What's New
Here are the latest features and enhancements to help you manage your ad campaigns.
- Ad Performance Report Changes
- Priority Status Changes
- "Hard Deleting" Campaign Objects
- Pricing Update
We recently added three new report columns to the Ad Performance Report: Ad ID Column, Ad (which features your ad’s title, short description and display URL) and Destination URL.
Updates to the Ad Performance Report are available for both Sponsored Search and Mobile Sponsored Search.
It’s important to know if your campaigns, ad groups, keywords and ads are offline or active. Now we’ve combined the various possible statuses into a single Status column. If an object has more than one status, the highest priority status will be shown.. If you take action to clear the highest priority status, the next highest priority status will be shown. We made these changes to give more transparency and to enable you to easily make changes to get your campaign back online.
Our Spring (Well, Summer, Actually) Cleaning
Today, any campaign object (such as a keyword, ad, ad group, or campaign) an advertiser deletes continues to be stored in a campaign database and reporting tables, which can slow performance time. Now, we will “hard delete” what you deleted from your account after 90 days, which will free up storage and improve performance. What do you have to do? Not a thing.
Our goal is to improve search users’ experience, while also improving the value of traffic to you. Last year, we launched several initiatives that have directly impacted the way we price the leads we provide you, including:
- A new ranking model, based on both the ad’s quality—or relevance—and the bid amount.
- Pricing discounts, which can discount your cost-per-click on clicks on our partners’ sites based on our assessment of the quality of traffic delivered by those sites.
Now, we've changed the way we set the minimum bid required to participate in a Sponsored Search keyword market. Previously, the minimum bid for any keyword in our system was $0.10. With this update, your minimum bid required to participate in a keyword market can be higher or lower than $0.10. The amount set as your minimum bid on a keyword can vary depending on multiple factors, such as the relevance of your keywords (as measured by the quality of the ads associated with them in an ad group), and the number of bidders and their bid amounts in the particular keyword market. Currently, Content Match minimum bids remain at $0.10
Previously Added
Areas in which we made small enhancements to your account interface include:
- Status for offline objects (campaign, ad group, keyword, etc.) displays in red. Objects that are online are displayed in blue or black letters. Learn more about status display.
- The "Top Campaigns" and "Watched Campaigns" tables on the Dashboard page now include a "Status" column. Learn more about Top and Watched Lists.
- Minor updates to the "Campaigns" page, including adding a "Status" column. Learn more about Campaign status.
- Minor updates to the Ads table on an Ad Group page. Learn more about Ad status settings.
- The ability to export (using the "Download" buttons) at the account-level Ad Group and Keyword pages, under the Campaigns tab. Learn more about downloading ad groups for export and the column specifications for the bulk export spreadsheet.
The Click Filter Report is a new report that provides information about the number of clicks on your ads that our Click Protection System has identified as invalid and, as a result, we did not charge you for. It’s part of our overall effort to provide greater transparency regarding click activity and filtering.
The Click Filter Report is available in your account interface under the “Reports” tab: Just select “Click Filter” in the “Traffic Quality Reports” section of the Reports Navigator on the left side of your screen.
You can run the report for your entire account or for individual campaigns. You can also customize the columns in your report to show data such as impressions, invalid clicks, invalid click rate and average cost-per-click. Have multiple accounts? No worries--the Click Filter Report can display data from all of your accounts simultaneously
Keyword Generator
Brain too tired to think of new keywords? Yahoo!’s Keyword Generator now lets you add keywords to your ad groups with three easy options. Our new “Choose from List” option provides you with a list of keywords to choose from based on the keywords in your ad group; you simply select those that apply. If you know exactly what keywords you want, you can simply enter them with our new “Quick Add” option.
If you’re not sure what keywords you should use, our current “Research Keywords” option evaluates your business description and your site and provides you with a list of keywords. Learn more.
Conversion-based Ad Optimization with Guidelines
Now you can display more often…the ads that do what you want better. When you test ads, our ad optimization automatically display the ads that get more clicks. But you sometimes measure performance by something other than clicks. Ad optimization now lets your optimize the display of your Sponsored Search ads for conversion metrics, including conversions, revenue or conversion funnel, which lets you decide exactly how important each metric is to you.
In order to optimize for these metrics, you must be using our conversion analytics and conversion tags. If you are using them, ad optimization automatically optimizes for conversions. You can change your settings at any time. Learn more.
Excluded Keywords
One of the keys to using our Advanced match type is using excluded keywords effectively – the keywords for which you don’t want your ads to appear. We’ve now increased the number of keywords you can exclude from 50 to 250 words at both the account and ad group levels. Learn more.
Campaign Tune-up Alerts
Ding! Your campaign tune-up is done. OK, there’s no actual sound, but now when you run our recently announced campaign tune-up in the background, you’ll receive an alert in your dashboard telling you to check it out. Available in the US market. Learn more.
Phishing Sign-in Seal
They say it’s the login page to your account? Make them prove it
At some point, there's a chance you may receive an e-mail that looks like it came from Yahoo!, taking you to something that looks like a Yahoo! Search Marketing login page, but something’s…not quite right. It could be a “phishing” attack from someone who is trying to duplicate a Yahoo! page to hijack your account. Now our new sign-in seal feature lets you select a custom image or line of text that only you know, so when you log in you’ll see it there.
