Top-line Questions
Q: When is the Yahoo! Search ad serving transition to Microsoft Advertising adCenter complete?
Q: Where will the search alliance launch next and when?
Q: Why are my Yahoo! Search Marketing ads no longer displaying on Yahoo! Search sites?
Q: I didn’t move my ads from Yahoo! Search Marketing to adCenter before the ad serving transition was completed. How do I move my ads to adCenter?
Q: Who do I contact for support?
Q: If I need customer support from Microsoft after the transition, will their representatives be able to see my Yahoo! account history?
Q: I have noticed that my adCenter budget is depleted earlier in the month than usual. Why is it being consumed faster?
Q: Why can’t I choose to show my ads on Bing and not Yahoo! (or Yahoo! and not Bing)?
Q: Why did my ad position change? I am bidding the same as usual?
Q: How do Microsoft Advertising adCenter and Yahoo! Search Marketing differ in functionality?
Organic Search Transition
Q: What does the transition of organic search on Yahoo! mean?
Q: Will my site ranking change now that Bing supplies organic search results for Yahoo!?
Q: Is there anything I can do to ensure that my site ranks highly on Yahoo! Search?
Q: How can I get help with organic search optimisation efforts?
Q: When is the Yahoo! Search ad serving transition to Microsoft Advertising adCenter complete?
A: We currently serve 100% of search traffic on Bing and Yahoo! properties in the US, Canada and India. Your Microsoft Advertising adCenter ads can now reach 15 million unique searchers in India using Microsoft and Yahoo! sites (including Yahoo! Search, Bing, and partners) providing 146 million monthly searches.1
Q: Where will the search alliance launch next and when?
A: We remain committed to the long-term success of the search alliance with Yahoo and continue to roll market transitions globally. Our plan is to transition key European and Asian markets starting in 2012. Customers will be given at least three months’ notice before their market’s planned transition. The learnings gained during the U.S., Canada and India transitions are being directly applied to each subsequent market transition, to help ensure a quality transition experience.
Q: Why are my Yahoo! Search Marketing ads no longer displaying on Yahoo! Search sites?
A: Yahoo! Search Marketing is no longer serving ads to Yahoo! Search sites in U.S, Canada, and India. As part of the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, adCenter is now the single platform that serves ads to Yahoo! Search and Bing sites. To get your ads up and running, create a Microsoft Advertising adCenter account at adcenter.microsoft.com.
Q: I didn’t move my ads from Yahoo! Search Marketing to adCenter before the ad serving transition was completed. How do I move my ads to adCenter?
A: For U.S., Canada, and India, you may go directly to Microsoft Advertising adCenter (adcenter.microsoft.com), set up an account, and create campaigns in that account. Another option for India until December 31, 2011, is to sign in to your Yahoo! Search Marketing account and transfer account data into Microsoft Advertising adCenter using the Transition Tool.
Q: Who do I contact for support?
A: Self-serve advertisers work with Microsoft for online-based search advertising needs. Please visit your market-specific Contact Sales and Support pages for phone, e-mail and chat options.
Q: If I need customer support from Microsoft after the transition, will their representatives be able to see my Yahoo! account history?
A: No, but you can access your Yahoo! Search Marketing campaign data for at least six months after the ad serving transition to Microsoft Advertising adCenter.
Q: I have noticed that my adCenter budget is depleted earlier in the month than usual. Why is it being consumed faster?
A: When evaluating your adCenter budgets, it’s important to understand how the auction has changed with the introduction of Yahoo! Search traffic and increased advertiser competition. You will need to increase your adCenter budget to account for the increased volume from Yahoo! Search traffic. Your Microsoft Advertising adCenter ads now run on Microsoft and Yahoo! sites (including Yahoo! Search, Bing, and partners) providing a sizable volume of 6.2 billion monthly searches and a 31.8% search share – which is one-third of queries in the U.S.1 Aligning your monthly spend to meet the market share is an efficient way to prioritize your budget. This means you can set a budget that better reflects the actual amount you want to spend. To adjust your budget, simply sign in to Microsoft Advertising adCenter.
It’s important to know that we are also improving how your budget is spent in adCenter to help minimize overspending of your daily campaign budget. Our approach is to continually enhance performance, usability, productivity and innovation to increase volume, clicks, conversions and, of course, ROI. We’re making big investments into our platform with a rich pipeline and a steady stream of releases happening every couple weeks, which will result in increased volume, great efficiency and scalability, system improvements delivered at a faster rate, and deeper consumer engagement.
