FAQs

Your Microsoft Advertising adCenter ads can now reach 158 million unique searchers using Bing and Yahoo! Search (including Microsoft and Yahoo! Core Search sites), providing a sizable volume of 5.6 billion monthly searches.¹

 

1. comScore Core Search (custom), February 2012.

Q: Will my Microsoft Advertising team still manage my display and rich media sales and support?
Q: Should I continue to book search ad sales and optimizations through my Microsoft Advertising account team?
Q: Is Microsoft open to advertisers’ feedback about the integrated Microsoft adCenter platform?
Q: Will my ad position (also known as ad rank) be the same on Yahoo! and Bing search engine results pages? How does Microsoft adCenter determine ad position?
Q: I’m concerned that the Search Alliance transition process will take longer than expected and happen in the midst of the holiday retail season.
Q: Will training be available to learn more about Microsoft adCenter products, tools and capabilities?
Q: What happens to a Yahoo! advertiser’s account history after the transition?
Q: Will my site ranking change when Bing supplies organic search results for Yahoo!?
Q: Will Yahoo! Search include Bing functionality, like Shopping and Visual Search?
Q: In regard to my sites listing within organic results, will it be identical on Yahoo! Search and Bing?
Q: Will you be helping us with our organic search optimization efforts pre-transition?
Q: Which account team will I work with on mobile search ads?
Q: How will Mobile search advertisers be transitioned?
Q: Is there anything I need to do to prepare for the transition of my Mobile campaign?
Q: Will the Yahoo! and Microsoft mobile search advertising transition happen at the same time as the online search advertising transition?
Q: What search ad distribution controls will be available after the transition in Microsoft adCenter?
Q: How do I know if my account is affected by the new editorial guidelines?
Q: After the transition to Microsoft adCenter, I would like to avoid the most common reasons for editorial disapprovals in Microsoft adCenter; what are they?
Q: What does the launch of organic search on Yahoo! mean?
Q: How does the organic search transition affect webmasters?
Q: What markets will have Bing-powered Yahoo! Search results in 2010?
Q: When will paid transition occur?
Q: What can I do to prepare?
Q: How can I learn about differences between Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter?
Q: How can I improve my Bing organic results?
Q: Will Yahoo! sites and Yahoo! syndicated search partner ad traffic transition to Microsoft adCenter over the same period of time?
Q: What will happen to remaining funds on Bing accounts after the transition? Will my credit cards get charged or will the balance be brought over to the new combined accounts at Yahoo!?
Q: Who should I reach out to after Oct. 1^st if I have any billing and/or credit issues with past Microsoft bills?
Q: I was not able to submit a signed Yahoo! Insertion Order (IO) or credit card information for one of more of my Microsoft adCenter accounts before October 1^st. How does that affect my billing?

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Q: Will my Microsoft Advertising team still manage my display and rich media sales and support?
A: Yes, each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force.


Q: Should I continue to book search ad sales and optimizations through my Microsoft Advertising account team?
A: No, as a managed advertiser you will work with your Yahoo! account team to support your Microsoft adCenter sales and service needs now that the account and ad serving transitions are complete.


Q: Is Microsoft open to advertisers’ feedback about the integrated Microsoft adCenter platform?
A: Microsoft always welcomes the opinions and feedback of top advertisers as any new product or initiative is developed, and this applies to the transition of Yahoo! accounts to Microsoft adCenter.


Q: Will my ad position (also known as ad rank) be the same on Yahoo! and Bing search engine results pages? How does Microsoft adCenter determine ad position?
A: Your ad rank on Yahoo! and Bing search engine results pages will be the same. Similar to Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft adCenter determines ad rank based on several factors including the amount you bid, your ad’s relevance, and your ad’s click-through rate.

As a result of each company continuing to own its own consumer search experience, there may be variances in the number of ads that are displayed in each location on the page. Bing could display three ads at the top of the page and two on the right-hand side, whereas Yahoo! might display two ads at the top of the page and three on the right-hand side for the same search term.


Q: I’m concerned that the Search Alliance transition process will take longer than expected and happen in the midst of the holiday retail season.
A: Our goal is to provide a quality transition experience for advertisers in the U.S. and Canada in 2010 while protecting the all-important holiday season. If we feel that it would improve the overall experience, we may defer the transition to 2011.


Q: Will training be available to learn more about Microsoft adCenter products, tools and capabilities?
A: Prior to the transition, we will provide tutorials, educational emails and site content to inform and educate our advertisers regarding all the tools and features of Microsoft adCenter.


