This change has been forthcoming for some time now.
The new Yahoo Search Marketing platform is available for some who have been chosen for early release, and for the rest, the new year will see the complete rollover into the new system. At the beginning of December, however, we will see the launch of the new bidding system at YSM and some recent changes to how you will manage your bidding. So what exactly is changing?
Top 5 Max Bids and Your Position
The current bids for the top 5 paid placements will be removed along with the your position column.
View Bids Tool
No longer will you be able to view the exact bid for specific key phrases as the view bids tool is being removed.
Estimated Average Position
You will no longer be able to view your exact position, however you will see your estimated average position. This figure is based on both your bid, and the bids of other advertisers.
Bid Range for Top Positions
Rather than seeing the exact bids, you will see a range of bids that advertisers are willing to pay for their ads.
Why are these things changing? The new bidding system with the new YSM platform is no longer that of a simple bid for position concept. The new form of bidding is now much more Google-like with click through rates, on site content, and bids all contributing to your ad rank. With this new system items such as the view bids tool, and top 5 max bids will be somewhat irrelevant to advertisers.
As some advertisers have already been rolled over into the new system, this bidding change reflected in the old system is to accommodate advertisers with more accurate bidding information. The following explanation has been provided by Yahoo to its advertisers:
Why are you making this change to the bid information on the Manage Bids page?
“We are making this change in order to provide advertisers who have not yet upgraded to the new Sponsored Search with accurate bidding information.
As you may know, we’ve begun inviting U.S. advertisers to upgrade their accounts to the new Sponsored Search and invitations will continue to be sent in stages to U.S. advertisers over the remainder of the year and early next year. Given the way bid information is currently displayed, as advertisers upgrade to the new Sponsored Search, their bids would no longer be visible in the current system. By making this change, we are able to provide all advertisers with consistent and accurate bidding information, regardless of whether they have upgraded their accounts yet or not.”
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Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Search Engine Placement. Scott has worked with StepForth Placement since Aarly 2003 and has thoroughly enjoyed working in the search engine industry. When he’s not punching away at the keyboard he can be found spending quality time with his wife Lyndsay, or out on the golf course. Scott would be happy to answer any questions, and can be reached at scott@stepforth.com.
