Yahoo Launches Search Behavior Ad Targeting Features

Yesterday Yahoo announced three new ad targeting features:

Search retargeting serves display ads to users based on what they've searched for, regardless of where they are in the Yahoo network. "For example, if a user searches for the keyword 'sandals,' indicating strong purchase intent, an advertiser can target that user with a tailored display ad for footwear," the company explained in a press release.

Enhanced retargeting serves dynamically-generated display ads based on a user's activity on the advertiser's site.

Enhanced targeting is a blanket term used to describe more granular targeting capabilities on search advertising, including ad scheduling and demographic targeting within search.

Last week Yahoo announced its ongoing development of image/video capabilities in sponsored search. The program, Rich Ads in Search, has been in testing for over a year. It is currently only available to major clients.

"As the economy continues to put pressure on advertising budgets, marketers are looking for increased accountability for every dollar they spend. Yahoo's new targeting products significantly improve the ability for search and display advertisers to reach their target audience, providing increased efficiency and accountability," said SVP-Ad Marketplaces Michael Walrath of Yahoo.

Next month, Yahoo is also expected to launch a search advertising tool that enables users to manage what time and day of the week they wish their ads to run. Demo targeting specifics, including age group and gender, will also be incorporated.

Separately, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated yesterday that he wishes to join forces with Yahoo to tackle Google, which in December 2008 dominated over 60% of the US core search market. Yahoo followed with 20.5%; Microsoft placed third, with 8.3%.

Ballmer was careful to add that joining forces with Yahoo does not mean he is interested in buying the company in whole or in part — a suggestion to which Yahoo's new CEO, Carol Bartz, may be unreceptive.

"[Yahoo] is a fantastic Internet property and really doesn't deserve everybody trying to pick it and pull it apart," she stated last month.

Microsoft lobbed an unsolicited takeover bid at Yahoo early last year, sparking ongoing drama between the two companies that lasted for more than half of 2008. Some believe that Yahoo's poor management of the bid ultimately led to co-founder/former CEO Jerry Yang's resignation. Bartz's appointment was announced two months later.