May 20, 2008

Yahoo Makes Minor Updates to Sponsored Search

In the midst of a proxy board fight, new negotiations with Microsoft, and a possible deal with Google, Yahoo has made updates to its sponsored search listings. In an announcement on the Yahoo! Search Marketing blog, Jeff Hecox said the changes wouldn't make "worldwide headlines" but they designed the changes to be more intuitive to users.

Here's what to expect:

• Names of objects (campaign, ad group, keyword, etc.) that are offline will be displayed with red text for easy recognition. • "Top Campaigns” and “Watched Campaigns” tables on the Dashboard page now include a “Status” column to help you identify if and why any campaigns are offline. • On the “Campaigns” page, there's a new “Status” column, the ability to filter by “Status” when using the Advanced Search function, and the “Campaign On/Off” button have been replaced with individual “Pause” and “Unpause” buttons. • On the Ads table On Ad Group pages, a “Status” column has been added and “Pause” and “Unpause” buttons have replaced “Campaign On/Off” button on the Ads table. • New status settings have been added on the Search page, under the Campaigns tab. • The ability to export (using the “Download” button) account information has been added to account-level Ad Group and Keyword pages, under the Campaigns tab.

What do you think about the updates to Yahoo's Sponsored Search? Leave a comment!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 16, 2008

Yahoo's Search Syndicate Gets Harsh Review By SEOBook

Aaron Wall has written a thorough and unflattering overview of Yahoo search traffic following the release of search numbers that show Yahoo gets well over half its search volume from its partners.

Aaron discusses how this impacts arbitrage and motivates poor quality. Though possibly just a little harsh, it is worth reading and keeping in mind.

Recent numbers from Efficient Frontier show that Yahoo has nearly three times more search partners than Google - funny given Google has over three times more search volume. And as Aaron notes direct search converts "nearly twice" more than partner search traffic.

Not good numbers moving forward in a battle for the search industry. But I always managed to convert Yahoo traffic at a better CPA than Google in the financial vertical. So maybe there are niches where Yahoo benefits from its partners.... will have to keep track of this one.

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

May 14, 2008

SEW Experts: Google's Superiority Complex

In the end, is Google's search advertising system better than Yahoo's, or are they just monetizing better? In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Google's Superiority Complex," Kevin Ryan says it sounds like a little bit of both, but we shouldn't count Yahoo out.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 23, 2008

New Yahoo Feature Reports Number of Discarded Clicks

Yahoo has been throwing out bad clicks on search ad campaigns, but now a new feature will give further insight into those clicks. The new “Click Filter Report” will show how many bad clicks Yahoo is discarding.

Users can customize the report to display the data across various metrics including time, impressions, invalid clicks and average cost-per-click. Additionally, data can be viewed across an entire account or by individual campaign.

Using the report in conjunction with third-party analytics (or the forthcoming IndexTools?) will help you should you need to submit a “click investigation report.”

To access the report, click on the “Reports” tab, then go to “Traffic Quality Reports” and select “Click Filter.”

Yahoo says it typically discards 12-15% of all clicks, but advises that the mileage may vary from one ad campaign to another.

Related Reading: Google, Yahoo Launch Click Fraud Resource Centers Yahoo Gives More Details To Panama Changes

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:38 AM | Permalink

April 18, 2008

Yahoo Implements Minimum Bid Price Change

In February, Yahoo announced that minimum bids for Sponsored Search will no longer be fixed at $.10. And yesterday, they announced that the change has taken effect.

Buyers may find that new minimum bids may be set lower or higher than $.10 for Sponsored Search ads. However, Content Match minimum bids will stay fixed at $.10.

Comparing the new minimum bids to auction house reserve prices, Yahoo said that two main factors will drive the price – quality and value. High quality ads could be rewarded with lower minimum bids, while value will be determined by how many advertisers are bidding on a particular keyword and how much they’re willing to pay for it.

Ads become eligible for display when a buyer’s bid is equal to or greater to the minimum bid. Users will be notified through their Account Dashboard if the minimum bid goes above their current bid. A grace period of several days will be given to raise bids.

The implementation came in the wake of news that Yahoo’s testing of Google ads was successful. Yahoo releases first quarter revenues next Tuesday.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:48 AM | Permalink

April 17, 2008

Yahoo’s Test of Google Ads is Successful, Partnership Progresses

Yahoo’s two week test of Google’s search advertising has proved successful, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter.” As a result, a partnership between the two search engines is increasingly likely.

Earlier this week, SearchIgnite released data that Yahoo made gains on Google in the search advertising game. But Yahoo has a long way to go in making significant strides in the search ad game, and they have more immediate issues at hand, namely Microsoft’s unsolicited bid to acquire the company.

A partnership with Google appears to be one of many moves in what appears to be an attempt by Yahoo to fend off Microsoft in its unsolicited bid for the company or to raise the offer. Previously, Yahoo released positive revenue projections for the next three years, talked with AOL about a merger, and teamed up with Google to form the OpenSocial Foundation.

For its part, Microsoft began to grow tired waiting, and issued Yahoo an April 26th ultimatum, despite receiving a “no” from Yahoo shortly after the bid was made. And Microsoft may be feeling the pressure, as it has reportedly been talking to News Corp. about assisting in the hostile takeover.

Yahoo releases its first quarter earnings next Tuesday, April 22 at 2pm EST. Google releases its first quarter earnings today at 4:30pm EST.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:47 AM | Permalink

February 28, 2008

Yahoo Changes Minimum Bid Policy on Search Ads

Yahoo this week changed the way it will set minimum bids on some keywords in Sponsored Search ads in the U.S., bringing it closer in line with Google's policy. Instead of setting all minimum bids at $0.10, Yahoo will now allow the market to set a variable minimum bid. That means that in some cases, the minimum will be above $0.10, and in other cases it could be lower.

The minimum bids will be set based on the relevance of ads to a keyword, the number of bidders and their bid amounts. It will not be based on advertiser conversions. These kinds of factors are already used by Yahoo to rank ads based on a quality score, but the difference now applies to the minimum bid, or reserve price.

Google changed its minimum bid structure in July 2005. Many advertisers were not happy with the move at the time, but so far there does not seem to be much outcry in blogs or search marketing forums.

A key difference between Yahoo's new method and Google's is the institution of alerts and a grace period when the bid on a given keyword is about to fall below the minimum. Yahoo will notify advertisers in their Account Dashboard if a bid is about to drop below the minimum, and will offer a grace period of up to a few days to allow the advertiser to raise their bid to keep the keyword active.

The first batch of keywords goes live in the U.S. with the new reserve pricing model over the next few weeks, with more keywords to be added internationally in the future.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:36 AM | Permalink

February 7, 2008

SEW Experts: Why Search is Still Prehistoric - Part 2

Many search marketers were disappointed with the Yahoo Panama release, finding it to be more of a catch-up to Google than a leap forward. In today's Brand Equity column, "Why Search is Still Prehistoric - Part 2," Eric Qualman explains that the cause of that disappointment may result from Yahoo trying to please advertisers, instead of searchers, with Panama.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

November 29, 2007

Yahoo Fine Tuning Panama Tools, Launches Campaign Tune Up and More

Yahoo has announced some tweaks to the Panama paid search product including campaign tune up tools.

The Yahoo Search Marketing blog reported the changes today.

The blog stated:

Campaign Tune-Up Kind of like installing a nitro booster, we’ve revved up your account with a new tool called Campaign Tune-up. Campaign Tune-Up can help you optimize your Sponsored Search campaigns if you’re not running Campaign Optimizer. It automatically analyzes a campaign’s performance history, budget and business objectives, such as cost per click or conversions, and offers suggestions for bids, match types and budgets. You can either accept or reject the suggestions, but fine-tuning your bids could help your campaign run a lot better.

From your Campaign Details page, you’ll see a new link, “Tune-up Campaign.” Clicking the link starts the tuning. You can then set the business measurements that matter to you for tuning your campaign and will be walked through the rest of the process.

Sticky Widget For our next tweak, we updated the system so that more of your preferences are remembered. As a result, viewing your account the way you want is easier and requires fewer clicks. These “sticky” preferences are also remembered each time your log into your account. This tweak affects the column-sorting on your Campaign Summary and Campaign Detail pages and your Ad Group Detail page.

Let's see how they work... any reviews can be posted here.

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:18 PM | Permalink

November 12, 2007

Yahoo Announces Change To Shorter Descriptions

I received two emails this morning both stating the same thing (slightly different subject lines) - Yahoo will be cutting off ads at 75 characters. They had started this shortened descriptions some time ago but let you enter longer descriptions and they would only show the first 75 characters.

Seems now you will not have the option - all ads will use the 75 character limit.

