Yahoo!'s Rob Wilk shares best practices for accessing more impression volume on adCenter

More than 158 million unique searchers visit Yahoo! Search and Bing every month, representing almost 30% of the total search market. Here's another reason to put your ads in front of them: They're big spenders! Studies show that searchers in the adCenter marketplace are likely to spend 26 percent more than the average searcher.

Advertisers who want to dig into this rich slice of the search market pie should read this article by Rob Wilk, Yahoo! senior director of search account management, in Search Engine Watch. In it, Rob talks about new enhancements to adCenter features that can help advertisers access more available impression volume to beef up their campaigns. Even better, Rob shares best practices for leveraging these features, along with other expert tips to increase impression volume.

Gain recognition for your AdCenter skills and maximize campaign performance across Yahoo! Search and Bing

When it comes to SEM knowledge, are you the one in your office whom everyone turns to for advice? Through the end of June, you can become an Accredited Professional through Microsoft's adCenter certification program at absolutely no cost to you.

Here's how to get started:

1. Go to www.microsoftadvertisingpros.com/yahoo.
2. Brush up on your skills with a series of brief training videos, or skip the training and go right to the test.
3. Fill out the short personal profile.
4. Enter the promo code PQMJVLJS85, which will enable you to take the exam for free.
5. If you receive a score of 80% or higher on the test, you'll be certified as an adCenter Accredited Professional!

From there, you can be recognized for your advanced skills. You can display the Accredited Professional badge on your website or email signature so that others will know that you're on top of your SEM game.

 Clients join Yahoo! and interclick to celebrate the announcement of Genome from Yahoo!

It's not all work at Internet Week New York. To celebrate the announcement of Genome from Yahoo!, a new custom audience-buying solution that was announced at the event, Yahoo! and interclick hosted "Big Party for Big Data" for 156 clients at the swanky Lafayette Townhouse in Soho. Genome's launch made a big splash in the industry press; more splashes were made at the party, which featured synchronized swimmers in a second-floor indoor pool, music from a DJ and a violinist, and "molecular" cuisine. 

Genome, which is expected to be available in July, is the culmination of a strategy put in place last year that brings together the display ad agreements with Microsoft and AOL, the acquisition of interclick and  Yahoo! assets to create a next-generation audience buying solution.

Check out this video to check in on the party. Yahoo! has been working on Genome for many months, says Patrizio Spagnoletto,

Advertiser opportunities abound on Yahoo! Mobile---here's how you can start taking advantage of them

What's more important to have with you when you're leaving home? Your wallet or your mobile device?

For a lot of consumers, it's a toss-up. The thought of being out in the world without instant access to answers and information is just too much to bear. Some of us would rather leave our cash and credit cards on the kitchen table than forget our phones.

We use smartphones for more than communication, directions, shopping, and entertainment while we're on the go---we also rely on them to quickly find out what's happening in the world, which team won the big game, how our stocks are performing, and who flubbed their look on the red carpet.

Each month, millions of consumers turn to Yahoo! on mobile and tablet devices

Whether they're seeking updates on sports, finance, entertainment, or news—or communicating on mail or messenger—over 67 million mobile-device users¹ and about 16 million tablet users² per month look to Yahoo! for information and personal connection opportunities. As a result, Yahoo! Mobile ranks number one for world news, entertainment news, and finance news.³

Our content dominates mobile users' time

Yahoo! has the most average time spent per visitor of any premium content site on smartphones.⁴ Because so many Yahoo! users dedicate so much time to us on a daily basis, we have a richer understanding of their interests, passions and purchase intent than any other single U.S. publisher or ad network—which translates to major insights for our advertisers.

New Web browser designed to deliver a smarter, faster, more visual search experience across devices

When consumers search the Web, they want answers now---wherever they may be. Today, Yahoo! announced Yahoo! Axis, a new Web browser designed to meet that demand by providing a simpler, faster and more personalized search experience that allows users to search seamlessly across desktops, iPhones and iPads.

