Comments on: Will ‘SmartAds’ Give Yahoo An Edge In Online Display Advertising?

By: Chris_S

Chris_S — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:45:45 +0000

I think this innovation should be welcomed in the online advertising community. Many have commented that there’s a privacy concern surrounding these new Yahoo ads. However, I would argue these are no more invasive of our privacy than demographic targeting or click history tracking currently being employed by the other engines.

I provide a counter-argument to the privacy concern on my blog – http://ppc-outpost.blogspot.com/. Feel free to have a read and let me know if you agree.

In terms of Yahoo’s execution, I would point to examples like Yahoo Local to show they can produce something good when they put their mind to it. However, it’s true that there’s a Yahoo Sponsored Search and Yahoo Answers for every one Yahoo Local ;-)

By: gary price

gary price — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 22:59:46 +0000

For those interested in accessing the full text of the article from the WSJ, you can find it at: http://www.mediainfocenter.org/story.asp?story_id=109419055 for free. No subscription required.

By: John Ellis

John Ellis — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:35:39 +0000

To answer your question, yes … if they can execute.

However, they have executed so poorly on everything else over the past several years, I do not see this panning out either.

Yahoo! would have to be able to handle all of the hidden costs that come along with this: customer service, technical support, expertise, understanding, quality reporting, etc.

They are not handling those well in Sponsored Search, so I can not imagine this will be any better.