Yahoo to Prohibit Competitive Keyword Bids Containing Trademarks

Yahoo Search Marketing (searchmarketing.yahoo.com) has recently announced its advertisers of a new policy to be implemented as of March 1st 2006, concerning the use of trademarks within their products and services *.

Under the new policy, no reference to a trademark can be made (except for ads placed by the trademark owners themselves, obviously), and consequently no bids can be make for keywords containing such trademarks. Exceptions refer to usage of trademarks in non-competitive ads, such as those made by re-sellers, or in informative (and still non-competitive) ads.

The previous policy allowed references to competitors' trademarks and comparisons as long as they were "objective and informative" - the formulation can make one cringe, as it is clearly troublesome trying to evaluate objectivity when speaking of business competitors. As for the "informative" side of it... someone to actually PAY for an ad to be informative of someone else's product/service, is as believable just like the existence of Santa Claus.

It is really good to see Yahoo making a big step forward in regulating abuse and misuse of trademarks, even though that probably translates in some revenue loss for them, by having certain advertisers migrate to a "friendlier" place such as Google. According to Google's policies, "[...] advertisers may select trademarked terms as keywords or use them in the content of the ad. As a provider of space for advertisements, Google is not in a position to arbitrate trademark disputes between advertisers and trademark owners. As stated in our Terms and Conditions, advertisers are responsible for the keywords and ad text that they choose to use. Accordingly, Google encourages trademark owners to resolve their disputes directly with the advertiser, particularly because the advertiser may have similar ads on other sites. However, as a courtesy to trademark owners, Google is willing to perform a limited investigation of reasonable complaints."

The question is why would Yahoo change its policies and apparently offer Google an even bigger bite from the SEM cake? It is way too early to say now, and their official explanation is not entirely believable: Yahoo states to have had the users' best interest in mind, by providing them with a better experience when searching terms that contain trademarks. Though this would make a laudable initiative with a good PR potential, experts know the search market is driven by large publishers and advertisers and not by the little surfing guys. Numerous speculations can be made: threats of large legal actions from trademark owners, pressure from certain groups of interests are among the most vehiculated ones. However, a more plausible one is that Yahoo makes preparations for a much larger scale movement destined to influence the market in a manner we cannot anticipate just yet.

Until further industry news, there's one thing to rejoice: from now on, no "better than Botox" ads on Yahoo and their partner sites!

* - the products and services covered by the new policy are: Sponsored Search, Local Advertising, Search Submit, Product Submit, Travel Submit and Directory Submit.

Otilia is a young certified professional with expertise in e-Marketing and e-Business, currently working as independent consultant and e-publisher. She developed and teaches Principles of e-Marketing, available at UniversalClass.com and has recently launched MarketingWHO.com, a professional Marketing Directory. Contact Otilia through TeaWithEdge.com, her Marketing and eMarketing articles portal, or through her blog, The Marketing Journal.

Choosing a good domain name isn't always so simple.

So you need a domain name for your brand new internet business. You may even have some cool ideas for a new domain name combination that will really impress your friends. Question is, is your new domain name going to help your business or hurt it?

What could be simpler than choosing a domain name right? Wrong. There are a number of things you need to consider and research before you register your favorite domain name.

First off, what is a domain name and why would I want one?

A domain name makes our lives much easier when surfing the internet. You see, all computers on the internet are actually referenced with what is called IP addresses. On the internet, IP addresses are four sets of numbers that serve like street addresses allowing two computers to talk over a network. An example of an IP address is the one for Google.com. It is 216.239.39.99. If you enter this IP address into the address bar of your browser it will bring you to Google’s home page in that very same way that typing www.google.com would get you there. Unfortunately, we humans have difficulty remembering our phone numbers let alone so many digits for all kinds of sites. That’s one of the main reasons domain names were invented.

Domain names make it easy for us humans to remember how to find a site. Most people know Google.com and anyone familiar with the internet knows that to reach Google, you simply type www.google.com in your address bar and you are transported to their website. The same goes for Disney.com, Microsoft.com, CNN.com, etc…

Now you would think that choosing a domain name would simply be a matter of choosing something that is unique and that people would remember. The problem with that approach is that most of us don’t have the money needed to turn our name into a brand name on the mass market. Most of us need to rely on our prospects reaching our website through other means. The best of these are search engines.

Choosing a good domain name for your site starts with the main keywords you have chosen to focus on for your website. Before you launch your business, you should conduct some preliminary research online to determine which keywords have the most traffic and the least number of other websites competing for that particular keyword. Some tools that help in this are the Overture keyword suggestion tool and Wordtracker.com. Both of these tools will give you a rough idea of how much traffic each of your chosen keywords will likely get each month. This helps to determine which keywords to focus on.

Should you choose a domain name that includes your main keywords?

In most cases, the answer is yes. Google and to some degree Yahoo both give you a small boost for your domain name. If your domain name happens to contain your targeted keywords, your domain name will help you in your quest for higher search engine rankings. Now if you do everything else wrong, having your main keywords in your domain name will not magically catapult you to the top of the listings. Many other parts of your site must be working for you as well. Other things you can do to improve rankings are beyond the scope of this article.

Choosing a keyword rich domain is a smart business move.

For some sites, it could be the edge they need to move up a few spots in the search engines. When choosing a keyword rich domain name, you may want to consider hyphens between your keywords. An example is cheap-airline-tickets.com. Current research trends for Google and Yahoo suggest that hyphens are the only way to separate keywords within a URL that will give you a rankings boost.

