Posts filed under 'Account Upgrade Info'

New Ranking Model Launched

This afternoon, the Yahoo! Search Marketing team began rolling out our new ranking model across the US network. This roll-out is a major component of our company-wide search initiative, code-named, “Panama.” As mentioned in our previous post, both bid amount and ad quality will now determine an ad’s rank in search results.
 
The new ranking model is designed to help both our search users and advertisers. How? By generating better results, users will receive higher quality search ads. When users engage with these higher quality search ads, advertisers will receive more interested, valuable potential customers. We hope this further encourages you—our advertising customers—to continuously improve the quality of your search ads for users.
 
We realize that this is a big change for you. To help make your transition to the new ranking model successful, we’re offering numerous resources, both here on the blog, within the core application and elsewhere.
 
We hope the new ranking model will offer a continually improving search experience for all our customers and look forward to your feedback.

—Tim Cadogan, Vice President of Search

3… 2… 1… Liftoff

New ad ranking model rolling out in the U.S. today

As noted in our January 23 post, the new ad ranking model rolls out across the U.S. network today. You may begin seeing changes in the way your ads are ranked throughout the day. Come back to the blog often for updates and tips.

—The Team

New Ad Ranking: Five Best-Practices

These practices can help make your ads more effective

It’s a pretty big move, this new ranking model we posted about last week. To recap, on February 5, 2007, we’re introducing a new ranking model in the U.S. that considers both an ad’s quality and bid amount in determining an ad’s rank in search results.

Here are five practices that you, if you have upgraded to the new platform, should put in place right away in order to get the most out of the new ranking model, and out of your account:

1. Include keywords in your ad (use our Insert Keyword feature).
2. Carefully determine keywords for your ad group.
3. Use ad testing to learn which messages are performing best for you, based on click-through rate normalized for position
4. Use our Excluded Keyword feature to help optimize your Advanced match type. 
5. Review your current bids and set a campaign budget to meet your business goals. 

Learn more about these tips here. (If you have not upgraded, here is a special set of tips for you.)

To learn more about the new ranking model and how to prepare for it, click here. 

—The Team

Improving Ad Quality, Part I

The Equalizer

Change can be scary. But fear is typically a function of control. If you feel like you have control of the situation you’re less likely to be scared. Think of it like the difference between swimming in a pool and swimming in the ocean.

We’ve just announced that, on February 5, 2007 in the U.S., we will be introducing another major change—we’ll be launching a new ranking model that determines the ranking in search results based on bid amount and ad quality. Essentially, higher quality ads may receive better placement in search results.  

To some, this may be scary because you feel as though you are losing control over the rank of your ads.  However, there’s another way to look at it:  This change can be The Equalizer. Achieving a particular rank is no longer simply a function of the amount of your bid. By taking an active interest in improving the quality of your ads, you can compete—and perhaps win—against competitors both big and small. You can win because as you develop more relevant ads you may be rewarded with better placement.

Let me offer an example of how this can play out.  Imagine a user is searching for “televisions.”  Below is an example of two ads ranked according to the current system—max bid:

Hot Savings
Hot deals on all electronics. Click here for savings.
http://www.planet-of-electronics.com/

Televisions from Electronics Planet
Plasma, flat screen, HDTV and more. Free shipping on select models of televisions.
http://www.electronics-planet.net/

The second ad, “Televisions from Electronics Planet,” is clearly more relevant than the first ad, “Hot Savings,” for that particular search. However, under the old current bid-to-position ranking model, it the second ad would be relegated to the second position because this advertiser has not bid enough. But under the new ranking model, “Televisions from Electronics Planet,” could appear higher in search results without actually having to beat the higher bidder’s bid because of the ad’s higher quality. And, in some cases, the cost-per-click (CPC) could actually go down at the same time. (For a little more on how an ad’s quality is determined, see our previous post.)

Taking control of your ad quality
To take control of this change, you have to understand how you can improve the quality of your ads. In coordination with the launch of the new ranking model, we thought it would be important to spend the next couple of posts focusing on three features of the new advertising system that you can take advantage of to help improve your ads’ quality:

• Insert Keyword feature
• Ad Testing
• Ad Group Structure

Each of these features can be used to help increase the relevance of your ads to the keywords that you are bidding on, and to the searches on related terms. In a nutshell, improving relevance is how you can best improve your ads’ quality and thus, possibly, your ranking. We’ll go into detail on each subject in the coming weeks.