"Beginning in late November 2007, if you have created short descriptions for your ads, those short descriptions will automatically be displayed on Yahoo! Search results (currently the short description will not always be displayed) but if you have not created a short description for a particular ad, the long description will be automatically cut off to fit within a 75 character limit," the emails stated.

Why are we making this change? - email asked "We are implementing these changes to streamline the search results displayed on Yahoo!, making it easier for users to read and absorb your ad messages. Our research has shown that by improving the search experience in this way, advertisers may see an increase in clicks, while maintaining their conversion rates" the announcement explained.

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:01 PM | Permalink

November 9, 2007

Yahoo Shares Hints on Improving Quality Index

Yahoo search ads have been ranked using a quality index since the launch of Panama. This number is important, because ads with a higher quality index can receive higher ranking in sponsored search results. Advertisers can see what their ad's quality index is, on a scale of one to five, within their account interface. But knowing how to improve that index is another matter.

Yahoo offers some tips to understand and improve your quality index in the Yahoo Search Marketing blog. Your ad’s quality index reflects its ability to meet the needs and desires of users – that is, how well it helps them find what they want, quickly and accurately. If your ads don’t meet the needs of users, users are less likely to click them. Fewer clicks means fewer customers and conversions.

When this happens, nobody wins: not you, not us and not the user. High-quality ads, by contrast, can help create winners out of all of us. The quality index was set up to encourage advertisers to better meet the needs of users – who are, after all, the reason we are both here.

Tactics to improve quality index include using relevant keywords within an ad group, including keywords in creative, utilizing excluded keywords, and using ad testing. Yahoo also suggests gathering intelligence about competitors' ads, and including special offers in your ad copy.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:49 AM | Permalink

October 9, 2007

Yahoo Panama Morphing Into Google

Yahoo announced today that it is changing to the max bid and quality score method of bid pricing in Sweden - interesting place to beta.

Okay Yahoo is starting to look a lot like Google's little brother. Google makes changes and within a month or two Yahoo does the same thing. Easy really when you know Yahoo is using the same platform as Google.... Panama is a Yahoo tweak of the Google AdWords platform.

I asked this question when Yahoo adopted the Google 'black box' method - how much of the money Google paid to Overture for using their PPC concepts did Yahoo give back?

I was told it was all worked out when they first made the settlement arrangement. Guess 'The Blob' as Yahoo called the Overture platform was just too much for them to fix.

The announcement today came in the following email:

Bid Amount and Ad Quality will Determine an Ad's Rank in Search Results in Sweden the week commencing October 22nd, 2007.

Dear Advertiser,

With new features like ad testing, geo-targeting and fast ad activation, the new Sponsored Search gives you more ways to connect with customers searching for what you sell.

During the week commencing October 22nd, 2007, we are introducing a new ranking model in Sweden that considers an ad's quality and bid amount. The new model is designed to help you spend less time in bidding wars with other advertisers and more time creating the most relevant, effective ads, which can help drive better results for your business.

Here's a quick summary of this important change:

Both bid amount and ad quality will determine an ad's rank in search results the week commencing October 22nd, 2007. This will replace the current method, in which ads are ranked by bid amount only (bid-to-position). This is designed to allow you to focus less on competitive bidding practices and more on the quality of your ads. By improving the quality of your ads and making them more relevant to users, you may be rewarded with a better ranking and/or a lower cost for your ads. Example of How Ads May be Ranked The graphic below helps illustrate a scenario that may result from this change:

Note: The graphic above is provided for illustrative purposes only, and will not actually appear in your account.

What is "Ad Quality"? Ad quality is determined by:

The ad's historical performance - its click-through rate relative to competitors and normalised for position.* The ad's expected performance - determined by various relevance factors considered by Yahoo! Search Marketing's ranking algorithms, relative to other ads displayed at the same time. Overall ad quality is displayed in a graphical form by the quality index.

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:48 PM | Permalink

October 1, 2007

Yahoo Sponsored Listings Allowing Site Blocking

Yahoo announced it is broadening its Traffic Quality Features for its sponsored ads in an email today.

Apparently you are now able to block up to 250 web sites you do not want your ads to appear on Sponsored Search and Content Match, according to the email.

The email stated:

As an advertiser, you want quality traffic—qualified clicks from the users who are most likely to become customers. Our new blocked domains feature, planned for launch later this month, will provide you with greater control of where your ads appear. This is just one of several ways that Yahoo! is working to improve the value of the traffic that we deliver to you.

• Blocked Domains (New!) Now you can specify websites in our partner distribution network where you don't want your ads to appear. • Pricing Discounts You may automatically receive pricing discounts based on our assessment of the quality of traffic coming from our partner distribution network. • Click Protection System We track click and search patterns across many data points to identify clicks that we believe shouldn't be billed to our advertisers. The click protection system generally discards charges from 12 percent to 15 percent of clicks. • Blocked Continents Yahoo! automatically excludes traffic from continents other than North America. If global traffic is important to your business, you can opt into this traffic. • Traffic Quality Center This site is our home for traffic quality tips, tools and news. This is the place to go, for instance, if you want to learn how to submit click investigation requests.

Posted by Frank Watson at 5:07 PM | Permalink

August 30, 2007

Yahoo Adds New Features To Panama

Yahoo announced new features for its paid search product and its interface, Panama, according to the Yahoo blog.

Twenty ads per ad group and the ability to view performance numbers, as well as edit, copy, delete and create new ads, tightens the user experience.

And you can now look at competitor ads if you need to get the writing started.

Posted by Frank Watson at 1:10 PM | Permalink

July 24, 2007

Yahoo Europe Beta Testing PPC Quality Score Ranking

I just received an email letting me know that Yahoo Panama is starting to beta test the Quality Score rankings in Europe.

The email states:

Dear Advertiser,

Yahoo! Search Marketing is constantly striving to improve both the advertiser and customer experience, with the goal of providing the most relevant and targeted listings as users search, click and travel across the Internet. To accomplish this, we constantly test new implementations and matching technologies.

To help ensure we launch our new ranking model successfully, we will start running a limited test across our European advertiser listings in which the display order of Sponsored Search listings in some keyword markets is based on factors other than bid. In determining listing position, the test will take into account a particular ad's click-through rate, as well as other relevancy factors.

The total amount of Sponsored Search traffic that we are providing to you should not change, but due to optimisation of certain keywords you may see traffic volume increase or decrease depending upon the relevancy of your offers and other optimisation factors.

As always, we encourage you to track your results from individual keywords, so that you can manage your bids and creative for maximum return-on-investment.

We have begun upgrading advertisers to the new system and will continue to do so in waves to ensure a smooth transition to the new system. Once all advertisers have upgraded, we will introduce our new ranking model. We will be contacting you with more specific information as the rollout date approaches.

Posted by Frank Watson at 12:15 PM | Permalink

June 29, 2007

Yahoo Upgrades Panama's Tools

The keyword selector tool is offering suggestions, copying and moving keywords amongst groups, and an improved help section have been added to Panama's features.

The changes are detailed at the Yahoo blog.

Posted by Frank Watson at 8:21 AM | Permalink

June 24, 2007

Yahoo Combining Search And Display

Yahoo has announced it is combining search and display under one department. Heading up this newly formed division of North American Sales is David Karnstedt - presently senior vice president of Yahoo!'s Search sales business. He will report directly to Gregory Coleman, Yahoo!'s EVP of Global Sales.

This has also happened at Yahoo International with Kris Thoren heading this division.

The details of this change is given in their press release today:

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), a leading global Internet company, will combine its Search and Display advertising sales teams in the US, and has appointed David Karnstedt, currently senior vice president of Yahoo!'s Search sales business, to lead the unified organization as Head of North American Sales. Karnstedt, a long-time Yahoo! executive and industry veteran will continue to report to Gregory Coleman, Yahoo!'s EVP of Global Sales. This transition continues the steps Yahoo! has been taking since the beginning of the year to organize product management, engineering, and distribution around marketing customers rather than advertising products.

"Integrating our world-class search and display sales teams under David's leadership will allow us to better serve all of our advertisers' marketing objectives ranging from brand awareness to direct response," said Sue Decker, President, Yahoo! "This is one of many important steps we're taking to re-invigorate our display business, further build on our industry-leading position in advertising, and drive thought-leadership in the online advertising marketplace."

Advertisers are increasingly seeking solutions that span a wide variety of ad products, such as search, display and video, that when combined can deliver significantly better results than when used independently. As a result of these changes, Yahoo!'s integrated sales organization will be the first of its kind to offer the widest selection of advertising products coupled with the broadest scale of search and display inventory to customers. By organizing around marketers and their needs rather than advertising products, the company will be better positioned to provide marketing customers with the most comprehensive set of end-to-end solutions that achieve a wide range of marketing objectives. Yahoo!'s leading position in display and strong position in search give it an advantage to offer integrated marketing solutions to its marketing partners.

