Posts filed under 'Yahoo! News'

Happy Birthday, Dear Domain Name

Domain names turn 25

It’s tough being in your twenties. You may still be young enough to party like a rock star, but no one yet respects you. (Try pulling up your pants and getting a hair cut. Maybe that will help.) Today domain names turned 25 years old. The first .com domain name, “Symbolics.com,” was registered by a Massachusetts computer company on March 15, 1985.

The first ten domains:

• Symbolics.com – March 15, 1985
• BBN.com – April 24, 1985
• Think.com – May 24, 1985
• MCC.com – July 11, 1985
• DEC.com – Sept. 30, 1985
• Northrop.com – Nov. 7, 1985
• Serox.com – Jan. 9, 1986
• SRI.com – Jan. 17, 1986
• HP.com – March 3, 1986
• Bellcore.com – March 5, 1986

“Yahoo.com”—you’ve heard of them—was registered Jan. 18, 1995. For more, read Benny Evangelista’s piece on SFGate.com.

— The Team

(Image by jessica.diamond via Flickr, CC 2.0)

Questions about the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance

Advertisers and agencies have questions; we have answers

A few weeks ago, we announced U.S. and E.U clearance for the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance. This was, naturally, big news in the search marketing world. That post garnered some 60 comments from our engaged advertising and agency customers. Most of these comments were positive.

Understandably, some of you had questions and concerns about your accounts. But the most important fact for you to know regarding the search alliance is that, as noted in our FAQ’s:

We will begin with the algorithmic search transition, with a goal of completing transition of at least the U.S. market by the end of 2010. We also hope to make significant progress transitioning U.S. advertisers and publishers in 2010 prior to the crucial holiday season, but may wait until 2011 if we determine that the transition will be more effective after the holiday season. All global customers and partners are expected to be transitioned by early 2012.

What do I do now?
This naturally invokes the question, “So what do I, as an advertiser, need to do in the meantime?” The short answer is “nothing.” Keep on doing what you’re doing. During this time, we’ll continue innovating and we’ll ping you when routine updates and enhancements are made available—just as we do now. When the time comes to transition your account to Microsoft adCenter, you’ll be informed about what you’ll need to do, with instructions on how to do it.

What about all of Yahoo’s bells and whistles?
Several of you asked, in short, if all the bells and whistles that you have come to expect from Yahoo! will be ported over to your future Microsoft adCenter account—things like negative keywords, character length of ads, and so forth. Our answer:

As you might expect, Yahoo!’s Sponsored Search platform and Microsoft’s adCenter platform are not identical, but they offer many similar features, tools and reports. Before any advertiser transitions begin, Yahoo! and Microsoft will work together so that our advertisers have a high-quality product that is as familiar as possible and easy to use.

Finally, here are answers to some of your very specific questions:

Nick Gowdy asks: Are we still going to be able to choose the networks on which we advertise? E.g. Yahoo! Search, Bing Search, Yahoo! Search Partners, Bing Search Partners, etc.

Answer: Once Yahoo! Sponsored Search advertisers are transitioned to Microsoft’s search platforms, advertisers will not be permitted to select traffic solely from Bing or solely from Yahoo!

Avromie asks: Anybody know what will happen with SearchMonkey results?

Answer: Yahoo! and Microsoft are sharing ideas for how to advance the SearchMonkey vision of building an ecosystem for developers, publishers, and the semantic web. The landscape is complex, so we’re working hard to determine which path provides the best value for site owners and end users.

SEM All Stars asks: I use YWA (Yahoo! Web Analytics). Is that still going to work?

Answer: Yahoo! and Microsoft plan to provide high-quality, competitive search analytics, but the details are still being determined. As transition plans are established, we will communicate more detail about what you can expect in terms of analytics tools.

Jo asks: Why not give people the choice—those who want to switch can, but those who want to stay with YSM should be able to have that option as well. Is this possible?

Answer: Sorry, no: All Sponsored Search advertisers will use the adCenter platform for their paid search campaigns following their transition, and the “Panama” system will no longer be available. The post-transition unified search marketplace will provide numerous benefits to advertisers, including increased volume, greater ease of doing business, and increased innovation.

Brett West asks: When the alliance takes effect, will it be necessary to maintain advertising accounts with both Yahoo! and Bing/Microsoft or will they be merged somehow?

Answer: Approximately three months in advance, advertisers will receive multiple communications from Yahoo! and Microsoft that will provide details on what to expect during the transition process. When the transition date arrives, Yahoo! and Microsoft will work together to transition your account to the adCenter platform. You will have flexibility to keep your existing adCenter accounts or create new accounts for the unified search marketplace.

