Overture Precision Match Archives

August 18th, we received a preview of Yahoo!'s new paid listing program via a Search Engine Watch Forum thread. It is now the belief of many that this is to be released in March 2006. A WebmasterWorld thread suggests that the change will take place "around March 2006." The member-base is not too happy about one specific change, going to a CTRxCPC ranking model. More discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Yesterday I bloged about the deal between Univision and Google as potentially happening next month according to sources from the news article. Just today I notice that Univision.com has added a search box at the top of its portal saying "Optimized by Google" in Spanish. Why "optimized by" and not "powered by" beats me. In my opinion, I think "powered by" is more appropiate since Univision does not have any search technology to optimize for, it's all 100% Google's as far as I can see it.

From the portal's homepage the search function defaults to "Uniclave" (which their way of saying "keyword" like AOL's original marketing strategy) rather than search. This, of course, is intended for the company to keep the user as much as possible within the portal before it hits the outside world of search. A simple click of the radio button that says "Internet" and the user is ready for Google searches specially tailored for Univision. Also, if no keyword exists then it goes for a search on the web for pages in Spanish.

If the user chooses to do an actual search of the www then no matter what language the keyword phrase he or she uses it defaults to Spanish pages on the web as the first option. If the user changes a radio button to Internet (Inglés) then it searches in English pages on the web.

It's also interesting to notice that URLs also express Univision's domain, for example:

http://www.univision.com/buscar/buscar_resultados.jhtml?base=0&chid=1&locale=1&pgsz=10&referring_channel=1&
referring_subchannel=12&schid=12&secid=0&type=basic&
search_type=internet&query=comida+mexicana

The third radio button option it presents for its search box is to look for documents within Univision.com. When you do a search, for example ?mercado hispano? (without quotes) you will notice that there a no snippets, but rather a description of what's available on that page. I clicked on a listings to verify as a sample and the actual description from the search results does not even appear on the page nor in the code. Therefore, they must either be using Google Sitemaps or a direct feed. Company sources have informed me that its internal search is powered by software they license, not Google's technology.

Univision.com was signed up with Overture in January 2004. Unfortunately, the page with the story is down and I can?t find a copy of the press release. If anyone does, please send me a copy, I would appreciate it very much. Anyway, I imagine that it was for a short period of time since now it?s clear that they have a deal to serve paid search from Google Adwords.

There are no details of the deal that I know of, but this is an outstanding move by Univision.com?s executive team and a great step forward for Google. I wish them both great success with their partnership.

Now, I wonder what they will be doing together for Video Search, since Univision is the largest TV media producer for the U.S. Hispanic market? It will be exciting to see what these two may be cooking up. You're welcome to join the thread at SEW Forums to discuss more on Univision.com goes LIVE with Search Powered by Google.

A couple months I reported on the news about Yahoo! buying TeRespondo.com to gain market share in Latin America. Today, I just got a news by my sources in Brazil that Overture's full integration of TeRespondo will happen the 25th of this month. While Overture Mexico will be launched between August and September this year. Why say "Overture"? Because there has not yet been word about an International transition campaign into the new name "Yahoo! Search Marketing" for Latin America. I'm sure there will be more news to come as the date gets close. Stay tuned.

Last week, we covered a forum thread on the topic of Yahoo! to Limit Access to PPC API. It is important to note that an update has been made to that thread that denies this. An "OvertureRep" says as follows:

It seems there have been some miscommunications here. Just to set the record straight, Overture (Yahoo! Search Marketing) continues to grow the number of advertisers, SEMs and agencies participating in our API program. In fact, over the last few weeks we have added a significant number of each to the program. Please know our third party partners and programs are and will continue to be an essential strategic part of our business.

It is important to note that the OvertureRep said "over the last few weeks we have added a significant number of each to the program." It does not say that they have accepted every single individual SEM into the program that applied. It does say they have accepted a "significant number" over the past few weeks.

The question is; what qualifications are required to be accepted into the program? To be honest, I am just fine if they do not release a qualification list. But I can see how many would be upset to be rejected, without clear steps as to what they must do to meet the criteria.

