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Yahoo! Launches Ads on Mobile Search for iPhone and Android
With mobile search on the rise, it’s no surprise that search engines wish to monetize the traffic. Yahoo! today announced that they’re adding search advertising to their mobile search for iPhones, iPod Touches and Android devices.
One ad appears at the top of the search results and two ads appear at the bottom. Take a look:
Noticeably missing from the announcement is the inclusion of Windows Mobile phones, a curious exclusion in the wake of the recently struck Microsoft-Yahoo! search deal.
Yahoo! Unveils First Y!ou Ad
Yahoo! begins its new global advertising campaign today and part of that campaign is a new television ad. Check it out:
The ad will air on all major broadcast channels plus major cable networks such as AMC, ESPN, USA, Comedy Central and Bravo.
Advertising seems to be working for Bing, which has steadily gained market share since launch. It will be interesting to see if Yahoo! gains back some search share, despite their advertising campaign focusing on content.
What do you think of Yahoo!’s new ad? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Yahoo!’s New Ad Campaign: It Really Is All About Y!ou
Today, Yahoo! unveiled their forthcoming branding campaign: Y!ou. Next Monday, the internet company will be building on their strength of having some of the most visited properties on the web.
“Our vision is to be at the center of people’s online lives–to be at the place where their world meets the larger world,” said Elisa Steele, Yahoo! executive vice president and chief marketing officer, speaking at the IAB MIXX Conference and Expo in New York City. “Our new branding will focus on people–the power and promise of ‘you.’”
Yahoo! has spent two months launching initiatives leading up to the new campaign, including:
- The homepage now includes access to third-party content such as social media sties.
- Yahoo! Search was updated just today.
- Video calling was added to Yahoo! Messenger.
- New mobile apps were deployed.
“Today the Web and your world are inseparable,” said Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz. “Hundreds of millions of people use Yahoo! to get the information they need, connect with friends and family, and be entertained. We are about creating online experiences people find meaningful, relevant, and fun.”
The campaign will initially be rolled out in the US and then a global expansion will follow.
Yahoo! may be all about Y!ou, but are you all about Yahoo!’s new campaign? Let us know in the comments below.
Court Dismisses Lawsuit By Woman Unhappy with Yahoo! Search Results
This past February, a woman who was none too pleased with the search results for her name sued Yahoo! Beverly Stayart argued that the results were a false endorsement under the Lanham Act.
The court has now dismissed her lawsuit, but since part of the dismissal was on procedural grounds, Stayart will be allowed to refile her suit.
Stayart would have been better off learning a little SEO instead of spending all of this time on a lawsuit. With an unpopular, unfamiliar name, it’s not that hard to rank and dominate results for your name.
Her task is now more difficult as a result of the suit. My post covering this story from February now ranks in the top 10, as do other sites covering the news. The good news is that the top 10 search results don’t contain those pesky adult and porn sites Stayart was seeing before. That was, after all, Stayart’s goal wasn’t it? No, probably not. A few sites list Stayart as a legal professional and I’m gonna go out on a limb and say she’s after some moolah here.
But a word of advice for Ms. Stayart – start optimizing for Bing now. Because if/when/should the Microsoft-Yahoo! deal go through, you’ll be seeing some different results on Yahoo! Consider yourself warned.
Yahoo! Search Index Update for September 2009 Underway
Over at Yahoo!, they’re rolling out a new update to their search index. As usual, not much to report except – go check your rankings. Here’s what they had to say over at the Yahoo! Search blog:
Yahoo! Sets More SearchMonkey Features to Default
Yahoo! is expanding the number of SearchMonkey features set to default-on in their search results. The update is the result of the completion of testing microformat templates.
Now, sites that provide structured data according to Yahoo!’s specified formats will automatically get SearchMonkey default-on status, allowing an enhanced result to be displayed in the SERPs.
Enhancements can include:
- Video
- Documents
- Games
- Products
- Local Businesses
- Event
- Discussions
- News items
Yahoo! is also turning on SearchMonkey defaults for Entertainment and Social Networking sites. Look for enhanced results from sites such as Netflix, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Friendster and Britannica.
The new defaults join a list of previously set SearchMonkey defaults. Facebook, Wikipedia, Citysearch, Zagat, Yelp and LinkedIn SearchMonkey apps have already been set to default.
