So Very Very Frustrating

Approval procecss rediculous

[havok2004]

Ahh im really starting to get frustrated over the approval process. If i fix the problems in my submission suddenly next time there are three different reasons to deny me..Or somehow half my keywords get approved but the other half have suddenly become a "gambling url" although the site has nothing to do with gambling whatsoever. Thankfully it only takes 2 days now instead of the 5 it used to be..But seriously I just think they want to do whatever they can to not put my listings up i swear sometimes.

[Lawnboyronmiller]

I agree, I have also had a very frustrating process with Overture recently. Some of the denied reasons are ridiculous. It seems like with Yahoo, they have no common sense at all and must act like robots.

My guess is that their approval process is now faster because they are losing accounts and business and therefore have plenty of time to approve new listings.

In fact, based on all their guideline listings, www.yahoo.com would be denied a listing in overture/yahoo search marketing. Its own Yahoo directory is full of links to objectionable materials, gambling links, etc all over their site.

It seems like the Yahoo search marketing board here is full of complaints about poor traffic, poor conversions, click fraud, poor approval process, poor performance... Does anyone have a positive experience they would like to share? I certainly don't.

Im so glad there is Google adwords which is hassle free, and I am looking forward to the new MSN Adcenter.

[davewray]

I have excellent conversions and ROI with Overture/Yahoo. However, I would agree 100% that the approval process for keywords/ads etc is extremely frustrating and it almost comes down to which editor you get and if you are lucky enough to get one who will approve most of your keywords. Case in point, I submitted 5000 keywords yesterday and only 60 got approved. Only 60?! All were related to my site and all had search volume the previous month. No canned response as to why they were denied either...what fun!

Dave.

[ByronM]

It is frusterating, but at the same time it's worked to my advantage in many ways. I used to go blind, loading up what i could afford and getting denied and wonder why they wouldn't want my money.

After actually talking back and forth between support and editors i've been able to upload lists that almost always get 100% approval, my budget does better and my ROI does better.

Honestly folks, there not out to hurt you, but help you. If the editor who probably doesn't know anything about your product or service can't make sense of the ad you submit it is a *GOOD* thing they dissaprove it.

yes, yes, it can be a pain in the butt sometimes, but think about what it's saving you and what it is causing you to do.

Just my 2 cents. I love overture because i know more of what is going on. I absolutely despise google adsense with a passion.

[sore66]

They rejected keywords that should have been accepted. I have no time to argue with them. Instead I'll SEO them for free organic top five rank results and I'm asking for a full refund of my deposit.

Maybe I'll check back with them in a year.

Another potential 4 or 5 figure a month customer gone before I could even begin and test.

I hope Yahoo/Overture is happy with themselves.

[subway]

My conversion rates from Yahoo / Overture also run circles around G Adwords conversion rates, however I agree they are *way* too strict in approving keywords, also their keyword adding process is buggy beyond belief, I have never and I mean never successfully added keywords without the process failing somehow half way through and then having to begin the arduous task from the beginning.

Please fix your bug ridden keyword adding facility!

[robjones2]

I have about 20 reasonable converting keywords on overture, and about 400 on Adwords. Each time i try to add more keywords to Overture, they make you wait about 2 days, then decline it and give no reason.

You can email them back or phone them (if you have the time and patience), and they tend to review and reverse some of the decisions, but its so much hassle. Nobody would think you are actually offering to PAY THEM as a customer to use these keywords - they act as if they are doing you a favour!

Sometimes, after persistently hassling them, they give you some lame reason for rejection - which if they had told you before, would have taken a few seconds to revise the ad-text or landing page.

Its a shame that commercial access to a media as powerful as MSN and Yahoo is controlled by such ridiculous policies - some heads need to roll at the senior levels, someone with BUSINESS experience needs to be brought in at Overture and they could really make serious money if they were a bit more realistic about their editorial views and more efficient in the whole submission/approval process.