Was your question not answered?
As the agreement between Yahoo! and Microsoft only recently received regulatory clearance, we have not had the opportunity to fully discuss every one of your questions with Microsoft and make a determination on each. But we will certainly provide more details to both agencies and advertisers before the transition occurs. Stay tuned.

For more, visit the Yahoo! Transition Center.

— The Team

4A’s Conference Round-Up

Trends and tips from the smartest minds in advertising

This week, your indefatigable Yahoo! Advertising correspondents went on a field trip to the 4A’s “Transformation 2010” conference in San Francisco. (Those 4A’s stand for the American Association of Advertising Agencies.) While there, we did old the meet and greet, tweeted, and posted to Facebook our take-aways from some the smartest minds in the advertising world. We even did a little live blogging and took some video, too. (Lookin’ good, Carol!)

For a round-up of some the most interesting sessions, switch over to the Yahoo! Advertising blog.

Ad News and Views from Around the Web

Segmenting segmentation; bad tech predictions; activity streams are the new black; consumers using online search for offline research, and more

What segmentation is right for you?
“There are three main types of segmentation,” says ClickZ’s Neil Mason. “Demographic segmentation, behavioral segmentation, and attitudinal segmentation. But which one is best? It really depends on what problem you’re trying to solve.”

The Internet’s doomed—and other bad tech predictions
Writing in Slate, Farhad Manjoo takes on the 1995 prediction that the Internet was doomed to fail, and discusses how you can avoid making bad predictions about technology in the future.

“Activity streams?”
It’s an idea for a new, free, more open Internet model, and it may just be the next big thing. And Yahoo! is right there, innovating. ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick explains what activitystreams are and what they may mean for the future.

Even if you’re brick and mortar, you still gotta be online
This comes by way of Greg Sterling over at Screenwerk. According to a recent poll, 94 percent of consumers did some research online prior to making a purchase. While e-commerce only makes up four percent of U.S. retail sales, people overwhelmingly (61 percent) use Internet search to research a purchase.

Creative Spotlight: Verizon’s “Big Red”
We expect literature and film to be self-reflexive. Art refers to itself. L’art pour l’art, right? For example, in the Oscar-nominated Quentin Tarantino film, “Inglorious Basterds,” nearly every scene is an homage to another film. But advertising? Not usually. Advertising tends to be all about the next big thing with little regard to the advertising of the past. But Verizon has recently released an ad that riffs on the iconic “Big Red” chewing gum TV commercial. It’s pretty clever, though don’t watch it more than once because the jingle will take over your brain (which we guess means that it’s working).

— Michael Mattis

Science, Art and Scale

Carol Bartz: What Yahoo! offers advertisers

Yahoo! can bring advertisers a combination of strengths that no one else can, Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz said in a keynote speech at the 4A’s Transformation 2010 conference today, because only Yahoo! offers them three things: science, art and scale.

Carol, speaking to the advertising industry group in San Francisco, said, “We want Yahoo! to be the partner you turn to for answers and solutions, and most importantly—when you want results.” By providing science, art and scale, Yahoo can help advertisers and agencies master online advertising.

Science
“Science is incredibly important,” Carol said. “Without it, we’re all flying blind.” She said it’s even more important because the Internet is moving so fast that it’s creating chaos for advertisers. In order to help advertisers sort through that information, Yahoo! can advertisers better insights, better data, and better targeting. “This means less wasted impressions and a better ability to reach your audience,” Carol said.

To read on, visit the Yahoo! Advertising blog.

Yahoolympics scores 17.5 million fans

Yahoo! attracts largest online Olympic audience, Feb. 8 to 14

Whether it’s figure skating, freestyle skiing , snowboarding, hockey, or this year’s big game, curling, Winter Olympics fans are turning online in record numbers. And Yahoo!—the single most visited site for the Winter Olympics—is winning the gold in terms of unique visitors.

Yahoo’s Olympics site attracted 9.3 million unique visitors from February 8 to 14, according to comScore. That’s the largest online Olympics audience for the period, which included the Opening Ceremony and the first three days of competition, while Yahoo! Sports attracted more than 17.5 million unique visitors. Yahoo’s Olympics site surpassed both NBC’s Olympics site (6.5 million unique visitors) and ESPN (8.4 million unique visitors) during the same period.

For more, visit the Yahoo! Advertising blog.

