Yahoo Launches Panama Ad System - Does it Do the Work?
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We will look at their live reviews, and also look at some shortcomings that Panama seeks to redress. We will also examine some similarities between Panama and AdSense. I may ramble a bit about my pet peeves against pay per click systems (I promise to keep this to one paragraph). We will look at the benefits the new geographical targeting will offer marketers, and some hidden advantages that Yahoo has not gone into details about, such as behavioral search and discounts for quality ads which get the highest click throughs. We will see whether Panama is a better option in the long term for web site owners (publishers).
The Reviewers
The bloggers were taken to Yahoo Search Marketing offices in Burbank and treated to live reviews of the system. They actually got to see their ads show up in search results and tool around with the control panel for days. Yahoo's John Slade, senior director of Global Product Management, Zod Nazem (CTO), and David Ku (VP engineering) gave background information on its development over the past two years. Basically Yahoo is betting that the platform will increase conversion ratios and thus increase revenue for sites that advertise on it. And how do they intend to do this?
Local Geographical Targeting
Now small regional companies with offline outlets can target searchers in their specific locale with Panama, using technology obtained when they bought Whereonearth (a British geo targeting company). Yahoo allows advertisers to target by market, region or city and surrounding regions. The new system also handles explicit location queries like "Computer maintenance centers in Sacramento." This means advertisers can target their bids at specific regions only and ignore broader general markets. This gives more focus and direction to your goal setting.
This geo targeting is one of the biggest "pros" of the Panama system, although the Yahoo staff seemed to be surprised at the fact that most of the bloggers constantly referred to it. You can see screen shots of the interface and some comments by Schwartz at http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/061017-174500.
Other benefits include rapid activation of advertising campaigns and definite start and end times for the ads which should reduce advertising costs and increase conversion.
Next: Enhanced Forecasting, Spending Limits >>
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