Yahoo will be introducing it’s new ad system codenamed Panama sometime between July and September. While it doesn’t affect any Yahoo search advertisers now, the switch introduces several advanced features that many current advertisers have been requesting. It’ll definitely change the current PPC advertising strategy for advertisers on Yahoo when it rolls out.
The ranking system won’t change much. Search advertisers bidding the highest cost per click will still show up first. Yahoo will introduce a “quality” scoring system similar to Google’s where displayed PPC ads will be ranked based on the combination factors: clickthrough rate, bid amount , and other factors. Yahoo isn’t planning to disclose the details of what all the “quality” factors will be or how scores will be ultimately determined. It promises, however, that it will be easier to see the “ad quality” score for all ads and campaigns.
Advertisers will be able to build campaigns, run and test multiple ads with multiple keywords.
Local targeting of ads will also be improved. Ads will show for those searching in that region or with terms commonly used for that region.
— Intuitive Control Panel – provides a simplified interface with user-tested navigation, allowing advertisers to easily understand their performance and providing them opportunities to modify or enhance campaigns every step of the way
— Enhanced Geographic Targeting – leverages Yahoo!’s WhereonEarth technology, which draws from 15 years of geo-targeting expertise to enable Yahoo! to more accurately understand and match to user search intent (“Soho, NY” versus “Soho, London”) and colloquial terms (“restaurant near Fenway Park” is in central Boston, MA)
— Fast Ad Activation – provides a streamlined content review process that allows advertisers to launch most new ad campaigns in less than 30 minutes
— Ad Testing – supports automatic rotation of multiple versions of ads to determine the most effective, and, over time, displays the highest-performing ads more frequently
— Visible Quality Index – scores ads based on quality, bid and other relevance variables, and will be made visible to advertisers to enable them to gauge and optimize placement when the quality-based ranking model is implemented
— Share of Clicks Forecasting – displays data regarding the bid needed to achieve an estimated specific share of expected clicks, helping advertisers to set and reach traffic and conversion volume goals
— Goal-Based Optimization – enables advertisers to let Yahoo! automatically help find the least expensive way to meet their business goals — defined as Cost Per Acquisition or Return on Ad Spend
— Assists – shows advertisers the full value and contribution of every campaign by allowing them to see how ads drive both immediate and deferred conversions across multiple campaigns — not just the last click that led to a conversion