo to see if this is something they're just testing or a new feature. Also, will ask if are they're doing this on other Yahoo sites?

Postscript from Danny: See also Interactive & graphical enhanced ad units from Yahoo's ContentMatch at JenSense for similar units elsewhere.

Want to discuss? Here's an SEW Forums thread.

Posted by Gary Price at 2:25 PM | Permalink

No Page Reload Required: See Sponsored Ads in Various Categories on Yahoo Movies Pages

Is Yahoo testing something new with sponsored links on some pages found on Yahoo Movies?

Allow me to explain.

Sponsored links on Yahoo Movie pages for thousands of films and actors are found at the very bottom of the page in a box labeled "sponsored links." Here's an example using one the page for one of the best (IMHO) films of 2005, Good Night, And Good Luck.

Once at the bottom of the page you should see the ad box.

What's interesting (and possibly new) is that instead of seeing actual ads and links, you should spot links to various ad categories. For example, George Clooney (the director of GNGL, he also acts in it), Satellite television, Movie posters, Movie by mail, etc.

So where are the actual ads?

Click on any ad category and a new box should open below with the actual ads and links. To view ads in a different category, the user can simply select another category and a new box with new ads will immediately appear. In other words, the user can look at a variety of ad categories without having to reload the page. Interesting.

If for some reason you're unable to see these ads, I've posted screen caps here, here, and here.

I'm checking with Yahoo to see if this is something they're just testing or a new feature. Also, will ask if are they're doing this on other Yahoo sites?

Postscript from Danny: See also Interactive & graphical enhanced ad units from Yahoo's ContentMatch at JenSense for similar units elsewhere.

Want to discuss? Here's an SEW Forums thread.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 2:25 PM | Permalink

No Page Reload Required: See Sponsored Ads in Various Categories on Yahoo Movies Pages

Is Yahoo testing something new with sponsored links on some pages found on Yahoo Movies?

Allow me to explain.

Sponsored links on Yahoo Movie pages for thousands of films and actors are found at the very bottom of the page in a box labeled "sponsored links." Here's an example using one the page for one of the best (IMHO) films of 2005, Good Night, And Good Luck.

Once at the bottom of the page you should see the ad box.

What's interesting (and possibly new) is that instead of seeing actual ads and links, you should spot links to various ad categories. For example, George Clooney (the director of GNGL, he also acts in it), Satellite television, Movie posters, Movie by mail, etc.

So where are the actual ads?

Click on any ad category and a new box should open below with the actual ads and links. To view ads in a different category, the user can simply select another category and a new box with new ads will immediately appear. In other words, the user can look at a variety of ad categories without having to reload the page. Interesting.

If for some reason you're unable to see these ads, I've posted screen caps here, here, and here.

I'm checking with Yahoo to see if this is something they're just testing or a new feature. Also, will ask if are they're doing this on other Yahoo sites?

Postscript from Danny: See also Interactive & graphical enhanced ad units from Yahoo's ContentMatch at JenSense for similar units elsewhere.

Want to discuss? Here's an SEW Forums thread.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 2:25 PM | Permalink

No Page Reload Required: See Sponsored Ads in Various Categories on Yahoo Movies Pages

Is Yahoo testing something new with sponsored links on some pages found on Yahoo Movies?

Allow me to explain.

Sponsored links on Yahoo Movie pages for thousands of films and actors are found at the very bottom of the page in a box labeled "sponsored links." Here's an example using one the page for one of the best (IMHO) films of 2005, Good Night, And Good Luck.

Once at the bottom of the page you should see the ad box.

What's interesting (and possibly new) is that instead of seeing actual ads and links, you should spot links to various ad categories. For example, George Clooney (the director of GNGL, he also acts in it), Satellite television, Movie posters, Movie by mail, etc.

So where are the actual ads?

Click on any ad category and a new box should open below with the actual ads and links. To view ads in a different category, the user can simply select another category and a new box with new ads will immediately appear. In other words, the user can look at a variety of ad categories without having to reload the page. Interesting.

If for some reason you're unable to see these ads, I've posted screen caps here, here, and here.

I'm checking with Yahoo to see if this is something they're just testing or a new feature. Also, will ask if are they're doing this on other Yahoo sites?

Postscript from Danny: See also Interactive & graphical enhanced ad units from Yahoo's ContentMatch at JenSense for similar units elsewhere.

Want to discuss? Here's an SEW Forums thread.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 2:25 PM | Permalink

January 5, 2006

Search Engines Making Millions Off Type-In Traffic From Domains

Masters of their Domains is a great article from Business 2.0 that WebmasterRadio's Monte Cahn of the Domain Masters show turned me onto before the New Year. It goes into great depth about the sheer amount of money that "type in" traffic is generating for those who own hot domain names. That money is coming from players like Yahoo and Google -- who you might recall got some fire from me for not allowing advertiser to opt-out of domain-generated traffic.