"The future of advertising isn't about choosing between search and display, but about leveraging the breadth of advertising products to more effectively reach your customers with the right message, in the right context, at the right time, and on the right platform," said Coleman. "David Karnstedt has done great things for Yahoo!'s Search Sales business, and it's his leadership skills, business acumen and keen understanding of the new media landscape that make him the perfect person to help shape the future of Yahoo!'s advertising sales business."

Karnstedt joined Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) in September 2001. Since joining Yahoo!, Karnstedt has built and managed the company's North American search sales force. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Karnstedt was a key member of the management teams at a number of pioneering internet companies including Wired Digital Lycos and Alta Vista where he developed revolutionary online advertising methods that are still in use today. Karnstedt was also a catalyst for developing products and marketing strategies that leveraged the auction-based search environment for many of the world's leading marketers. He has also been responsible for developing and administering some of the Internet's earliest research regarding the impact of branding through the use of online advertising.

"By taking a more holistic approach to advertising sales, Yahoo! will become a more consultative seller, which should make buying complete solutions easier for our customers across Yahoo! and our partner network," said Karnstedt. "These moves will also enable our world class sales team to more effectively meet the needs of our advertisers - not just today but well into the future."

As part of the reorganization, Wenda Millard, Yahoo!'s Chief Sales Officer in the US will be leaving the company effective immediately.

Coleman added, "While Wenda was a big contributor to our success in the past, the industry has shifted and requires a different set of skills to take the business forward. We appreciate her dedication during her years of service and wish her well in the next chapter of her career."

In December 2006, Yahoo! announced the findings of a Web-wide study conducted by comScore that measured the impact of display and search advertising campaigns. The study, entitled "Close the Loop: Understanding Search and Display Synergy," found that online users who were exposed to both the search and display advertising campaigns increased their share of page views relative to competitive sites by 68 percent, and time spent by 66 percent. More importantly, among those exposed to both the search and display ads, purchases of an advertiser's products and services increased by 244 percent online and 89 percent offline compared to online users with similar behavior who were not exposed to these ads.

The integration of Yahoo!'s search and display advertising sales teams is underway, and the company will make additional announcements about the structure of the organization and the executives that will lead it shortly.

Building on Yahoo!'s Positive Momentum

Yahoo! is moving aggressively to build-on its long-term leadership position in display advertising, while further strengthening its strong position in search. Today's announcement follows a number of other key initiatives that Yahoo! has undertaken to invigorate its display advertising business, which include: announcing the intention to acquire Right Media; integrating our Inside Sales Organization into the search sales team to create a performance hub; building of an off-network display business through recent partnerships with eBay, the Newspaper Consortium and Comcast; and offering day parting options on Yahoo!'s home page.

Posted by Frank Watson at 2:59 PM | Permalink

June 21, 2007

Yahoo Moves to Short Descriptions

As Yahoo announced in April, Yahoo has begun requiring advertisers to provide a short, 70-character description for all ad descriptions. Previously, advertisers could supply both a 70-character description and a 190-character description. The longer description will still appear on some distribution partner sites, but all ads on Yahoo sites will now use the short version. Ad descriptions longer than 70 characters on Yahoo in the U.S. will now be cut off at the nearest complete word.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 8:52 AM | Permalink

June 13, 2007

SEW Experts: Priming Your Quality Score to Boost Campaign Results

In today's By the Numbers column, "Priming Your Quality Score to Boost Campaign Results," Eric Enge shows you how to use the new paid search Quality Scores to your advantage to provide great campaign results.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:53 AM | Permalink

June 11, 2007

Yahoo! Distributing Overture Settlemtent Funds

I received 5 emails from Yahoo today. Upon opening them I found out I was over $11,000 richer. The largess came from claims I had made last year as part of the class action suit against Yahoo. The claim covered any errors in Overture's budgeting andbidding mechanisms from October 1, 2004 to June1, 2005.

The emails read:

We have received the claim form that you submitted to the Online Merchant Systems v. Yahoo! Settlement Administrator. This email is to inform you that based on your submission of a timely and valid claim form which established you as an Authorized Claimant under the Settlement, your account with Yahoo! Search Marketing was credited in the amount of $xxxx.xx for your share of the settlement proceeds. As set forth in the court approved Notice and Settlement Agreement, your credit was calculated based on the amount of money you spent on advertising placement from October 1, 2004 to June 1, 2005 compared to the total amount of advertising spend of all the other Authorized Claimants in each of the two sub-classes--budgeting and non-budgeting.

This credit has been posted to your account.

If you have questions, you can call the OMS v. Yahoo! Settlement Administrator toll-free at 1-800-616-1481 between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Friday or email us at omsbudgetingsettlement@rustconsulting.com.

Posted by Frank Watson at 10:48 AM | Permalink

June 6, 2007

No Conversion in Yahoo's Quality-Based Bidding

Speculations were high on what elements went into Yahoo's Quality Bid-based pricing since they announced the change two days ago.

People thought conversions from use of Yahoo Analytics was part of the algorithm determining pricing, but Yahoo wrote a blog post to clarify that this was not the case.

Posted by Frank Watson at 8:42 PM | Permalink

June 4, 2007

Yahoo Launches Quality-Based Pricing

At 6 p.m. PT tonight, Yahoo! Search Marketing will begin to roll out quality-based pricing across its sponsored search and contextual listings marketplaces to help increase ROI and reduce search marketing costs for advertisers, according to their Director of Public Relations Gaude Lydia Paez.

"We’re especially excited about this launch, as it’s one of many new capabilities that our new “Panama” search marketing platform enables us to build," Paez stated.

What exactly is quality-based pricing? In a nutshell, quality-based pricing assesses the quality of a publisher’s traffic based upon the publisher’s ability to deliver more interested, high-value potential customers to Yahoo!’s advertisers. A few of the factors considered by quality-based pricing include publisher conversion rates, traffic source and implementation type. Depending on the quality of a given publisher’s traffic, the cost of an advertiser’s click can be automatically discounted by a certain percentage.

This enhancement is a key step in Yahoo!’s ongoing efforts to build the world’s highest quality search advertising marketplace. Quality-based pricing will help ensure that traffic from Yahoo!’s network is priced in a manner that is consistent with the quality it delivers to advertisers. At the same time, providing higher ROI and discounted bid should allow advertisers the flexibility to experiment with their savings and re-invest in their search marketing campaigns on Yahoo!.

We’re rolling this out in phases, beginning with a select number of keyword marketplaces and then expanding it more broadly across our network over the coming months.

Posted by Frank Watson at 9:18 PM | Permalink

May 14, 2007

Yahoo Being Sued For Faulty Ad Platform

The Blob (aka the Overture PPC platform) has struck Yahoo again - even after they replaced it with Panama - as a company is suing Yahoo for using an ad platform that was "operationally defective".

This one should not get too far, and if it does Yahoo may as well get out of search - stopping the floodgates after a result against Yahoo would be hard.

Danny Sullivan gives a great overview of the situation.

Posted by Frank Watson at 4:17 PM | Permalink

April 5, 2007

Yahoo to Require Short Descriptions

Beginning in May, Yahoo will require advertisers to provide a short, 70-character description for all ad descriptions, while making the current 190-character description an option that will only be shown in certain formats, according to the Yahoo Search Marketing blog.

Beginning in June, Yahoo will begin cutting off ads at 70 characters, or the nearest complete word to 70 characters. Long descriptions will continue to be shown on some external distribution partner sites. The space limit for titles will remain at 40 characters, while display URLs will be reduced to a maximum of 35 characters.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:02 PM | Permalink

March 27, 2007

Panama Working Better Than Expected?

After Yahoo CEO Terry Semel crowed last week about the success of Panama, a Wall Street analyst now adds to Yahoo's merriment with news of even more success, according to paidContent.org.

UBS AG analyst Ben Schachter told Bloomberg that Panama is "just working quicker and better than people had expected," and it may boost Yahoo's revenue growth from searches to more than 20 percent in the second half of this year, instead of his previous estimate of as little as 15 percent.

Also quoted in the Bloomberg story are search marketers from Did-it, who said clickthrough rates rose 3 percent in February, and Avenue A | Razorfish, who said CTR has risen 10 percent since Panama's debut. If that 10 percent figure holds up across the board, that could mean a boost of about $25 million in Yahoo's sales this quarter, which would exceed Yahoo's timeline of expected results in the second quarter, Piper Jaffray's Safa Rashtchy told Bloomberg.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:25 AM | Permalink

March 22, 2007

Yahoo Renews Click Fraud Prevention Efforts

Yahoo today put a renewed focus on fighting click fraud by appointing Yahoo vet Reggie Davis as the new VP of marketplace quality. Davis has been in Yahoo's legal department for 7 years, with duties that included managing Yahoo's click fraud litigation. He has been tapped to lead a team of cross-functional groups focusing on click fraud and other quality issues.

