Sun Jan 06 07:02:44 PST 2019

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YSM Bid Prices vs. Click Costs
With YSM, you pick a maximum bid price and your bid will never exceed that
amount. Their software has a bid discounter built in, so oftentimes your average
bid cost may be less than your bid prices.
Prior to the end of 2006, YSM bid prices were transparent, which means that you
could usually see exactly what your competitors were bidding at any given time.
With the launch of the Panama platform, Yahoo! no longer shows exact bid prices
but bid ranges, estimated clicks, and estimated share of clicks.

Please note that their estimates are just estimates, and that by adjusting your ad
copy relevancy and appeal you can drastically alter your ad clickthrough rate, click
costs, and traffic volumes.
? If you use appealing ad copy, an ad at position number 2 or 3 may get
more clicks than an ad at position number 1.
? Relevant ads that get clicked often are given a higher quality score.
Ads with a higher quality score are given a discount for their relevancy,
since search engines make more when searchers click on more ads.

Bid Jamming
With the new Panama system, bid jamming is no longer possible, but this explains
how the process worked in the past.
In some niche markets, there will only be a couple people who place exceptional
value on ultra-qualified leads. For example, a Chicago DUI attorney may bid much
higher for the term Chicago DUI attorney than a general nationwide firm would. If
there are only a couple competitors in a market, it is not uncommon for the top
few bids to be $5 or $20 while the rest of them are around 25 cents or less.
For example, if they bid $20, you can bid a max bid of $9.99. If the third placed
person is only bidding 25 cents, your clicks will cost you 26 cents each while
ensuring your competitor pays a full $20 per click.