For the record, I do have follow up calls being set up with Yahoo and Google to talk more about that situation, so I'll come back to it in more depth with their views. Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note is my past article on the topic.

Monte sent me the article, but I only finally got to reading it today in the post-holiday digout after Barry pointed out a WebmasterWorld debate spurred by it. Some folks are upset over the sheer amount of money "domainers" are making, especially when it seems some may not be following the various ad program rules and advertisers themselves can't opt out.

AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic is our own, earlier Search Engine Watch Forums thread where people are getting just as heated. It also covers that while officially you can't automatically opt-out of domain-driven traffic if you buy search-targeted traffic, some have managed to gain exceptions.

One of the most gripping aspects of the Business 2.0 story comes at the end:

In the meantime, Google and Yahoo are trying to keep the type-in business coming--and execs from both companies are using the Delray Beach conference to court the folks who control it. As the party at Delux winds down, 14 Yahoo executives pile into a stretch Hummer with a few of the domainers, including Schilling, who has an exclusive contract in which Yahoo serves all the ads for his sites. The limo heads 35 miles south on Interstate 95 to Scarlett's Gentlemen's Club. The men kick back in the VIP section, outfitted with plush booths and red velvet curtains.

When the woman in charge of the area comes by and mentions the cost of the booths, the Yahoo crew gets nervous. And in the end, no one wants to submit the $1,000 tab to the expense department back at headquarters. Finally, Schilling pulls out a roll of cash and pays up. Not a big deal for a guy who owns a share of a jet. But considering that Schilling's traffic generated more than 1 percent of Yahoo's $3.6 billion in revenues last year, you'd think one of those guys could have stood up and taken one for the team.

That all happened at the Traffic domain conference last year, an invite only event. Next one happens at the end of this month in Silicon Valley.

Elsewhere in the story, one Yahoo exec is cited as saying type in traffic may make up 15 percent of search revenue. It's no wonder both Google and Yahoo haven't made it easier for people to opt-out, given the amount of money at stake.

Nevertheless, it's something they should do. It's not that domain traffic is necessarily bad nor that domainers are necessarily doing anything wrong. But there's a difference between the person who did a keyword search as opposed to someone who did a navigational guess (a type in) versus someone who sees ads placed contextually on pages. Advertisers deserve the transparency of doing these as separate buys.

After three years, Google finally got it through their heads that contextual needed to be a different marketplace than search targeted traffic. Actually, I feel like they dragged this out so long precisely because they didn't want to risk losing money that contextual pulls in. Excuses like not wanting to allow site targeting or separate buys made three years ago so as not to "confuse" advertisers always sounded lame.

At least Yahoo understood that contextual needed to be separate from the start, or sort of. That's sort of because what's classed as "search" by Yahoo might not be considered "search" to an advertiser.

In both cases, neither player is putting domain traffic into its own box, and that needs to be done -- so advertisers themselves have a better choice.

I'll leave with something I put in our own forum discussion. A big change that would help is if Google dumped the idea that "AdWords" is a program for buying ads while "AdSense" is a program for carrying ads. It's incredibly confusing.

Consider this. Through AdWords, you want to buy ads that show up in search results. Many think that's what AdWords is. It's not. AdWords just lets you buy AdSense For Search, which also includes AdSense For Domains. Then there's AdSense For Content that you might also purchase through AdWords. All clear? And if you carry AdSense, chances are you really mean you only carry AdSense For Content.

Honestly, let's shift to this:

• AdWords = Ads that show up when someone does a keywords search, currently called AdSense For Search  
• AdSense = Ads placed contextually, currently called AdSense For Content  
• DomainSense or DomainPark = Ads placed on parked domains, currently called AdSense For Domains

Do that, and things are much, much clearer. Want to buy search targeted ads? Buy AdWords. Want to carry those ads? Sign-up to carry AdWords. The same word will mean the same thing to two major parties that are involved. And want to opt out of a particular program? Easily done, or it should be.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Engine Watch Forums thread, AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 11:00 AM | Permalink

Search Engines Making Millions Off Type-In Traffic From Domains

Masters of their Domains is a great article from Business 2.0 that WebmasterRadio's Monte Cahn of the Domain Masters show turned me onto before the New Year. It goes into great depth about the sheer amount of money that "type in" traffic is generating for those who own hot domain names. That money is coming from players like Yahoo and Google -- who you might recall got some fire from me for not allowing advertiser to opt-out of domain-generated traffic.

For the record, I do have follow up calls being set up with Yahoo and Google to talk more about that situation, so I'll come back to it in more depth with their views. Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note is my past article on the topic.

Monte sent me the article, but I only finally got to reading it today in the post-holiday digout after Barry pointed out a WebmasterWorld debate spurred by it. Some folks are upset over the sheer amount of money "domainers" are making, especially when it seems some may not be following the various ad program rules and advertisers themselves can't opt out.

AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic is our own, earlier Search Engine Watch Forums thread where people are getting just as heated. It also covers that while officially you can't automatically opt-out of domain-driven traffic if you buy search-targeted traffic, some have managed to gain exceptions.

One of the most gripping aspects of the Business 2.0 story comes at the end:

In the meantime, Google and Yahoo are trying to keep the type-in business coming--and execs from both companies are using the Delray Beach conference to court the folks who control it. As the party at Delux winds down, 14 Yahoo executives pile into a stretch Hummer with a few of the domainers, including Schilling, who has an exclusive contract in which Yahoo serves all the ads for his sites. The limo heads 35 miles south on Interstate 95 to Scarlett's Gentlemen's Club. The men kick back in the VIP section, outfitted with plush booths and red velvet curtains.

When the woman in charge of the area comes by and mentions the cost of the booths, the Yahoo crew gets nervous. And in the end, no one wants to submit the $1,000 tab to the expense department back at headquarters. Finally, Schilling pulls out a roll of cash and pays up. Not a big deal for a guy who owns a share of a jet. But considering that Schilling's traffic generated more than 1 percent of Yahoo's $3.6 billion in revenues last year, you'd think one of those guys could have stood up and taken one for the team.

That all happened at the Traffic domain conference last year, an invite only event. Next one happens at the end of this month in Silicon Valley.

Elsewhere in the story, one Yahoo exec is cited as saying type in traffic may make up 15 percent of search revenue. It's no wonder both Google and Yahoo haven't made it easier for people to opt-out, given the amount of money at stake.

Nevertheless, it's something they should do. It's not that domain traffic is necessarily bad nor that domainers are necessarily doing anything wrong. But there's a difference between the person who did a keyword search as opposed to someone who did a navigational guess (a type in) versus someone who sees ads placed contextually on pages. Advertisers deserve the transparency of doing these as separate buys.

After three years, Google finally got it through their heads that contextual needed to be a different marketplace than search targeted traffic. Actually, I feel like they dragged this out so long precisely because they didn't want to risk losing money that contextual pulls in. Excuses like not wanting to allow site targeting or separate buys made three years ago so as not to "confuse" advertisers always sounded lame.

At least Yahoo understood that contextual needed to be separate from the start, or sort of. That's sort of because what's classed as "search" by Yahoo might not be considered "search" to an advertiser.

In both cases, neither player is putting domain traffic into its own box, and that needs to be done -- so advertisers themselves have a better choice.

I'll leave with something I put in our own forum discussion. A big change that would help is if Google dumped the idea that "AdWords" is a program for buying ads while "AdSense" is a program for carrying ads. It's incredibly confusing.

Consider this. Through AdWords, you want to buy ads that show up in search results. Many think that's what AdWords is. It's not. AdWords just lets you buy AdSense For Search, which also includes AdSense For Domains. Then there's AdSense For Content that you might also purchase through AdWords. All clear? And if you carry AdSense, chances are you really mean you only carry AdSense For Content.

Honestly, let's shift to this:

• AdWords = Ads that show up when someone does a keywords search, currently called AdSense For Search  
• AdSense = Ads placed contextually, currently called AdSense For Content  
• DomainSense or DomainPark = Ads placed on parked domains, currently called AdSense For Domains

Do that, and things are much, much clearer. Want to buy search targeted ads? Buy AdWords. Want to carry those ads? Sign-up to carry AdWords. The same word will mean the same thing to two major parties that are involved. And want to opt out of a particular program? Easily done, or it should be.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Engine Watch Forums thread, AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:00 AM | Permalink

Search Engines Making Millions Off Type-In Traffic From Domains

Masters of their Domains is a great article from Business 2.0 that WebmasterRadio's Monte Cahn of the Domain Masters show turned me onto before the New Year. It goes into great depth about the sheer amount of money that "type in" traffic is generating for those who own hot domain names. That money is coming from players like Yahoo and Google -- who you might recall got some fire from me for not allowing advertiser to opt-out of domain-generated traffic.

For the record, I do have follow up calls being set up with Yahoo and Google to talk more about that situation, so I'll come back to it in more depth with their views. Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note is my past article on the topic.

Monte sent me the article, but I only finally got to reading it today in the post-holiday digout after Barry pointed out a WebmasterWorld debate spurred by it. Some folks are upset over the sheer amount of money "domainers" are making, especially when it seems some may not be following the various ad program rules and advertisers themselves can't opt out.

AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic is our own, earlier Search Engine Watch Forums thread where people are getting just as heated. It also covers that while officially you can't automatically opt-out of domain-driven traffic if you buy search-targeted traffic, some have managed to gain exceptions.

One of the most gripping aspects of the Business 2.0 story comes at the end:

In the meantime, Google and Yahoo are trying to keep the type-in business coming--and execs from both companies are using the Delray Beach conference to court the folks who control it. As the party at Delux winds down, 14 Yahoo executives pile into a stretch Hummer with a few of the domainers, including Schilling, who has an exclusive contract in which Yahoo serves all the ads for his sites. The limo heads 35 miles south on Interstate 95 to Scarlett's Gentlemen's Club. The men kick back in the VIP section, outfitted with plush booths and red velvet curtains.

