The email i received from yahoo: Pricing Update: Minimum Bids are no Longer Fixed at $.10 Starting today, the minimum bids for some Sponsored Search keywords are no longer fixed at $.10. Minimum bids can now be lower or higher than $.10. Content Match minimum bids currently will remain at $.10. Throughout the next week, you may start noticing new minimum bids on some of your keywords. You will be notified by email and within your account when the status of any of your keywords is affected. The amount set as your minimum bid on a keyword in Sponsored Search can vary depending on multiple factors, such as: • The number of bidders and bid amounts in the particular keyword market • The quality of your keywords, or their relevance to advertisers, as measured by the quality of the ads associated with them How it Works • Your keyword is active—or eligible for display—when your current bid is equal to or greater than your minimum bid for that keyword. • Your keyword becomes inactive if your bid falls below your minimum, and won't be displayed unless your minimum bid is met. • You'll be notified when your bid is too low, and will have up to several days to adjust your bid. This is good news!
This is not a good news. At the end of days, you have to pay more to get same amount of clicks due to higher minimum bid. It is about time to learn Google Adwords as YSM will just follow whatever Adwords do.
Are you retarded? How is this good news? Yahoo is retarded. It would be one thing if Yahoo has an algorithm that worked and you knew exactly what you would have to do to increase your quality score to decrease your min bids. However, for example and I talk about this in my latest blog post, I can throw a bunch of keywords in to some ad groups, throw in 4 or 5 generic ads on the niche and get ad quality scores of 4 or 5 out of 5 bars. I can laser-target my keywords and ads and get ad quality scores of 2 or 3 bars out of 5. Yahoo's algorithm is a failure when it comes to their little joke called a quality score algorithm and its a joke for them to even try this without first correcting the million other problems they have. I for one will not be using Yahoo while they play this stupid game they are playing with Microsoft. This is just another goal to try and get more money from Microsoft, even the big boys are calling it out like that. Just take a look at techcrunch or YSM's own blog in the comments. Yahoo is retarded!
I am already seeing the effects of this... 200 of my keywords' min req bids have increased - one keyword that I used to pay $0.15 for before is now asking a minimum of $2.78!
First off, im not retarded. Second, just because it's bad news for the publishers, doesn't mean it's bad news for the advertisors or vice versa. so either way you put it someone is making more money (not yahoo)
Yahoo better get things straightened out. My Yahoo account basically stopped sending me clicks yesterday afternoon. Their minimum bids are way to high, about twiced as high as I have then currently set at and I hardly make any money at that price point. Their minimum bids also are a lot higher than googles. I refuse to up my bids!