For some reason, out of nowhere, advertisements for Yahoo Webhosting and Yahoo's small business section are showing up in my Yahoo ads. These are consistent with the other ads....the other ads are similar companies (which is what I want and what works best for me). However, would Yahoo really be paying as much as the other advertisers per click considering its THEIR publisher network that the ads are on? This is extreme crap if they're just taking advantage of publishers by displaying their own ads within the YPN block. Thoughts? Should I use Ad Blocking to block them?
You could block them. Google does the same thing on Adsense. They advertise for themselves. But they also affirm that they participate in the same ad auction as everyone else, so if their ads are showing, you're getting more than you would if they weren't participating. I'm pretty sure Yahoo is doing the same thing.
This is based on Google's model. I don't know how YPN actually works, but I assume it's similar. But let's say there's some keywords. Make one 'webhosting'. You're targetting ads for 'webhosting'. Company A bids $0.50 per click for their webhosting ad. Company B bids $1.00 per click for their webhosting ad. Whose ad shows? Company B. Now if Yahoo wants to show webhosting ads, they have to participate in this auction, so they place a bid. If it's $1.25, their ad shows. If it's $0.75, it does not -- unless Company B pulls their ad, and then it does. Either way, Google and Yahoo have to participate in these auctions just like everyone else. And if their ads are showing, it means they bid higher than everyone else. If they weren't there, bidding higher, you'd be showing less valuable ads. Now technically they get an advantage, because the cut they take for the clicks just goes back to themselves, so they can afford to bid higher. But that doesn't change the fact that you make more.
Ahhh, yeah of course. I'm going to monitor my earnings closely because if they drop, I'll block Yahoo....but that would be a really, really bad move on their part to take advantage of publishers, so they're probably participating the same as the other companies. Thanks for the insight.