Yahoo! Search Marketing Archives

A WebmasterWorld thread has a copy of an email a Yahoo Product Submit advertiser received. The email basically says that Yahoo will be switching from a flat category price structure to a bidding marketplace type of structure, like we have at Yahoo Search Marketing or Google AdWords.

Why would Yahoo be switching the Product Submit pricing structure from a flat tier structure to a bidding structure? Possibly to earn more money? Possibly to consolidate the search marketing systems into one pricing mechanism?

Here is a copy of the email as posted at WebmasterWorld:

Dear Product Submit advertiser,

We are pleased to announce the upcoming launch of a bidded marketplace. With this change, there will be modifications to your Master Terms & Conditions and Program Terms, which will be detailed in a future email notice that you'll receive in the next 30 days.

We expect the bidded marketplace to have an impact on your day-to-day business. Therefore, we advise you and your team to begin planning for the transition to a bidded model.

As part of this launch, we are expanding the number of product categories and improving reporting within your Product Submit account.

These changes are designed to help you to:
- Better influence the level of traffic you receive from Yahoo! Shopping
- Gain more control over optimizing your product listings
- Gain better visibility into your category performance
Stay tuned!

The Yahoo Product Submit team

If you visit the Product Submit pricing page, you will notice that there have been no changes to the current pricing structure. At least not yet.

This is a major change for those who use Yahoo Product Submit and will require a higher level of daily management, something that many advertisers most likely won't like to spend their time on. I guess this is good news for search marketers.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Last night, the big news was again Microsoft/Yahoo/Google business dealings. You can see all the headlines at Techmeme, including (1) Microsoft might start the hostile takeover today (tomorrow) and (2) Yahoo might announce they will continue to carry Google ads on the Yahoo search network. Greg Sterling has a post on that news at Search Engine Land.

I know that many advertisers would be delighted if Yahoo used Google's AdWords network as their ad base. We have positive feedback from when Google powered Yahoo's ads just a couple weeks ago. So, if Yahoo continued this test and made it a full deal, I know many advertisers who would be delighted.

I am sure there would be many who would be upset, but I think more would be happy. Out of curiosity, let's poll our readers on this. Would you be happy if Google powered Yahoo's search ads in the future?

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Want to see invalid clicks on your Yahoo Search Marketing campaign? The YSM team has launched a new feature called the Click Filter Report. This report shows you data on clicks that Yahoo has deemed invalid, and can be customized with a variety of data points, including impressions, clicks, invalid clicks, invalid click rate, CTR, cost, and average CPC.

This new feature is accessible under the "Reports" tab in YSM accounts.

Here's a screenshot:

Forum discussion continues at Search Engine Watch Forums, WebmasterWorld, and DigitalPoint Forums.

Search Engine Watch Forums moderator, abbottsys, posted detailed feedback on Google Ads Being on Yahoo Search. The Search Engine Watch Forums thread has only one post but deserves a lot more participation, in my opinion.

Normally, I would summarize, but I am not feeling so well and abbottsys does a great job, so let me quote him:

1) My ad was subscribed to Google Search and the Google Search Partner Network, but it was not subscribed to the Content Network

2) I bid high so I could be sure of seeing the ad. I also shut down all my native Yahoo campaigns. As soon as I shut them down my adwords ad took over on Yahoo.

3) My ad appeared at the top of Google and Yahoo. My ad ranking on Yahoo was slightly better than on Google.

4) Changes to the ad were reflected with equal speed on both Google and Yahoo.

5) I found it *very* convenient that I could manage my Yahoo campaigns from AdWords. I've always been a big fan of the AdWords management interface, which I feel is *far* superior to Panama, AdCenter, or any others out there. In fact, I was surprised how refeshing it was not having to mess with multiple ad management platforms.

6) As regards ad performance (CTR, conversions) I was very happy. Of course, since this was a Yahoo test I have no idea if these clicks were charged or even reported in my AdWords account. But the ad did perform well.

7) I've been doing this PPC stuff since 1998. My overall comment on this particular experience is that it was great. I really liked it from all aspects.

8) If this test leads to a full ad distribution agreement between Yahoo and Google my only additional request would be that my AdWords ads show up on the Yahoo Content Network. Currently ad distribution on this network is a mess, and needs to be upgraded. Yahoo clearly has infrastructure problems with ad delivery on their Content Network. Letting AdWords handle this would be a much needed upgrade!!!!