(Curling image by bensonkua via Flickr, CC 2.0)

Ad News and Views from Around the Web

Yaho0! and Twitter team up; advertising is good; ad groups 101; Yahoo’s head of search on the Microsoft alliance, and more

Yahoo! gets all Twitterpated
Last night we announced a new partnership with Twitter that integrates Twitter’s real-time social experiences with Yahoo’s global network of more than 600 million users. Together with the recently announced Facebook integration, this relationship is a key part of advancing our social strategy, transforming Yahoo! into a highly customizable social experience that lets people unify their activity from their many social experiences across the Web. Good for users. Great for advertisers. For more details, head on over to Yodel Anecdotal.

Affiliates beware: Cali sales tax looming
Many search and display advertiser run affiliate networks, whereby they become the middle-men between consumers and suppliers. It’s a good business and one that provides an essential service. But the State of California is considering imposing a sales tax on affiliate sites that have suppliers in the state. While aimed at the big boys like Amazon.com and Overstock.com, the law could affect any affiliate site with relationships in the Golden State. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Carolyn Said explains.

Online ads help shoppers save
Advertising is often taken to the pillory for being self-serving. That’s just not fair. Good advertising serves an essential need in society. Without it, how would you know that there’s a better—or cheaper—mousetrap out there? eMarketer explains how online advertising is helping consumers save cash in tough times.

Once more, with feeling
In an intriguing piece in the libertarian journal Reason, Greg Beato cites the film “Art & Copy” and the cable TV hit “Mad Men,” to show that, contrary to popular opinion, advertising—like documentary film—can be a medium for truth-telling. Advertising, says Beato, works best when consumers feel that you are telling the truth about your product or service. We agree, truth be told.

ClickEquation’s ad groups 101
We’ve chatted about ad groups before. But don’t take it entirely from us. ClickEquation’s Craig Danuloff explores how ad groups work and how they can benefit your PPC campaigns. Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

AdAge’s digital marketing guide to social Media
AdAge’s David Berkowitz offers up 16 answers to questions that people are asking now about marketing via social media—16 really good answers.

Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance coverage
By now you’ve no doubt heard about the Yahoo! and Microsoft search alliance. It’s kind of a big deal. So big, in fact, that this blog saw a 100-percent increase in traffic, there were 246 pieces of original news coverage, 283 broadcast clips and some 5,000 tweets—all in the first two days after the announcement. Here’s a synopsis of some of the most interesting news and analysis.

• Fox News
• The Beeb (BBC)
• MarketWatch
• Search Engine Land
• Marketing Pilgrim
• Search Engine Journal
• The London Telegraph on EU approval
• And, just for fun: The New York Times Yahoo! history timeline

A chat with Shashi Seth, our new SVP of Yahoo! Search Products
It’s been a busy month since Shashi Seth joined Yahoo! as our new Senior Vice President of Yahoo! Search Products. In this video, Seth talks about his first month at Yahoo! and clarifies what he sees as some of the most important aspects of the agreement with Microsoft. View the video below, or visit the Yahoo! Search blog for more detail.

— Michael Mattis

New Alliance Heralds New Opportunities

How the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance works for advertisers

Yahoo! and Microsoft have received U.S. and E.U. regulatory clearance for their search transaction. The Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance will provide a competitive search platform that we believe will drive innovation in search and search advertising, offer a more engaging and personalized experience for consumers, and create greater value for advertisers and publishers. It will not immediately affect your account.

How this benefits you
Once implemented, the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance will allow advertisers to:

Reach more customers—The alliance will help you reach up to 150 million searchers and get approximately 62 percent more search volume* than on Yahoo! alone through a new, unified search marketplace combining the Yahoo! and Microsoft networks. We’ll continue to innovate and enhance the search experience on our leading Web properties, driving even more search volume.

Save valuable time and effort—Once implemented, you’ll be able log into one place—Microsoft’s adCenter—to manage all your campaigns, for greater efficiency and a better return on investment. You’ll also be able to reach users on both Yahoo! and Microsoft sites, as well as other premium partner sites.

Benefit from rapid innovation—Yahoo! is continually delivering new features and innovations  to the world’s favorite online destinations, content, and Web products used by hundreds of millions of consumers to connect to the people and things that matter to them most. That innovation will only accelerate under the new alliance. Microsoft will continue to develop the underlying technologies that drive high quality algorithmic and paid search results, while we will use our resources to improve the advertiser and consumer search experience.

We expect advertisers, publishers and consumers to benefit from this alliance. By establishing a more competitive paid search marketplace, publishers (our affiliate partners) will also benefit through potentially better monetization and stronger innovation, while end users will benefit by our increased focus on creating even more engaging and personalized experience for our users.

What should I do now?
Nothing. There will be no immediate changes to your account. Both companies are committed to making this transition as seamless and beneficial to you as possible. Our aim is a high quality transition of advertisers and partners in at least the U.S. prior to the 2010 holiday season. However, we may wait until 2011 if we determine this will be more effective.