You can set up your seal from your Yahoo! Search marketing login page (the real one). Note: the seal is cookie-based, not account-based, so you’ll need one for each computer (and each browser, if you switch) – and if you clear your cookies, you’ll clear the sign-in seal, too. Learn more.
Smart Start Guide
Insider tips from Yahoo! Search Marketing. We know that learning the ropes of search marketing can be scary if you’re new – or even if you’re not that new. That’s why we’ve launched a new, free guide called “Smart Start.” In it, Sharon Goodsense, standing in for the rest of the Yahoo! crew, shares simple, commonsense advice on things like bidding, keywords and ad quality.
You can download a
PDF copy of the guide from our help center.
Campaign Tune-up*
Get your campaigns running smoothly.
Campaign Tune-up looks at things like your campaign's performance history, budget, and measurements you pick, like click-through rate or cost per conversion, to generate proposals to help you run your campaign better. The tool, intended for advertisers who don’t use our Campaign Optimizer, proposes bids, match types and budgets to help you reach your campaign goals.
You can run the analysis as often as needed to tune up your campaigns. When the tune-up is completed, you can decide whether or not you want to apply the keyword bids, budget and match types that are suggested in the proposal. Learn more.
Saved Preferences
Our account interface just got “stickier.”
Previously, we started letting you customize your dashboard so that it looks the same every time you visit. Now we’re making the columns in your account management pages “sticky” as well so that account management becomes even simpler. The system will remember your column sorting preferences – whether, for instance, you like to look at ad groups by revenue or conversions.
You can move from page to page in your account without having to reset your column views. Preferences will stick even after you log out and log back in. Saved preferences will work in the Campaign Summary, Campaign Detail and Ad Group Detail sections of your account. Learn more.
Campaign Optimizer*
Now more of our advertisers can optimize their campaigns.
Our Campaign Optimizer helps you manage your account by the metrics that you specify matter the most to you. You can optimize your campaign toward specific business objectives, such as a certain cost-per-click or return-on-ad-spend figure, and campaign optimization automatically manages bidding and match type settings to save you time and help you get the most out of your monthly budget. Because we think those capabilities are important, we’re now making campaign optimization available to advertisers who spend $500 a month or more with us. Learn more.
Report Updates: Schedule/Customize Reports
You asked for a feature for tailoring reports to better match your business model.
We’ve answered with the ability to save and reuse up to 45 report configurations, as well as create a default report view so you don’t have to set the report conditions each time you log in. Once you’ve saved your report configurations, schedule them for delivery to your email at times of your choosing. Learn more.
Improved Navigation
Find your campaigns, ad groups, and keywords effortlessly.
Movement between account detail pages is now as simple as clicking on ‘previous’ and ‘next’. You may also view campaign and ad group detail pages from your Dashboard’s ‘top’ and ‘watched’ lists with just one click. Learn more.
Write Ad Enhancements
Now it’s easier to write ads.
Ad Generator
Mix and match ad elements to create new ads quickly and save time.
You now have the ability to generate and test multiple ads and select the best performing ads. Use the Ad Generator to create ad variations by mixing and matching ad snippets from your titles and descriptions then review the variations and remove the ads you don’t want. Ad Optimization will systematically test all the ad variations and display better performing ads in search results. You can potentially generate a higher return on investment, reduce cost, and improve ad rank for your ad group. Learn more.
Low Quality Index Ads Alert
Use Low Quality Index Alerts to inform you of ways to improve your ad’s quality index.
Low Quality Index Alerts allow you to receive account and email alerts when you have ads with a quality index of one bar. You may view all ads with a low quality index score at the campaign, ad group and keyword level, as well as search and download ads for easy modification. Also, get tips and suggestions for improving your ad quality so you can avoid a disruption of traffic to your website due to low quality ads. Take advantage of this new feature to improve your quality index score and potentially raise your click-through rate, an indicator of your ads’ relevance. The more relevant your ad, the lower your cost. Learn more.
PayPal Payment Option
Explore your payment options with existing or new PayPal accounts.
If you already have a PayPal account, you now have the option to use it to fund your Sponsored Search account. If you would like to create a new PayPal account, we guide you through the account creation process. An added benefit to using PayPal to fund your Sponsored Search account is the ability to pay with currency other than US dollars. PayPal does all the currency conversions for you. Payment options can be accessed in your account section in the application. Learn more.
“Sticky” Dashboard Preferences
Set your Dashboard view preferences and they’ll stick.
Save time managing your account with fewer clicks to display your account data the way you want to view it. Now you can see a customized Dashboard view each time you log into your account. Just sort columns and filter data to your liking. Your Dashboard view will maintain your Alert type filter, Performance filter, whether or not you want to display the Performance or Account Summary tab and your preferred ‘Top’ or ‘Watched’ list. Your preferences stick even if you log out of your session and log in again. Learn more.
Campaign Optimizer*
Simplify management and save time with campaign optimization.
We are working to make our campaign optimization tool fit your campaign management requirements. With Campaign Optimizer you can set your campaign budget for specific business goals, such as cost per click or cost per acquisition, and save yourself time with automated keyword bid management. Learn more.
Insertion Order*
Access invoice details within your account.
If you pay with insertion orders, you can now view information from your insertion order by logging into your account. From the Dashboard page you can get a quick view of current insertion order information, such as end dates or invoice amounts, for each account. You can find insertion order information under the Account Summary tab. Learn More.
*Some features are currently available only to our higher spending advertisers or for accounts that remain active over time.
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