The Big Wave Blog

Yahoo Search Marketing Rant

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Where Has the Keyword Tool Gone?

Has anyone noticed that the Yahoo Keyword Tool is missing? It used to be available to any internet user, but has now disappeared from both its public webpage and within the Yahoo Search Marketing platform. I used to love using this tool, because it would produce different keyword combinations than the Google tool due to different user demographics.

I have performed numerous Google searches looking for it (no coincidence I’m not searching on Yahoo). The results show up in the SERPs, but the page that is linked doesn’t even load.

The Nail in the Coffin
Well, for me, it all started with Panama, Yahoo’s big, much anticipated update to their paid search marketing platform. We all know now that the Panama update never materialized into what search marketers were hoping for. Their biggest mistake: It no longer offers the main advantage that Yahoo once had over Google, which was being able to see the top 5 bids for each keyword phrase. Instead, they opted to implement a similar keyword phrase bidding structure, but the engine has failed to deliver the same results in terms of traffic and paid search effectiveness.