John Slade, who had been Yahoo's most visible representative in its anti-click fraud efforts, will resume a product-focused role in building out future Yahoo ad products.

In discussing his new role, Davis also shared with SEW that Yahoo's "network discard rate," representing the average number of clicks (in aggregate) that its clickthrough protection filters identify, tag and do not bill to advertisers, is between 12 and 15 percent.

More details on Davis' role can be found in today's SearchDay, "Yahoo Steps Up Click Fraud Efforts."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 2:54 AM | Permalink

March 16, 2007

Panama Ad Ranking Algo Explained

Confused by the new ad ranking algorithm in Yahoo's Panama platform? Kevin Lee provides a good illustration in his ClickZ column today, "Panama's Relevance Score Causes Pain and Gain."

As Lee explains, the ranking algorithm is similar to Google's AdRank, in that it comes up with a score by multiplying predicted CTR with bid price. A change in one or the other, measured as a percentage change, will affect the ad's position.

In a case where two ads have equal current bid prices, if one ad's predicted clickthrough rate is 23 percent higher than the second ad's predicted CTR, it would require the second ad to pay a 23 percent higher bid to outperform the first. If that is above the second ad's max bid price, it will drop in the rankings below other ads with higher bid prices or better predicted CTR.

To better align your Yahoo ad campaigns to the new algorithm, Lee suggests taking steps to enhance relevance, such as reorganizing ad groups, reviewing landing pages and bids, and testing new ad creative.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:07 AM | Permalink

March 7, 2007

More Early Yahoo Panama Results

As more early results roll in, it appears that Yahoo's Panama platform is delivering as promised, improving ad performance for big-brand marketers and quality of results for searchers.

Last week, we saw results from Avenue A | Razorfish that supported this. Among that agency's clients, search impressions were up an average of 5 percent, cost per click (CPC) prices were down an average of 6 percent, with clickthrough rates up an average of 10 percent.

This week, we have similar early returns from search and media management firm SearchIgnite and RBC Capital Markets' research arm. A study of results from clients of SearchIgnite, and sister firm 360i showed that Yahoo's market share among those advertisers stabilized after Panama launched, ending a steady decline for the past year. It also found that clickthrough rates improved since Panama's launch, while cost-per-click has held steady.

You'll find the details in today's SearchDay, "Early Returns Encouraging for Panama."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 5:49 PM | Permalink

March 6, 2007

Time to Put the Pipe Wrench Away? Semel Says: "We Fixed the Plumbing"

Speaking to a group of investors at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference today, Yahoo's CEO Terry Semel said the company spent most of 2006 "fixing the basic plumbing" of the Yahoo Search Marketing platform (aka Panama).

According to the AP article, CFO Susan Decker, also said advertisers had begun seeing improved relevance from Yahoo's pay-per-click advertising since it introduced the full system in the United States one month ago.

She also said that the international rollout is on track for Q2, beginning with Japan, Yahoo's second biggest market. The UK marketplace is also expected to begin transitioning to the new platform during the second quarter.

Posted by Elisabeth Osmeloski at 4:38 PM | Permalink

February 28, 2007

Panama from a Big Agency Perspective

Avenue A | Razorfish put Yahoo's Panama platform through the paces this month, and has shared some data from 33 search clients in an article on its Search Marketing Trends site, "Yahoo Panama First Look."

Some highlights:

• Search Impressions – Up an average of 5%
• Cost Per Click – Down an average of 6%
• Click Rate – Up an average of 10%
• Conversion Rates – Down an average of 5%
• Overall CPA – Up an average of 6%

The agency stresses that there is still a wide variance in data across clients, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:51 PM | Permalink

February 26, 2007

comScore Defines Panama Effects

ComScore Networks has found that Yahoo's new ranking model has increased click through rates on its ads, at least initially. The study, based on the online behavior of comScore’s U.S. sample of 1 million Internet users, compared the first two weeks after the launch of the ranking model to the previous week, and found a 5-pecent lift the first week, and a 9-percent lift in CTR the second week.

ComScore also found that Yahoo's search ads are gaining ground as a percentage of total clicks. Prior to the Panama launch, ads held 10.1 percent of clicks, which increased to 10.6 percent of total click volume in the week ending February 11 and 11.1 percent in the week ending February 18.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:10 AM | Permalink

February 22, 2007

Yahoo! Gives 2nd SearchLight Award

So amid the restructuring Yahoo! had time to give out the second annual SearchLight awards today.

As their press release states:

The Yahoo! 2nd Annual Searchlight Award winner is Avenue A|Razorfish for their “Your Choice, Your Chase” campaign! Avenue A|Razorfish was a finalist last year at the first-ever Searchlight Awards. This year, Senior Search Account Manager Steve Capone provided solid research to show the benefits of using broad keywords to drive brand awareness for Chase. The campaign also focused on how the Chase microsite delivered the right product with the right rewards to interested customers. Avenue A|Razorfish is an interactive services firm that helps companies use the online channel as a marketing and business tool.

Not surprising since the other three spent very little time discussing how search was part of their overall campaigns.....

I voted for AvenueA/RazorFish .... they gave us search details.

The award - a spotlight similar to last year's designed by West Coast Custom (of Pimp My Ride fame) - comes with a party at the winning agency and some joint advertising with Yahoo.

The event was fun. The four finalists of 30 agencies that submitted entries included NeoSearch who ran the Sprint/Tallladega Nights promotion with a budget of $160,000 (though they only spent under $2,500 on search), Special K - the cereal that is all about weight loss and has joined the numerous companies creating niched portals at Yahoo, and Lexus LS and Team One whose clever use of the Yahoo Home Page to show the car's ability to parallel park with an intertestial that ran across the page then parked itself were all informative.

Laura Desmond, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group, in her keynote address, gave the audience a great overview of where the search industry is and where it needs to look to the future.

Using the opening comments of VP of Yahoo Agency Development Ron Belanger's to the old Virginia Slims ad "we've come a long way, baby", Ms Desmond noted that the first 21st century marketing tool was search.

"Optimize, convert and report", Desmond explained need to be the goals of the internet marketers of the future. "Search is more than direct response", she explained, "the high tech, on demand era is here".

The most important question is "is our imagination big enough for this world," Desmond said. "Take risks," she stated and quoting Wayne Gretzsky went on to say "you will miss 100% of the shots you do not try".

Desmond told the audience to embrace innovation and change. Convert and leverage data to produce powerful keywords for search and establish holistic goals, she said.

Search and online analytics are now being used to impact car design and assembly line production, Desmond said. "Optimize and convert" and repeat the process,she told the audience, "search is more than direct reponse".

The opening address was insightful for a self admitted non-search expert.

Desmond asked her staff to describe the search industry in relation to advertsing and got some interesting responses.

Five were given. The first group saw search as a wise old sage with years of experience (guess they were new to the space). The second thought of a school age child soaking up knowledge. Third was search as a young professional - not fully matured but eager to grow.

The fourth group thought search was the Greek God Mercury - the ominipresent messenger. The final group saw search as a toddler with many stages of growth to go.

Yahoo's recognition of the importance of search is commendable. Their promotion of these awards helps agencies trying to convert the holdovers from old methods of advertising.

Search has not been pushed aside by Yahoo just yet. Here's hoping there is a third SearchLight award.

Posted by Frank Watson at 11:10 PM | Permalink

February 12, 2007

Yahoo Outlines Keys to PPC Success: Test, Test, Test

On the Yahoo Search Marketing blog, Michael Egan, senior director of content solutions, gives a run-down of the ad testing features available in Panama, and suggests that ad testing is a "must do."

In his post, His post, "Improving Ad Quality, Part II," Egan writes: It’s hard to argue that Tiger Woods is pretty darn good at what he does. But even he is not perfect. Imagine if he were allowed to hit four balls each time and then choose the shot that worked the best. Scary good.

We’re giving you that opportunity with our new ad testing feature In concept, it’s like giving Tiger multiple shots from which to choose the best lie. Ad Testing is a “must do” if you are really trying to improve the quality of your ads.

Ad testing will work with as few as two ads in an ad group, or as many as 20. Without ad optimization, multiple ads are rotated relatively evenly. Once ad optimization is turned on, the system begins to learn which ad performs better, based on click-through-rate (CTR) normalized by position across all keywords in an ad group, and will begin to show that ad more frequently.

