Initial data on Panama's effect is positive

Despite forecasts that Yahoo’s new search marketing ranking model, Panama, would take a while to impact click through rates and, consequently, its revenue and market share, initial results are encouraging as advertisers already report increases in click through rates.

In fact, comScore’s recent research results show Yahoo ad clicks rose by almost double figures. Despite Yahoo’s Terry Semel’s cautious forecasts that results would not necessarily be immediately noticeable, the number of ad clicks rose by 9 percent in the week ending 18, February, just a couple of weeks following Panama’s launch.

“comScore data show that the recent introduction of Yahoo’s new search marketing ranking model is already having a positive impact on the click-through rates for Yahoo’s search advertising,” said James Lamberti, comScore Senior Vice President of Media and Search Solutions.

MediaPost cites the case of an agency called Avenue A. Its 33 clients’ click-through rates “increased an average of 10% in the 10 days following Panama's release in early February, compared to the 10 days prior. Cost-per-click was down an average of 6% and search impressions were up an average of 5% over the same period.”

Before February, 2007, Yahoo displayed ads ranked by advertiser bid value. The current Panama model matches ads to search queries, bringing Yahoo’s searches more in line with Google’s.

Tags: click through rates, comScore, cost per click, Google, Panama, search impressions, Yahoo