Yes, this change is a big one. And yes, this change may require some effort on your part. But by taking an active role in improving the quality of your ads, you’ll be one step closer to leaving the scary ocean behind and floating in a refreshing pool with a tropical fruit cocktail in your hand. Ahhhh…

—Michael Egan, Sr. Director, Content Solutions

An Important Change to the Way Ads Are Ranked in the U.S.

Bid amount and ad quality will determine an ad’s rank in search results beginning February 5, 2007 in the U.S.

In search advertising, user satisfaction and advertiser value are two sides of the same coin. To help create a better experience for our users and help encourage you to create better, more focused ads that are more appealing to your potential customers, we are changing the way that ads are ranked in the U.S. market. Ads in search results will be ranked by both bid amount and ad quality. This change, which will impact all advertisers, is designed to allow you to focus less on competitive bidding 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 reduced cost for your ads.

An ad’s quality will be determined by:

• Its historical performance—the ad’s click-through rate relative to its position in search results
• Its expected performance—determined by various relevance factors considered by Yahoo!’s ranking algorithms, relative to other ads displayed at the same time

You’ll be able to gain an understanding of your ad’s overall quality by looking at its quality index in the new search marketing system.

Ad ranking raison d’etre
When users engage with highly relevant ads, advertisers receive interested, valuable potential customers. This new ad ranking model should, in the long run, help bring up the value of our network for everyone: advertisers, partners, publishers and consumers alike.

To learn more about the quality index and the new approach to ad ranking, please click here. Also, be sure and check out the Yodel Anecdotal post from our CEO, Terry Semel, about what “Panama” means in the grand scheme of things.

Please note: If you would like to request an upgrade, please submit your request on our Online Reservation Page, and we will try to accommodate you.

—The Team

Upgrade Webinar Now Live

Extra! Extra! Learn All About It!

To help get advertisers up to speed on their account upgrades, we’ve created a live webinar that is now available for any advertiser to view. This interactive session, which lasts about 90 minutes, is moderated by Karen Sharkey and Marc Stevens, two of our customer solutions champions. The presentation takes you through the upgrade process and shows you how to navigate—and take advantage of—the new interface.

The webinar is archived in the Help section. Anyone can view an archived webinar, whether they are a Yahoo! Search Marketing advertiser or not. All you need to do is enter your first and last name and your email address.

—The Team

Benefits of the New Platform

Easier to use, new features, new possibilities

Not everyone has the iPhone fetish. Not everyone leapt out to order a New Beetle or a new Mini Cooper the second they were announced. Some of us, like yours truly, prefer not to be the early adopter, but prefer to adopt a wait-and-see-attitude.

That’s why we’ve offered everyone the chance to upgrade to the new Sponsored Search sooner if they want, or, to wait until their scheduled date.

But there are lots of benefits that come with upgrading to the new platform, including an easy-to-use control panel, fast ad activation that allows most ads to go online in minutes, ad testing that let’s you see which ads work best, geo-targeting, enhanced campaign budgeting, forecasting and scheduling, and greater visibility into your ads’ performance.

Test… test…
If you’re nervous about diving in, don’t be. The new system has been pounded on relentlessly by some of the hardest-to-please fellow advertisers, and tweaked to ensure that it addresses the issues that are most important to you.

We’re still making improvements. We’ll continue to update and enhance the system as we move forward into 2007 and beyond, adding new features and functions.

Keep your eye on the email
If you’re not planning on requesting an early upgrade, you’ll want to keep an eye on your email in-box. Two weeks before your scheduled upgrade date, we’ll send you a note to help you get prepared. Here on the blog, we’ve posted a number of articles to help you prepare your account and smooth your upgrade.

About a week after you receive your upgrade notice, you’ll a get second note from us with details on how you can preview your upgraded account and get familiar with all the changes. (Here’s a helpful article about how to navigate your new account.) Once in the preview, you’ll be able to upgrade your account at any time by clicking the “Upgrade Now” button.

Keep in mind that whether you’re a trendy early adopter or a conservative dallier (or simply a habitual procrastinator), you will be upgraded eventually, so it’s best to be prepared.

—Michael Mattis

Third-Party Tools Update

Some advertisers may experience changes

The changes we’re currently undergoing affect everyone, including those third-party providers who have built tools around our search advertising services. If you use these “API” services, you may notice changes in the way that they perform.

