14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo is definitely de-emphasizing its search engine, but it's not giving up on search or the ad money it brings. With the Microsoft deal still in the air, Yahoo has finally updated its search advertising offering with two tools which should be greatly appreciated by the advertisers even though there is a sense that they should have been coming a lot sooner.
"Our Network Distribution feature will let you run your ads on Yahoo! search pages, our partners’ sites, or both. If you run your ads on our entire network, you can also set different bids for Yahoo! or its partners," David Pann, Yahoo VP and general manager of Search Marketing, wrote.
"We know there are many advertisers who use other search marketing providers such as Google Adwords, so we’ve built a feature allowing easy and efficient conversion of your AdWords campaign data into Yahoo! Search Marketing campaigns," he added.
The first tool, Network Distribution gives more customization options to advertisers allowing them to focus their campaigns on just Yahoo Search and its search partners or the entire Yahoo ad network. The actual options are: Entire Network, Yahoo Search, and Yahoo Partners. Network Distribution also enables advertisers to adjust their bids depending on the network they choose.
The second feature is an improved campaign import tool which allows advertisers to convert or add Yahoo Search Marketing and even Google AdWords campaigns into their accounts. The tool detects the campaign type from the imported file and warns about possible modifications caused by the conversion process, like duplicate entries or issues with keywords.
These aren't the only tools Yahoo has rolled out with this update and existing customers should be more than pleased. But whether this will be enough to attract new customers is another issue. With the uncertainty regarding Yahoo's search engine and search advertising program, it's easy to understand why potential advertisers may be reluctant to invest any significant amount of money into Yahoo.