Behind the Scenes

These subtle changes are designed to lead to better Content Match performance

Sometimes a product launch is big, like our recent launch of APT from Yahoo!. And sometimes it’s understated, like the improved version of our contextual advertising product, Content Match, which we’re announcing this week. It’s not a new brand, and it looks virtually the same in the user interface. It just works better—at matching your ads with interested customers and helping you achieve better return on your ad dollars.

Better Matching for Higher Click-Through Rates
We’ve been gradually moving Content Match to a new matching technology over the past few months. The new technology not only attempts to understand what the content is on a page, but also, who is viewing it, which helps you get your ad in front of the right customer. Content Match now combines a better understanding of web page and ad content with insights from users’ geographic and behavioral profiles.

This combination can lead to more relevant clicks. Since we started rolling out the new technology, we’ve generally seen increases in Content Match click-through rates—and some advertisers have seen those rates climb appreciably. What it does for you can depend on a lot of things, including the keywords you select, the ads you write, and the settings you choose.

Improved? Ask these Advertisers
Results matter for Bankrate.com, which provides financial services to consumers. A long-time customer of Yahoo! Search Marketing, Bankrate takes a very performance-driven approach to search engine marketing. The company tested Yahoo!’s improved Content Match services this past August and September, and experienced significantly increased conversions during that period. “Yahoo!’s Content Match Network refocus on quality and relevancy has improved the delivery of the right message to the right person at the right time,” says Rafael Zorrilla, Bankrate.com’s Director of Interactive Marketing.

Lulu.com, a marketplace for digital content from authors, artists and musicians, has used Yahoo! Search Marketing for more than four years to point users to its services, which include free web storefronts and social networking offerings. Lulu’s Director of Search Engine Marketing, Dan London, has used Content Match on and off for the past two years. Recently, he noticed significant improvements to the service, including appreciably lower costs of conversion.

“In the last couple of months, I noticed that targeting our users through contextual ads was improving and that we were seeing more clicks at lower costs,” he says. “Although we had spent time improving the keywords in our campaigns, we knew that there had to be something more to it. After learning that Yahoo! had made improvements to its matching technology, it’s clear that it’s been part of what has driven this overall effectiveness.”

Why Content Match?
Content Match can help you reach a wider range of traffic than you could previously reach with search alone, and can help raise your brand awareness. You can:

Tap into the customers who visit Yahoo! and its content network for activities beside search, such as email or news.
Gain impressions at a relatively low cost and grow your brand.
Complement your offline and search campaigns.

Content Match has been a great service for Lulu, according to London. “Yahoo!’s Content Match has allowed us the opportunity to reach potential customers who do not turn to search engines to find what they need,” he says.

What Do I Need to Do?
The new matching technology is already running, so all you need to do is start a Content Match campaign. Because Content Match isn’t necessarily meant to target users when they are actively searching for your business, it may convert at a different rate than Sponsored Search. Keep in mind these basic guidelines when you set up your campaign:

Create Content Match-only campaigns to manage bids and budgets separately from Sponsored Search.
See how much you can afford, and adjust your bids as you learn the value of this traffic for you. If you add a Content Match campaign, you may need to adjust your budget accordingly.
Write specific ads and select targeted keywords for those ads, so that the ads are more likely to appear in the type of content where you want them.

If you’ve been using Content Match, you may already be noticing a bump. If you’re not using it yet and it fits your business, it may be worth a try.

— Jeff Sweat

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[ Categories: Updates & Enhancements ]
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19 Comments Add your own

1. cecil senior | October 10th, 2008 at 4:54 pm

yes i would like to have content mach since it is a better way out if i do no t have to tsssssstart all over again
2. Response | October 11th, 2008 at 3:59 am

Would be great if you had a way of opting in and out of clicks from domain parked landing pages.
3. Ben Newman | October 11th, 2008 at 6:05 am

Yes, this is a good thing. Is even better when we can manually select the domains for content match to appear and to keep the ads from displaying on domains that we individually do not find most relevant, in addition to the improved quality. Can make an add on to the present Yahoo! Search Marketing program interface from which we can customize and optimize our content match campaigns.
4. Abe Niang | October 11th, 2008 at 9:10 am

I wonder how big Yahoo’s content network is compared to google’s?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a click from Y! content network since I’ve been advertising there, hopefully that’ll change with the new match technology.
5. Glenn Summers | October 11th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

Well Now, isn’t this special !! Another task we have to try to understand and master so we can HOPE it drives more traffic to us. Sure I can take a week off and try to figure this latest thing out. Three years ago I was told how easy running a search marketing campaign was !! They Lied !!
6. Aaron | October 11th, 2008 at 5:20 pm

I appreciate Yahoo’s attempt at rescuing their content network.