Based on a post over at Smart Keywords Blog, AussieWebmaster reports that Yahoo! is going to lock down the API for the PPC Program. He says, "Right now no new SEM/Analytics companies are being allowed in, or the "not no, not now" response."He adds, that Yahoo! wants to take these types of services and products to a "higher level or more involved" in the space." Of course, this might start an uproar in the forums. AussieWebmaster has already begun a thread on this topic over at Search Engine Watch Forums.

A thread at WebmasterWorld named Yahoo Sponsored Listings NOT Showing in FF? reports an issue where certain extensions conflict with the sponsored results at Yahoo! Search. Tim Mayer from Yahoo! said, "This could be caused by certain firefox extensions you may have installed." Several people have reported this issue, one of the victims have the following extensions added to FireFox 1.0.1; Googlebar 0.9.0.30, Google Preview 0.8, Google PR Status 0.9.3, DOM Inspector 1.0.

ProjectPHP, most of you have seen him around at the forums, tipped me off on this. At the end of a thread on click fraud that we covered about a month ago, in the entry named 50% of PPC Clicks are Fraud, we learn more.

In the 3rd page of the thread it says

Netscape's quick Searches, if they are words you bid on, can cause budgets to absolutely blow out, and fast. In your case, it was $1,000 per day. That is a massive ammount to potentially save, and a tip well worth knowing!!

I nice bit of advice to share with you.

I was both shocked and at the same time laughing while reading a post over at Search Engine Watch Forums. The post contained a text based chat session (I think), between an Overture customer and an Overture Representative. In the conversation, the customer wanted to target a local region that just had a major hailstorm. The customer sold window screens (or something like that) and it was the hope of the customer to target these victims of the hailstorm, in order to find replacement window parts. Smart marketing, right? Well, Overture would not let the customer place an ad with the term "Hailstorm" in the ad text. Why? Because "your website doesn't have any pages about hailstorms, we can't approve your ad." The conversation gets funnier, so read the post.

A WebmasterWorld thread named Starting a large OV account tells a tale of a new but very large budgeted PPC customer's tale with starting a new Overture account. The PPC customer has a Google AdWords campaign running and gets about 30k clicks/day. This customer thought that Overture would welcome his account and do whatever they possibly can to streamline the process of bringing over his keyword list. However, the customer reports

Because we haven't advertised with Overture previously, we don't meet the standard for their higher level of service (spend of >6k/yr). We spend about this much in 2-3 days on AdWords. When I told the customer service rep this, she just said "well that's Google, not us." Wow, what top notch support. :-/

So if I bid on your name, will you bid on mine? What if I promote myself by biding on the name of a popular expert, is that ok? How about targeting Donald Trump to sell spray on hair? Cartoon characters to sell vitamins? ;-) Some of the questions addressed in this thread, relating to creative ways to spread your own name and befriend or (anger) an expert. Fun thread this early afternoon to read. I am glad someone brought up the subject up, becauses its relevant to the industry, and its a polarized issue for some people. Ultimately I am to the opinion that if someone is not spreading ill repute for my name - Ben Pfeiffer, then its not going to be an issue, I would applaud them for being smart. However, in a sign of respect I think it comes down its just best to ask them before you go bidding on their name.
Check our the ongoing discussion at SEW - Targeting Personal Names in Adwords

This email was sent out to Overture customers last night with the details:

When Overture advertisers speak, we listen. In response to advertiser feedback, we've simplified our match types.

Phrase and Broad match types will be streamlined into one match type: Advanced. Now it will be easier than ever to manage your account, put your business in more relevant searches and drive more qualified traffic to your site.

Simpler is better with Advanced match type:
- Advanced will encompass both Phrase and Broad match types-You will no longer designate one or the other. Your current Phrase and/or Broad match type listings will become Advanced match type listings at the time of launch.
- Advanced will leverage your existing keywords-You won't have to add keywords or receive additional editorial review.
- Advanced will use the same bid as Standard-One bid means no more managing multiple bids.
- Advanced will offer excluded words at the account level-You will be able to select excluded words across your entire account or for each individual listing.

You won't have to do anything to change your current Phrase and Broad keywords to Advanced. They will be switched automatically as early as October 2. If your Phrase or Broad bids differ from your Standard bids, they will default to the Standard bid amount when the Advanced match type launches.