9) Bottom line. As an advertiser I simply loved this! Two thumbs up!!!!!!!!

In the meantime, the DOJ is investigating the Google/Yahoo ad test. So even though some advertisers might love to see Google provide the search ads for Yahoo, the DOJ might prevent that from happening.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Yahoo's new minimum bids are now official live, and several advertisers have posted their new minimum bid increases at both WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums.

Each advertiser who noticed a change in their minimum bid said they noticed an increase by two to four times of their original minimum bid price. Here is a quote from the thread:

yahoo just raised my minimum bids by 3 -4 times on many keywords.. they must be out of their minds..

Some advertisers feel stranded, having to now deal with Google Slaps and now the Yahoo Slap.

Google was impossible. And now Yahoo. Where to go?

But this is the reality of the game now. If your quality does not meet the definition of quality at Yahoo or Google, you will pay for it.

Let's poll our audience... Did your minimum bid increase in Yahoo?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums.

Yesterday I reported that Google stopped running the Yahoo ads test that they started a week earlier and then asked why. I asked why would they stop the test early?

Well, the answer is that they did not. The individual we are tracking to see if the Google ads are live or not on Yahoo, saw that they went down. But now he is reported at Search Engine Watch Forums that the ads are currently showing again.

So I was premature in reporting that Google stopped testing the ads. They have continued the test and outlooks are continuing to look positive for advertisers and Yahoo, with this test.

Forum discussion continued at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Bigreds, an internet retailer has decided to sue Yahoo for $1 million over click fraud starting back in 2002. Yahoo offered Bigreds $17,000 back, but Bigreds wants more and they are suing for over $1 million in damages and penalties.

I wanted to pull out some of the best comments on this lawsuit, which you can read more about at InformationWeek, from a WebmasterWorld thread:

Look if you are going to build your billion dollar business around PAYPERCLICK then you should probably have systems, people, backups for the most obvious exploit.

It's the modern day equivalent of a bank without a safe.

Um, i'm looking at this site, and I really don't see how any traffic would convert, regardless of whether it's fradulent or not. Sorry Red, but I'm thinking that maybe the lawyers are the only ones that are going to come out ahead here.

I don't really see the problem with advertisers bringing suits against garbitrage because the advertiser foots the bill for the middle man market they create.

Decide for yourself...

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Yahoo told us they were Search Engine Watch Forums by abbottsys states that his Google ads are now no longer showing up in the Yahoo Search ad slots. He also helped us break the news on when Yahoo started showing Google ads back on April 11th. But, as of April 16th, the Google ads no longer show on Yahoo.

That test was only one week. Did the test go really bad quickly? Was Yahoo not happy with the Google ads? Was Google not happy with Yahoo? Or is it simply that they both have enough data to make a decision going forward?

Maybe Yahoo decided to pull the Google ads in anticipation of earning more money through their new minimum bid prices that are suppose to go into effect any time now?

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Update: There is related news at the WSJ on this:

Yahoo Inc. moved closer to outsourcing its search advertising to Google Inc. after an initial test of the system yielded what the two firms deemed positive results, people familiar with the matter said. — A partnership could give Yahoo some needed leverage …

Something is up, for sure. More coverage can be found at Techmeme.

Update: Yahoo Ad Test on Google Continues...

Yesterday I inaccurately reported that Yahoo's new minimum bid prices were live. That was wrong. What is live is the new user interface that shows one's minimum bid. In fact, I showed a screen shot of the location of where Yahoo will show you your new minimum bid:

But, an official Yahoo representative, YahooPete, came to WebmasterWorld to notify us that only the user interface has changes and the new prices have not yet gone live. That honestly surprises me, because I was told the new prices were coming early this week and being Thursday, we are not late this week.

In any event, YahooPete clarified saying:

Since we're close to launching minimum bid changes, some advertisers may notice user interface changes. We expect the actual bid changes to go live soon.

I will keep watching the space and let you know as soon as I see an update.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Yahoo told us to prepare for a minimum bid change, where now quality and value will impact an advertisers minimum bid for a keyword buy.