Egan suggests a testing strategy that takes into account four main factors:

• Differentiate yourself -- Talk about the 3 C’s: Customer, Competition and Company
• Focus -- Don’t try to test everything at once. Concentrate on specific characteristics of your ads and test those characteristics.
• Iterate -- Don’t treat ad testing as a one-time effort.
• Isolate -- There are likely a small handful of keywords that drive a majority of the value you achieve from your search marketing efforts.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:37 AM | Permalink

February 5, 2007

Yahoo Ad Ranking System Now Live

Today's the day, as any search marketer not living under a rock for the past few months knows. Yahoo's flipping the switch on its new ad ranking model, so that bid price is no longer the sole factor in determining ad positions. The new ad quality algorithm makes Yahoo more Googley, which they say will improve overall ad quality, and critics say will make Yahoo more money by forcing advertisers to overpay.

The truth, as always, is likely found somewhere in the middle. If all goes well, the new algorithm will improve ad quality, by making it harder for low-quality sites that are engaging in arbitrage to rank well. (That's not to say there are not quality sites that add value that are engaged in arbitrage -- I'm talking about the "made for AdSense" sites that are not adding anything but a middleman). In the short-term, it will also annoy many marketers that have grown used to having a purely bid-based alternative to Google.

The first part of Yahoo's Panama roll-out, the management interface, has raised some concerns with advertisers. You can see discussion of that in the SEW forums, here and here, for starters. There are numerous horror stories of mangled campaigns, inept or unhelpful support staff, and quirky interface elements.

The new ranking model is bound to bring out a whole new round of concerns and complaints. Yahoo gives advertisers some tips on its Yahoo Search Marketing Blog, which we've also talked about here.

You can bet that Yahoo is crossing fingers, praying, rubbing rabbits' feet, and doing anything else possible in hopes this comes off without a hitch. It's a central piece of their business, after all. According to a New York Times story, Yahoo execs are huddled together in a "war room" as we speak, monitoring today's events.

We'd love to hear about your experience, your complaints, and any tips for your peers in the SEW forum.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:59 AM | Permalink

February 2, 2007

Yahoo Gives Tips To Improve Quality Score

Yahoo is trying to help people prepare for the addition of their Quality Score filter that will launch on Feb. 5th. I received an email giving tips which also had links to more details at the Yahoo Search Marketing help area.

Below are some handy tips to improve your quality score.

Tips to Prepare for the New Ranking Model (New Sponsored Search)

On February 5, 2007, we will be launching a new ranking model in the U.S. that will determine an ad’s rank in search results based on bid amount and ad quality. To help you take advantage of our new ranking model, we’ve highlighted the key changes and then provide you with important steps.

Following are the key changes:

* An ad’s rank will be determined by both bid amount and ad quality. * Ads with higher quality can deliver a lower cost per click and/or may receive better placement on the results page relative to lower quality ads. * Standard match type ads will no longer receive priority placement over Advanced match type ads.

To take advantage of the new ranking model, you should: * Include keywords in your ad (use our Insert Keyword feature).

Research indicates that the perceived quality is higher in ads where the keyword is included within the title and description.

You can use the insert keyword feature to dynamically insert the keyword into your title and/or description * Choose keywords for each ad group carefully.

Grouping keywords into relevant ad groups makes it easier to: o Craft ads that are more specific and relevant to your keywords. o Test different landing pages—and potentially increase conversion rates.

For example, if you were selling electronic products, you would want to place keywords related to “camera”, “video games” and “DVD players” into separate ad groups.

In addition, advertisers may consider grouping individual or smaller groups of similar keywords to get a better read on their quality index. Remember, your quality index score is based on combinations of your ads and all your keywords with the ad group.

Learn more about the new account structure. * Use ad testing.

Ad testing enables you to rotate different ads to learn which one attracts the most customers to your site. You can determine which message, offer or incentive is most effective and relevant — then you can potentially improve your rank in search results by displaying that ad.

Ad optimization is automatically set “ON” within your account so that better performing ads (based on click-through rate) are served more frequently. You can also choose to turn it “OFF” within your ad group settings. * Use our Excluded Keyword feature to help optimize your Advanced match type ads.

If you use the Advanced match type distribution tactic, and to help maximize the relevancy of your listings to search users, make sure you take advantage of Excluded Keywords, which are words or phrases that prevent an ad from matching a search query. * Review your current bids and set a campaign budget to meet your business goals.

We strongly recommend that you confirm your bids to ensure that you are comfortable with possibly paying close to the bid amount for each keyword. As always, we recommend that you set your bids to meet your business goals.

See our FAQs for more information.

Posted by Frank Watson at 11:41 AM | Permalink

January 30, 2007

Yahoo Keyword Tool Not Dead Yet

Earlier reports that Yahoo's keyword research tool is being discontinued are not true, according to a Yahoo spokesperson. Apparently, issues with the public Keyword Selector Tool being inaccessible are due to volume, and the tool is not in danger of disappearing. In fact, a new public keyword research tool, which would be hosted through Yahoo and available to API partners, is due later this year. The "protected" version, accessible within an advertiser's account management console, is apparently working fine.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 3:22 PM | Permalink

January 23, 2007

Yahoo To Add Quality Score To Panama Feb. 5th

Below is the official press release from Yahoo! regarding the addition of a Quality Score to Panama.

UPDATE Conversation with Gaude Lydia Paez, Director of Public Relations at Yahoo! has been added at the bottom.

Any comments can be posted on Panamania - They Are All Going Quality!

“Yahoo! is very excited to introduce our new, more quality-focused ranking model because it has the power to significantly enhance the experience we deliver to our users and unlock the full potential of Yahoo!’s search marketing network,” said Terry Semel, chief executive officer, Yahoo! Inc. “With this important piece in place our new search marketing system will allow Yahoo! to more effectively connect people with the businesses, products, services and information they are passionate about.”

To date, search ads on Yahoo! and its distribution partner sites have been ranked solely by bid price – the higher the bid, the higher an ad appears within the search results. When the new ranking model goes into effect, both bid and the ad’s quality together will determine where an ad appears in the search results. The quality of an ad will be determined by its historical performance in the new system and its expected performance relative to other ads displayed at the same time. Ads of higher quality will generally receive better placement on the results page.

“By encouraging advertisers to focus on the quality of their ads, we can deliver a better search experience for all of our customers. Everybody wins.” said Tim Cadogan, Yahoo!’s vice president, search marketing. “We firmly believe that delivering more relevant ads to users will result in more quality leads to advertisers, invite even more participation in our network and ultimately create a more valuable marketplace for users, advertisers, publishers and Yahoo!.”

With this change, Yahoo! is providing advertisers with industry-leading marketplace visibility and features that allow them to better understand their performance and make informed marketing decisions. Advertisers who have upgraded to the new system (code named “Panama”) can gauge the quality of their ads by viewing the prominently displayed quality index within the Panama application. Yahoo! also provides advertisers with an estimated average position and estimated forecast of clicks for their ad campaigns, based on budget allocation and ad quality.

As a result of its customer-focused approach, Yahoo! continues to receive positive feedback about its new system and the upgrade experience.

“Internet search marketing is one of the most important ways in which our automotive customers connect with vehicle buyers, and Yahoo!’s Panama system makes it even easier for us to deliver that connection,” said John Holt, CEO of The Cobalt Group, a leading provider of marketing services to the automotive industry. “The transition to Yahoo!’s new system has been seamless for us, our clients are responding very positively to the new features, and we’re fully prepared to help our customers maximize the quality of their ads when Yahoo! switches over to its new relevancy-based ranking model.”

Yahoo! will continue to send upgrade invitations to advertisers in the U.S. throughout Q1 2007 and anticipates that all active U.S. advertisers will be upgraded to the new system by the end of the quarter. Advertisers that wish to schedule their upgrade as early as possible can make a request through the upgrade reservation page: http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/newsponsoredsearch/invite/.

Yahoo! plans to begin the roll out of the new platform in non-US markets in Q2 2007. International rollout will be conducted on a market-by-market basis and will follow a similar process as in the U.S. by introducing the system interface first, followed by the new ranking model.

To sign up online for a new Yahoo! account or to learn more about the new search marketing system, please visit: http://signup.marketingsolutions.yahoo.com

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo!’s mission is to connect people to their passions, their communities, and the world’s knowledge. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning Yahoo!'s new search marketing system and related strategic and operational plans. Actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the successful implementation, and acceptance by advertisers, of the Company’s new search marketing system, and the reduction in spending by, or loss of, marketing services customers. More information about potential factors that could affect the Company's business and financial results is included under the captions, "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 which are on file with the SEC and available at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Conversation with Gaude Lydia Paez Q: The inclusion of the Quality Score can be seen as a way for Yahoo! to maximize their profits. How do you see this?