Using Yahoo! Axis, users can start a search on their desktops at work, check out results on their commute home (safely, of course), and finish the search at home on their tablets.

Okay, that will make users happy; but how will Axis benefit advertisers?  Our research indicates that Axis will appeal to more users, especially multi-device users, heavy searchers and new users interested in a smarter, faster search experience with a rich visual design. More users should lead to greater search volume, larger market share and more overall marketing opportunities for our search advertisers.

Yahoo! Axis is available for users to download today (click here). Although there are no paid search ads at launch, Yahoo! plans to make them  available later. Your account manager will keep you informed on  when advertising opportunities are available and how you can participate.

Advertisers can connect with mobile and tablet audiences using login-based targeting

At last week's OMMA RTB event, part of Internet Week New York, one media buying agency representative remarked from the stage about the numerous SSP, DSP and RTB platforms: "All of these systems are just a means to buy audiences." 

While the desktop ad-serving marketplace is stacked with audience-targeting heavyweights, including Yahoo!'s own Genome, mobile ad-serving is crowded with contenders. So it's no surprise that later, at the same event, the question was raised, "How do you buy targeted mobile inventory at scale?"

The answer from Yahoo! is login-based targeting.  Consumers that use Yahoo! tend to want access to their favorite content no matter what device they are using at that time. That's why Yahoo! has nearly 70 million monthly mobile users and 16 million monthly iPad users in the U.S., along with top mobile news, sports, entertainment and finance properties. 

Yahoo! knows the U.S. mobile audience inside and out

Millions of these users not only have a daily connection with Yahoo! content, but also use login-based communication services like Yahoo! Mail and Messenger. Because Yahoo! has a relationship with these login consumers on the desktop as well as on mobile, we have a richer understanding of the U.S. mobile audience's interests, passions and purchase intent than any single publisher or ad network.

What was buzzing at this week's mega-event? Here are comments from the conference-goers

Couldn't make it to Internet Week New York?  Feeling left out?  We've been there.

That's why we roamed the event and asked conference-goers to tell us what they'll remember most about their trip to this Web wonderland.

Check out what they had to say---and maybe we'll see you at IWNY next year.

--- The Team

Opinions on headline and breastfeeding photo range from "relevant" to "reckless"

The mission of a magazine cover is to jump out of the crowded newsstand and instantly grab your heart, mind or gut with just a photo and a headline. Well, it's mission uber-accomplished for the May 10 issue of Time Magazine, which promoted a story on "attachment parenting" with a cover photo of a mother breastfeeding her three-year-old son, along with a headline that dared, "Are You Mom Enough?" The cover sparked debate on talk shows, social media and was the top search term the day after publication.

The most effective magazine covers are a unique blend of journalistic, communications and advertising expertise—after all, they're meant to sell.  The Los Angeles Times called the cover a "shocking stroke of genius." Others stopped at "shocking." We work the ad beat, so we wondered what advertising experts thought about it. Better yet, what do women in advertising think?

Here are some insightful opinions from women executives:

Ruth Bernstein, Co-Founder and Chief Strategic Officer, YARD:

"I loved the cover. It made me look. It made me think. It made me wonder if the benefits go beyond the child, as to how the mother stays so slim. The cover made me feel much better about the fact my own three-year-old still comes into our bed at night every so often. Look, the truth is, we live in a world where women are shown in sexually suggestive ads with a $2 hamburger and bodies that are airbrushed into skeletons. The TIME cover was provocative, but there's a purpose: a relevant conversation about parenting that real women are actively participating in. Certainly there were those who were shocked by it…but maybe as a society we need to question what we're truly shocked by."

Sara Rotman, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Creative Officer of MODCo Creative:

"As art directors/image makers, our job is to manipulate the (implied) meaning of imagery in order to illicit a particular response. In this case, the casting, pose, styling and setup of the image create a clearly implied sexuality between mother and child that pushes all of our buttons. How can that not be shocking?"