When the woman in charge of the area comes by and mentions the cost of the booths, the Yahoo crew gets nervous. And in the end, no one wants to submit the $1,000 tab to the expense department back at headquarters. Finally, Schilling pulls out a roll of cash and pays up. Not a big deal for a guy who owns a share of a jet. But considering that Schilling's traffic generated more than 1 percent of Yahoo's $3.6 billion in revenues last year, you'd think one of those guys could have stood up and taken one for the team.

That all happened at the Traffic domain conference last year, an invite only event. Next one happens at the end of this month in Silicon Valley.

Elsewhere in the story, one Yahoo exec is cited as saying type in traffic may make up 15 percent of search revenue. It's no wonder both Google and Yahoo haven't made it easier for people to opt-out, given the amount of money at stake.

Nevertheless, it's something they should do. It's not that domain traffic is necessarily bad nor that domainers are necessarily doing anything wrong. But there's a difference between the person who did a keyword search as opposed to someone who did a navigational guess (a type in) versus someone who sees ads placed contextually on pages. Advertisers deserve the transparency of doing these as separate buys.

After three years, Google finally got it through their heads that contextual needed to be a different marketplace than search targeted traffic. Actually, I feel like they dragged this out so long precisely because they didn't want to risk losing money that contextual pulls in. Excuses like not wanting to allow site targeting or separate buys made three years ago so as not to "confuse" advertisers always sounded lame.

At least Yahoo understood that contextual needed to be separate from the start, or sort of. That's sort of because what's classed as "search" by Yahoo might not be considered "search" to an advertiser.

In both cases, neither player is putting domain traffic into its own box, and that needs to be done -- so advertisers themselves have a better choice.

I'll leave with something I put in our own forum discussion. A big change that would help is if Google dumped the idea that "AdWords" is a program for buying ads while "AdSense" is a program for carrying ads. It's incredibly confusing.

Consider this. Through AdWords, you want to buy ads that show up in search results. Many think that's what AdWords is. It's not. AdWords just lets you buy AdSense For Search, which also includes AdSense For Domains. Then there's AdSense For Content that you might also purchase through AdWords. All clear? And if you carry AdSense, chances are you really mean you only carry AdSense For Content.

Honestly, let's shift to this:

• AdWords = Ads that show up when someone does a keywords search, currently called AdSense For Search  
• AdSense = Ads placed contextually, currently called AdSense For Content  
• DomainSense or DomainPark = Ads placed on parked domains, currently called AdSense For Domains

Do that, and things are much, much clearer. Want to buy search targeted ads? Buy AdWords. Want to carry those ads? Sign-up to carry AdWords. The same word will mean the same thing to two major parties that are involved. And want to opt out of a particular program? Easily done, or it should be.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Engine Watch Forums thread, AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:00 AM | Permalink

Search Engines Making Millions Off Type-In Traffic From Domains

Masters of their Domains is a great article from Business 2.0 that WebmasterRadio's Monte Cahn of the Domain Masters show turned me onto before the New Year. It goes into great depth about the sheer amount of money that "type in" traffic is generating for those who own hot domain names. That money is coming from players like Yahoo and Google -- who you might recall got some fire from me for not allowing advertiser to opt-out of domain-generated traffic.

For the record, I do have follow up calls being set up with Yahoo and Google to talk more about that situation, so I'll come back to it in more depth with their views. Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note is my past article on the topic.

Monte sent me the article, but I only finally got to reading it today in the post-holiday digout after Barry pointed out a WebmasterWorld debate spurred by it. Some folks are upset over the sheer amount of money "domainers" are making, especially when it seems some may not be following the various ad program rules and advertisers themselves can't opt out.

AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic is our own, earlier Search Engine Watch Forums thread where people are getting just as heated. It also covers that while officially you can't automatically opt-out of domain-driven traffic if you buy search-targeted traffic, some have managed to gain exceptions.

One of the most gripping aspects of the Business 2.0 story comes at the end:

In the meantime, Google and Yahoo are trying to keep the type-in business coming--and execs from both companies are using the Delray Beach conference to court the folks who control it. As the party at Delux winds down, 14 Yahoo executives pile into a stretch Hummer with a few of the domainers, including Schilling, who has an exclusive contract in which Yahoo serves all the ads for his sites. The limo heads 35 miles south on Interstate 95 to Scarlett's Gentlemen's Club. The men kick back in the VIP section, outfitted with plush booths and red velvet curtains.