A. That is not the sole focus. We believe that what's good for the user will ultimately end up benefiting our advertisers and publishers alike. The Quality Score will help users as well as advertisers improve on their relevancy. Advertisers will benefit from geographic or product specific ads appearing before the right traffic to name just two.

Q. Will there be information available before the launch?

A. There will additions to the extensive help area, adding tips and general information of the Quality Score. Webinars on the new system are being made available to all advertisers who have upgraded and there is always the ability to call for assistance and information on Panama at 866-924-6698.

Q. What differences are there between the Panama system and the Google system?

A. Obviously each has its own algorithms and they will work differently. Relevancy can include many factors.

Q. Recent articles have been mixed about Panama, any comments?

A. We've been refining the system continually since it first launched as we we learn more through advertiser participation and feedback. We've identified many areas for improvement and have launched multiple enhancements since and we have had valuable assistance in fixing any bugs found. But what should be noted is that we are replacing systems which others have not done. This is a new experience for everyone.

Yahoo! is a user facing company; we have many types of advertisers and value their input in our improvements.

Q. Will the old bid history be used in Panama? And if not what will be used to determine Quality.

A. No the history will begin in Panama. Many of the people who developed Panama where the same people who built the Yahoo! search engine, so our search marketing algorithms incorporate learnings from our web search.

Any comments can be posted on Panamania - They Are All Going Quality!

Posted by Frank Watson at 7:23 PM | Permalink

Panama Gets Mixed Review From Wall Street Journal

Seems Kevin J. Delaney over at the Wall Street Journal got mixed reviews of Yahoo's new search advertising interface, Panama.

And this is news why? Virtually every product in the world has mixed reviews. Delaney gave some examples of how Panama has created problems for some of the smaller advertisers, while noting that most of the agencies realized they would need to make changes when their accounts were migrated.

The WSJ article was a good example of the depth of knowledge a non-professional in our space generally has.

Delaney summed up Panama this way. "At its core, it involves replacing a Web-based system created in the late 1990s for companies to buy search-related ads, which had developed a reputation among some advertisers for outages and other problems. As part of the upgrade, Yahoo plans to change how it selects which search ads to display for any user query, adopting a strategy already used by Google that has proven more profitable".

No brief mention of GoTo/Overture/Yahoo being the first and thus oldest PPC system created when ppc advertising was much smaller. Nor that they offered set bidding which many people will miss, to be replaced with the blind bid method of Google; that may be more profitable to the engines but thus more expensive to the advertisers.

Yes the categories were a little off and required some tweaking once Yahoo made the migration, but this was done so the ads did not have to go back through editorial.

The timing of the report, the morning of Yahoo!'s earnings report, is at best curious. The unfavorable comparison to its major rival twice in the article is hard to understand - though since it is Google one tends to understand.

The comments in our forum on this topic have been as mixed as Delaney suggests, but they generally come with more insight.

Even the "I hate the new Yahoo PPC" thread has only 4 nay sayers - and it has been up for over a month.

Posted by Frank Watson at 3:37 PM | Permalink

January 17, 2007

Wired Writes Yahoo's Eulogy

Wired reporter Fred Vogelstein has penned a 3,200-word eulogy to Yahoo, "How Yahoo Blew It." The story chronicles Yahoo CEO Terry Semel's refusal to buy Google for $5 billion in 2002 (about the value of Yahoo itself at the time); the difficulties in integrating Yahoo's directory, Inktomi's search engine, and Overture search ad system; and the delays of Panama.

Yahoo responded to the piece with a statement, acknowledging Panama's timeline went long, but insisting that it was a "heroic" effort on Yahoo's part to build the system. "Engineers and technologists from throughout Yahoo aligned to build the colossal 'brain' that powers our new platform and will allow us to innovate in search marketing more rapidly than ever before," Semel said in the statement.

He also notes, indirectly, that Yahoo isn't quite dead yet.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:41 AM | Permalink

December 26, 2006

Panama not enough? Of course not.

Business Week takes a stab at advising Yahoo about how it should take on Google in "Why Yahoo's Panama Won't Be Enough."

Along with the requisite "peanut butter" references, the story mentions Yahoo's efforts in brand advertising and behavioral targeting, as well as its investment in the Right Media ad exchange and its emphasis on monetizing non-premium inventory.

So clearly, Yahoo agrees with the author that it should not be putting all its eggs in the Panama basket.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 2:25 PM | Permalink

December 12, 2006

Panama Now Open to New U.S. Advertisers

An earlier-than-expected launch in October for existing Yahoo advertisers has apparently gone well, since Yahoo today opened up the platform to new U.S. advertisers. The move will still be optional, and does not yet include the new ranking algorithm, which will be put in place in the first quarter.

Yahoo first provided details on Panama in May, with an intended launch in the third quarter. That launch date was pushed back to Q4 in July, drawing the ire of Wall Street. Yahoo pushed hard to have a launch of some kind ready for its October investor call to prevent a recurrence of that.

One of the underlying ideas of Panama is a desire to simplify the platform for new users, while retaining and building up advanced features for experienced users, according to John Slade, Yahoo's senior director of product management. To that end, Yahoo has made initial sign-up a 5-step process, which only asks advertisers for minimal details to get a campaign up and running quickly.

"We're not asking users to learn to use all the bells and whistles the first time. Our testing has shown that people are not interested in learning the full complexity right away," Slade said.

New users can get things rolling by providing regional targeting preferences, desired keywords, campaign budget, and ad copy for their first ad. Then the advertiser only needs to supply a credit card to launch the campaign. On subsequent log-ins, advertisers will be presented with the more advanced features.

Yahoo also streamlined its ad activation process, to get new ads online shortly after they are submitted, in most cases. Editorial guidelines will be maintained, Slade said, especially in certain sensitive categories.

The keyword selection algorithms are new to Panama, with collaborative filtering to recommend more relevant keywords, tailored to the campaign's budget. The system is designed to prevent advertisers who set a low budget from bidding on popular keywords that will be too expensive to be effective within that budget, Slade said. Tools that highlight the interactions between keywords, bid prices, and daily budgets are available, but not highlighted to first-time users.

Yahoo has created an extensive library of help content and tutorials, available in an Upgrade Center on its site.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:30 AM | Permalink

November 3, 2006

Yahoo Sending Panama Invites Out

I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable this morning that Yahoo! Search Marketing Version 2.0 (Panama) Invites Going Out. I was one of the first to be invited to upgrade to the Panama release, but outside of my group, it appears that now others who have requested the upgrade are now receiving them. Wondering what the process for upgrading is? Well, (1) it takes about 8 hours for the upgrade to happen, so it while you do not need to make changes to your account and (2) keyword listings with zero impressions for past 13 months or zero clicks for past 18 months will not be transferred over to new system. I have documented my experience with upgrading to Panama here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:20 AM | Permalink

October 18, 2006

Google To Own 25% Of 2006 Online Ad Revenue

An eMarketer.com report estimates that Google will account for twenty-five percent of all online ad revenue. Google's share continues to increase (65% increase YoY) while Yahoo's growth continues to decrease, eMarketer says. Google first surpassed Yahoo in ad revenue back in 2005, but barely. Google in 2006 is expected to earn over $4 billion in ad revenue but Yahoo has just $2.9 billion according to eMarketer.com.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:24 AM | Permalink

October 17, 2006

Yahoo Releases New "Panama" Search Advertising System Early

Yahoo's long-anticipated next-generation search advertising platform, Panama, has now gone live.

I've been at Yahoo for the past two days testing it and understanding how it works from those who built the new system. My raw notes are here on Search Engine Roundtable. Below are highlights of the new system.

• The new system is now live for use  
• It's been in internal testing for months  
• Invites to use the new system begin next week. Want in on that early? Make a request using this form.  
• Testing accounts to be provided.  
• Voluntary migration of current customers will happen over next few months.  
• Mandatory migration will happen some time after first of the year.  
• New customers will go into the existing "old" system Yahoo inherited from Overture until they are migrated.  
• Using the new system means you tap into the new user interface. However, the "quality index" factor for ranking ads does not start until some time in Q1 2007. Notifications of this change will be sent out.  
• The new interface is snappier, more flexible and very sleek and user friendly.  
• There are bugs and things but they can fix them much more rapidly now, Yahoo says.  
• Yahoo promises faster ad approval  
• New system allows for start and end dates for campaigns but no dayparting yet.  
• Very cool AJAX-based spending caps, budgeting and forecasting interfaces that show impressions as you increase your bid.  
• Analytics and conversion tracking (with latent conversions) tracking capability provided.  
• Very advanced geotargeting, which means purchasing local sponsored search as a separate product may go away.  
• Quality Index (1 to 5 graphical bar scale) shown to advertisers now, so they can prepare their ads for when the ranking factors are used in Q1 2007.  
• Quality Index made up of clickthrough rate, keywords related to ad copy, display URL, landing page and other factors  
• Because of Quality Index & geotargeting, pricing models do change  
• APIs won't be completely free  
• The process of development of Panama is named Roosevelt. It allows them to rapidly add features and expand the YSM program quickly to mobile, video, local, etc.