You may opt out of Phrase and Broad match types at any time before the Advanced match type launch. You can also opt in and out of the Advanced match type at any time after the launch using the Match Types option within the DirecTraffic Center®.

Overture's new Advanced match type provides simplified bidding, easier account management and the opportunity to drive more traffic. It launches as early as October 2, so watch for it.

Forum coverage at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch.

Now this thread confuses me. A member posted a thread named Overture And Spidering, where he reports findings of Yahoo's Crawler, Slurp, has been clicking on his overture ads.

In response to this post, YahooMike says;

This might be happening as part of an ongoing test. If you're using a tracking URL, the crawler visits may appear to be clicks on your listings. If this occurs you won't be charged for these clicks.

Thanks,

Yahoo! Mike

This is just so strange to me. Any ideas as to why Yahoo would want its crawler to click on its own Overture ads? I don't see any purpose to it. Alright, I am done trying to figure this one out - this is just too funny.

Danny Sullivan reports in a thread at SEW forums named Overture Going Broad Match that Overture is to be moving over "to an all broad match system". He explains that this will be the default option for all advertisers, and those advertisers will need to turn off this option if they do not want to utilize it. Danny gives an example of broad match as follows; "bidding on a term like "shoes" will match any search that contains that word -- not just the single word itself."

Doug from Aderit Internet Marketing Consulting just tipped me off on something not well known to the Overture customer, at least I have not hear of it until today. A term known as "Godzooky" at Overture!

Overture has a broad match technology named Godzooky. Doug has sent an email to Overture asking for more information about "irrelvant clicks" coming from the Overture PPC campaigns he was running. In a response back from Overture, they mentioned something named "Godzooky". And I will quote from his response from Overture's International Client Services department; "We have a tool called Godzooky that is used when there is no match in Match Driver?. Godzooky uses the first 60% of the listings in the Index (search terms, titles and descriptions) and attempts to find an algorithm."

Overture has deactivated "Godzooky" for Doug. By the way, a search at Google or Yahoo on "godzooky overture" brings up nothing. But Godzooky brings up this friendly Godzilla at http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/godzooky.htm.

Doug has also posted this over at WebmasterWorld.

Pay Per Clicks and trademark lawyers are spending a lot of time together these days. I have posted several times on the trademark topic and brought several cases in the past. The latest news is that Geico sues Google, Overture over trademarks.

The insurer charged the two companies with infringing on its trademarks when they sold them as keywords to Geico's rivals, so that the protected terms could appear in sponsored search results. According to the suit, that practice causes consumer confusion, in violation of the Lanham Act, the primary federal law covering trademark registration and protection.

But

Previously, Google had granted requests from advertisers, including 1-800 Contacts and eBay, to bar competitors from bidding on their trademarked names. Google will now only review trademark complaints that relate to text appearing in sponsored listings on its Web site and those of its partners.

According to Geico's complaint, the insurer considered Google's policy change before pursuing legal action: "Google's recent change in trademark policy constitutes a deliberate decision to use the registered trademarks of other companies, including Geico, for the financial benefit of Google and to the detriment of (others)."

Don't you just love this stuff. We need a legal ruling already. Trademarks need to be protected and I personally do not thing Google's current policy is going to cut it.

Forum coverage at:

• HighRankings Forum
  
• Cre8asite Forums
  

Thank you Doug from Aderit Internet Marketing Consulting for the tip.

A member over at IHelpYou Forums started a thread named fraudulent clicks today where he discusses how his clicks on his AdSense reports skyrocketed in a single day. Someone was fraudulently clicking on those banner ads and he decided to report it to Google.

Pay Per Click advertisers take click-fraud into account when factoring ROI (return on investment) of the overall campaign. Besides for the obvious cons involved with click fraud, the thread discusses some of the, not so obvious, pros.

"Fortunately on AdWords, it can actually increase your position if it happens on a small scale." Google AdWords looks at two factors when deciding how to position ads. (1) The bid placed by the advertiser and (2) the CTR (click through rate) of that particular ad. So if a bid is lower then an other ad but the CTR of that lower priced ad is much higher, the lower priced ad can come up before the higher priced ad with the lower CTR. So that benefits the advertiser who is paying less for the ad.

