New VP to help ensure that all of our constituents benefit from a focus on marketplace quality

The term “quality” can be quite subjective until it is related to something very specific. It may take a tailor to tell the difference between good-quality stitching and high-quality stitching. Likewise, it might take an oenophile or even a sommelier to tell the difference between a good claret and a really great one.

As a publisher using contextual advertising networks, you know when you’re displaying quality ads—ads that are contextual to your content and appealing to your users (i.e., ads that are highly clickable). Advertisers, too, know quality. They see it as highly qualified clicks by users likely to become customers.

And the users? They know a little about quality, as well. They know what they want: content, products and services that meet their needs, wrapped into an engaging, trusted experience. That’s why Yahoo! is committed to encouraging quality all across our network, for everyone.

In fact, Yahoo!’s click-through protection system proactively identifies and does not bill advertisers for between 12 and 15 percent of clicks on average. This includes not only click fraud, but also other types of clicks that Yahoo! believes should not be billed to advertisers.

We’re Panamaniacs
As you no doubt know from the blogosphere buzz, Yahoo! Search Marketing recently launched its new search advertising system, sometimes called “Project Panama.” This new system gives advertisers considerably more visibility into their ads’ quality and more control than before. As new “Project Panama” features roll out, advertisers will be provided with even more visibility and control. One of the new features is quality-based pricing, which will help ensure that traffic is priced consistently with the quality it delivers.

But we also haven’t forgotten our publishers. Over the coming weeks and months, as these features come online, we’ll be offering helpful hints and tips on the blog that will better enable you to work with the system’s new capabilities.

A Man, a Plan…
Lastly, we’re pleased to announce the appointment of a new vice president of Marketplace Quality. The new VP, Reggie Davis, will be 100 percent dedicated to ensuring quality for all of Yahoo’s advertisers, publishers and end users. Reggie will drive all of our quality efforts, hiring a dedicated staff that will coordinate quality teams across the organization.

Welcome aboard, Reggie.

Learn more about our efforts to build a quality network and how you, the publisher, fit in:
Quality Standards
Getting Better All the Time
Tips from YahooSarah
And Another Thing
Maintaining a Quality Network

—Michael Mattis, Quality Blog Editor