When the woman in charge of the area comes by and mentions the cost of the booths, the Yahoo crew gets nervous. And in the end, no one wants to submit the $1,000 tab to the expense department back at headquarters. Finally, Schilling pulls out a roll of cash and pays up. Not a big deal for a guy who owns a share of a jet. But considering that Schilling's traffic generated more than 1 percent of Yahoo's $3.6 billion in revenues last year, you'd think one of those guys could have stood up and taken one for the team.

That all happened at the Traffic domain conference last year, an invite only event. Next one happens at the end of this month in Silicon Valley.

Elsewhere in the story, one Yahoo exec is cited as saying type in traffic may make up 15 percent of search revenue. It's no wonder both Google and Yahoo haven't made it easier for people to opt-out, given the amount of money at stake.

Nevertheless, it's something they should do. It's not that domain traffic is necessarily bad nor that domainers are necessarily doing anything wrong. But there's a difference between the person who did a keyword search as opposed to someone who did a navigational guess (a type in) versus someone who sees ads placed contextually on pages. Advertisers deserve the transparency of doing these as separate buys.

After three years, Google finally got it through their heads that contextual needed to be a different marketplace than search targeted traffic. Actually, I feel like they dragged this out so long precisely because they didn't want to risk losing money that contextual pulls in. Excuses like not wanting to allow site targeting or separate buys made three years ago so as not to "confuse" advertisers always sounded lame.

At least Yahoo understood that contextual needed to be separate from the start, or sort of. That's sort of because what's classed as "search" by Yahoo might not be considered "search" to an advertiser.

In both cases, neither player is putting domain traffic into its own box, and that needs to be done -- so advertisers themselves have a better choice.

I'll leave with something I put in our own forum discussion. A big change that would help is if Google dumped the idea that "AdWords" is a program for buying ads while "AdSense" is a program for carrying ads. It's incredibly confusing.

Consider this. Through AdWords, you want to buy ads that show up in search results. Many think that's what AdWords is. It's not. AdWords just lets you buy AdSense For Search, which also includes AdSense For Domains. Then there's AdSense For Content that you might also purchase through AdWords. All clear? And if you carry AdSense, chances are you really mean you only carry AdSense For Content.

Honestly, let's shift to this:

• AdWords = Ads that show up when someone does a keywords search, currently called AdSense For Search  
• AdSense = Ads placed contextually, currently called AdSense For Content  
• DomainSense or DomainPark = Ads placed on parked domains, currently called AdSense For Domains

Do that, and things are much, much clearer. Want to buy search targeted ads? Buy AdWords. Want to carry those ads? Sign-up to carry AdWords. The same word will mean the same thing to two major parties that are involved. And want to opt out of a particular program? Easily done, or it should be.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Engine Watch Forums thread, AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:00 AM | Permalink

December 20, 2005

Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note

MS Research: Typo-Squatters Are Gaming Google from eWeek covers Microsoft researchers discovering Google's long-standing DomainPark program (AKA AdSense For Domains), where if you have a popular domain name with lots of traffic but no content, Google will kindly hand you some AdSense ads to turn it into an earner. While it is long-standing, I'd say it's also generally little known and definitely upsetting to people who come across it for various reasons.

In Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note for Search Engine Watch members, I do a detailed look at the history of Google's program plus issues it and Yahoo's similar program raise for the search industry in general. Below is a summary for everyone.

• Google Buys Applied Semantics from Search Engine Watch covers how Google inherited the lucrative DomainPark program when it purchased Applied Semantics back in 2003. Google later changed the name of DomainPark to Google AdSense For Domains.  
• Tapping into typo traffic was happening even back then. The IRS.org site (as opposed to IRS.govo) I wrote about as an example in 2003 still runs with paid links today.  
• Complaint On Yahoo PPC On Placeholder Sites and NonConverting Traffic Coming From Google's DomainPark Program are forum threads that show how advertisers question how relevant traffic can be from sites that someone never intended to go to in the first place.  
• Far from being gamed, as the eWeek article suggests, anyone in the Google domain program should have been reviewed or approved by Google itself.  
• Antivirus vendor F-Secure gives a good example on its blog today of how typo traffic helps tap into those probably trying to reach F-Secure. It goes further and shows how this also costs F-Secure money in that Google puts F-Secure's own ads on the typo site.  
• Advertisers who opt out of contextual are NOT opted out of Google AdSense For Domains, as Strange Log Referrer - Advice Please? explains.  
• From first hand experience, Google doesn't seem to worry that typo domains violates its own rules against trademark violations, since when I queried why serachenginewatch .com, a misspelling of our own searchenginewatch.com domain, was allowed to carry ads, Google flagged no issues with it.  
• Google's in the mixed message situation of saying that contextual ads can't be on parked domains yet completely allowing the minute someone's accepted into the domain program.

Overall, I don't have an issue with non-typo domains being in these type of programs, since it's hard to say they really harm another site or the surfer coming to them.

In contrast, for the person who is running a misspelling of our searchenginewatch.com site -- or the same for the person doing the misspelling of the F-Secure site, there's little doubt they're hoping to benefit off the brand traffic these two sites have helped.