Those minimum bids have now gone into affect, according to a WebmasterWorld thread. We knew it was coming this week, but we didn't know exactly when it would hit advertisers.

First reports suggest it happened sometime before midnight last night (EST). The first post was at 11:13pm (EST), and the next report was about thirty-minutes after midnight.

So far there has not been an out cry of advertisers being hit with minimum bids of $10, like with Google. I will keep an eye out for you and report back if things change.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Update: Correction: Yahoo's Minimum Bid Interface Live, Not The New Pricing, see this new post for more details. Sorry about the confusion, we will keep watching and keep you up to date.

Yesterday I reported that one of the many Yahoo announcements were that Yahoo was going to test running Google ads on Yahoo Search USA.

According to a Search Engine Watch Forums thread, the Google ads are now live on Yahoo. Note, if you don't want your Google ads to show on Yahoo, you need to opt your ads out on showing on third party search providers. In any event, some advertisers are noticing that their Google ads are showing up in Yahoo sponsored results.

As expected, the ads don't appear as AdSense ads - they simply look like Yahoo ads. SEW moderator explains, "Yahoo seems to be configured as a Google Search Partner, not as an AdSense publisher." In addition, he adds, "Initially (i.e. earlier today) I was only seeing my ad a small percent of the time (i.e. Yahoo was only including it on a fraction of the SRPs for a given search), but now I'm seeing my ad 100% of the time." But the ad is only showing when he stopped showing his native Yahoo ad, i.e. the Google ad won't show for him until he tells Yahoo to stop showing his Yahoo ad.

His conclusion so far?

The net effect is like a pooled ad resource, where Google and Yahoo have pooled ads to run on Yahoo (and maybe soon on both engines?)

Note, this is supposedly only suppose to impact 3% of Yahoo's search ads in the US. It is also suppose to run only for about two weeks.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

YahooPete has visited the forums over the weekend and has announced that Yahoo! Search Marketing's customer support hours have changed. The new hours are:

Monday – Friday: 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Saturday: 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Sunday: Closed

The number for the support team is (866) 924-6676.

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums, Search Engine Watch Forums, and WebmasterWorld.

A WebmasterWorld member asks about the frequency of Quality Index updates on Yahoo Search Marketing.

The answer is that the Quality Index updates daily provided that your ad has served impressions the day before.

How can you maximize your Quality Index? The Yahoo Search Marketing blog gives some insight into this value. Some tips include using relevant keywords, applying the keyword to your creative, taking advantage of excluded keywords, using A/B testing, gathering intelligence, and offering specials.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

A WebmasterWorld thread has a horror story about how difficult it seems to take PPC data out of Yahoo! Search Marketing and port it to another account. In this particular case, the person is trying to detach from a search agency and migrate the information elsewhere. Is it possible?

It seems that the answer to that is no.

Werty speaks about his own experience with his switch over to Panama. According to him, when that happened, one of his clients had master account privileges to all his other confidential accounts of his clients and in the end, there was a huge issue with trust. It doesn't seem like the issue was resolved to his satisfaction.

In the end, then, it seems that YSM still needs to iron out a few kinks: one, in security, and two, in portability, in order to win over and maintain more potential advertisers.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Last week, at Search Engine Land, I wrote Yahoo Graphical/Video Search Ads Named Partner Results, and then Greg Sterling did a nice follow up with his Branding Coming To Search In A Big Way. The point is that video in search ads are coming and looks like they might be here to stay.

We saw this with Google in February with the Jason Bourne example and now we are seeing it with Yahoo's shop honda "partner results" search ad. Let's take a look:

Here is the ad for shop honda:

When you click on the icon or play video, it blacks out the search results and overlays this video ad:

What I find interesting is that clicking on the ad doesn't take you to Honda. There is no "on click" event for the actual video. Your only recourse is to close out the video and then click on the links from the non-video ad.

In any event, we know video ads are coming to search. The major question is, what form will they ultimately take in the next year or so?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Over at WebmasterWorld, moderator werty asks about the quality of YSM traffic. Has it changed, improved, or worsened?

Within the past few months, people have been seeing an increase of quality with Yahoo! Search Marketing. You can now exclude partners who send low-quality traffic as per our update in January. The low quality domains need to be entered by hand and there is a 250-domain limit at this time.

UK members aren't seeing any changes, though, especially because domain blocking is not yet available.

