If you haven’t been to Yahoo.com lately, you may have learned from CNN that Yahoo! has a new homepage design. It can be personalized by the user, but the default design has an interesting aspect of its own.
A quick peek at the page indicates that it is calling more attention to its search feature, which resolves to a results page with the usual 10 natural results. Yahoo! then wraps the natural search results with around 14 paid ads (4 on top, 8 on the right, and 2 on the bottom) which is generally in excess of the delivery given by Google, but it does give advertisers a greater chance of being seen on the first page, which is very important. For example, you can usually find our site (submitawebsite.com, now known as Web.com Search Agency) around the #9 natural result in both Yahoo and Google for “search engine optimization.” This is a very competitive term and one of our claims to fame, since every SEO firm in the world wants to show its ability to be found somewhere in the top 30 search engine results, and will pay lots of money if they aren’t on the first page of natural results. (Your results may vary, since search engines show slightly different results depending on location and previous search history.)
How does the new Yahoo! homepage help the average website owner who is buying paid ads? In general, we see a better conversion rate for the traffic that comes from Yahoo Search Marketing, so an increase in search volume may lead to more conversions, lowering the overall cost per acquisition across the board. One of the stumbling blocks for cash-strapped online sellers has been volume, so people will occasionally forego Yahoo! and MSN/Bing in favor of as much Google traffic as they can afford. Unfortunately, this may not be the most cost effective approach for people who make a bigger profit on smaller search engines. If Yahoo! succeeds in demonstrating this to people, they may be able to lure more dollars back to their engine.
The advantage of this new format is that it should encourage people to search before they get distracted by content and other page elements. Given the downturn in paid search spending, this should help Yahoo! make the most of the bad economy. For Web.com Search Agency clients, the reduced competition means there is a lower overall cost of paid search advertising, since there are fewer bidders. Additionally, we have been able to help “big spenders” reduce their cost per acquisition, and in some cases they can get more of the “good clicks” that drive revenue.
