I just received a notice from Yahoo! that I thought was worth sharing. They are changing their policy so that “short ads” (70 characters maximum) will be required on all ad sets. You can still write long descriptions for ads, but they must be accompanied by short ad counterparts. Beginning this June, Yahoo.com‘s search results will only display the short, 70 character ad descriptions.
Allowing advertisers to add both short and long descriptions was a new feature for Yahoo!’s massive Panama update that began in the 4th quarter of last year and finished up only recently. In the old system, advertisers could only list short ads and had to have individual ads for each keyword.
I always liked the fact you could have ads for individual search terms, which you can still do in Yahoo!, but could never and still can’t do in Google AdWords, although it pioneered the keyword insertion tool (even if it wasn’t widely known) long before Yahoo! debuted it. Yahoo!’s predecessors – Overture and GoTo.com – never had this feature.
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The worst part about the ad set up in the old Yahoo! system was that you couldn’t run and test multiple ads. Each keyword had its own and only ad.
If you were checking this blog for Web Development Tip #3, don’t despair. I’ll have tips #3 and 4 for you in order to complete the Essential Web Site Check List series. If you’re interested, check out Tip #1 on Web Design and Tip #2 on Content Management Systems.
Have a great Easter or Sunday the 8th depending on your personal beliefs and practices.
