Sure, we were all happy when Yahoo! entered the contextual ad game with YPN. But it’s a joke to say they’re competing with Adsense right now. The question is, when do they plan to enter the big leagues?
Apparently, they plan to kick it up a notch in the spring. Loren Baker has the scoop:
As a member of the Yahoo Publisher Network Advisory Council, I spoke with Yahoo about this last week and plans for YPN which were approved for printing on this blog include:
1. Improvements in Relevance : The ads that are shown by YPN are based upon what Yahoo calls its ‘matching expert’s. These ‘experts’ will be expanded to include :
* Contextual Engine : Targeting based upon the content of the page
* Ad Targeting : Publishers can “tag†their own site by defining their ad targeting category in the YPN admin
* User Data : Behavioral targeting or profiling (geographic & demographic)2. Wire Service : Offering publishers payment via direct deposit this Spring
3. Expanding Invitations : Continuing on reviewing and approving thousands of high quality web publishers
4. International Rollout : Global expansion beyond the United States to English and non-English speaking countries
5. Yahoo Search Box : Publishers can add Yahoo Search to their site which will pay publishers a percentage of sponsored search revenue
6. Integration into Yahoo Answers : Yahoo may be offering its registered users the ability to earn revenue or points for contributing to Yahoo Answers and other user generated content offerings.
Apparently Yahoo! is also concentrating on something known as “publisher quality”.
Such ’smart growth’ tactics by Yahoo are leading to the monitoring of ROI and controlled reach of Yahoo Search Marketing advertiser ads, as Yahoo is taking the quality approach as opposed to quantity.
For example, Yahoo is following a strict editorial review process
Umm, Yahoo, have you ever seen most Adsense publishers? “Quality” is a sucker’s word! 😉