Yahoo! Search Marketing (YSM) is removing “Top 5 Max Bids,” “Position” and “Your Cost” from the Manage Bids portion of their interface in early December. The View Bids tool is also going to be removed.
In their place will be the Estimated Average Position and Bid Range for Top Positions data columns.
According to the email that I got a few minutes ago, the first ‘displays an estimate of the average position your listing may achieve, based on your bid and the current bids of other advertisers' while the second ‘displays the current range of bids other advertisers are willing to pay for the positions at the top of the search results page'.
According to the FAQ, YSM is making the change in order to provide advertisers who have not yet upgraded to the new Sponsored Search with accurate bidding information.
Accurate?!! What's more accurate? Actual maximum bids or a bid range? Actual position or an Estimated Average Position?
Just a little more salt in the wound, especially for those non-U.S. advertisers who haven't yet been invited to upgrade to the new Sponsored Search, but have seen the demo. WhoopDeeeDoooo! 🙂
Oh well. Despite my gripes and grumbles, it's not likely that I'll discontinue my account with Yahoo! Search Marketing anytime soon… the traffic is just too good! 🙂