Share what you’ve learned at SES via the blog

If you’re attending Search Engine Strategies in San Jose this week, you’ll probably learn some pretty cool stuff, meet some pretty cool people, and discover some pretty cool tips and tricks. Feel free to tell us and your fellow publishers about it by leaving a comment right here on the blog.

—The Team 

Look Ma, My Own Search Engine!

It’s always great to help a friend.  A friend of mine, a diver, wanted a specialized search engine for his website focused on diving.  At around the same time, an engineer at Yahoo! built a prototype that made building specialized search engines a snap.  Now, whether you have a blog or website about diving, gaming, crafting, or anything in between you can create a search engine tailored for your users. 

With Yahoo! Search Builder you can create a custom Web search engine by selecting a set of trusted sites to search across or you can tune the search algorithm to the topic of your choice.  Beyond Web search, Search Builder includes Site search and News search.

Then generate the code you’ll need to add your search engine to your site.  You also have control over the look and feel of the search box and search results page. Voila! Instant search engine!

Managing your search engine
We’ve created a basic suite of tools to help you understand your search traffic.  With the popular search module, you’ll discover hot searches your users are interested in. With user and traffic reports, you’ll be able to monitor the growth of your search engine.

We look forward to your comments and feedback. Let us know what new features you would like us to add. 

In the meantime, check out these cool search engines on diving and gaming.  Try searching for “caves” on the diving search engine and you’ll find great spots for cave diving. Similarly, try “NFL” on the gaming search engine and you’ll find the new NFL game.

—Lingxian Ding, Yahoo! Search

The article was originally posted on the Yahoo! Search Blog

A little reminder to come see us

As we mentioned last week, Yahoo! Publisher Network and our friends over at Yahoo! Search Marketing will be attending Search Engine Strategies in San Jose next week.
 

We’ll be there to meet and greet with our publishers, share what we know about search and learn from other experts in the field. Not to mention pass out some great Yahoo! schwag.
 

Danny Sullivan puts on a great show and he’s world-renowned as a search authority. There will be no shortages in opportunities to validate what you already know (boy am I smart!) and learn about tips and tricks that only the cool kids know about (I wish I had a search ranking as good as her’s!)
 

If you’re in attendance, swing by booth #101 (go figure) and say ‘Hi’, pick up some schwagg (one per customer please… we didn’t bring enough for your in-laws) and tell us about your passion (as long as we keep it clean.) And look for me, Marc, the good lookin’ duffer pictured at right

—Marc Levin, Senior Marketing Manager, Yahoo! Publisher Network

YahooSarah answers reader questions about compliance

Two weeks ago, we discussed how to stay compliant with the Yahoo! Publisher Network rules and regulations (What Not to Do: Tips from YahooSarah, July 19). Apparently that post was a big hit, drawing 30 comments. A number of you included questions among your comments, so we felt that we should further clarify a few things.

Several of you wrote to express thanks for articulating the rules, but you also reiterated the need for a system for reporting abuse. Well, we’ve got you covered: We announced a solution for that just a little while ago. To report abuse, use the link under “Network Feedback” link, at right.

There were a number of questions about Rule 4: “Don’t place images next to ads.” Some around the blogosphere speculate that if you put an image next to an Ad Unit that seems to have something to do with that ad, then it should be OK. For example, say you’ve targeted financial services and then place a dollar sign image next to the ad. Seems like that would be kosher, right? Nope! Our guidelines clearly state: Images or other media cannot be associated with the Ad Unit.

There are a number of reasons for this, but two stand out. One is traffic quality: Advertisers want their prospects to understand what they’re clicking on. Images can confuse the issue.

The second reason is brand control. Put yourself in the advertiser’s shoes: Would you want images associated with your brand that you had no control over?

With Regard to Rule 5, “Don’t block the crawler,” a reader noted that: “I do not [block the crawler], but sometimes they get trapped by my security routine… A while ago I asked for the IP ranges of the bots to protect them from being banned: someone replied to me that you do not disclose that kind of information. IMHO, spiders should obey robots.txt.”

It’s true: we don’t give that type of information out. We suggest, humbly, that you look into your security routine and try some different approaches to see what works best.

One reader asked about Rule 7: “Don’t manipulate our ad code.” This person asked if it were against our Terms of Service to change the ad code in order to, for example, get the background color from a variable as long as it doesn’t change the way the page renders.

The fact is, it’s part of your agreement with us that you won’t modify the Ad Unit in any way—Terms and Conditions, (4) (b) (i). Most publishers wouldn’t need to, as our Ad Setup offers every color of the rainbow and then some. I can see your issue, but rules are rules.

Rule 8, which addressed international traffic, drew this question: “We need to know if we still need to implement our own geotargeting or if Yahoo! Publisher Network will do it for us. On some SEO forums, someone says international clicks are not counted anymore. If we need to supply our own geo-targeting, then [you guys] should point publishers to geotargeting scripts or provide some.”

Rule 8 has more to do with who your audience is than about geotargeting solutions. If you target U.S. users with your content, you’ll find that U.S. users will come, and you, your users and our advertisers will mutually benefit. But if you feel you need a geotargeting solution, there are a number of third-party and open source geotargeting solutions out there. In fact, another reader made a suggestion about this in response to your comment. You can also do a quick search on Yahoo! Search to find more.

Inappropriate targeting, the subject of Rule 9, made one reader wonder why he sometimes sees ads for General Electric stocks on his cooking site, even though he uses appropriate targeting (food, appliances). The answer is that sometimes the ad inventory is not on hand to fill every niche, so we display what we call “run of network ads”.

Thanks, everyone, for your comments and suggestions! Keep ’em coming!

—YahooSarah

“Yodel Anecdotal” blog launches

It’s not like Yahoo’s got too much of an image problem. We’re happy, we’re spunky, we yodel—what else could the public ask for? More, that’s what. More info, more insight, more insider goodies, more personality.

Well now you’ve got it. Today, Yahoo! Corporate launches its new, public facing blog, Yodel Anecdotal. Writes blog editor Nicki Dugan:

We want to share insights into our company, our people, our culture, and the things that occupy our cluttered minds. We’ll cover emerging trends, provide some behind-the-scenes commentary, profile interesting Yahoos, spotlight our beloved users, reveal some of our quirks, tap into guest bloggers, sprinkle in some videos and photo essays, and generally think out loud (lucky you… you get to listen). You’ll hear from interns to executives. Some days we’ll be light and airy, others we’ll get serious…

Publishers should keep an eye on Yodel Anecdotal for news and information about the publishing sphere and Yahoo’s innovative role in it. And who knows, maybe some of our network publishers will be showcased or even asked to write guest posts of their own.

Of course, we haven’t yet decided whether to let them into the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program. We thought we might give them a little time first and see how their content stacks up ;-).
 

—Michael Mattis, Blog Editor