What are your opinions of the state of Yahoo Search Marketing? Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

I broke the news last night with my Search Engine Land post named Minimum Bids In Yahoo About To Change. In short, the Yahoo Search Marketing search network will no longer have a fixed minimum bid of $0.10.

It now has a quality metric:

(1) Value - the number of bidders and their bid amounts in a particular keyword market
(2) Quality - the relevance of keywords, or how frequently users click on the ads associated with them relative to competing ads

What surprises me the most is some of the forum reaction towards this news. We have threads at WebmasterWorld, Search Engine Watch Forums and DigitalPoint Forums and all seem somewhat positive. Here is a quote:

Good News! Thank you for the update Pete.

But some are not 100% excited about this:

interesting which direction it will go. I bet for most keywords it will go up.

When Google launched this, most advertisers were very upset. In fact, many are still very upset. The attitude of advertisers here can make the biggest difference. Those advertisers that embrace the change and prepare for it will win big. Those that don't can see themselves spending a lot of money they don't need to.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Search Engine Watch Forums and DigitalPoint Forums.

On January 7th, we asked you to vote on the most improved PPC program of 2007. Your votes are now all in and I wanted to share the 76 responses.

Overall, most of you felt Yahoo Search Marketing was the most improved PPC program of 2007. Yahoo launched Panama, the code name of their new PPC program, in October 2006 but really didn't start having Overture account (the old PPC system) migrated for a few months after that. Yahoo, in 2007, began also migrating the new system worldwide. Yahoo's new PPC system is a total overhaul of the old Overture system, and that is why most feel it is the most improved.

Here are the raw results:

As you can see, Google came in a fairly close second. Google has made several significant upgrades to their AdWords system, including dozens of quality score updates, smart pricing, demographic bidding and much much more.

Thank you for taking the poll.

Continued forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Reports are coming from DigitalPoint Forums that the reporting tools at Yahoo Search Marketing is a bit lagged.

It appears that although the reports are typically updated with recent data every 15 minutes or so, that recently the reports are taking much longer to update with new data. This makes it hard for advertisers to make quick changes to their pay per click campaigns within the Yahoo Search Marketing console.

One advertiser said:

Stats stopped updating at 2:15 am yesterday and they're still slowly catching up, only the click amounts are way too high, seems like something got really screwed up at yahoo yesterday, anyone else notice this?

Another said:

My stats usually update every 15 minutes. It's still stalled at 5:15AM. No one else is experiencing this?

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

There has been more and more reports of advertisers getting their AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing accounts hijacked. One way of this happening is by submitting your username and password on a site that looks like it is run by Yahoo or Google but in reality, is not run by Google or Yahoo. In order to help prevent these phishing attempts from fooling you, Yahoo has decided to implement the option of using a "Sign in Seal" feature on their YSM portal login.

Here is a screen capture of what it looks like to set up such a seal:

Now, all this really does it place a cookie on your computer. When Yahoo sees that you are asking the login page, Yahoo will display your custom sign in seal. How? Well, they look to make sure the cookie is on your computer and if it is and if you are on a Yahoo site, it will show the seal that you picked. If you delete your cookie or access the Yahoo login page from a different computer, you won't see the sign-in seal.

The feedback on this Yahoo announcement is mixed.

We have threads at DigitalPoint Forums, WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch. Frank Watson says since Yahoo is adding a cookie, "then you have a cookie that will track all activity of that computer if you wanted." But Yahoo already places tons of cookies on your browser that tracks you anyway ;-). Mel complained that it didn't work right for him:

Also, after setting up my sign-in seal on YSM yesterday, I had to reset my password FOUR TIMES before I could log in to my account. What a waste of time. Might have been a fluke, but I couldn't help but figure it was related to the sign-in seal.

Many advertisers are upset that this feature is only available in the US market. But others are pleased that Yahoo has added this new optional security feature.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums, WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch.

YahooPete has informed us all that there are new features in Yahoo Search Marketing. He lists them as follows:

• Keyword Generator that allows you to add keywords to existing ad groups
• Campaign Tune-Up Alerts (only available in the US at the moment)
• Conversion Based Ad-Optimization
• You can now exclude up to 250 keywords.

Additional information can be found on the Yahoo Search Marketing Blog.

