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Key PPC Networks - Yahoo! Search Marketing
Overview:
Yahoo! Search Marketing (YSM) is an American based search provider (formerly know as Overture)
with networks in most major markets across North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. They provide results
to sites and portals such as Yahoo!, MSN (although MSN are soon to launch their own network), Lycos, Wanadoo,
InfoSpace and FT.com. This PPC network was originally called Overture and was bought by the Yahoo! Group
in October 2003.
How it works:
Like Miva, YSM works on the cost per click auction system as described above. YSM also has a more advanced
system known as Advanced Match. When an advertiser sets up an account with YSM it will automatically be opted
into Advanced Match which means if an advertiser is bidding on a certain keyword / phrase such as ‘cruise’, they
will also appear against any phrase containing ‘cruise’ such as ‘Caribbean cruise’ or ‘cheap cruise’. The benefit
of this is that an advertiser can spend less time researching keywords for YSM as they are opted into many
variations at the beginning. The disadvantage is that an advertiser may end up appearing against search phrases
they do not want, such as ‘Tom Cruise’. See our section on keyword selection for more details about how to avoid
this.
YSM also provides a product called Content Match. Content Match positions advertisers’ listings next to
relevant content on some of YSM’s partner sites such as www.ft.com and www.guardianonline.co.uk. An advertiser can
opt in to or out of Content Match and it’s performance can also be tracked separately.
Bidding System:
YSM allows an advertiser to bid on keywords and charges you on a cost per click basis for each ‘click’ received.
It is possible to view all advertisers’ bid prices on YSM’s site but their system differs from that of Miva. The bid
prices that YSM display are the “advertisers’ maximum bid”, and are not necessarily the actual “cost” paid by the
advertiser. Overture ranks the results according to the maximum bid that the advertiser is prepared to pay.
YSM’s auto-bid model ensures that advertisers only pay 1p above the maximum bid of the advertiser beneath them.
Some advertisers attempt to block the number 1 position for themselves by setting an unrealistically high maximum
bid whilst only actually paying 1 p above the more realistic bid of the advertiser in position number 2 – see
example below:
However, this practice is very risky as the advertiser in position number 2 may increase their bid to 1p below
the unrealistic maximum bid of the advertiser above and force them to actually pay that price – see example below:
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