You see the Create Your Ad page as you go through the process of creating a campaign, adding an ad group to a campaign, or adding or editing an ad in an ad group. Use this page to write your ad and give your ad a name. This page displays a preview of your ad as you write it and can even show you what other advertisers are saying.

• Quick Summary
• About Ads
• About Parts of an Ad
• Editing Ads
• Viewing Ad Performance
• Inserting Keywords into Ads

Quick Summary

To create an ad:

1. Click the Campaigns tab. The Campaigns page opens.
2. Identify a campaign and click its link. The Campaign Details page opens.
3. Identify an ad group and clicks its link. The Ad Group Details page opens.
4. Click the Create New Ad link. The Create Your Ad page opens.
5. Enter a title for the ad. The title can be up to 40 characters. To include a keyword automatically in the title when the ad is displayed, click the Insert Keyword Automatically link. See detailed instructions for inserting keywords below.
6. Enter a short description, a long description (if available), or both. You have to enter at least a short description for the ad. To enter a long description, click the double down-arrow button in front of "Long Description." To include a keyword automatically in the description when the ad is displayed, click the Insert Keyword Automatically link.
   Tip: If you are not sure what to write, you can see what other advertisers are saying in their ads. Click a keyword in the Keyword list to view up to six ads containing that keyword. For more tips on writing your ad, click the Show Best Practices link to view a list of guidelines that can help you write a better ad.
7. Enter a display URL, which will be shown in the ad.
8. Enter the destination URL, which is the web page that will appear when your ad is clicked.
9. Enter a name for the ad. The name is used for identifying the ad and cannot be seen by potential customers. It can be up to 50 characters and cannot duplicate the name of other ads in this ad group.
10. When you are satisfied with your ad, click Save. The ad is displayed in the Saved Ads list.
11. To create another ad, start over at step 5. If you want to use a previously created ad as a starting point for a new ad, click the Copy link under the existing ad in the Saved Ads list. The existing ad information will appear, and you can edit the parts you do or do not want to reuse.
12. If you are finished writing ads, do one of the following:
    • If you are adding or editing an ad for an existing ad group, click Done.
    • If you are creating a new campaign or ad group, click Next to continue the process.

About Ads

An ad is a marketing message displayed to your prospective customers. It is made up of a title, description, and URL. These three elements can work together to help you distinguish your business from your competitors and to provide prospective customers with a reason to click on your ad and visit your site. You can use your ad to highlight the strengths of your offer and take users to a page that is specific and relevant to your keywords.

For best results, make sure your ad text is clear, factual, and relevant to your keywords and that your ad provides specific information to help set your business apart. Use correct grammar and avoid superlatives (such as "best" or "cheapest"), excessive capitalization, and exclamation points. And make sure that your ads and keywords comply with the Sponsored Search Editorial Guidelines.

Note: If the Import Campaigns feature is available for your account, you can use it to create multiple ads at one time.

About Parts of an Ad

This table shows the parts of an ad.

Table 1.

Ad Part	Description
Title	The title is a brief headline for your ad. (It can be up to 40 characters.) If carefully crafted, a title can grab the attention of prospective customers. Keep these tips in mind when writing a title: Make sure your title is relevant for all keywords in your ad group. One way to do this is to use the Insert Keyword feature. This feature automatically inserts each keyword into the title. Choose a title that is specific to the product or service you want to advertise, rather than one that is relevant to your business in general. Consider including competitive advantages, such as discounts or free shipping.
Short Description	On some pages, ads are displayed with up to 70 characters in the description. Using the short description, you can expand upon your offer and provide a compelling reason to visit your site. We suggest that you: Write a single sentence that focuses on the most important information you want to display. Use the Insert Keyword feature so that the relevant keyword is automatically inserted into the description when the ad is displayed.
Long Description	Some web sites in the Yahoo! distribution network can display ads with longer descriptions (up to 190 characters).. Using a long description, you can provide greater detail about your product or service and set your business apart. Begin the long description with the most important information about your product or service. (Ads that do not include a long description display the short description.)
Display URL	The display URL is the web address that is displayed with your ad instead of your destination URL, which is typically lengthy. A display URL can provide your ad with a more concise, visually appealing URL. The display URL appears below the ad’s description and must correspond to a page on your site.
Destination URL	The destination URL is the web address of the page on your site that is displayed after your ad is clicked. To help increase your ad’s performance, choose a URL for a page that is specific to your ad, rather than your site’s home page.
Ad Name	The ad name helps you identify this ad when you view performance data on the Ad Group Details page. We supply a default ad name when you create an ad, but you can change it.