Why not simply choose your company name? Simple. Is your company a household name? Are you so dominant in a category that people have stopped referring to the generic name of your category and use your brand name like Kleenex has for tissue paper? If so, register your company name. If not, register a keyword rich domain wherever possible.

You may be thinking, “But I already own a domain name that is my company name. Should I go and register a new domain and point it to the same site? The short answer is no. Years ago, you could improve your rankings on search engines simply by setting up lots of doorway pages and having them all link back to your home page with all kinds of domain names. That tactic nowadays can backfire. You are better off optimizing individual pages within your existing website than you are creating a whole bunch of “fluff” sites just to increase rankings.

The technique I suggest above is really best suited for brand new business ventures. If you still have not registered your domain name for that special online business you are about to start, then make it keyword rich wherever possible. If you have already launched your business, you’ll just have to take advantage of this information next time you start another online venture.

This article was written by Joe Duchesne, president of http://www.yowling.com/ , a budget web hosting company that specializes in helping online business owners increase their website traffic. Copyright 2004 Yowling. Reprint Freely.

Domains: Buying an Existing Domain Name Vs a New Domain Name

No one can deny that the Internet is here to stay and that businesses who do not embrace the internet are going to struggle in the coming years. With the Internet and Search Engines reaching a new level of maturity, I have noticed in their rankings that they are beginning to put more and more weight on the age of the domain in their index and because of this we have now reached a crossroad for many businesses to evaluate whether they are better off buying an existing domain versus registering a brand new domain. But Buyer Beware!

I have met many many people who have benefited and also been burnt by buying existing domain names. The major disadvantage of buying an existing domain name is that it may have been banned from the search engines for in appropriate search engine tactics, better known as black hat techniques. My own personal experience with the search engines and trying to talk to a human being in the past to plead my case over an issue with one of our own domains has made me come to the realization that none of them have a clue of what customer service is and they do not care what they do to you and this is where the problem lies when buying existing domains.

If you purchase a domain that has been banned for either Search Engine Black Hat techniques or for click fraud then you can pretty much write off that domain ever getting into the indexes ever again. Which means that if you are relying principally on traffic from the search engines, then you are going to invest a lot of money and get absolutely no outcome? In fact one of our own clients was caught where the domain they had purchased was banned in just about every index and by many of the pay-per-click engines as well. Literally the money they outlaid for this domain were totally wasted.

Look, there are many reasons why domains can be banned and in some cases they are banned by indexes for the owners simply not understanding the rules that the various search engines place on the websites that they index. Whilst that is no excuse in the scheme of things, as a buyer it is something you need to be aware of.

The key advantage of buying an existing domain that has been indexed is that it is often easier to optimize that site for certain keywords than it is for using one that is a brand new domain. If you believe the stories of Google's sandbox rule, then all new domains will take 6 to 12 months to rank well which means for a business that is purely internet based that could send you bankrupt and I can assure you I have seen that happen. Whether or not you believe or do not believe that the Google sandbox rule exists, in most search engines, the age of the domain in the index does play a role in your ranking. I have seen webpages in the index that have been there for 10 years and have less than 20 back links on extremely competitive terms and rank in the top 5 of those competitive keywords.

The bottom line is this, where possible and if you can afford it, buying an existing domain name that is already in the index is a valuable commodity. Even more so if there is an associated website to go with it. Just look at the money Google paid to You Tube for their site.

Over the last few years my team and I have helped many clients broker existing domain names, usually associated with their companies name, that have been in the index by people creating adsense accounts for Google or Yahoo and once they get control of the domains they have seen vast improvements in their traffic flow and search engine positions because the domains they had bought had been in the index for some period. In fact every one of them that has done this now has top 2 rankings in all the major search engines.

When we are evaluating domains that have been owned for some period there are a range of elements that my team and I look for. The general elements we review include -

1. Is the website currently working?
2. Does the domain exist in any of the major search engines?
3. Can you verify ownership of the domain or is the domain details blocked?
4. Where is the domain currently residing?
5. Is the domain in an area on the Internet that is used by black hat people or organizations that use questionable techniques?
6. What is the IP Number of the server the domain resides on?
7. Can we find any indications of references to issues with this domain name on professional search engine forums or bloggs?
8. Does the domain reside on any black lists for spam or for activities related to advertising? We also look to see if the domain is on any number of white lists as well (this is a positive issue)?
9. Does the domain have a history in traffic tools such as Alexa? Have there been any comments or statements placed in the Alexa Register or similar registers?
10. Is the domain registered with a reputable domain registration company?

My team and I will also look at whether or not this domain has been owned by a range of different companies or individuals and in particular if it has been deleted or pre-owned before today and resold.

I should note that there are many other issues we look at but the ten above are the key issues everyone should look at when deciding to buy an existing domain. There are many reasons why domains may not have positive findings for each of the issues above, but just like you were trying to buy a business you need to see if there are any issues and if there are can they be dealt with and are they likely to cost you money. Nobody likes to lose money on a deal, especially me, and when buying domains you need to make sure that you have done your homework and that the domain is worth the money you are investing.

Sometimes, you are better off simply paying a few dollars and putting in a lot of hard work with a new domain then buying a domain for a few thousand dollars to find that you can never rank well in the search engines because it has been banned.

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