Q. What happens to a Yahoo! advertiser’s account history after the transition?
A: Account history (reporting and scoring) will not be carried over from the Yahoo! Search Marketing platform during transition. If a particular customer is already managing keywords on the Microsoft adCenter platform, and continues to use the Microsoft adCenter account, that account will retain its reporting and performance history. Advertisers starting new accounts on Microsoft adCenter will need to re-establish their keyword and account histories. Naturally, the marketplace will shift when the Yahoo! traffic is added, so advertisers need to monitor and optimize their accounts throughout the traffic transition to ensure that they’re achieving the best results.

In addition, Yahoo! advertisers will continue to have access to the last 13 months of their Yahoo! Search Marketing account reporting and history after the transition for an extended time period.


Q: Will my site ranking change now that Bing supplies organic search results for Yahoo!?
A: It is possible that the current ranking of your site on Yahoo! Search will change when Yahoo’s organic search results are powered by Bing. Now that the organic transition is complete, your ranking will be based on how the Bing engine indexes and ranks the relevance of your site for a particular search query, as Yahoo! cannot change the order of the listings it receives.


Q: Will Yahoo! Search include Bing functionality, like Shopping and Visual Search?
A: Bing is only providing Web, Image and Video results on Yahoo! Search. There are no plans to extend what Bing powers to include the Bing Shopping and Visual Search experiences on Yahoo! Search.


Q: In regard to my sites listing within organic results, will it be identical on Yahoo! Search and Bing?
A: For your site’s listing, the Bing engine will provide Yahoo! Search with your page title, description, URL and any quick links. Yahoo! must use the page title and URL, but can truncate the description and either use, suppress or replace the quick links that are provided. If you have used Yahoo! Search Monkey to use structured data that makes your Yahoo! Search result more useful, visually appealing and effective, those enhancements will continue to automatically appear even after Bing is providing the results.
You might also experience other differences as Yahoo! Search and Bing each enhance their results with other helpful information and may choose to display it differently. Example: Bing provides the five nearest stores to the searcher, whereas Yahoo! Search displays just the closest store and its hours of operation. In this way, your site listing will always have some information that is consistent across both Yahoo! Search and Bing, but it is also likely to have some content that differs, as well.


Q: Will you be helping us with our organic search optimization efforts pre-transition?
A: Bing’s website provides a robust set of materials on search engine optimization (SEO). An SEO webmaster’s toolbox can be found at http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/. It provides webmasters with valuable information on organizing web site content and using non-paying methods, to help improve your site’s ranking in search engine results.


Q: Which account team will I work with on mobile search ads?
A: Your mobile search ads will be managed by the same account team as your PC accounts.


Q: How will Mobile search advertisers be transitioned?
A: Mobile search advertisers will be transitioned at the same time as online search advertisers.


Q: Is there anything I need to do to prepare for the transition of my Mobile campaign?
A: We recommend that you simply continue to manage your Mobile search account as you have been. We will let you know when there is anything you need to do to prepare for the transition.


Q: Will the Yahoo! and Microsoft mobile search advertising transition happen at the same time as the online search advertising transition?
A: The mobile search advertising transition is expected to happen at the same time as the online search advertising transition.


Q: What search ad distribution controls will be available after the transition in Microsoft adCenter?
A: With Enhanced Search Network Distribution in Microsoft adCenter, you will have control over where your search ads are displayed at the ad group level. You can choose between the default setting, which is the entire Bing and Yahoo! search network, only Bing and Yahoo! search syndicated partners, or only Bing and Yahoo! sites. Additionally, you can use the enhanced website exclusion feature for search ads to designate—at the campaign and ad group levels—up to 500 individual sites that you do not want to have search ads displayed on. By managing the sites on which your ads will appear, you can drive improved ROI on your paid search campaigns. Bing and Yahoo! Search sites cannot be independently selected for exclusion.

Q: How do I know if my account is affected by the new editorial guidelines?
A: Starting in early August, all Yahoo! and Microsoft advertisers will be subject to the new editorial guidelines created jointly by Yahoo! and Microsoft. You should review the updated editorial guidelines to see if your ads and keywords may be affected. When you transition to Microsoft adCenter, you may notice new disapprovals in your account. You can use the Ads and Keywords Disapprovals Tool in Microsoft adCenter to help manage your disapprovals and get your ads live.


Q: After the transition to Microsoft adCenter, I would like to avoid the most common reasons for editorial disapprovals in Microsoft adCenter; what are they?
A: There are several common reasons for editorial disapprovals in Microsoft adCenter such as lack of relevance or the advertising or promotion of certain types of offers. Please review our article on managing editorial disapprovals to view some of the reasons your ads or keywords may be disapproved.


Q: What does the launch of organic search on Yahoo! mean?
A: The organic search listings on Yahoo! Search are powered by Bing since the North America organic search transition is complete. Microsoft provides results for all web, image and video searches, while Yahoo! will continue to oversee the user experience for Yahoo! Search.


