Yahoo! advice ahead of minimum bid change

12th March 2008

Yahoo! has issued some advice to search marketers ahead of the forthcoming change to the minimum bid system.

Over the next few weeks, sponsored search minimum bids are no longer fixed at $10 (£5) but will follow an auction model, through which a variable minimum bid is calculated fro some keywords.

Yahoo!'s Jeff Hecox has offered five tips for marketers on adjusting to this change as it is introduced.

Companies are advised to learn which keywords work best for their business by comparing click-through rates, click volume and performance metrics.

Marketers should also invest more of their budget in well-performing keywords and to review bids in light of keywords' true value, while grouping keywords together to improve their quality scores was named as a savvy tactic.

Finally, careful budgeting and ensuring bids meet ad budgets and acquisition targets should ensure campaign management success, the blog post states.

A new Hitwise blog post observes that users who search for terms containing the word 'laptops' may be more determined to purchase than those who search with terms featuring the word 'laptop'.