Yahoo Paid Advertising

Yahoo may have been replaced by Google as the top search engine, but there are still plenty of people who use it. This means there are many potential customers that a business can reach with Yahoo paid advertising. Ads on Yahoo are pay per click, which means the webmaster receives a small amount of money every time someone clicks on an ad that appears on their site. Yahoo was actually the first major search engine to successfully offer advertising like this after they purchased GoTo.com.



How it Works


To become a part of Yahoo’s advertising, you first have to sign up for an account. You have two choices: you can sign up for the Fast Track, which provides help with getting your campaign up and running. This includes helping you select keywords, giving you advice on your budget, and more. Your ads are also guaranteed to go live within three days of being approved. However, this does cost $199.

The Self Service option, on the other hand, is free. It doesn’t include as many extras, though. You’ll have to create your own budget and advertising strategy. Your ads will often start appearing within three business days, but unlike the Fast Track, there’s no guarantee of that.

Note that you do have to deposit money in your account before you can use either option. Yahoo requires that all users pre-pay for click-through costs (the amount of money paid to the webmaster on whose website your ad appears). There is a minimum balance you have to have in your account, too. If you fall below this minimum, you’ll be charged, and your campaign will be frozen if your account reaches zero.



How Yahoo Determines Which Ads are Shown


Yahoo uses a secret formula to determine which ads are shown. While no one knows exactly what it is, it does include the quality score an ad is given plus the price the advertiser is willing to pay. The quality score is determined on several factors, including the quality of the webpage the user lands on when clicking the ad, how well the ad matches the keywords of a webpage, and the ad’s overall click-through rate. In addition to these factors, some ads are geo-targeted, which means ads will only appear if they match the user’s location (as determined by their IP address). Local businesses can get a lot of use out of geo-targeting.



Why use Yahoo Paid Advertising?


There are many reasons—it’s easy to get your ad out there, especially if you pay for the Fast Track service. Geo-targeting can be very helpful for local businesses, too, and overall, the service costs less than Google AdSense.