Yahoo! Search Marketing

Resources

Blogs and Forums
Online Marketing Organizations
News Articles
Yahoo! Press Releases

Blogs and Forums

The following blogs and forums provide an array of commentaries and discussions from a variety of industry pundits, publications and organizations to enhance your understanding of traffic quality and other challenges facing online advertisers.

Blogs

YSM Blog
Provides readers with timely information about the New Sponsored Search, inside tips from our own experts, and much more, to help you take advantage of everything that Yahoo! has to offer and be more successful with your online marketing efforts.

Search Engine Land
Search Engine Land is a hub for news and information about search engine marketing, optimization and how search engines work for searchers. You can also find an archive dedicated to click fraud news here.

Search Engine Journal
A publication that specializes in search engine news. Search Engine Journal has been featured in media outlets such as NPR Radio, Search Engine Watch and Business Week multiple times.

Search Engine Watch
Search Engine Watch provides tips and information about searching the web, analysis of the search engine industry and help to site owners trying to improve their ability to be found in search engines.

John Batelle's Searchblog
Author John Battelle was a founder of The Industry Standard and then one of the original editors of Wired, two magazines which helped shape our perceptions of the Internet. His blog consists of "thoughts on the intersection of search, media, technology and more."

Marketing Pilgrim
Brings you the latest news and reviews related to internet marketing and online advertising.

Traffick
Traffick is charting the rise of search engines with a special eye toward the business side and how search engine marketing is changing how everything and anything is sold and marketed using the internet.

Search Marketing Standard
Offers practical and informative articles, interviews with entrepreneurs, tips and advice from leading experts in the industry, latest news and much more.

Search Marketing Expo
Information about Search Marketing Expo, the new search engine marketing conference from Third Door Media, the company behind the Search Engine Land news site and the Search Marketing Now webcast series.

Search Engine Strategies
The latest news and posts about all SES events.

Shuman Ghosemajumder
Shuman Ghosemajumder is editor of his personal web site on business, media and technology. He is currently a business product manager for Trust & Safety at Google, where he has worked since 2003.

Eric Goldman
Eric Goldman's web site focuses on Internet law, intellectual property, marketing, and the legal and social implications of new communication technologies.

Forums

Search Engine Watch Forum
Featured discussions from other online advertisers.

Digital Point Forum
Discussions related to search engines, including optimization, marketing, tools and other technical aspects.

Webmaster World Forum
A forum for the members to share and gain knowledge in operating and promoting a website.

Sphinn
Discussions about search and internet marketing, members can also share news stories and vote on topics of most interest.

Online Marketing Organizations

There are several online resources that can offer valuable insight into how advertisers and search providers think about traffic quality and, in some cases, take specific action. These organizations also offer opportunities to engage with a larger advertiser community. Here are some of the most well-known:

Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)
The IAB is the only association dedicated to helping online, interactive broadcasting, email, wireless and interactive television media companies increase their revenues.

Click Quality Council
The Click Quality Council^TM is an independent group of leading online advertisers, advertising agencies and click quality monitoring firms. The organization provides feedback and insight on issues relating to click quality that can be shared with the industry.

ClickForensics
ClickForensics uses a system that looks at certain technical, behavioral and market attributes to help you detect invalid or questionable clicks. It is focused on developing an industry-wide solution to address click fraud.

News Articles

Traffic quality is regularly featured in various news outlets due to its large impact on the online advertiser. Below is a list of articles featured in various online resources that center on click activity and methods to ensure traffic quality:

Search Engine Journal, Click Fraud and the Need for Third Party Verification, April, 3, 2008
Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM), the second largest online advertising network, and Click Forensics, the firm that led the fight against click fraud, have teamed up to offer an independent third party analysis of YSM click quality.

E-Commerce-Guide, PPC Fraud Fighters: Yahoo and Click Forensics Partner Up, April 3, 2008
When it comes to click fraud, search engine companies and click-fraud tracking firms are generally on opposing sides of the argument - disagreeing over how much scamming exists and what should be done about it - but that's changed with the recent announcement that Yahoo and Click Forensics are partnering up to battle bogus clicks.

CNET, Yahoo, Click Forensics to fight click fraud together,March 18th, 2008
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Yahoo and Click Forensics announced on Monday that they will be working together to fight click fraud.