Here are some screenshots. The dashboard:

The geotargeting feature:

The interactive pricing/volume feature:

Again, more details and rough notes at the Search Engine Roundtable. Andrew Goodman also has a write-up now here: No Turning Back: Panama Goes Live.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 5:45 PM | Permalink

October 12, 2006

Bug Leaves Advertisers Unable To Change Ads On Yahoo

As I reported at reported at Search Engine Roundtable twice already, Yahoo has left their search advertising customers out to dry.

Advertisers and agencies are reporting they are unable to properly manage their accounts due to a 3+ day old bug in the Yahoo Search Marketing system.

Email responses back to Yahoo customers state that Yahoo is aware of the problem but have "no estimated date or time frame for the issue to be resolved."

One person emailed Search Engine Watch saying, "Users are unable to view the remaining balance in their accounts, nor are we able to modify or add listings."

Some of the Yahoo reps have been instructing clients to email them so that they can make the necessary changes for them. Just nuts! This must be something very serious for them to not be able to revert back to a previous coding state.

Having the same issue and want to discuss? Join our Search Engine Watch Forums thread, Yahoo PPC management crash.

Postscript: Yahoo commented at our forums saying it has been fixed.

We've been experiencing some technical difficulties that were impacting the editorial tools in our search advertising UI but are happy to report that these systems are back up and running. Thanks for your patience.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:16 AM | Permalink

October 11, 2006

Yahoo Hurting While Google Healthier Than Ever

The NY Times has an article named Yahoo’s Growth Being Eroded by New Rivals (free version available at (IHT.com). The article goes through how Yahoo is suffering and lagging behind its competitors. (1) They made a bid at YouTube but those deals broke down, according to the article, and Google "swooped" them up. (2) The new Yahoo search ad system, Panama, is over a year delayed. This "delay has sucked up the company’s engineering resources and prevented it from developing new advertising products."

Based on my coverage of Yahoo over the past year, it seems like webmasters, SEOs, and industry folks have become less and less interested with the company.

The LA Times has an article this morning that goes on the same theme. If you can't get to the article, try going through Google News to gain free access, it worked for me.

Postscript From Greg Sterling:

This is not the kind of publicity you want to see if you're on the PR team. While it's true that Google has momentum and Yahoo may need a kind of "shot in the arm," what people forget is that Yahoo is the largest site on the Internet with the most monthly uniques.

It also has a bunch of market-leading properties including mail, finance and local (among others). Mail is also the number one mobile site.

Google, though a very dynamic and powerful company with lots of momentum, is not without its challenges and vulnerabilities. If anything the YouTube acquisition was an admission of some of those. Though, by the same token, Google now has great opportunity with YouTube.

I'm not sure, from where I sit, how many problems identified in the Saul Hansell Times piece are real and how many are simply perceived. But perception does influence reality.

Yahoo is a little like a strong sports team that happens to be in a bit of a slump right now.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:40 AM | Permalink

October 4, 2006

Yahoo Rolls Out PPC Ads In Mobile Search Results

Yahoo is launching (in beta) paid-search ads in mobile in the U.S. and expanding its test program in the U.K. Only a "select group of advertisers" are initially included (it's not clear what the criteria are). But the number of advertisers will expand over time as the program rolls out.

According to the press release, "consumers will be able to click on the sponsored search results to go to the advertisers’ mobile web site or a landing page to get more information about the advertisers’ offerings, including the ability to call the advertiser."

Yahoo had already been running tests of mobile PPC ads in the U.K. and Japan.

According to CTIA-The Wireless Association, there are more than 194 million wireless subscribers in the U.S., with a market penetration rate of about 65%. In other countries, especially Northern Europe, penetration rates exceed 100%. And China claims over 400 million mobile phone subscribers.

Indeed, as Yahoo's Terry Semel and Google's Eric Schmidt have now pointed out multiple times (I'm paraphrasing), "There are more wireless devices in the world than PCs." As a result there's a great deal at stake in developing a viable mobile search capability and the advertising that goes with it.

According to an article today in MediaPost, which points to a study by mobile research firm M:Metrics, response rates to text (SMS) ads on mobile phones are "only" 7% vs. 29.1% or more in countries in Europe where mobile text ads are more common. Obviously a response rate of 7% is higher than average response rates to sponsored search online. There are several competing studies, however, that argue consumers are least interested in advertising in SMS vs. other mobile formats.

Not to confuse matters, Yahoo's new mobile PPC launch is not about SMS. Rather it's sponsored ads in mobile web search results.

Earlier this week mobile marketing firm Enpocket released the results of a study conducted by Harris Interactive with 1,200 mobile users in the U.S. Europe and India. The survey found general acceptance of mobile advertising deemed "relevant" by consumers. A majority of respondents (78%) said that "they would be happy to receive advertising that is tailored to their interests. Of those, 64 percent would be willing to provide personal details to be analyzed to improve relevance of targeted ads."

In general response rates in mobile tend to be higher than online because of relevance and less ad clutter -- there are fewer competing advertisers to click on (or call). PPCall firm Ingenio has repeatedly cited very high PPCall response rates for its advertisers in mobile, partly for that reason.

Mobile advertising is also great opportunity for local search. People are often looking for local information when they're on the go and have traditionally had to rely on directory assistance (DA), which has been limited by "what city, what listing?" rather than offering the open-ended ability to conduct a category search. Newer services are seeking to broaden the scope of DA, which is starting to evolve into voice-enabled mobile search. Yahoo already offers most of its properties on mobile devices and in June of this year research firm Telephia found that Yahoo Mail was the most visited site by mobile users.

Google shows PPC ads on mobile search results as well.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 9:07 AM | Permalink

September 19, 2006

Yahoo CEO Says Ad Growth Slowing Down; Ask.com To Increase Market Share

The Wall Street Journal reports that Terry Semel, Yahoo's CEO, has warned that online advertising growth will be slowing in automotive and financial services industries. He said that there is still growth, but "but they're not growing as quickly as we might have hoped at this point in time," Semel said. On that news, Yahoo's shared dropped $3.47, or 12%, to $25.54.

Barry Diller, CEO of IAC, said he can see Ask.com gaining market share, about 8 to 10 percent share. More details on that story at Reuters.com.

Postscript From Danny: See my follow-up post, Again, The Need For Search Ad Revenue To Stand Alone.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 12:21 PM | Permalink

September 13, 2006

Yahoo Displaying Checkout Icons In Search Ads

Andrew Goodman spotted Yahoo placing little shopping cart icons in some of the sponsored listings for eBay ads. Just like how Google has implemented it for those AdWords advertisers who have signed up with Google Checkout, Yahoo seems to be displaying those icons near the ads. I don't have any more details at the time, but you can see a screen capture at Traffick.com.

Postscript: Search Engine Journal has an update on this, where a Yahoo representative has confirmed that they "are testing various PayPal icons in some of our Yahoo.com sponsored search results. These icons are designed to help buyers identify where they can use PayPal to make purchases.” The spokesperson continued, "We are currently evaluating how users respond to icons in our sponsored search listings to determine whether such icons improve the user experience and help them identify merchant capabilities that are important to them.”

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:48 AM | Permalink

August 29, 2006

New Search Patent Filings: August 29, 2006 - Yahoo looks at Interactive TV and VOIP

Yahoo patent filings include one detailing bidding for placement in paid search filed this past April, another that details a very interactive environment for watching television programming, a third describing a method of soliciting consumer reviews, and a granted patent for a Voice Over IP (VOIP) system that doesn't require Telephony Interface Cards.

Microsoft had two new patent applications published, including one which provides a means of suggesting alternative spellings for words, and another that interacts with searchers to help them construct queries.

IBM filed a patent application for building social networks within a business organization, and was granted a patent for a method of checking pages shown in search results for viruses.

America Online looks at the classification of queries in a manner which seems very similar to the editorial opinion decisions made in a recently granted Google patent.

Mobile search company Geovector comes up with a way to make quick hyperlinked image maps from mobile phones with cameras.

Yahoo

System and method for enabling multi-element bidding for influencing a position on a search result list generated by a computer network search engine Invented by Ted Meisel, Peter Savich and Thomas A. Soulanille Assigned to Overture US Patent Application 20060190354 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on April 24, 2006

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. A database stores 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 authenticated login. A search term relevant to the content of the web site or other information source to be listed is first selected. A search listing includes the search term and a description. A bidding process occurs when the network information provider enters a new bid amount for a search listing. The system and method then compares the 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 determines where the listing will appear on the search results list page that is generated in response to a query of the search term by a searcher.

