Yahoo launch Quality-based ad pricing in UK
Yahoo has rolled out a discount scheme for its UK pay-per-click (PPC) advertisers based on the quality of traffic they receive.
The new search marketing pricing model, launched in the US earlier in the year, recognises the quality of click-through traffic coming to advertisers’ sites from each website carrying their adverts and adjusts prices accordingly.
The system works primarily by examining the conversion rates (the proportion of visitors who are converted into customers) of the traffic being sent by each distribution partner to determine the value of clicks, meaning advertisers will now pay less for lower quality traffic.
The launch of the scheme, similar to the long-standing Google Smart Pricing model, will be welcomed by PPC advertisers, for whom paying high prices for low quality traffic and click fraud have become massive problems. According to a study by Click Forensics, 28% of clicks on Google and Yahoo were fraudulent in the third quarter of 2007.
Although the move won’t prevent click fraud, Yahoo’s recognition that the poor quality of PPC traffic needs addressing does signal a step in the right direction. Unless new and better systems can radically change the face of PPC, the general consensus in the industry will remain that search engine optimisation represents far better value in the long-term.
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