If you're an affiliate marketer, then you know Yahoo! has had its minimum bid set at $0.10 for the longest time. Well, now they've decided to change this, but not across the board.

The change will go into effect for sponsored search keywords only and doesn't apply to all keywords. Yahoo's intention here is, as far as I can tell, to reward those sites that are more relevant and get higher clicks.

They sent this e-mail out today, titled Pricing Update: Minimum Bids will no Longer be Fixed at $.10:

Starting in the next several weeks, the minimum bids for a number of Sponsored Search keywords will no longer be fixed at $.10. Your new minimum bids can be lower or higher than $.10. Content Match minimum bids currently will remain at $.10.

This update is intended to align your minimum bids with the value and quality of your keywords. It also is designed to help improve the overall search user experience by rewarding advertisers for better quality with lower entry points into keyword markets.

The amount set as your minimum bid on a keyword in Sponsored Search can vary depending on multiple factors, such as:

• The relevance of your keywords (as measured by the quality of the ads associated with them)
• The number of bidders and bid amounts in the particular keyword market.

A keyword term becomes "active" -- switched "on" in the system and eligible for display -- when your bid is equal to or greater than your minimum bid. If your bid falls below your minimum, your keyword will not be displayed. You'll be notified of such changes and will have some time to adjust your bid.

What You Should Do to Prepare
• Get to know your keywords and their value.
Since minimum bids can vary by keyword, it is important to know which keywords work best for your business. Remember, you can check and set your bids at the keyword level. Learn more.

• Improve ad quality to potentially receive lower minimum bids.
Your minimum bids generally take your quality into account. In some instances, higher quality means that you could have a lower minimum bid. Learn more.

• Learn about updates to the account interface.
Become familiar with new tools that can make managing your keywords simpler. Learn more.

For more information on this change, please read our FAQs.

So there you have it. You can all rejoice now kind of.

Popularity: 23% [?]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Affiliate Marketing, PPC Engines, Yahoo Search Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.