Navigation is a big part of search, and you'd think the search engines would want to ensure people were navigating to the right site. Instead, Google and Yahoo both seem happy to benefit by making money off these misspellings. That should change. Forget whether there's a trademark violation. Just outright ban the use of domains where it's obvious the site owner is hoping to tap into typo traffic.

At the very least, Google should make AdSense For Domains a program that really is independent of AdSense For Search and allow people to opt-out. It certainly should be pondering the mixed message of telling AdSense For Content people that they can't put ads on parked domains on the one hand yet running a massive program that does exactly that on the other.

And lest the Microsoft researchers feel to happy, they'd better understand that Microsoft fully intends to have its own contextual program in the future. That program almost certainly will face a decision on whether to provide paid links to parked domains. If Microsoft's not careful, its own researchers might end up reporting on typo domains that make Microsoft money.

FYI, I am following up with Google and Yahoo on the issues raised in the story and will post a follow up article in the near future.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our SEW Forums thread, AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:35 PM | Permalink

Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note

MS Research: Typo-Squatters Are Gaming Google from eWeek covers Microsoft researchers discovering Google's long-standing DomainPark program (AKA AdSense For Domains), where if you have a popular domain name with lots of traffic but no content, Google will kindly hand you some AdSense ads to turn it into an earner. While it is long-standing, I'd say it's also generally little known and definitely upsetting to people who come across it for various reasons.

In Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note for Search Engine Watch members, I do a detailed look at the history of Google's program plus issues it and Yahoo's similar program raise for the search industry in general. Below is a summary for everyone.

• Google Buys Applied Semantics from Search Engine Watch covers how Google inherited the lucrative DomainPark program when it purchased Applied Semantics back in 2003. Google later changed the name of DomainPark to Google AdSense For Domains.  
• Tapping into typo traffic was happening even back then. The IRS.org site (as opposed to IRS.govo) I wrote about as an example in 2003 still runs with paid links today.  
• Complaint On Yahoo PPC On Placeholder Sites and NonConverting Traffic Coming From Google's DomainPark Program are forum threads that show how advertisers question how relevant traffic can be from sites that someone never intended to go to in the first place.  
• Far from being gamed, as the eWeek article suggests, anyone in the Google domain program should have been reviewed or approved by Google itself.  
• Antivirus vendor F-Secure gives a good example on its blog today of how typo traffic helps tap into those probably trying to reach F-Secure. It goes further and shows how this also costs F-Secure money in that Google puts F-Secure's own ads on the typo site.  
• Advertisers who opt out of contextual are NOT opted out of Google AdSense For Domains, as Strange Log Referrer - Advice Please? explains.  
• From first hand experience, Google doesn't seem to worry that typo domains violates its own rules against trademark violations, since when I queried why serachenginewatch .com, a misspelling of our own searchenginewatch.com domain, was allowed to carry ads, Google flagged no issues with it.  
• Google's in the mixed message situation of saying that contextual ads can't be on parked domains yet completely allowing the minute someone's accepted into the domain program.

Overall, I don't have an issue with non-typo domains being in these type of programs, since it's hard to say they really harm another site or the surfer coming to them.

In contrast, for the person who is running a misspelling of our searchenginewatch.com site -- or the same for the person doing the misspelling of the F-Secure site, there's little doubt they're hoping to benefit off the brand traffic these two sites have helped.

Navigation is a big part of search, and you'd think the search engines would want to ensure people were navigating to the right site. Instead, Google and Yahoo both seem happy to benefit by making money off these misspellings. That should change. Forget whether there's a trademark violation. Just outright ban the use of domains where it's obvious the site owner is hoping to tap into typo traffic.

At the very least, Google should make AdSense For Domains a program that really is independent of AdSense For Search and allow people to opt-out. It certainly should be pondering the mixed message of telling AdSense For Content people that they can't put ads on parked domains on the one hand yet running a massive program that does exactly that on the other.

And lest the Microsoft researchers feel to happy, they'd better understand that Microsoft fully intends to have its own contextual program in the future. That program almost certainly will face a decision on whether to provide paid links to parked domains. If Microsoft's not careful, its own researchers might end up reporting on typo domains that make Microsoft money.

FYI, I am following up with Google and Yahoo on the issues raised in the story and will post a follow up article in the near future.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our SEW Forums thread, AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:35 PM | Permalink

Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note

MS Research: Typo-Squatters Are Gaming Google from eWeek covers Microsoft researchers discovering Google's long-standing DomainPark program (AKA AdSense For Domains), where if you have a popular domain name with lots of traffic but no content, Google will kindly hand you some AdSense ads to turn it into an earner. While it is long-standing, I'd say it's also generally little known and definitely upsetting to people who come across it for various reasons.

In Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note for Search Engine Watch members, I do a detailed look at the history of Google's program plus issues it and Yahoo's similar program raise for the search industry in general. Below is a summary for everyone.

