Towards the end of May, Yahoo launched the new Panama Search Ad platform in the UK.
Yahoo recently introduced the new ad ranking model that takes into account quality. Gabs posted at his blog an email he received from Yahoo Europe:
Dear Advertiser,We're excited to announce that the new ranking model is now live in our UK market. The new ranking model is designed to improve user results through higher quality search ads. When users engage with these higher quality search ads, advertisers will receive more interested, valuable potential customers, helping to drive better results for your business.
As we previously announced, both bid amount and ad quality now determine an ad’s rank in search results.
Yahoo launched the quality component in the US on February 5th. It seems like Yahoo gave less time for the UK advertisers to get accustomed to the new ad platform before switching over to the new ranking model. But then, the UK advertisers have been reading the feedback from the US advertisers, so maybe they need less time to transition.
Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums & Search Engine Watch Forums.