YPN algo factors

some factors that contribute to what ads yahoo shows

[linkster]

I would like to discuss what some of you see as factors that contribute to what specific ads Yahoo displays on a page. I have been testing for about 3 days not. Here a few things I have noticed in my few days of testing.

*Note - Of course your experience will vary I am sure…let’s hear about it though. Nailing down some factors could help us all improve relevancy.

Yahoo does use Meta tags in determining what ads to display on your page. Simply try loading a blank page with nothing but one keyword phrase used in the keyword and description tag. This will almost always show relevant ads for the keyword phrase you type in after you refresh a few times. (Whish it were that easy for a real page)

I have also tried uploading a blank page with just a keyword phrase in the title tag. This usually results in RON ads showing up. I was really surprised by this; I assumed the title tag would carry more weight. I even tried using one keyword phrase in the title tag, and an unrelated phrase in the other Meta tags. The phrase in the keyword and description tag win out and Yahoo displays ads for them over the title tag. Maybe it is because there are two instances of the phrase as apposed to the one instance of the phrase in the title tag.

*Note - I am using random file names like 173sbs9.html when testing

A few other things that I have noticed:
Sometimes Yahoo will pick out a word or phrase that does not have a very high density, less than 1%, and display ads for that page. This tends to happen if the word or phrase is in a link. I have seen examples of it pulling things out of my news feeds. Like on an attorney page it shows MCI ads because a news link mentions some case about it, even thought the density for MCI is very low and it’s the only phone related content on the page. All the other data is law related…sub domain name, content, title tags etc and yahoo gets the ads right on similarly created pages on the same domain.

I am thinking you need 5 to 10% density for your main phrase without another phrase being real close to that, for the ads to display for the exact phrase you want….still testing of course. I have also noticed that content blocks of 400 words or more seem to really help their bot figure out the right ads to display as long as the density is high.

Lastly, I have noticed that if I get the ads displaying for say “chocolate candy” and then completely change the page by loading up a new page or even new site, as long as I keep the filename the same I will get “chocolate candy” ads. Now this is expected but the issue is, I have seen this stick for 2 days or so and not change. They need to revisit the page more, maybe add a button for automatic review request for specific pages…so you don’t have to wait so long especially when their relevancy is not very good right now. They should revisit more often to get it right.

This is about as far as I have gotten, when I started out the ads would change in a few minutes. With my latest round of testing though it’s been about 24 hours and no changes. I called yahoo (nice feature) to ask them if maybe I upset their bot by so many new ads and false impressions. The rep. assured me that nothing like that was in place and it was fine to test the ads as long as they are not being clicked, no harm is being done.

The rep also told me that if I block the RON ads that more would ads would just take their place in all likelihood. I was asking if I blocked them, if I could force the bot into reading the page quicker and more accurately. He said that would not happen.

Please leave some of the things you’re doing to receive more relevant ads and some of the factors you see influencing the ads your pages display.

Thanks
Linkster
First Time Poster

[Heartlander]

Excellent post.
With not much information being exchanged on this program, its a breath of fresh air.
Haven't done much intentional experimenting myself, but would love to hear from those that have.

Thanks much!

[GeeWhizzler]

Ad supply.

[GeeWhizzler]

I just read through your post again linkster. Do you know about ad targeting with YPN? Your examples are based on contextual ad serving.

[yosaid]

YPN blocked forums from targetting ads. I am hearing they are picking forums one by one to block them from having any targeting whatsover. Whether this is true or not, I am seeing the same trend where three of my forums got only RON ads within the last couple of days and never got back to normal targeting.

I think they will loose alot of publishers who subliment their sites with small debate forums. This is crazy.

I called YPN to no avail.

[jameswross]

I have targeted ads on my forum... I use vbulletin

[Wiley]

Are you sure it is just Forums or is YPN just making changes that are effecting all sites. My targeting changes on both my sites and neither are forums. Yesterday both sites were just getting RON ads then an hour later it was targeting again. I also think when they see changes to pages (like forums) they need to recrawl and that seems to take a day or two. The good news is my revenue is slowly increasing each day so they must be making improvments.

[linkster]

Yeah, Yahoo's Targeted ads are OK but I would much rather know why Yahoo shows certain ads on my pages. This will then lead to more beneficial content creation. For example, once you know some basic SEO you don’t really have to think about it, you just create content that includes good SEO while appearing natural.

Once I know what Yahoo values, I can use that information to generate content which will have a high probability of displaying exactly the kind of ads I want.

Example – Let’s say you have a webpage that touts the dedicated servers you offer to host for clients.

Phrases From Overture:
“Dedicated Server” top 5 bidders are all in the 3.00 per click range

“Dedicated Host” top 5 averages about 1.25

Now your page is relevant to both phrases, however with a little knowledge you can help Yahoo to display the “dedicated server” ads as apposed to the lower bid phrases. Just use overture’s bid tool and look around in your niche, I am sure you will find some relevant ads that are paying higher than the ones you are currently displaying.

I figure if I am going to create content and then display yahoo ads on that content, it would behoove me to learn how to produce content that displayed the ads I want it to. Why miss out on more money either though more cash per click, or more clicks due to highly targeted ads?

[Wiley]

I agree if we knew what YPN was looking for then we could write content that pointed the correct ads to that page. You could also use the Ad Targeting and select a category that matches that page. I have used the later and have doubled my CTR on one of my sites. The problem is the CTR is still not as good as Adsense but that has more to do with the limited number of ads then targeting at least for now.

Linkster if you find the formula let us know and if I fiqure it out I will do the same.

[wtbwtb]

Great info linkster.

Check this out. We have a site that we have been testing that has no meta tags whatsoever. The interesting thing is that this site has always had a good CTR with our YPN ads. Nearly as good as adsense.

My guess is that in the absence of meta tags the bot looks for other clues as to what the page is about. Title, links, content, file name......

[linkster]

well there is a simpel way to find out...make a page with nothing on it at all just a filename like /keyword-kewyord.html the rest of the page can be a blank html file accept for the YPN ads. Leave this up for a few days and see what happens. You dont have to link to it or anything it can just be for testing.

While your at it try a page with just a title tag or combinations of meta tags title tags and filenames etc. If more people would test things out we could easily come up with a nice list of things that people can do to help yahoo get it right.