Tip: If you are unsure about what to write when creating your ads, take a look at what other advertisers are saying in their ads. Click a keyword in the Keyword list to view up to six ads containing that keyword. For more tips on writing your ad, click the Show Best Practices link to view a list of guidelines that can help you write a better ad. The Sponsored Search Editorial Guidelines also includes some suggestions.

This table shows an example of an ad.

Table 2.

Ad Part	Sample Text
Title	Up to 50% off Cell Phones at Yahoo! Shopping
Long Description	All cell phones are up to 50% off, with instant cash rebates at shopping.yahoo.com. Find the right cell phone today.
Display URL	shopping.yahoo.com
Destination URL	http://shopping.yahoo.com/?src=ysm
Ad Name	20070615_Cell Phones Half Off

Editing Ads

To edit an ad:

1. Click the Campaigns tab. The Campaigns page opens.
2. Identify a campaign and click its link. The Campaign Details page opens.
3. Identify an ad group and clicks its link. The Ad Group Details page opens.
4. Click the Ads tab. Ads defined for the ad group are listed.
5. In the Ads table, click the link for the ad. The Edit Your Ad page opens.
6. Edit the title, short description, long description, display URL, or destination URL. If you have not specified a long description for the ad, you may do so now. Click the double down-arrow button in front of "Long Description."
7. Click Save.
8. You can edit other ads in the Save Ads list as needed by clicking the Edit link under the ad in the Saved Ads list. The ad information becomes active, and you can edit it as needed.

Viewing Ad Performance

When you create or edit an ad, all other ads in the same ad group appear in the Saved Ads list in order of their performance. To view details on the ads’ performance, click the View Ad Performance link at the top of the Saved Ads list. Performance is shown based on the date range already set on the ad group’s details page.

Inserting Keywords into Ads

The Insert Keyword feature can help reduce the number of ads you manage and can help increase the relevancy of an ad by automatically including the appropriate keyword in the ad.

Using the Insert Keyword feature you can specify where you want a keyword inserted in an ad title or description and specify default text. The keyword that is inserted is the one that is used to match the ad to a prospective customer’s search query. The default text is used if inserting the keyword would cause the title or description to exceed its character limit.

For example, suppose you have an ad group for keywords related to your widget product and one of your keywords is "blue widget." You use Insert Keyword in the title and specify default text of "widget." If a prospective customer searches for "blue widgets of Delaware," the keyword "blue widget" is automatically inserted into the title at the location you selected. But if inserting the keyword "blue widget" would make the title too long, then your default text "widget" is inserted instead.

In addition, you can use alternate text to replace keywords with words that fit grammatically into the title or description. For example, a travel company has an ad group for keywords related to Hawaiian vacations. This advertiser creates the ad title "Great deals on _______" and uses the Insert Keyword feature to insert keywords such as "Maui vacation". For the keyword "Maui vacation" the advertiser specifies alternate text (in this case, "vacations to Maui") so that it fits naturally in the sentence.

If you specify alternate text and it does not cause the title or description to exceed the maximum number of characters, the alternate text is used in the ad. If you do not specify alternate text or the alternate text makes the title or description too long, the default text is used in the ad.

To insert a keyword automatically in the title or description:

1. At the point in the title or description where you want a keyword inserted, click the Insert Keyword Automatically link below the text field. The Keyword Insertion dialog box opens.
2. In the Keyword Insertion dialog box, enter the default text.
3. Click the Add Keyword Placeholder button. {KEYWORD:default_text} is inserted into the title or description.

You specify alternate text for a keyword on the Keyword Details page.

To create alternate text for a keyword:

1. In the Ad Group Details page, click the Keywords tab.
2. Identify the keyword and click its link. The Keyword Details page opens.
3. Click the "Use alternate text..." checkbox. The alternate text field opens.
4. Enter the alternate text and click Save

Here is an example of an ad that uses the Insert Keyword feature:

Table 3.

Ad Part	Sample Text
Title	Up to 50% off on {KEYWORD:Maui Vacations}
Short Description	All {KEYWORD:Maui Vacations} are up to 50% off. Book your flight today at Yahoo! Travel.
Display URL	travel.yahoo.com
Destination URL	http://travel.yahoo.com/?src=ysm
Ad Name	20070630_MauiTravelHalfOff
Alternate Text for Keyword "Maui Vacation" (specified on Keyword Details page)	Vacations to Maui
Default Text (Defined Within {KEYWORD: })	Maui Vacations

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To learn more about:

• Alternate text, see Keyword Details
• Importing ads, see Import Campaigns
• Creating ads, see Sponsored Search Editorial Guidelines