Sunnyvale, CA — The battle of the internet search engine ad giants continues, with Yahoo jumping fresh into the mix with a new ad system it insists will cut to the chase for marketers looking for a way to more accurately direct their services at whatever demographic is most appropriate for them.According to Tim Cadogan, vice president of search at Yahoo, the new system, scheduled to launch during the third quarter, “shows on a five-point scale how well an ad is performing.” This, along with more in-depth information about user surfing habits within the Yahoo network, their geographical location, and other possible consumer-linked bits of information, provide advertisers with “more data about the quality of advertisers’ listings than any other competitor.”
This is an important development for the search engine giant, given that both Microsoft and Google already have their own ad service alternatives. Currently, Google has the corner on the search engine ad market, but in an industry as changeable as the internet, that lead could be temporary or sporadic. As it is, $30 billion worth of Yahoo revenue comes from online advertising and that number is increasing, a trend expected to continue for the most visited site on the globe.
In addition to any genuine technological improvements that Yahoo might have over its rivals, it has a broad base of registered users for its services and sites and is, in fact, the top media web site available at this time.
The value of this resource is illustrated by Usama Fayyad, chief data officer for the company when he explains that “On the Yahoo network we can find 300,000 consumers who are very likely to be buying a car within the next 30 days.”
Yahoo’s services integration allows the company to do more than simply follow a user’s keyword search habits. By taking search and Yahoo-related surfing habits as a whole, the system can more accurately anticipate user needs based on where they’ve already been and what direction they appear to be going.
Yahoo’s own past has included its search functions as well as broadband partnerships, deep product focus, and graphical advertising. Its future includes forward looking technologies involving video, platforms, monetization, wireless, as well as automatic analytics, advanced testing features, geo-targeting, and increased ease of use.
Lloyd Braun, head of the Yahoo Media Group, states the company’s future goals nicely when he states that “Community and personalization are going to be the key differentiators for us.”
Industry pundits are optimistic about the moves, with David Card of Jupiter Research showing support for the decisions by saying “I believe Yahoo is well positioned with a large network of existing users and a rich advertising platform.”
