Back from SES SJ

I’m back from Search Engine Strategies annual big bash in San Jose. Tons of vendors, even more people, and tons of hype.

A couple of big stories from the conference:
Google announced search deals with MySpace and MTV. Google will syndicate MTV music videos and various shows (Spongebob Squarepants and others) and distribute them to sites and blogs in it’s network. It will operate on a Click to Play basis. Video ads, embedded in the content presumably will be tied to the AdWords/AdSense, but it isn’t clear how yet. For more on this story….

Yahoo held an hour long lunchtime session to preview it’s new Ad Platform dubbed “Panama”. The general consensus is that they are changing their YSM product to look more like Google’s program. The biggest change will be that bid price will no longer determine rank. The new program will work like Google’s in that it will take into account click through rates. Other changes include, improved geographical targeting, automatic optimization of A/B testing, and better budget management tools. I liked the new pricing tool. A slider bar shows the number of clicks an ad should receive for a given bid. An estimated average ad position is also displayed as well as the share of potential clicks an ad is estimated to receive. The new platform was slated to roll out Q3 2006 but the rep at the show said that it looked more like Q1 2007. For more on Panama…