Posts Tagged Yahoo! Paid Inclusion

By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive

As you’re probably aware, Yahoo! announced a strategic alliance with Microsoft, which is wending its way through the federal regulatory process, and which would position Bing to be the search and monetization engine for both companies. Yahoo! would focus on its strengths as a producer of Web media sites, from finance to sports, as a marketer and a leader in on-line display advertising that accompanies published Web sites.

It appears that Microsoft is pressuring Yahoo! to drop its successful and highly profitable Paid Inclusion program.  The Paid Inclusion program has been a compelling and dependable source of revenue for advertisers. It consistently delivers a return on ad spend that surpasses Google, Yahoo Search, and Bing. 

I can only guess that Microsoft is adopting Google’s view of ethical internet behavior and is dropping the program because it believes that it is duplicitous to allow companies to buy PPC advertising in an area of the web page that has been traditionally reserved for “free” or “organic” listings. It may fear that an association with a program that has been as controversial as the SSP program may degrade the value of the brand.

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