Could it have been that the advertiser was the 'fraudster'?

Do Google Search on rustybrick, my trademark. If it does not come up, refresh a few times and you will see the following ad by a competitor I never heard of. They call themselves "superior" to RustyBrick, I doubt that. But to stay on topic...

Is there a way to contact Google about this? Will it matter? Google now allows for competitors to bid on trademarked names, however they will not allow one to place the trademarked name in the ad copy. Fair? It is extremely hard for Google to police this, so they try to make their policies as easy going as possible unless otherwise forced to change them.

Three past posts on this subject can be found at:

• Pay Per Click's Trademark Policies
  
• Trademarked Names & Google AdWords Hits Home
  
• Trademarked Names No Longer Blocked by Google AdWords?
  

Posting this for my own notes but it can't hurt to share. Policies at major search engines on allowing bidding for trademarked keywords range widely, with at least one having no stated policy. Here's a rundown:

Google Inc.
Policy: Had limited the bidding on trademarked keywords upon request of trademark holder; within next several weeks, will no longer do so, but won't allow the use of trademarked terms within the ad itself. Also bans critical ads.
Comment: Says it is changing its policy to better serve users with relevant ads; observers say the move will generate more revenue for the search engine

Yahoo Inc.
Policy: Allows bidding, but screens for editorial relevance
Comment: Will investigate complaints from trademark holders, but allows bidding if ad makes clear what the company does

MSN
Policy: Sells retail brands (e.g. Sears) only to the retailer; sells manufacturer brands, like Sony, to the manufacturer or to retailers. Policy differs for brand names that are also generic terms; for instance, would sell "amazon" to Amazon.com but also to an online travel site selling trips to the Amazon region.
Comment: Yahoo supplies some of MSN's paid listings, but MSN also sells some listings directly.

FindWhat.com
Policy: Allows bidding, but screens for editorial relevance
Comment: "Pepsi is allowed to bid on Coke, just as Pepsi uses Coke's trademark in its TV commercials," says Phillip Thune, chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

Lycos Inc.
Policy: Reviews ads for relevance and generally doesn't allow bidding on a competitor's trademark
Comment: Competitors typically "don't have content relevant to that trademark," says Adam Soroca, who runs the ad-bidding system for searches on lycos.com, hotbot.com and other sites

Kanoodle Inc.
Policy: Doesn't allow advertisers to bid on trademarked terms they don't own
Comment: "An advertiser bidding on listings through Kanoodle must either sell, or provide substantive information on, products linked to that listing on their Web sites," says Lance Podell, president of Kanoodle.

My Source: WSJ.com, WSJ Source: the companies

Recently Overture announced it will not longer serve up ads for online gambling sites. Article by NY Times at FT.com.

Forum Coverage at:
SEO Chat
WebmasterWorld - Password Required

Yesterday I posted a entry named Questions for Yahoo? Ask At WebmasterWorld. If you want the answers to the questions you or others have asked please see the WebmasterWorld thread named Answers from Yahoo!, by Mike from Yahoo! Search.

The folks over at WebmasterWorld were able to get some of the Yahoo reps to stop by an answer your questions about the new Yahoo! Search and Overture - SiteMatch.

WebGuerrilla, a WMW Admin, posted the following:
Here’s how it will work:

Questions will be posted in this thread. We will let this thread run for the next few days. Once we have a solid list of quality questions, this thread will be locked. If/when someone from Yahoo Search decides to respond to a question from this thread, we will split off that particular Q&A into its own thread. Any follow-up questions or discussions will take place in the new thread. Doing this will help us keep everything on-topic.

With that in mind, here are some ground rules:

1. Keep the questions focused on Yahoo Search’s products and services. (No asking Tim what his favorite color is)

2. Keep the questions short and sweet. (You will have the opportunity to get long-winded in any follow-up discussions).

3. No specific site information. (We are not the Yahoo help desk or spam police)

4. Keep the tone positive and professional. (All rants will be nuked)

5. Read the other questions before you post yours. (I hate spending time deleting duplicates).

Visit the thread at WebmasterWorld's Questions for Yahoo!.