Many advertisers have tried Yahoo’s Content Network, only to get burned with a lot of cheap, but non-converting, clicks. I know many people like myself who automatically turn off the content network, and it is an uphill battle for Yahoo to win those people back. The perception is that Yahoo’s content network is a scam.

A natural starting point would be to BE TRANSPARENT. It is simple with Google to see the web sites - indeed, the specific pages within a web site - where your content ad is running. And if there are certain sites on Google’s content network where your ad is successful, you can very easily start a campaign targeting that site. As far as I can tell, there is NOTHING on Yahoo that comes close to that level of transparency. So … with these so-called improvements, I wonder:

(a) when will Yahoo create a system that easily reports the impressions, clicks and conversions for each web site & page, like Google’s.
(b) When will we have the ability to specifically target individual web sites with our ads.

Although this blog post claims that Yahoo’s algorithm is better than before, I am certain I can write an ad has better click-thrus and conversions. Until Yahoo creates the ability to parse through the garbage web sites and target the quality ones (with higher bids, I might add), then there’s no way that I would use it.
7. covington5000 | October 11th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

I agree with the guty that can’t spell. I would like it too, but with minimal trouble.
8. FourPx | October 11th, 2008 at 10:18 pm

Hi,

Me just saw huge bumps in impressions and clicks in my account. Though the CTR was on the lower side. But that’s understandable….We are getting more and more content traffic….that’s a gt8 news….. Actually i was trying to generate YSM content traffic long back but iwas not able to generate noticable traffic…Now is the time…:)

Regards,
FourPx
9. Raheel | October 13th, 2008 at 12:29 am

Well I have been using YSM since 3 years and did not found Contents search very useful but as they mentioned that they improve there search and content searchers activity then I definitely will try for my campaigns in test then need to optimize before go for the full flagged run as in the past Yahoo Content option created a lot of impressions and waste clicks and I lost my $$.
10. Jacob | October 13th, 2008 at 9:03 am

Great Post Aaron. They likely won’t reply or will with “we strive to continually maximize the performance or content”.
11. Mark | October 13th, 2008 at 9:23 am

Aaron nails it right on the head. Yahoo’s Content Network has been filled with fraudulent, worthless sites for so long, that it is going to take more than Yahoo saying “it’s better now!” before SEM’s turn the Yahoo Content Network on again for clients.

Transparency is what we need. We need to be able to easily run a report that tells us what domains and pages the click from the Yahoo Content Network come from.
12. Colin Damon | October 13th, 2008 at 1:23 pm

Yahoo is great for starting your own business. there customes care is wonerful. Not to mention affordable. I’m 100% satisfied with the choice i made to go with Yahoo. Thannk you
Very Truly Yours
Mr.Colin Damon
p.s. I’m only at 40%of my budget at the end of the day, Can you show me how to get it up to at least 90%?
13. Nathan | October 16th, 2008 at 9:52 am

Virtually everyone I know using PPC has not had the best of luck with Yahoo’s content match. This is certainly a welcome change as there are many advertisers looking for more volume, provided that the quality of traffic decent.
14. wes | October 16th, 2008 at 11:37 am

I have found the whole program to be a worthless pit into which you can throw your money if you like. Even using only search only I encountered hits from the same web sites over and over even after I blocked them. The only real purpose these sites served were to milk the accounts. If I remember right they were a 25% or > of the total of all the hits I received. I tracked a few of the sites down to one server in S. America or Florida (not sure anymore) with 15,000 sites on it. But anyway as fast as I blocked the sites they dreamed up new domains and pages. It was unbelievable. I stopped using YSS awhile back. Haven’t canceled the account yet as I have been hoping they would clean up their act.
15. Joseph | October 16th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

After reading all of your comments, I am very discouraged by Yahoo’s attempt to supply us with “quality” search marketing. It seemed like a good deal at the time. I have yet to create a campaign for my web-based tutoring site (college business). Any suggestions? How do I make the most of my money while limiting “waste” clicking?
16. Andreas Pfister (SEM) | October 20th, 2008 at 5:59 am

I never tried the Yahoo Content Match. I’ll give it a shot to get some results so I can compare it with Google.
17. The Unit | November 14th, 2008 at 5:50 pm

I still believe that content match is a waste of money. A lot of clicks and very little conversion. I’ll stick with sponsored search.
18. robert | November 15th, 2008 at 9:10 am

Any time someone suggests that I buy some type of advertising because it would be good to ‘promote brand awareness’ I grab my wallet and hang on tight.
19. Nancy Miller | January 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 pm

I have tried, unsuccessfully, for weeks to sign up for the content match on Yahoo Publisher. It continuously hangs up at the “Loading One Momemt Please” point. Any suggestions from anyone?