Good stuff. Things are getting better, though there's a bit of concern that the negative keyword amount should be unlimited and that "shady" search partners should be excluded completely.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld, Search Engine Watch Forums, and DigitalPoint Forums.

A DigitalPoint Forums thread asks what is the keyword limit per campaign within the Yahoo Search Marketing ad marketplace?

Based on the YSM help section, you can have up to 1,000 keywords per ad group and up to 20 ads. But we learn an additional item from the thread. It appears that when you initially add the ad group, you can only add 500 keywords at that time. Then after you save your ad group, you can add an additional 500 keywords to reach the 1,000 keyword limit.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

A Search Engine Watch Forums thread is discussing if some companies are taking vanity search ads too far. Typically, the vanity search ads companies should own are for their own name and domain name. But some are going further. Some want to own it all and become synonymous with the product line they are selling. At what point is it too much?

For example, a search on computers returns ads from Microsoft, HP, Dell, Gateway, BestBuy, Circuit City, etc. BestBuy, Circuit City and their kind are buying the ads to sell. Microsoft, HP, Dell and Gateway might be trying to sell - but they might also be buying it for branding and vanity reasons. I don't see an Apple ad there.

How about the ultimate vanity ad for a search on god:

Nah, I made that up but something like that would be kind of crazy.

In any event, do you think some companies are taking it too far with vanity searches?

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

We rarely talk about the Yahoo Directory these days, but Loren Baker at Search Engine Journal spotted Yahoo serving images near the sponsored listings within the Yahoo Directory.

For example, the NY Internet Consulting directory has tons of ads, most with images near them. Here is a screen capture.

Notice the top ad has a smaller image, and the ads on the right have slightly larger images. I have never seen Yahoo place images near sponsored ads. In fact, Yahoo specifically warned publishers to not put images near their contextual ads.

This is not the first time Yahoo placed images near their ads. They did display images near premium contextual ads in the past. But never in a search results setting, which includes directory listings.

Loren Baker explains that these images are not clickable and are hosted by worthathousandwords.com, aka. ImageAdvantage.

Forum discussion at Sphinn.

A member posted a thread at WebmasterWorld in the Microsoft adCenter forum asking how he can advertise in the German market with adCenter. Guess what? You can't, not just yet.

However, adCenterEU, the official Microsoft representative in the European market, told this member to advertiser with Yahoo Search Marketing. He said:

It's true that adCenter is not available in Germany as yet, so i suggest you go through our paid search partner Yahoo! Search Marketing.

From the UK just sign up here:

http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/en_GB/

Pretty cool! Well, I assume as soon as Microsoft expands into Germany, those recommendations will halt.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

A WebmasterWorld member noticed a strange Yahoo address in his logs and was wondering if anyone had ever noticed it:

alchemy.corp.sp1.yahoo.com

According to Yahoo, this is a URL that they use to test the relevance of landing pages. There are no charges for this activity.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Yahoo has begun shipping out their Christmas gifts. One Yahoo Search Marketing advertiser received his gift. CPA Affiliates posted a picture of the gift he received, a nice looking laptop case.

You can see a picture of the inside at CPA Affiliates.

Google gave out 2GB Memory Cards and some advertisers also got a $100 DonorsChoose card to give to their favorite school. But some special advertisers received a Flip Ultra Video Camera.

Love schwag, so does Tamar, she devoted a blog just to schwag at SchwagAddict.com.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

According to Jeremy Schoemaker's blog, he has recently been terminated from the Yahoo Search Marketing program because 65% of his referrals to the YSM program are signing up with fraudulent credit cards. According to the lengthy email discourse, Yahoo has no way of tracking where these signups are occurring and naturally he's a bit upset.

How can this problem be fixed? As many forum members say, it is really not Jeremy's responsibility. It's Yahoo's.

I think the main point is YSM's lack of reliable tracking and fraud detection.

And if that's not possible, then Commission Junction should be able to verify this.

My thought (and the perception of many others) is that Yahoo should have assigned Jeremy a different ID so that he could change it on his website to confirm that the 65% number is being accurately reported from his website and from nowhere else.

Forum discussion continues at Sphinn and DigitalPoint Forums.

