3 Comments

Yahoo! Search Marketing Becomes More Publisher Friendly

Feb 15, 2008
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This came through the CJ wire just recently and it’s the first I’ve heard:

After more than six months in the making and much customer feedback and testing, we are pleased to announce that Yahoo! Search Marketing (YSM) has recently updated its editorial policies and will now allow U.S. publishers to direct link to their advertisers. In the past, YSM’s editorial policy prevented publishers from linking directly to their advertiser partners and required that traffic be sent first to the publisher’s Web site. The new policy eliminates this restriction and opens a much broader search marketing opportunity for publishers.

This YSM policy change is the result of a strong relationship between Commission Junction and YSM. We have spent more than six months working with YSM to enact the new editorial policy and are very pleased that this effort has resulted in changes that are sure to create opportunities for our publishers and advertisers.

We find this policy change exciting on several levels. First, this is a significant shift for YSM and could be a great opportunity for your search marketing campaigns. Second, you heard it here first – YSM has asked us to communicate this change to the affiliate community. Third, the work we’ve done with YSM on this policy change is just another example of our commitment to listening to and speaking up for our publishers.

This is great news for affiliate marketing. Yahoo’s policy never made sense to me and it always seemed a lot of affiliates got away with violating it based on referring URLs we saw. One positive aspect was that Yahoo would help you crack down on trademark bidders.

My understanding is that CJ and Yahoo do have a great working agreement so it would make sense that CJ was the lobbyist for this change. In that case, congratulations to Kerri Pollard and to CJ. I am keen to see how this may increase search marketing among affiliates.

Filed under: Online Marketing
  • http://www.paid-survey-success.com Online Surveys

    I never used Yahoo! Search Marketing before, but considering these changes it may be time to take a look at them. Too bad it doesn't look like they will be getting together with Microsoft, they may have been able to finally give Google a run for its money.

  • http://www.ebranchoffice.com James Evergreen

    Do people really find long-term success doing direct to merchant pay per click affiliate marketing?

    I'm sure it is possible to make some short term profits buying traffic and sending it directly to affiliate program landing pages, but there is no long term value being built.

    Seems like a lot of work to buy traffic and hope it converts while also hoping that other people don't increase the bid amount necessary to get the traffic. Seems like a tough game that has no prospect for long term sustainable success.

    Companies like CJ and their affiliate programs must love it because most of the testing, risk, and expense is taken on by people who are gambling that they can win the PPC game.

  • http://schaafco.com Brook Schaaf

    I think it is a tough game but also a very profitable one for a lot of people.

    CJ (and other networks) love it because they make money off each transaction. Merchants should love it for the reasons you cited but many have a different attitude.

    In short, there is a lot of opportunity in this game for affiliates as long as they put in the time and effort it takes to get good at it. The market place has been quite competitive for years. I regard this to be a sustainable modle. I think it will be going strong for the forseeable future.