by News Editor
L. Sutherland
L. Sutherland
Plucky search pioneer Yahoo! just keeps the new ideas coming as it tries to stay afloat despite pressure from all sides. This week will see the search engine launch a new type of search advertising that integrates images and videos in paid listings. In an attempt to wrest back a little paid advertising revenue from competitors like the all-mighty Google, Yahoo! will boost search advertising options - which typically comprise of text advertisements and links - and give people the option to combine advertising budgets that would normally be split between text ads and display ads like banners.
The New York Times reports that Yahoo's paid search market share has fallen from 13.8 percent in 2004 to 10.5 this year, according to research firm eMarketer. Display advertising has been its backbone, but the recent economic turndown has caused many advertisers to shift towards search and measurable results.
The introduction of video and images in Yahoo!'s new offering - called Rich Ads - could give Yahoo! a much needed edge and tempt advertisers to jump on board. According to the NYT, Tim Mayer, the vice president for search monetization and distribution at Yahoo! said: "It moves the advertising experience from just the blue links, to a more engaging experience for advertisers."
And engaging it aims to be: from a video for Pedigree to images for Staples and a search box for postcodes that takes customers to relevant website sections, Yahoo! is hoping to spice up paid advertising. At the moment the service is available for a monthly fee - rather than auction-based pricing - and only big, established brands are allowed to participate, though that may change in the future.
With Yahoo! celebrating its fifth birthday last week the search engine seems dead set on proving that it's capable of keeping up with the times while also being responsible for some of the changes ahead. As Tuoc Luong said on the official blog: "Search technology is still in its infancy, and there are limitless opportunities for innovation."