Forbes, Yahoo! Cozies Up To Its Click-Fraud Critics, March 18th, 2008
At Monday's Search Engine Strategies (SES) conference in New York, Yahoo! announced a partnership with click-fraud auditing firm Click Forensics to share pay-per-click advertising data and work together to identify fraudulent clicks--those designed to pump a Web publisher's advertising revenue or drain a competing advertiser's budget.

USAToday, Botnet scams are exploding, March 17th, 2008
Bots are compromised computers controlled by profit-minded crooks.

Forbes, Stealing Clicks, September 24, 2007
The devil is in the data--and in this case, in the clicks. Google and third-party auditors disagree on whether click fraud--the practice of inflating pay-per-click ad fees with automatic clicking software--is at bay or on the rise.

Forbes, Clicks That Count, September 21, 2007
Depending on whom you ask, click fraud is either an unsolvable quagmire threatening the online ad industry or, as Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said last year, "immaterial."

Search Engine Land, A Thorny Issue: Detecting Mobile Search Click-Fraud, September 3, 2007
Search engines, Internet Yellow Pages and other mobile service companies are looking to aggressively deploy applications and advertising through wireless devices, and the iPhone has heated up the intensity another notch.

Search Engine Land, Combat Click Fraud By Blocking Low Quality Traffic, August 7, 2007
Click fraud is a major concern to most advertisers. While advertisers should monitor their PPC activity and be aware of any possibilities of click fraud, there are several tools within Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing accounts which can help to protect advertisers from potential click fraud.

Forbes, Google-Yahoo! Defend Themselves Against Click Fraud Estimates, July 22, 2007
A debate over the growth of click fraud rates between advertisers and online ad networks has both sides accusing each other of a lack of transparency and bad math.

InformationWeek, Bots Driving Click Fraud, July 19, 2007
Botnets are driving up click fraud, according to Click Forensics, a click auditing company.

Forbes, Click Fraud Goes Viral, July 19, 2007
Expectations are high that Google will reveal another quarter of unstoppable growth Thursday, buoyed by a boom in online advertising. But as the Web giant gets fatter, so do its parasites.

ZD Net, Click Fraud Audits: What is IAB's dog in the fight?, April 24, 2007
The IAB mission, in fact, is easily encapsulated, by the IAB itself: It is dedicated to helping online media companies "increase their revenues."

Business Week, Click Fraud: The Dark Side of Online Advertising (Cover Story), October 2, 2006
A BusinessWeek investigation has revealed a thriving click-fraud underground populated by swarms of small-time players, making detection difficult.

Business Week, What Constitutes a Click?, August 3, 2006
As part of an effort to combat advertising fraud, search engines are searching for a standard definition.

Yahoo! Press Releases

Yahoo! is one of the leading search engines on the Web - we help our users find anything they need on the Internet. We continually strive to improve the traffic our advertisers receive.

Yahoo! Announces Agreement to Acquire Right Media, Largest Emerging Online Advertising Exchange, April 30, 2007
The acquisition of Right Media will build upon Yahoo!'s leadership in online advertising and is a key step toward executing the Company's long-term strategy to transform how online advertisers connect to and engage with their customers--both on and off the Yahoo! network.

Yahoo! and United Online® Renew Search and Search Marketing Distribution Deal, April 17, 2007
Yahoo! and United Online® entered a new exclusive multi-year agreement in which Yahoo! will continue to deliver its sponsored search and web search results to United Online's Internet access services, operating exclusively under the brand names NetZero®, Juno® and Bluelight.

Yahoo! Joins IAB Click Measurement Working Group, August 2, 2006
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced that it is forming an industry-wide Click Measurement Working Group to create a set of Click Measurement Guidelines. The guidelines, which are a joint effort with the Media Rating Council (MRC), will provide the detailed definition of a "click" and the standard against which clicks are measured and counted. Yahoo! is very pleased to be one of the first confirmed members of this working group.

Yahoo! and Click Fraud: Our Commitment to Protecting Advertisers, June 28, 2006
Yahoo! announces that it has reached an important settlement agreement with Checkmate Strategic Group that will provide more clarity about our click protection efforts and significantly more transparency to advertisers in the future.