It looks like the transition of Yahoo to Bing for it’s advertising platform (Micro-hoo) is finally happening. In case you were not aware, Yahoo has been testing the use of Bing for its search results for several weeks. Yahoo made the full-time switch to Bing results last week (if you search on Yahoo, you now get Bing results). The date for Yahoo to start using Bing’s AdCenter platform has been less clear, but it appears now that the transition will start later this week.
see: http://www.ysmblog.com/blog/2010/08/17/important-updates-on-search-transitions/
SEM Huntsville adcenter, bing, microhoo, Search Marketing
I attended a seminar today that discussed the Microsoft (AdCenter) /Yahoo (Panama) transition. I have hit several preliminary discussions on this topic at conferences, but this was the first one that had any real information about the Microhoo transition.
The seminar was lead by representatives from Microsoft and Yahoo and they set forth a time-line that showed the transition starting in August for completion by mid-October. They were careful to point out that this transition only effects search results and paid search campaigns (not other services such as Yahoo/Hotmail mail, Yahoo/Live log-ins etc).
After the transition, all organic and paid search results on Yahoo and Bing displayed will come from Microsoft. Presentation of the results may differ, but rank and ad order will appear the same in search results for both.
Once complete, the plan is to use the AdCenter interface to manage and view the performance of ads running on Yahoo and Bing with a single bid strategy across both engines. There was a good deal of discussion about improvements being made to that AdCenter desktop to provide better support and performance for very large campaigns. The interface will have improved import/export capabilities.
Yahoo users will see new features including.
- Exact, Phrase, and Broad (formerly advanced) match options
- Match types will not apply to negatives (AdCenter is adding ability to have more Negatives)
- Separate bidding for misspellings, plural, and singular terms
- Create custom reports, improved keyword tools
- Content Network support
- 30 character headline drops to 25 (!)
- Microsoft’s Dynamic Keyword Insertion method
- A search query report will be available.
- No decision yet on how Yahoo conversion tracking will be migrated/supported, but it sounded like Microsoft conversion codes will be the norm going forward.
- Bidding/Trademark policies will be merged into a single policy.
The transition sounded somewhat like the transition from Overture to Yahoo Marketing. If you already have campaigns running in Yahoo (Panama), you won’t be forced to migrate (at least not immediately). Once Panama users migrate their accounts to the AdCenter, any accumulated conversion history from old campaigns will be lost.
More information at:
SEM Huntsville adcenter, AdCenter Desktop Beta, bing, microhoo, microsoft, yahoo marketing
I have assisted with a number of product beta’s over the years, but was flattered when Microsoft contacted me to do an interview about my involvement in the AdCenter beta program.
see: Thank You for Helping Improve Microsoft adCenter
SEM Huntsville adcenter, AdCenter Desktop Beta
The big news in the press today is the Microsoft/Yahoo deal. I have already received questions about this from a couple of clients, so I thought it best to expand here.
In the deal the search brand at Yahoo will remain to be “Yahoo Search” but it will be “Powered by Bing.” There will be no immediate changes however until they get regulatory approval, following approval the integration effort will move forward (expected early 2010).
What about allocating advertising dollars?
In the deal it appears that some mix of Yahoo Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter advertising will continue. It was reported that Yahoo ads will continue to run in the Yahoo properties with Microsoft getting 12% of the revenue and some Yahoo ads will be syndicated over the Microsoft network. Bing will run ads on Microsoft properties (and may run some ads on the Yahoo network as well), but the details are unclear at this point. It will take some time for all this to shake out, with conversions rates ultimately determining where ad dollars will need to be spent.
What about optimizing for Bing?
This is really a non-starter, Google’s market share is so large that doing anything that could compromise your traffic from that engine would be a mistake. Unless Bing’s market share increases more than just picking up Yahoo traffic, there is really no point – as long as the feature sets remain similar. If features emerge that are unique to Bing, and could be supported without impacting your Google traffic, then optimizating for those features would be in order.
Press Release: http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com/thedeal/pressroom/Default.aspx
SEM Huntsville, SEO Huntsville adcenter, bing, yahoo marketing
I had a meeting at Yahoo this week. The meeting was targeted at companies heavy into affiliate programs. We heard from a number of program managers, but because I am under NDA, can’t disclose all the great stuff they are working on. However, I will say these guys are not sitting around worrying about Microsoft. They are firmly focused on the future and presented an impressive list of products and upgrades. Most interesting was some of the stuff going on with PPC management and while I can’t be specific, I think I can say that managing PPC on Yahoo is about to get a lot easier.
I know Yahoo isn’t the shinning star of the industry they once were, but these guys get a lot of stuff right. Google has the search traffic and therefore the money and therefore the clout, but judging by Microsoft’s track record, they don’t have the stuff to make Yahoo better.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Microsoft ‘hater.’ In fact I was a liaison to Microsoft when I was at Intergraph and spent a fair amount of time on the Redmond campus, they get a lot right. Tons of R&D and top people, but their leadership in office applications doesn’t currently translate to search or internet services.
So did Yahoo make the right decision? If I were a shareholder, I would probably wouldn’t think so. As a Internet marketing guy, I am glad to they didn’t merge this into Microsoft’s AdCenter mess. Yahoo had a business before the MS deal and it still does.
Yahoo has great people, product, and heart.
SEM Huntsville adcenter, ppc, Yahoo
