“Codenamed “Project Panama,” Yahoo’s new model will be similar to that of which ranks search-engine ads by both the amount advertisers pay for keywords and the relevance of the ad. The Google-like algorithm should result in higher click-through rates than its older model that ranked ads only by the amount paid for keywords.”

“MSN’s adCenter, still in beta, may not be in the running when it comes to search volume, but apparently quality - as a result of the demographic data it uses - is trumping quantity, producing better results for advertisers than Google or Yahoo, according to yet another search expert, writes InternetRetailer (via MarketingVOX). “Were seeing better results on MSN than on Google or Yahoo,” Dave Williams, chief strategist of search engine marketing firm 360i, is quoted as saying.”

“After an 11-month run of uninterrupted market share growth, Google lost a small percentage of the search engine field in July, prompting some analysts to question whether the Internet giant’s dominance has reached its peak.”

All together I see some very interesting things happening in the Search Marketing industry. I see more players developing more innovative but also more advanced search marketing solutions. The result is a fragmented media space with a steep entry level.
Companies who understand how to maximize investments across all different search media using the many new advanced targeting features will win. The rest will loose.

Headlight will be fully integrated with Google Adwords on release September 21st. Our new API team will shortly after the official release focus on integrating with both Yahoo, MSN, and MIVA - in that order. You should see that happening quickly. This means one convenient platform to centrally manage all major search engines.

Down the road Headlight will also include some uniquely simple optimization algorithms which basically mean that your marketing campaigns (Banner/Paid/Affiliate) will be automatically optimized by the press of a button - while you play golf.

We hate complex and confusing situations. Just hate ‘em!!!