The Yahoo! Bing Merger: A lot of hype...but what does it really mean for SEMs?
AdWords dictates the life of an SEM...at least for the most part. While Yahoo! and Bing drive a significant amount of traffic respectively and in many cases more efficiently than Google, many SEMs simply apply the same strategies for bid management and creative optimization to the number two and three engines as they do with the number one. In the wake of "Bingahoo", the question becomes: will the removal of Yahoo! search change the strategic landscape of search engine marketing?
Short answer: yes...significantly.
The major differentiator among the AdWords (Google), Yahoo!, and Bing (AdCenter) is Quality Score/Index - the way each search engine determines relevance. While none of the engines have ever openly communicated how their relevance algorithm calculates QS/QI, we do know that Yahoo! stands alone in its approach to relevance. Whereas AdWords and AdCenter claim to weigh a multitude of factors including the relationships between the advertiser, keywords, creative, landing pages, and historical CTR, Yahoo! has openly communicated that it heavily favors ad copy when determining QI. One consistent element among the big three engines is that increasing QS/QI leads to cheaper CPCs.
To show how Yahoo! rewards creative designed to drive CTR, here's a small data set looking at DKI vs. Non DKI (in the headline) on all three engines:
For context, all non DKI ads served in this data set are identical. The story here is that each engine rewards observed CTR with cheaper CPCs [via increased QS]. The hitch is that on both AdWords and AdCenter we observe increased performance on Non DKI ads whereas on Yahoo!, DKI is outperforming non DKI. It would appear that Yahoo! rewards DKI, a technique typically reserved for more general terms on broad match in an attempt to make ads relevant. In contrast, Bing and Google recognize the "false" relevance. All of the sudden it appears that the practice of applying bid decisions and creative optimization from AdWords to Yahoo! is not necessarily the best idea.
In other words, SEMs can apply optimizations made on AdWords to AdCenter but Yahoo! is a unique case and needs to be managed separately. Getting back to the basis for this article, removing Yahoo! from the SEM equation significantly changes account optimization methods. SEMs can effectively merge search engine account strategies and if using SEM software, merge the actual accounts, significantly reducing the busy work often associated with large SEM efforts.
Without a doubt, this is the silver lining to a sad story. The loss of one of the three top engines makes for less competition and moreover, the disintegration of Yahoo! search is the end of an era.
If you're interested in learning more about the history of Yahoo! search, Danny Sullivan remembers Yahoo! as it paved the road for search as we know it today, in his piece, A Search Eulogy for Yahoo!
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Search Engine Quality Score is now available to our clients! You can easily view Google's Quality Score and Yahoo's Quality Index through our V5 platform. Optimize adgroups, keywords and ads to maximize Quality Score and increase ROI.
Meet the team!
Rebecca Nathan
US Sales & Marketing Manager Based out of our Ann Arbor office, Rebecca Nathan joined the team in April and has since been the leader in driving eSearchVision's US Marketing effort. She currently manages an internal marketing team to spearhead eSearchVision's branding strategy and industry involvement.
Rebecca's hybrid role also includes constant interaction with advertisers as a part of US sales initiatives. She collaborates with the other sales managers to prospect potential clients and bring on new advertsisers.
With a degree in Marketing and Spanish from the University of Illinois, Rebecca began her Marketing career at Discover Financial Services before transitioning to a more sales-oriented role at the digital advertising network, Q Interactive. When she is not executing marketing plans or hitting her sales goals, Rebecca enjoys spending time with friends and family.
