Web Marketing Strategy Update

Yahoo has finally launched its competitor to Google Adsense.

Like Adsense, Yahoo’s Publisher Network displays content relevant ads on Web pages. Advertisers pay only when a reader clicks on their ads. Yahoo splits the fees with publishers. Apparently Yahoo’s service differs from Google’s in that it adds human editorial control to the selection of ads for content pages where Google relies on technology.

The current launch is for beta testing with a small group of publishers. One of these is Jenstar, the Google Adsense forum moderator at both [WebmasterWorld->http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum89/] and [Search Engine Watch->http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30] who has just posted a fairly detailed intial overview here.

Main points from Jen’s post:

1. Custom tracking channels (current limit 50)

2. No alternative to PSA ads except changing ad unit to a single color.

3. Stats last updated time displayed in reports.

4. Ad unit colors much more limited than Adsense.

5. Same ten ad unit sizes that AdSense offers, but some display less ads than Adsense versions (e.g. 3 ads instead of 4).

6. Option to transfer Yahoo Publisher Network earnings over to Yahoo Search Marketing account.

7. Block up to 200 advertisers by adding URLs into an ad blocking tab.

8. Reporting is very similar to AdSense, with stats for all the same information between the two competing programs. You can download reports.

9. Targeting not always accurate at present.

10. You cannot run Yahoo Publisher Network on the same page as another contextual ad program.