Yahoo Search Marketing Goes for Mystery Bidding
It looks like the folks at Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) have started to drink from the Google keep everybody guessing and in the dark kool aid from the info I just got in an email.
As you will soon notice when you log into your Sponsored Search account, we are making some important changes to your Manage Bids page.
In early December 2006, some of the information on the Manage Bids page will no longer be available. We will be removing the "Top 5 Max Bids," "Position" and "Your Cost" columns from the current account interface. The View Bids tool will also be removed.
These columns will be replaced with two new columns of data:
Estimated Average Position
This displays an estimate of the average position your listing may achieve, based on your bid and the current bids of other advertisers.Bid Range for Top Positions
This displays the current range of bids other advertisers are willing to pay for the positions at the top of the search results page.Get the full scoop Head’s Up: New Bidding Information Coming
Thanks for "improving things" by making them less clear and transparent!
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Comments
The FAQ
really clears things up though.
Huh?
It should read:
About time
It's about time they updating their bidding system... they have lost ALOT of money from their stupid "highest bid receives highest position" strategy.
Their editorial system is
Their editorial system is still fooked. That's what really needed to be fixed.
It's really not too bad. My
It's really not too bad. My time to set up a campaign in Yahoo is down from 3 weeks and a broken ankle to right under 8 days. Faaaaaan-tastic.
predicted it about a year
predicted it about a year ago
http://www.threadwatch.org/node/5052
seems embarassing that they just now figured out that they were going to do it and announced it...why not announce it sooner? if search marketing is so important and the platform takes years to update how can their associated core tools be an afterthought? pa-thet-ic.
I heard an interesting story
I heard an interesting story about Yahoo yesterday.
A new search engineer joins them, and is given the job of updating an internal database. He wants to see the original documentation, and asks his supervisor.
"Hmmm, I don't have it, but I know who will - the UK MD"
*gulp* he thinks, first week on the job and I'm calling the UK MD...
"No, I don't have it, but I know who will - there's a US based tech who was involved in the original development, I think"
So he calls the US...
"No, I don't have it, but I know who will - try Jerry"
Yup, that's as in Yang. So, he look sup the number..
"Oh, yeah, I've got that here somewhere *ruffles* got it, I'll post it to you"
It's nice that Yahoo has that degree of internal communication, and a flat structure, but I think it's slows them down - no-one seems to have the authority to just DO things
Funy thing was...
I think everyone saw this coming. I mean, my first thought on reading those e-mails yesterday was, "Well, there goes that bid tool - they want to show ranges like G and leave you guessing for accuracy."
Oh well, can't blame them - perhaps they just want some really big profit numbers like G's been posting?
Hmm. The thing about
Hmm. The thing about Adwords is it delivers traffic and doesn't have a clumsy, irritating editorial system that hinders campaign performance.
That was the one thing I always appreciated about Yahoo's product, being able to see bids and evaluate how important a keyword is to you.
But, with Google getting crazy on the quality score of landing pages, we know we won't have to deal with that with Yahoo!