There is a tip full Search Engine Watch Forums thread with things you can do to fine tune and optimize your new Yahoo Search Marketing campaign, after you preform the migration to Panama from a legacy Yahoo Overture account or a Google AdWords account.

Here is a summary of those tips:

• Ensure the migration tool actually worked right, you will often find things that don't match up and can hurt your campaign's performance
• Take advantage of Yahoo's improved geotargeting features, they work well now
• Utilize Yahoo's analytics tags to the fullest
• Yahoo has a domain blocking feature, make sure to use it when applicable

Mona Elesseily wrote the book on Yahoo Search Marketing named Mastering Panama, so if you prefer books, I know she did a ton of research and exploration before publishing this book.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

I have been spotting threads over the course of the week that Yahoo's Overture Keyword Selection Tool is not loading for people. I tested it myself, and yes, it is not loading for me either.

This is nothing new with the tool. Yahoo has not been eager to support this tool since they have other tools in place within their Yahoo Search Marketing console that does similar tasks. In addition, the tool is a huge scraper graveyard, which requires huge server resources - something Yahoo probably doesn't want to invest in with this tool.

Here is a historical look at some of the problems we covered with this tool over the past year:

• Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool Offline? on January 29, 2007
• Overture Keyword Selection Tool Back Online on February 2, 2007
• New Free Yahoo! Keyword Tool Coming; Overture Keyword Tool Suffering; & Other Tools on January 31, 2007
• Yahoo! Removes UK Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool on May 2, 2007
• Yahoo To Stop Updating Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool on May 8, 2007
• Is Yahoo Working on New Keyword Tool with Search Volume Data? on May 10, 2007
• Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool Seems Dead on September 17, 2007
• Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool has Returned on September 24, 2007

So now it is back offline, for the time being. Do we have alternatives? Of course!

A Cre8asite Forums thread lists a bunch of alternative solutions, including:

• http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
• http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
• http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html
• https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox
• http://adlab.msn.com/ForecastV2
• http://adlab.msn.com/contextSim/Default.aspx
• http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/
• http://www.seosleuth.com/site/www.seochat.com
• http://www.seodigger.com
• http://www.spyfu.com/
• http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums.

Yahoo Search Marketing has released a pretty cool feature that allows you to fine-tune your campaign and have greater control (and feedback) over your accounts. Additionally, you can now save your preferences so that when you log in, your previous view is restored.

Here's an example of the Campaign Tune-Up feature. As you notice, there's a new tab to allow you to tune your campaign.

Once Yahoo performs the tune-up, you can view your results.

Nifty.

Forum discussion continues at Search Engine Watch Forums, DigitalPoint Forums, and WebmasterWorld.

Have you ever wanted to import a Google AdWords campaign to Yahoo Search Marketing but didn't know how? You do now, thanks to Discovery, who wrote an excellent guide on Search Engine Watch Forums.

On the Yahoo Search Marketing end, go to the Campaign Tab > Import > Import 3rd Party Campaigns.

Here are the necessary steps:

1. Download the third-party campaign to a file on the appropriate site.
2. Open the file on your computer. Make sure it's in CSV or ZIP format and adheres to the guidelines for YSM.
3. Convert your third party campaign file with an appropriate name that is easy to remember.
4. Download and review the converted campaign file by choosing the Download link.
5. Import the converted campaign file.

So far, one person has tried it and it worked well with the exception of one small issue: Yahoo sees some keywords as duplicates whereas other campaigns on other sites do not have these restrictions.

Forum discussion continues at Search Engine Watch Forums.

When you look at the Internet, a lot of people either have concerns, want to get questions answered, but they never talk about when a company goes above and beyond. Perhaps that's because companies don't typically go the extra mile.

But in one case, Yahoo! did. And a forum member at DigitalPoint Forums wants everyone to know.

I do advertising (PPC) with both Google and Yahoo. the other day I got a call from a customer service agent at Yahoo making sure that everthing was running ok and that i was happy with the results.

He calls Yahoo's customer service simply "awesome." If only other companies would go out of their way to make sure the end user is happy. (Google, for example, does not.) :)

Yahoo has gone out of their way before. When we reported about the block domain feature just a few weeks ago, Yahoo ended up calling a concerned user and spoke to them for "about an hour."

Yahoo's extra attention to improving the user experience is only a good thing. Keep up the good work.

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums.