As Yahoo prepares to transition its advertisers to Microsoft's adCenter advertising system, some of those advertisers have burning -- and not so burning -- questions.
In response, Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) on Thursday published a blog post meant to answer some of the questions regarding how things will be run under Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).
For instance, after the cutover to adCenter, will advertisers still be able to buy liquor advertising keywords like "scotch" or "liquor basket," which Microsoft doesn't currently allow?
The answer: maybe and maybe not.
"After the transition, Yahoo will have the ability to continue to display some ads that Microsoft does not currently display on its own sites (e.g., adult ads), and vice versa. However, no specific decision has been announced regarding liquor-related keywords," Jeff Hecox, Yahoo manager of client communications, said in the post.
Some answers were more cut and dried, however.
"I currently manage many Yahoo and Bing advertising accounts for customers ... will there still be two platforms within Microsoft adCenter to manage bids and so on for Yahoo and Bing?" asked another advertiser.
"All Sponsored Search advertisers will use the adCenter platform for their paid search campaigns following their transition, and the Yahoo Sponsored Search system will be decommissioned ... distribution controls will allow them to select traffic from the combined marketplace of Bing and Yahoo, or from the full affiliate network. However, advertisers will not be permitted to select traffic only from Bing or only from Yahoo! Search," the post continued.
Another ad customer asked whether Microsoft's adCenter will add "tracking URLs" -- for following the progress of campaigns -- as Yahoo Sponsored Search system does.
"While Microsoft is committed to continuing to improve its products, we cannot guarantee that all features in Yahoo's paid search platform will be matched in Microsoft's. However, we are working with our advertisers to make sure that all key features of Yahoo Sponsored Search are included," the post said.
The two companies announced a few days ago that they are working to complete the transition for U.S. and Canadian advertisers to Microsoft's adCenter before the holiday sales season.
If they determine that's not possible, however, in order to maintain a stable environment, the transition will be delayed until early 2011, the companies said.
After a rocky courtship that began with Microsoft making a hostile takeover bid for Yahoo in 2008, the companies finally agreed to a ten-year deal last July wherein Microsoft will supply the advertising and search infrastructure underlying Yahoo Web properties in return for a cut of the advertising revenues. Regulators gave the deal a green light in February.
Stuart J. Johnston is a contributing writer at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.
Yahoo Fields Questions on adCenter MoveCompanies can pay for ads on Twitter
