Panama Geo-Targeting Update

Yesterday I posted a link to aimclear’s blog about his frustrations with getting Yahoo geo targeting features to work for him. A thread had also been started at Search Engine Watch forum which apparently has been pulled, but thanks to Google cache, I was able to grab some of the info.

Basically, ackmnmn from aimclear says that a support person at Yahoo informed him that Yahoo recognized some aspects of geo targeting were not working and that Yahoo would be disabling geo targeting or parts of it.

In the same SEW forum thread, YahooSarah chimed in with:

“We are seeing DMA targeted ads are not showing up in more specific sub-DMA geo-modified (geo-tagged) queries. Example: ‚ÄúPasadena hotel‚Äù will not be matched to Los Angeles DMA targeted keyword, ‚Äúhotel‚Äù. You should start to see improvements the week of January 15.”

She also replied with another comment stating specifically that Yahoo was not disabling or shutting down geo targeting.  Just to be sure, I confirmed this with my contact at Yahoo Search Marketing.
So I guess it’s a matter of interpretation, “making enhancements” vs “shutting down”, but Yahoo was very specific that nothing was being shut down. I do suspect (my own opinion) that Yahoo is taking a serious look at the detailed feedback provided by ackmnmn in their process of enhancing the geo targeting feature.

When you run into issues with search engines as an advertiser, you have options on how to handle it – rant and complain or provide feedback so they can fix it. For the most part, I think ackmnmn was trying to provide feedback, but with the edges a little rough due to his frustrations. But then again, maybe it was the rough edges that got Yahoo’s attention?