Yahoo Search Marketing Testing New Ad Ranking System
Yahoo is testing a new search advertising monetization model in Scandinavia with possible expansion into the UK this summer dubbed “Project Panama.” Panama will be Yahoo’s new answer to serving more relevant sponsored links to searchers by taking into account the relevancy of the ad to the search query and the amount the advertiser is bidding on the ad.
Similar to the current technology Google users for its AdWords system, Yahoo Search Marketing expects higher click thru rates on the hybrid advertisement serving system.
Currently Yahoo Search Marketing uses a bid ranking system, where the highest bidder gets the top ad, despite in some cases, that advertiser not having the most influential ad copy.
Yahoo! has notified certain high-volume search buyers of the upcoming changes to its sponsored search monetization algorithm and a widespread announcement should be made in the coming weeks, possibly at the AdTech expo.
A full “Project Panama” rollout in the United States and Japan will likely happen in late 2006 or early 2007.