Continue to stay tuned to this blog and your account alerts for news and information on the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance.

For more on the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, visit:

• The Yahoo! Transition Center.

—The Team

*Sources:  comScore custom data, December 2009 and comScore qSearch December, 2009, respectively

Ad News and Views from Around the Web

Advertising beyond the Super Bowl;  does social really sell?; Right Media’s future, and more

Advertising the Super Bowl, and beyond
Mitch Spolan, our VP of North American field sales, has just posted a point-of-view commentary on MediaPost, on how digital advertisers are seeing gold in big-ticket events like the Super Bowl, which have traditionally been dominated by TV, radio and print. “Cultural events like the Super Bowl still matter,” says Mitch. “The good news for online marketers is that people are increasingly turning to the Internet for coverage of these events, and audience size and engagement is beginning to reach—and sometimes exceed—that of the original broadcast.” That goes whether you’re a search or display advertiser. To see how advertisers are making the shift online and get some tips for yourself, click over to MediaPost.

Social’s fine, but does it sell?
With all the hype around social media marketing and how it’s good for your brand and customer support, the question arises, “Fine, but does it sell?” AdWeek’s Brian Morrisey asks that question, and adds, “What’s a Facebook friend worth?” He answers with two telling case studies.

Retargeting 101
Search Marketing Standard’s Chris Stiner offer a quick, concise what-is-it? /  how-do-you-do-it? on retargeting for both search and display. “Ad agencies and ad networks all offer some sort of retargeting,” he says, “and the common reason for doing this is clear.” It sure is.

Socialize your website with Yahoo! Apps
Web advertisers are also web publishers. You kind of have to be if you want your customers to land somewhere after clicking on your ads. The Yahoo! Application Protocol, or YAP, lets your developers create apps to socialize your content on your users’ Yahoo! homepages. For a real-life example, see Chris Marlowe’s article on the Huffington Post’s new socializing “YAP app” over at the YPN blog.

Advertiser, regulate thyself
Regulation has been on the Fed’s docket since the financial meltdown. That’s not surprising. But here’s the deal, says MediaWeek’s Mike Shields: In digital advertising, over-regulation could damage innovation. Advertisers can either regulate themselves, or the government will likely step in. The Internet Advertising Bureau is lobbying for the former, but in order for that to work out, advertisers need to commit, become more transparent, and allow consumers more choice.

Right Media looking forward
It’s kind of Darwinian. Ad markets change and ad networks change with them. At the fore of that evolution is Right Media, Yahoo’s ad network exchange. “Right Media is actively addressing the needs of the differentiated ad networks, direct advertisers, and global agencies to enable brand safety in our premium marketplace,” say Right Media’s Brooke Wyard and Megan Pagliuca. To see how Right Media’s evolving, and how that evolution may affect exchange advertisers, click over to the Right Media blog.

— Michael Mattis

Speaking of Search

Yahoo! media event spotlights search innovation

Because we’re constantly working to make the search experience more relevant, we also want the world to understand what we’re up to in the search business. That’s why today we hosted a media event, SearchSpeak 2010, to help the media know what’s going on.

The event, at our Sunnyvale, Calif. headquarters, featured our new senior VP of search products, Shashi Seth, David Pann, VP of search advertising, and a slew of other executives. Shashi told the audience about consumer search innovations, and talked about the importance of search to Yahoo!, even in light of our potential partnership with Microsoft. “Yahoo has been in search, is in search, and will continue to be in the future,” Shashi said. “We’ll continue to drive innovation. It’s our stake in the ground.”

David talked about our latest innovations in paid search, including our network distribution feature and the Yahoo! Search Marketing Desktop. “We’re focused on three key areas for advertising,” David said: “Better value, transparency and control, and innovation.”

Here’s an example of what the press is saying about Yahoo! search after today’s event:

All Things Digital: “[They debuted] a new mobile search app that uses a kind of Etch-a-Sketch type drawing technology–using fingers and not keywords–to help users find stuff.”

USA Today: “Yahoo executives are spending most of this morning outlining the company’s ambitious search plans.”

Dow Jones Newswires: “A senior Yahoo Inc. executive said Wednesday that the Web giant hasn’t exited the Internet search market, despite the company’s decision to strike a search pact last year with Microsoft Corp.”

TechCrunch: “Yahoo has been in search, is in search, and will continue to be in the future.”

Mashable: “The point seems to be: ‘We’re a pretty damn good search engine, you can’t ignore us!’ And in many respects, they’re right.”

—The Team

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