Hadoop Founder Leaves Yahoo! for Cloudera
Doug Cutting is leaving his job working on Hadoop at Yahoo! to work on Hadoop at Cloudera, a Silicon Valley Startup. Cutting founded Hadoop, an open source framework designed to break up large sets of data in order to make them more easily manipulated. Yahoo! obviously uses Hadoop, but other companies such as Facebook uses it as well.
Many are perceiving the exit as a reaction to the Microsoft-Yahoo! deal, but Cutting told the New York Times that is not so. He said he wants to move from simply tuning Hadoop for Yahoo! to tweaking it for more diverse applications. That certainly sounds plausible, but it won’t fully quell the suspicion.
Yahoo! Doesn’t Know What Will Happen with BOSS; YUI, YQL and Pipes Unaffected by Deal
One of the biggest questions regarding the new Microsoft-Yahoo! deal is what will happen to Yahoo!’s search offerings in its Developer Network. Yahoo! is known for being pretty open, which was a major reasons that many thought last year’s Microsoft acquisition offer was a bad idea. The cultures just didn’t seem to mesh.
Fast forward to yesterday and the deal was severely watered down from 2008 proposals. Yahoo! will maintain the UI in its search pages and the two companies will essentially engaging in a revenue-sharing agreement, powered by Bing.
But what will happen to Yahoo! offerings like BOSS, which allow developers to harness Yahoo! search technology for their sites and applications. The answer: even the BOSS team doesn’t know. Not yet.
Chris Yeh, head of the Yahoo! Developer Network (YDN), did take to the YDN blog to ensure that YUI, YQL, and Pipes will remain unaffected by the deal. But the deal is just too new to know how it will affect YDN’s search offerings.
Hopefully, Microsoft will adopt BOSS and SearchMonkey into Bing.
Around the beginning of the year, Microsoft snagged a bunch of former Yahoo! execs with experience in search. It won’t be surprising if their influence encourages Microsoft to incorporate more openness into search there.
Actually, Microsoft is much more of an open company than people think. For example, the Windows Mobile operating system was been open to developers for years before the iPhone came on the scene. They don’t approve or reject apps (like Apple does), and there are many sites on the web where you can get the apps. When you think about it, it’s a big strange that Live Search was so closed.
What do you think should happen to BOSS and SearchMonkey? Leave a comment and give your opinion.
AT&T Interactive to Sell Yahoo! Display Ad Inventory
Yahoo! and AT&T Interactive have announced a new partnership in which the telecom will sell the search engine/media portal/email giant’s display advertising. AT&T’s 5,000 sales people will sell the inventory to local businesses.
Here’s the official corporate-speak from Yahoo!
“Local businesses are looking to drive in-store traffic, and our alliance with AT&T Interactive will help them reach a local audience of highly-engaged potential customers on Yahoo!,” said Jim Schinella, Senior Vice President, North America Region, Yahoo!. “As local businesses shift their advertising spend to reach the growing number of Internet consumers, AT&T Interactive and Yahoo! can equip them with the tools and expertise they need to be successful online.”
And here it is from AT&T:
“Our local advertisers are focused on growing their business so they look to us to help find the most comprehensive and effective ways to reach consumers,” said Matt Crowley, Chief Marketing Officer, AT&T Interactive. “Adding Yahoo!’s reach through highly targeted display advertising enhances our existing portfolio of local advertising products, allows our advertisers another way to raise their visibility and reach more online consumers. This joint effort is a natural extension of our existing relationship with Yahoo! and takes advantage of each company’s assets in the local market.”
It’s not the first teaming up by the two companies. For example, Yahoo! Local is powered by content from YellowPages.com.
What do you think of the latest partnership between AT&T and Yahoo!? Sell us on your opinion below.
Yahoo! Tests Rich Media Ads in Paid Search Listings
Yahoo! has been testing rich media ads in their paid search listings. Thus far, the program has been available to a small group of advertisers and seen by a small group of searchers.
The ads can include video, images, or a custom search box.
The results are promising. Advertisers testing the rich media ads saw click-through rates rise as much as 25% in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Related Reading:
Yahoo! Steals Search Share from Google in January 2009
Yahoo! to Launch New, Comprehensive Mobile Portal
Yahoo! Gives Update on Home Page Testing
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