Rest assured, we have worked very closely with our tool providers to get things ironed out in connection with the introduction of our new search advertising platform. We’ve built a team of dedicated technical account managers, as well as a special customer solutions group, whose focus is to support migration for third-party providers. In fact, working very closely with our partners, we have been able to successfully migrate more than 95 percent of our top-tier partners onto Panama by the readiness due date.

That said, it remains the tool provider’s responsibility to ensure that its applications are operable with the new search advertising platform, and also to communicate any issues or delays to its clients directly. If you experience any issues with your tool provider, be sure to let them know. We pledge to work with them to help resolve the issue.

—The Team

Upgrade Resources

The Upgrade Center and New Quick Start Guide can help ease your upgrade

We know change can be hard. And while most of the response to the New Sponsored Search has been positive, there have also been, understandably, quite a few questions. To help answer these questions, we’ve put together a pretty comprehensive package of online resources.

The first of these is the Upgrade Center, permanently linked to from the right-hand margin of this page. 

On the right hand side of the Upgrade Center home page, you’ll find a yellow box containing links to the most basic information about your upgrade, including What’s New, info on how the upgrade may affect you, an Upgrade Checklist, plus notes on preparing for your upgrade.

In addition, there are two slick little flash presentations, the Account Upgrade Tutorial and the Navigating Your New Account Tutorial that you’ll want to view. For those of you who like to read the book before seeing the movie, you can also download these as PDFs and print them out.

Start Quickly
On the bottom half of the page you’ll find several more links, the newest of which is the Quick Start Guide. This comprehensive guide can help you whether you are planning to upgrade soon, have recently done so, or are completely new to Yahoo! Search Marketing. It provides instructions on everything from how to find your keywords to understanding how your budget was applied.

The Upgrade Center also links out to our FAQs which is a vast repository of information, resources and tools to help you optimize your campaigns and be a more effective advertiser. Did you know, for example, that Yahoo! Search Marketing offers monthly Training Seminars and Workshops in different locations throughout the country, or that we offer easy-use online ROI and CPM calculators? Start with the Quick Start Guide and explore all the resources at your disposal.
 

—The Team 

The New Bidding System

Helpful hints for managing your account

No feature of the new Sponsored Search has garnered more attention in the blogosphere than the bidding system, with its snappy, graphical presentation and dynamic slider-bar functionality.

Kudos aside, we know new things can sometimes be a little bit confusing. So here’s a little play-by-play of how the new bidding system works. Take a look at the screenshot below:

Notice in the lower-right corner (highlighted) that there are two boxes. Each box contains a data tool that corresponds to a specific set of information: Estimated Clicks per Bid and Bid Range for Top Positions.

Bid Range for Top Positions
This bit of data is designed to help you with your bidding decisions at the ad group level or at the keyword level depending on how tightly you want to manage your bids. In general, you may want to manage at the ad group level, as you might find this to be  easier.  For special, high-priority keywords, however, you may want to manage at the keyword level. (To manage at the keyword level, just click on the keyword itself.) The Bid Range for Top Positions column is designed to offer the latest available range of bids for the positions at the top of the search results page. Want to appear at the top? Then your bid must be within or above this range.

Estimated Clicks per Bid sliding graph

This groovy little widget is designed to help you understand the number of clicks your ad may receive for a given bid. This information is important if you want to see how changes in your bid may affect your results. By moving the slider back and forth to increase or decrease your bid, you can see how your estimated monthly clicks, your position and share of available clicks may be impacted. The estimated number of clicks is calculated using your bid and historical keyword data (such as the previous bids of other advertisers, monthly click volume for your keywords, and other factors).

So which tool should I use?
It depends on what you’re trying to do. If you want your ad to appear at the top of the search results, then consider using the Bid Range for Top Positions to help guide your bidding. If you want to estimate how many clicks you may receive for a particular bid, use the Estimated Clicks per Bid sliding graph.It’s important to note that the Bid Range for Top Positions uses recent data and the Clicks per Bid sliding graph uses historical data, so there may sometimes appear to be a discrepancy between the two data sets. Also, please remember that both of these features use estimates only and are not a guarantee of click volume. Factors other than bid amount—such as the bidding behavior of other advertisers, your campaign settings and your ad performance—may also influence your position.

Thanks and happy bidding!

—The Team

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