Maximise Your Click-throughs

Here are some basic tips for how to increase the number of sales leads to your site.

1. Bid into Premium Listings™.
Advertising in Yahoo! Search Marketgin's Premium Listings, the top three positions in the search results, is the only way to achieve maximum exposure for your Web site on search sites like Yahoo!, InfoSpace, AltaVista and more.

2. Bid on as many search terms as are relevant to your site.
We've found that advertisers who bid on a range of relevant terms (especially 20 or more) experience the greatest success in reaching potential customers.

3. Include the search term in the title and description.
Studies show that listings including the search term in both the title and description have a higher click-through rate (more than 50% higher on average). In fact, some advertisers' click-through rates doubled, tripled and even quadrupled when they switched to search term-specific titles and descriptions.

4. Bid higher on each search listing.
The higher your Max Bid, the higher your listing appears in the results, which leads to more sales leads to your site. In fact, Premium Listings™ (the top three positions) get more than double the number of searches as Classic Listings (positions 4-240). Use the View Bids Tool to help you decide how high to bid.

5. Make sure your search terms and listings are relevant.
Relevance means that the search term, title, description and the content of your site are all relevant to one another. We define relevance as a site containing real, apparent content that specifically relates to its search terms. The search terms you request should reflect what users will find on your site, and your titles and descriptions should communicate why your site is a good match for the search term. For example, just because you have a picture of a pair of shoes on your site doesn't make your site relevant to the search term "shoes." In order to be relevant, you need information about shoes or shoes for sale on your site.

6. Keep your account active.
If you let your account go offline, you'll lose your seniority in cases of tie bids. For example, if you were the first of five advertisers to place a max bid £0.25 on the search term "scuba gear," your listing would be at the top of all the £0.25 max bids for "scuba gear." But if you go offline, then come back online at the same max bid, your listing would be moved to the bottom of the £0.25 "scuba gear" max bids.

7. Use daily budgeting to plan for your needs.
For the greatest amount of traffic turn daily budget "off" which automatically charges your credit card an amount you specify when your account balance is low, keeping your listings online at all times. If you're watching your budget closely, turn daily budget "on" in your account (you determine a daily budget and your impressions are distributed throughout the day). Note that each account has a £1 minimum daily spend.

8. Write search listings that are concise and factual.
Your listings should make it clear what users will find when they click through to your site, for example, that they will be able to buy products or read reviews. For best results, keep your listings short and avoid exaggeration.

9. Select a wide range of relevant search terms.
We recommend you bid on search terms that cover the variations a customer might try to find your product or service. For example, if you were advertising Italian shoes for men, you might bid on "Italian men's shoe," "men's shoe," "shoe," "buy shoe," "shoes for men," and so on.

10. Submit the URL that links users to the correct page.
Use the most specific URL possible so users are directed to the page on your site that relates to the search term. And, use tracking URLs so you'll know which traffic comes from Yahoo! Search Marketing.

11. Take advantage of additional traffic by turning on the Advanced match type and Content Match™.
Keeping the Advanced match type turned "on" can increase the universe of user search terms that will map to your listings. Content Match is a source of leads that displays your listings when Internet users are viewing related content like articles and reviews on our partners' pages. Using the Advanced match type and our Content Match feature for your Sponsored Search listings enables you to reach additional customers without the need to create new listings, saving you both time and effort. Learn more about Content Match. Learn more about Advanced match type.

These tips and suggestions are merely a guide and do not bind Yahoo! Search Marketing. They are made without guarantee of any kind. Yahoo! Search Marketing expressly disclaims any liability incurred in connection with the use of these tips or suggestions. This is not an agreement between Yahoo! Search Marketing and its advertisers, nor does it limit Yahoo! Search Marketing's discretion to modify its services in any way.