Framework for providing ancillary content in a television environment Invented by Michael Mills, Philip Mckay, Michael Hoch, Kumiko Tanaka Toft, and Rod Perkins US Patent Application 20060184579 Published August 17, 2006 Filed on January 5, 2006

Abstract

The present invention provides functionality for retrieving ancillary content associated with the content delivered to a given user's client device. According to one embodiment, the method of the present invention comprises retrieving the context of a given user and identifying a plurality of characteristics associated with the user's context. The one or more characteristics associated with the user's context are displayed to the user and the user may select from the displayed characteristics. One or more items of content are retrieved based upon the user's selection and presented to the user on the user's client device.

Group polling for consumer review Invented by Norman Shi Assigned to Yahoo US Patent Application 20060190475 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on December 20, 2005

Abstract

Using a computer system comprising clients at which users interface to the computer system and at least one review server that maintains a collection of reviews, each associated with a presentation, a method of collecting the reviews including providing a first presentation to a first user via a first client associated with the first user; maintaining a trust network linking the first user to the other users in the trust network; receiving a request for a review from the first user via the first client; routing a request for a review to the users in the trust network who are linked to the first user in the trust network; and saving at least some of the returned reviews in the collection of review.

Voice integrated VOIP system Invented by Madhu Yarlagadda, Patrick Loo and David H. Nakayama Assigned to Yahoo United States Patent 7,095,733 Granted August 22, 2006 Filed on September 11, 2000

Abstract

An integrated VoIP unified message processing system includes a voice platform that processes data in native VoIP format. There is no use of hardware telephone interface cards (TICs) or software transcoding to transform data to PCM or other formats. Cost reductions are achieved by the elimination of expensive dedicated hardware and scalability is achieved by obviating the need for software transcoding.

Microsoft

Query spelling correction method and system Invented by Justin Harmon, Kyle G. Peltonen and Shajan Dasan Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060190447 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on February 22, 2005

Abstract

A method and system for providing to a user a set of alternative query suggestions is disclosed. The method, system and computer readable medium product in accordance with embodiments of the invention includes generating an index of all words in a corpus of documents available to the application, generating a popularity table for the index having a popularity value for each word in the index based on occurrences of the word in the corpus, comparing each entry in the popularity table to suggestions from a word generator, compiling a lexicon of word generator suggestion words that are found in the popularity table, submitting each word in the search query to the word generator to determine suggestion words, and displaying to the user one or more of the suggestion words from the lexicon that are more popular than the query word.

Dynamic client interaction for search Invented by Matthew R. Richardson and Robert J. Ragno Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060190436 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on June 23, 2005

Abstract

A system for guiding a search for information is presented. The system comprises a user interface that accepts a phrase and receives at least one suggestion based at least in part on the phrase. The system also includes a phrase suggestion engine that matches the phrase with the at least one suggestion. Methods of using the system are also provided.

IBM

Method, system and program product for building social networks Invented by Margaret A. Strong and Albert Tien Yuen Wong Assigned to IBM US Patent Application 20060190536 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on February 23, 2005

Abstract

Under the present invention, a user with an existing profile page who desires to have a social network built will first submit a subscription request. If approved, an existing contact list such as a chat list or the like for the user will be compared to existing contact lists for other subscribing users to establish commonalities. Based on such commonalities, a configurable social network of contacts is built. Using a graphical representation of the social network, the user can (among other things) provide or read testimonials about the contacts therein; access the profile pages for the contacts; provide or read "ratings" for the contacts; be provided with levels/degrees of separation between the contacts; validate trusts and business relationships, etc.

Virus checking and reporting for computer database search results Invented by Cary Lee Bates, Robert James Crenshaw, Paul Reuben Day and John Matthew Santosuosso Assigned to IBM United States Patent 7,096,215 Granted August 22, 2006 Filed on January 13, 2004

Abstract

An apparatus, program product and method integrate virus checking functionality into a computer database search environment to assist in protecting a user computer from contracting a computer virus when accessing search results. The generation of a display representation of a result set generated in response to a search request may be based at least in part upon virus status information associated with at least a portion of a plurality of result records identified in the generated result set. Moreover, an apparatus, program product, and method configure a first computer to receive virus status information generated by a plurality of computers, with such received virus status information stored in a virus database that is accessible by the first computer.

America Online

Web query classification Invented by Abdur R. Chowdhury, Steven Michael Beitzel, David Dolan Lewis and Aleksander Kolcz US Patent Application 20060190439 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on January 27, 2006

Abstract

A query phrase may be automatically classified to one or more topics of interest (e.g., categories) to assist in routing the query phrase to one or more appropriate backend databases. A selectional preference query classification technique may be used to classify the query phrase based on a comparison between the query phrase and patterns of query phrases. Additionally, or alternatively, a combination of query classification techniques may be used to classify the query phrase. Topical classification of a query phrase also may be used to assist a search system in delivering auxiliary information to a user who entered the query phrase. Advertisements, for instance, may be tailored based on classification rather than query keywords.

Geovector

Imaging systems including hyperlink associations Invented by Thomas William Ellenby, Peter Malcolm Ellenby and John Ellenby Assigned to GeoVector Corporation US Patent Application 20060190812 Published August 24, 2006 Filed on February 22, 2005

Abstract

Computer pointing systems include schemes for producing image map type hyperlinks which are associated and stored integrally with image data from which they are derived. An object being addressed by a pointing system of is implicitly identified by way of its location and position relative to the pointing system. A geometric definition which corresponds to space substantially occupied by the addressed object is rotated appropriately such that it perspective matches that of the imaging station. When an image is captured, the image data (pixel data) is recorded and associated with image map objects which may include network addresses such as a URL. On reply, these images automatically present network hyperlinks to a user whereby the user can click on an image field and cause a browser application to be directed to a network resource.

My usual reminder about patents: Some of the processes and technology described in patents are created in house, and some are developed with the assistance of contractors and partners. A percentage are never developed in a tangible manner, but may serve as a way to attempt to exclude others from using the technology, or even to possibly mislead competitors into exploring an area that they might not have an interest in (sometimes skepticism is good.)

There are times when a Google or Yahoo acquires a company to gain access to the intellectual property of that company, or the intellectual prowess and expertise of that company's employees. And sometimes patents are just purchased.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Technology & Relevancy area of the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 2:33 PM | Permalink

August 24, 2006

Yahoo's Panama Release Coming Sooner Then Expected?

Yahoo Search Marketing advertisers have been receiving emails from Yahoo urging them to update their profile information because their "account will soon be completely upgraded and redesigned, providing you with a number of advanced features that will help you better connect to Yahoo's audience." So should we expect that the delayed Panama release is to be expected early? I am not sure 100%, but more details at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:59 AM | Permalink

August 16, 2006

Yahoo Class Action Settlement Information Released

Details of the Yahoo class action settlement have been posted at checkmatesettlement.com. What you need to know right now is:

(1) You have until October 14, 2006 to submit a written statement requesting exclusion from the Class (specific guidelines are enclosed in the notice), if you want to be excluded from the class.

(2) You have until November 20, 2006 to download the "Assertion of Right to Participate in Additional Claims Review Process Form" from this site and submit it by registered or certified mail, if you want to participate in the class and participate in the claims review process.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:37 AM | Permalink

August 15, 2006

103 Links About SES San Jose 2006 (AKA The Big Recap)

Couldn't make it to last week's monster Search Engine Strategies show in San Jose? Well, maybe next time! In the meantime, I've compiled a list of coverage from across the web, even somewhat organized into topic areas.

Our San Jose show is always tough for me, as I arrive a week earlier to visit with the various major search engines out there. That means two weeks of news and email to dig out from, since you can never get it all done on the road. All that digging out means I know I don't have everything listed below. But you'll find plenty to keep you entertained.

General Recaps

• SES 2006: Google à Go-Go, ClickZ
• SES 2006 Videos, V7N
• Our Baby is Growing Up, Search Engine Guide
• SES San Jose 2006 Coverage Round Up, Search Engine Lowdown
• Google search ads find momentum, USA Today
• Surviving SES San Jose, Internet Search Engine Database
• SES 2006 Week in Review, WebProNews
• The State of Search Marketing: Observations from Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2006, Publishing 2.0

Eric Schmidt Appearance

• Daily SearchCast, August 9, 2006: Special Edition, A Conversation With Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Search Engine Watch
• A Conversation With Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google CEO Eric Schmidt at SES San Jose, Marketing Pilgrim