• Google Buys Applied Semantics from Search Engine Watch covers how Google inherited the lucrative DomainPark program when it purchased Applied Semantics back in 2003. Google later changed the name of DomainPark to Google AdSense For Domains.  
• Tapping into typo traffic was happening even back then. The IRS.org site (as opposed to IRS.govo) I wrote about as an example in 2003 still runs with paid links today.  
• Complaint On Yahoo PPC On Placeholder Sites and NonConverting Traffic Coming From Google's DomainPark Program are forum threads that show how advertisers question how relevant traffic can be from sites that someone never intended to go to in the first place.  
• Far from being gamed, as the eWeek article suggests, anyone in the Google domain program should have been reviewed or approved by Google itself.  
• Antivirus vendor F-Secure gives a good example on its blog today of how typo traffic helps tap into those probably trying to reach F-Secure. It goes further and shows how this also costs F-Secure money in that Google puts F-Secure's own ads on the typo site.  
• Advertisers who opt out of contextual are NOT opted out of Google AdSense For Domains, as Strange Log Referrer - Advice Please? explains.  
• From first hand experience, Google doesn't seem to worry that typo domains violates its own rules against trademark violations, since when I queried why serachenginewatch .com, a misspelling of our own searchenginewatch.com domain, was allowed to carry ads, Google flagged no issues with it.  
• Google's in the mixed message situation of saying that contextual ads can't be on parked domains yet completely allowing the minute someone's accepted into the domain program.

Overall, I don't have an issue with non-typo domains being in these type of programs, since it's hard to say they really harm another site or the surfer coming to them.

In contrast, for the person who is running a misspelling of our searchenginewatch.com site -- or the same for the person doing the misspelling of the F-Secure site, there's little doubt they're hoping to benefit off the brand traffic these two sites have helped.

Navigation is a big part of search, and you'd think the search engines would want to ensure people were navigating to the right site. Instead, Google and Yahoo both seem happy to benefit by making money off these misspellings. That should change. Forget whether there's a trademark violation. Just outright ban the use of domains where it's obvious the site owner is hoping to tap into typo traffic.

At the very least, Google should make AdSense For Domains a program that really is independent of AdSense For Search and allow people to opt-out. It certainly should be pondering the mixed message of telling AdSense For Content people that they can't put ads on parked domains on the one hand yet running a massive program that does exactly that on the other.

And lest the Microsoft researchers feel to happy, they'd better understand that Microsoft fully intends to have its own contextual program in the future. That program almost certainly will face a decision on whether to provide paid links to parked domains. If Microsoft's not careful, its own researchers might end up reporting on typo domains that make Microsoft money.

FYI, I am following up with Google and Yahoo on the issues raised in the story and will post a follow up article in the near future.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our SEW Forums thread, AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:35 PM | Permalink

Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note

MS Research: Typo-Squatters Are Gaming Google from eWeek covers Microsoft researchers discovering Google's long-standing DomainPark program (AKA AdSense For Domains), where if you have a popular domain name with lots of traffic but no content, Google will kindly hand you some AdSense ads to turn it into an earner. While it is long-standing, I'd say it's also generally little known and definitely upsetting to people who come across it for various reasons.

In Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform -- And Yahoo & Microsoft Should Also Take Note for Search Engine Watch members, I do a detailed look at the history of Google's program plus issues it and Yahoo's similar program raise for the search industry in general. Below is a summary for everyone.

• Google Buys Applied Semantics from Search Engine Watch covers how Google inherited the lucrative DomainPark program when it purchased Applied Semantics back in 2003. Google later changed the name of DomainPark to Google AdSense For Domains.  
• Tapping into typo traffic was happening even back then. The IRS.org site (as opposed to IRS.govo) I wrote about as an example in 2003 still runs with paid links today.  
• Complaint On Yahoo PPC On Placeholder Sites and NonConverting Traffic Coming From Google's DomainPark Program are forum threads that show how advertisers question how relevant traffic can be from sites that someone never intended to go to in the first place.  
• Far from being gamed, as the eWeek article suggests, anyone in the Google domain program should have been reviewed or approved by Google itself.  
• Antivirus vendor F-Secure gives a good example on its blog today of how typo traffic helps tap into those probably trying to reach F-Secure. It goes further and shows how this also costs F-Secure money in that Google puts F-Secure's own ads on the typo site.  
• Advertisers who opt out of contextual are NOT opted out of Google AdSense For Domains, as Strange Log Referrer - Advice Please? explains.  
• From first hand experience, Google doesn't seem to worry that typo domains violates its own rules against trademark violations, since when I queried why serachenginewatch .com, a misspelling of our own searchenginewatch.com domain, was allowed to carry ads, Google flagged no issues with it.  
• Google's in the mixed message situation of saying that contextual ads can't be on parked domains yet completely allowing the minute someone's accepted into the domain program.

