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Coming Attractions: A New Account Structure for Advertisers

The new Sponsored Search is on its way, and with it comes some new terminology and some important tasks to complete

As you know, Yahoo! Search Marketing has announced a number of enhancements to our advertiser systems and platform. In this article, we'll begin to explain how the Sponsored Search account structure is changing, and the actions we recommend you take in preparation.

Current Account Structure vs. New Sponsored Search
When your account is upgraded (these transitions will begin in fourth quarter 2006), some of the account structure terminology that is currently in use will change, and we will add some new terminology. Here is a summary of those changes and additions to the way your ads are organized:

Current: Listings
"Listings" have been the combination of keyword, bid, title, description and URL.

New: Ads
The marketing messages that your potential customers see will be "uncoupled" from keywords, and be known as "ads," but they are similarly comprised of a title, description and URL.

New: Ad Groups
"Ad Groups" are the combination of multiple ads (your creative) and keywords. You may set one bid for your entire ad group, or use individual keyword bids.

Current: Categories
Categories have served as the organizational structure you assigned to groups of keywords that are similar in a particular way, for purposes of bid management or reporting.

New: Campaigns
"Campaigns" replace categories, and will consist of a combination of one or more ad groups that share the same budget, schedule and geo-targeting criteria, usually created to achieve a particular marketing goal.

After your account is upgraded, you won't need to manage your account at the listing level anymore. Instead, you can manage and optimize your account performance at the account, campaign ad group or keyword/ad level. We recommend starting out by managing at the ad group level, in which you can use multiple versions of your creative (titles and descriptions). The benefit of using ad groups is that you will be able to test different versions of your creative, and have more impressions shifted to those ads that provide you with the highest click-through rate.

Preparing for the Account Upgrade
When we upgrade your account, we will move your account categories into campaigns with the same names. So if you haven't already done so, it's very important that you start to group your current listings that are related to each other into categories.

By completing this organization before your upgrade occurs, your ads should be much better organized after we move your account to the new structure. Then you'll be able to "hit the ground running" as you take advantage of our new interface and tools.

Example: If you sold "SeeClearly" televisions, under the new Sponsored Search you would probably want to have a "SeeClearly" campaign that included ad groups for the models "SeeClearly X100", "SeeClearly X200", "SeeClearly HDX1000", etc. Using this example, we recommend that you set up a "SeeClearly" category now that would contain all of your SeeClearly listings.

Summary
1. Keywords still serve as your foundation.
The keywords that describe your business can remain the same. These are still the connecting point between you and customers who are searching online.

2. Individual titles and descriptions will apply to multiple keywords.
Titles, descriptions and URLs-known as "ads" in the new Sponsored Search-may apply to more than one keyword. This should cut down on the time you have to spend generating advertising messages.

3. Keywords and ads will be organized into ad groups.
Ad groups can contain multiple keywords, along with up to 20 ads (titles, descriptions and URLs) that apply to those keywords. This will allow you to test multiple ads to find the message that works best with prospective customers.

4. One or more ad groups will make up a campaign.
Campaigns may contain multiple ad groups. Some new features will enable you to set up geo-targeting, scheduling and budgeting at the campaign level. This should give you more control, and help ensure that your campaigns are working as efficiently as possible.

5. Your account will be comprised of all your campaigns.
Your campaigns will make up your new Sponsored Search account, which will still apply to one market only, i.e., the United States (which includes English-speaking Canada). To advertise in more than one market, you will need to have multiple accounts.

Questions?
If you have questions about this information or preparing your account for your account upgrade, please contact our Customer Solutions department via the Support Request Form, which can be accessed by clicking on the "Support Center" link found at the upper right-hand corner of most pages within your account. Large advertisers currently receiving service from a Yahoo! account manager should contact their account managers with questions, or to get more information.

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Keep Your Information Up to Date

We will be communicating with you frequently over the next three months as we complete the account upgrades for all of our advertisers. To ensure that you have all necessary information regarding your upgrade and the new platform, we need accurate contact information for every advertiser. Please take a moment now to check your account contact information at https://secure.overture.com/edit-profile.do and update it as necessary.