Q: How does the organic search transition affect webmasters?
A: We recently released updated Bing Webmaster Tools which provide a simplified, more intuitive experience focused on three key areas: crawl, index and traffic. We encourage all webmasters to visit the Bing Webmaster Toolbox for more information to help optimize sites for Bing.

As the organic search transition will occur on a market-by-market basis, webmasters should also continue to provide their site information to Yahoo! using Yahoo! Site Explorer. We are working closely with the Yahoo! Site Explorer team on data integration and other features and functionality that will be of benefit to the webmaster community.


Q: What markets will have Bing-powered Yahoo! Search results in 2010?
A: Initially, Bing will power Yahoo! Search results in English and Spanish in the United States and in English and French in Canada.


Q: When will paid transition occur?
A: The paid search transition is complete. Now you can expand your reach with one ad buy through Microsoft Advertising adCenter. If you have an existing Yahoo! Search Marketing account, transition your ads into adCenter today -- you'll reach reach 158 million unique searchers using Bing and Yahoo! Search (including Microsoft and Yahoo! Core Search sites) in the U.S.¹ And in Canada, you'll reach 12.7 million unique searchers using Bing and Yahoo! Search (including Microsoft and Yahoo! sites).²

Q: What can I do to prepare?
A: You should complete your Yahoo! Search Marketing account transition to Microsoft adCenter, with your campaigns and full budget set up in Microsoft adCenter by October 25, 2010.

• If you have a Yahoo! Search Marketing account: Sign in to your Yahoo! Search Marketing account and click on the Microsoft adCenter tab to begin transitioning your campaigns into Microsoft adCenter. From there, you may choose to create a new Microsoft adCenter account, or indicate that you’d like to use your existing Microsoft adCenter account. If you have a Yahoo! Account Manager, they will continue to help you through the transition plan you’ve established based on your business needs.
• If you don’t have a Yahoo! Search Marketing account: Prepare your campaigns for Yahoo! Search and Bing. Use Microsoft Advertising Intelligence to update your keyword list based on the actual queries that searchers are using on Bing, and tailor your bidding strategies by pricing data for keyword-specific metrics such as clicks, impressions, position, click-through rate, and cost per click.

Q: How can I learn about differences between Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter?
A: If you currently advertise with Yahoo!, you are aware that some features in Yahoo! Search Marketing are different than features found in Microsoft adCenter and other search advertising platforms. Brush up on your knowledge by learning how Microsoft adCenter features are different.


Q: How can I improve my Bing organic results?
A: The Bing Toolbox can help you improve your organic results on Bing and Yahoo!. The Bing Toolbox offer was just upgraded and now offers a simplified experience focused on three key areas: crawl, index, and traffic.


Q: Will Yahoo! sites and Yahoo! syndicated search partner ad traffic transition to Microsoft adCenter over the same period of time?
A: Yes, Yahoo! sites and Yahoo! syndicated search partner ad traffic will transition over the same period of time, though not necessarily in the same proportions.


Q: What will happen to remaining funds on Bing accounts after the transition? Will my credit cards get charged or will the balance be brought over to the new combined accounts at Yahoo!?
A: When we transition your billing from Microsoft to Yahoo!, one of two things will happen depending on the account payment method:

1. SAP billed account: The final bill will be calculated and will include all activity from 1^st of month until the day of the billing is transitioned. The bill will be held until next monthly billing cycle when an invoice will be generated in SAP and mailed out as usual.
2. Threshold billed: A final swipe will take place for all unbilled activity. The account will have a zero balance when it is transitioned over to Yahoo!.

Q: Who should I reach out to after Oct. 1^st if I have any billing and/or credit issues with past Microsoft bills?
A: You can reach out to the collector for your account. If you know your collector, you may call directly or email adbill@microsoft.com alias.


Q: I was not able to submit a signed Yahoo! Insertion Order (IO) or credit card information for one of more of my Microsoft adCenter accounts before October 1^st. How does that affect my billing?
A: In the interest of our clients, Yahoo! and Microsoft have decided to allow your Microsoft adCenter account to continue serving ads under your existing Microsoft adCenter IO and we have automatically extended the end date on your IO, including your Microsoft adCenter terms and conditions with Microsoft, to 10/31/2010. If you do not wish for your account to continue serving due to this extension, then please contact: sahelp@microsoft.com. As a reminder, Yahoo! Search ad serving will start transitioning to Microsoft adCenter as early as October 11^th, and is expected to be complete by the end of October. To ensure you continue to receive traffic from Yahoo! Search, Bing and our partner sites, please contact Yahoo! right away to either sign a Yahoo! IO or provide credit card information for your Microsoft adCenter accounts.

 

1. comScore Core Search (custom), February 2012.

2. comScore qSearch (custom), February 2012.