Overall, I don't have an issue with non-typo domains being in these type of programs, since it's hard to say they really harm another site or the surfer coming to them.

In contrast, for the person who is running a misspelling of our searchenginewatch.com site -- or the same for the person doing the misspelling of the F-Secure site, there's little doubt they're hoping to benefit off the brand traffic these two sites have helped.

Navigation is a big part of search, and you'd think the search engines would want to ensure people were navigating to the right site. Instead, Google and Yahoo both seem happy to benefit by making money off these misspellings. That should change. Forget whether there's a trademark violation. Just outright ban the use of domains where it's obvious the site owner is hoping to tap into typo traffic.

At the very least, Google should make AdSense For Domains a program that really is independent of AdSense For Search and allow people to opt-out. It certainly should be pondering the mixed message of telling AdSense For Content people that they can't put ads on parked domains on the one hand yet running a massive program that does exactly that on the other.

And lest the Microsoft researchers feel to happy, they'd better understand that Microsoft fully intends to have its own contextual program in the future. That program almost certainly will face a decision on whether to provide paid links to parked domains. If Microsoft's not careful, its own researchers might end up reporting on typo domains that make Microsoft money.

FYI, I am following up with Google and Yahoo on the issues raised in the story and will post a follow up article in the near future.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our SEW Forums thread, AdSense For Domains Garbage Traffic.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 3:35 PM | Permalink

August 23, 2005

Yahoo and Viacom Announce Search Advertising Deal

Yahoo and media conglomerate, Viacom, announced today that Yahoo will provide paid search advertising and other services to Viacom's web properties including CBSNews.com, BET.com and MTV.com. Financial terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed. More in the Reuters article: Viacom, Yahoo sign ad, Web search deal. The Yahoo/Viacom deal follows recent moves at iVillage and WashingtonPost.com to switch paid listing providers from Google to Yahoo.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:56 PM | Permalink

Yahoo and Viacom Announce Search Advertising Deal

Yahoo and media conglomerate, Viacom, announced today that Yahoo will provide paid search advertising and other services to Viacom's web properties including CBSNews.com, BET.com and MTV.com. Financial terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed. More in the Reuters article: Viacom, Yahoo sign ad, Web search deal. The Yahoo/Viacom deal follows recent moves at iVillage and WashingtonPost.com to switch paid listing providers from Google to Yahoo.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:56 PM | Permalink

Yahoo and Viacom Announce Search Advertising Deal

Yahoo and media conglomerate, Viacom, announced today that Yahoo will provide paid search advertising and other services to Viacom's web properties including CBSNews.com, BET.com and MTV.com. Financial terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed. More in the Reuters article: Viacom, Yahoo sign ad, Web search deal. The Yahoo/Viacom deal follows recent moves at iVillage and WashingtonPost.com to switch paid listing providers from Google to Yahoo.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:56 PM | Permalink

Yahoo and Viacom Announce Search Advertising Deal

Yahoo and media conglomerate, Viacom, announced today that Yahoo will provide paid search advertising and other services to Viacom's web properties including CBSNews.com, BET.com and MTV.com. Financial terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed. More in the Reuters article: Viacom, Yahoo sign ad, Web search deal. The Yahoo/Viacom deal follows recent moves at iVillage and WashingtonPost.com to switch paid listing providers from Google to Yahoo.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:56 PM | Permalink

August 9, 2005

Yahoo Prepares LinkSpots Launch; Google May Expand AdSense Site Exclusions & Testing More "Signals" From Advertisers

DMNews.com has two stories each with comments from Google and Yahoo about new contextual ad services either coming soon or in testing.

Article 1: Search Engines Target Contextual Ads

Key Passages: Yahoo Yahoo soon will roll out LinkSpots, which it began testing in 2003, to provide more relevant ads or links next to content on parts of its site. For example, Yahoo users who receive their daily horoscope might see an ad for a related service, such as Personal ads. Google ...Google may expand its site exclusion program in the future to let advertisers better target contextual ads. "Site exclusion today is limited at 25 sites. There are many more ways to offer more controls in the future," said Brian Axe, senior product manager at Google.

Article 2: Google Tests New AdSense, AdWords Formats AdSense is testing a program with a few publishers, letting them send more "signals" about their Web site, to better tailor ads. Though AdSense already uses signals based on the content of Web sites, such as headlines and font sizes, to generate ads, this would let advertisers tailor ads based on their users' demographics and other signals, which are yet to be determined.

Posted by Gary Price at 7:16 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Prepares LinkSpots Launch; Google May Expand AdSense Site Exclusions & Testing More "Signals" From Advertisers

DMNews.com has two stories each with comments from Google and Yahoo about new contextual ad services either coming soon or in testing.

Article 1: Search Engines Target Contextual Ads

Key Passages: Yahoo Yahoo soon will roll out LinkSpots, which it began testing in 2003, to provide more relevant ads or links next to content on parts of its site. For example, Yahoo users who