While you are the best judge to determine how much your business can spend, we recommend you adjust your monthly spend to one-third of your overall search engine marketing (SEM) budget to help ensure you don’t miss out on clicks and conversions. For example, if your SEM budget is $1,000 per month, your Microsoft Advertising adCenter budget should be at least $333 per month. To learn more, visit our Bidding & Budgeting page.
Q: Why can’t I choose to show my ads on Bing and not Yahoo! (or Yahoo! and not Bing)?
A: To maximize the reach opportunities, you will not be able to bid separately on just Bing or just Yahoo! Search. One of our goals is to provide advertisers with the benefit of a combined marketplace through a single platform, creating a competitive alternative in search. Rather than managing campaigns on Bing and Yahoo! separately, you can reach the combined audience of both search solutions by managing a single account, saving time and simplifying campaign management. However, you can use the Enhanced Search Network Distribution feature to be more specific about where you’d like your ads to display. The Enhanced Search Network Distribution feature lets you choose to display your search ad groups on all Bing and Yahoo! search networks and syndicated search partners (the default setting), only Bing and Yahoo! Search syndicated partners, or only Bing and Yahoo! sites in the U.S. and Canada. If you are transitioning your campaigns over from Yahoo!, your search ad groups are set to distribute at the default setting, as your Network Distribution settings in Yahoo! Search Marketing will not automatically carry over into Microsoft Advertising adCenter. To learn more, visit our Feature Comparison page. We recognize that not all clicks are created equal, and to help you with campaign ROI management, we automatically make adjustments to your click charges based on our assessment of the performance of traffic coming from sources within our network. Ultimately, this means you may receive discounts on click charges for lower-performing traffic.
Q: Why did my ad position change? I am bidding the same as usual.
A: As more and more Yahoo! advertisers transition to using Microsoft Advertising adCenter, you may find that there are more competitors bidding on your keywords, and this could impact the position of your ads. It is helpful to monitor your bids frequently to stay on top of any changes to your ad’s position as a result of new competitors bidding on your keywords. You may find it necessary to adjust your bids to maintain your desired position. If you choose to do so, be sure to regularly review your results to maintain your ROI goals. To learn more about how to optimize your bidding strategies, visit our Bing & Yahoo! Search Tips page.
Q. How do Microsoft Advertising adCenter and Yahoo! Search Marketing differ in functionality?
A: You can view our comparison guide to learn more about the Microsoft adCenter features and how they differ from those in Yahoo! Search Marketing. To learn more, visit our Feature Comparison page.
Q: What does the transition of organic search on Yahoo! mean?
A: All organic search listings on Yahoo! Search are now powered by Microsoft’s Bing technology. Microsoft provides results for all web, image and video searches, while Yahoo! will continue to oversee the user experience for Yahoo! Search. This transition is completed in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Republic of Ireland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, India, Australia, New Zealand, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Western Sahara, Yemen, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
Q: Will my site ranking change now that Bing supplies organic search results for Yahoo!?
A: It is possible that the ranking of your site on Yahoo! Search will change now that Yahoo’s organic search results are powered by Bing. Your ranking is now 100% based on how the Bing engine indexes and ranks the relevance of your site for a particular search query, as Yahoo! cannot change the order of the listings it receives.
Q: Is there anything I can do to ensure that my site ranks highly on Yahoo! Search?
A: While there is no way to guarantee a high ranking on Yahoo! Search, it’s very important that you optimise for the Bing engine, as it now powers Yahoo! Search results.
The Bing website provides a set of materials on search engine optimisation (SEO). An SEO webmaster’s toolbox can be found at http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/. To help ensure that your site is being properly indexed, we recommend that you visit this online resource to submit your site and sitemap. The toolbox also includes other information to help you organise web site content using non-paying methods, to help you improve your site’s ranking in search engine results.
Q: How can I get help with organic search optimisation efforts?
A: Bing’s website provides a robust set of materials on search engine optimisation (SEO). An SEO webmaster’s toolbox can be found at http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/. It provides webmasters with valuable information on organising web site content and using non-paying methods, to help improve your site’s ranking in search engine results.
1 comScore Core Search (custom), August 2011 |
