Undead_Hunter - 5:47 pm on Mar 9, 2005 (gmt 0)

Doesn't it make sense that Yahoo would pay more on the lower end of clicks, since they charge more for a minimum keyword?

Transparency. That's absolutely top of my mind with all this. Even if they said "SmartPricing could mean you get paid 10-50%", then at least we'd have some idea of what was going on.

Or better yet, show us the *conversion* rate of our websites. Forget the CTR, share the conversion rate anonymously - that would be better for both us and the advertisers. Then we could choose our content and adjust it appropriately. New content, for sure.

I also think it would be foolish NOT to test it out a serious alternative network. Run AdSense and Yahoo on every OTHER page on the site, switch them back and forth every day. Or run all AdSense in the morning one day, all Yahoo the next. And so on.

Unless one is significantly higher than the other, stay diversified.

I've read this is commonplace in some manufacturing circles. Keep the suppliers diversified, it keeps them staying on their toes giving you the best product and it keeps up competition for the lowest price/best quality. No one gets more than 70% of the supply contracts.

Still, it wouldn't surprise me if either company made this against the TOS. "No other contextual advertisers, period."