New Yahoo! Search Marketing Center on the Way

Not to be outdone by Google's addition of dayparting or Microsoft's launching of an impressive suite of keyword research tools, Yahoo! has announced that some massive changes to its own advertising center are just around the corner. An email announcing the updates made note that Yahoo! had "met with advertisers of all sizes to hear first-hand the things they liked and didn't like about Sponsored Search." Based on their feedback, Yahoo! has said it plans to launch "the new Sponsored Search" later this year.

Yahoo! plans to impress advertisers with the following new features:

Updated Control Panel - redesigned control center that aims to address some usability issues reported by uses.

Faster Ad Launches - one of the biggest complaints about Yahoo! is the amount of time it takes to get ad changes published...Yahoo! claims that the new version of their service will see most ads going online "within minutes."

Geo-Targeting - more control over geographic distribution of ads

Campaign Budgeting, Forecasting and Scheduling - with the new system, Yahoo! will give better estimates of clicks, traffic and cost for planned campaigns. They'll also let advertisers more easily break things down into individual campaigns that are set to run on different budgets and schedules. They're also aiming to make it easier to see what level of bid you need to make to attain top placement with your ads.

Current advertisers should keep an eye on their email. Yahoo! says it plans to send out email notices with more information on the upcoming features and how they'll work. They also promise the launch of a dedicated toll-free number aimed at answering questions and concerns about the changes.