Yahoo Could Be Dropping API Access to PPC

[AussieWebmaster]

I had a very interesting conversation with one of the senior people over at the Marketing Analytics department and his comments are a little worrying. The various companies now using the API to provide stats for ROI measurement may be losing that privilege soon. Individuals will still get access for a fee - but it looks like agencies and SEM companies may soon be telling their customers that they cannot give them those figures.
I went in more detail here:
http://www.smart-keywords.com/2005/03/is-yahoo-destined-to-be-next-looksmart.htm

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

I wonder what the strategy might be ...

- If they want us to go back to screen scraping
- If they want to create more hostile SEMs
- If they want to move more business away from paid search to organic

Then, I am pretty sure it's a good idea to drop SEMs and agencies access to the API :)

[shorebreak]

I'll bet this doesn't happen; Yahoo/Overture wants its own keyword mgmt system to thrive, but not to this degree.

[Andy AtkinsKruger]

That wasn't the impression which Tim Mayer gave at the 'Meet the Crawlers' session at SES NY. He was asked about APIs and, whilst I can't remember his exact words, the impression he gave was of an intention to improve access to APIs.

[AussieWebmaster]

That wasn't the impression which Tim Mayer gave at the 'Meet the Crawlers' session at SES NY. He was asked about APIs and, whilst I can't remember his exact words, the impression he gave was of an intention to improve access to APIs.
Individuals can get access it just seems that bulk access is being denied and possibly turned off.

[YahooSarah]

Whoa everyone…..slow down. It seems there have been some miscommunications here. Just to set the record straight, Overture (Yahoo! Search Marketing) continues to grow the number of advertisers, SEMs and agencies participating in our API program. In fact, over the last few weeks we have added a significant number of each to the program. Please know our third party partners and programs are and will continue to be an essential strategic part of our business.


OvertureRep

[AussieWebmaster]

Whoa everyone…..slow down. It seems there have been some miscommunications here. Just to set the record straight, Overture (Yahoo! Search Marketing) continues to grow the number of advertisers, SEMs and agencies participating in our API program. In fact, over the last few weeks we have added a significant number of each to the program. Please know our third party partners and programs are and will continue to be an essential strategic part of our business.


OvertureRep I hate to contradict you but there have absolutely been turn downs to companies seeking to use the API in an aggregated way.
True all the individual accounts in the world can still sign up.... but you have now instituted a policy of no more aggregators!!!

If I am wrong please contact me and help the third party I use to become a user... then I guess I would have to come back here and say I am wrong....

<insert Jeopardy music here!!>

[rustybrick]

Did Yahoo! reject you? If so, did they say why? I am told they have accepted many companies recently. Do you have more evidence?

[AussieWebmaster]

Did Yahoo! reject you? If so, did they say why? I am told they have accepted many companies recently. Do you have more evidence?
They denied WebSideStory who are one of my analytics providers. I was on the phone with Tom Hachstatter, who is a very senior member of the department and he was the one who told me all of this.

Go back to the top and read or catch my blog for more details.

If you know anyone at WebSideStory try them too.

[rustybrick]

Did WebSideStory tell you specifically why they were denied? I can not access your blog, it is not loading at the moment.

I am curious if there was a reason given...

[AussieWebmaster]

Did WebSideStory tell you specifically why they were denied? I can not access your blog, it is not loading at the moment.

I am curious if there was a reason given...
That they were changing the API and were not adding anyone new and when asked about those already using the system (since I had heard they might be dropped) he did not deny they could be losing access soon.

Are you using this link for the blog:
http://www.smart-keywords.com/blog.html

[rustybrick]

Thanks, the link now works. Might have been a DNS issue on my side.

Anyway, thanks for the update. Interesting stuff...

[rustybrick]

Ok, here is an official statement from a Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) spokesperson.

- Yahoo! Search Marketing's (Overture) position on APIs and open access has not changed. We support all advertisers, SEMs and agencies that desire to have direct access through APIs, and continue to expand the numbers of companies participating in our program.

- In addition, we've been working proactively with web analytics companies to determine how they would like to add value to their customers' campaign tracking needs, how we can expand our API program to help them achieve that, and how that can extend the value of advertising on Yahoo! and the Overture network. This does not represent a change in policy for Overture / Yahoo!

That is all I got.

[AussieWebmaster]

Whoa everyone…..slow down. It seems there have been some miscommunications here. Just to set the record straight, Overture (Yahoo! Search Marketing) continues to grow the number of advertisers, SEMs and agencies participating in our API program. In fact, over the last few weeks we have added a significant number of each to the program. Please know our third party partners and programs are and will continue to be an essential strategic part of our business.


OvertureRep
Okay then I would like to make an official request that you grant WebSideStory access to the API. If that were to happen then I will profess the correctness of your statement on every forum and blog I know - which is a bunch!!!

[PortofDreams]

Has anyone heard any news lately on this? WebSideStory seems to be going back and forth about whether they will have access for their "Bid" product, as does Omniture. WSS stated to me a week ago that it looks like it will have access. I was curious if anyone had anything further?

I am eager to see WSS Bid in action.

[shorebreak]

While I suspect Yahoo will put pressure on SEM firms to make their API calling as efficient as possible, I just don't see them restricting access long term. The real issue, in my opinion, is that not enough SEM firms are making full use of either Yahoo or Google's ppc API's. It's no wonder that Yahoo would consider restricting access when 90% of the firms requesting access are SEM firms who compete somewhat with Yahoo's Search Optimizer offering. If large numbers of advertisers were requesting access as well, then those competitive bid mgmt solutions would seem like less of a relative threat to S.O.

[AussieWebmaster]

The Bid Management tool should be rolled out for the SES conference in San Jose.

[ppcbidtrackerguy]

This has been up for awhile. But here is my view:

OVT's current API has been experiencing quite a bit of "system degradation" over the last few months. Therefore it only makes sense that they don't allow access, at this time, to any of huge analytics firms out there. This would simply cause further "system degradation" and make the API less useful for its current users.

I know the big analytics firms are crying foul. But OVT can't add more clients to the API if they can't handle the load. Thats only common sense. Now is OVT delaying so that its own tool gains marketshare? Not sure... But once again the current API is definitely under some huge stress. I know this firsthand.

The big analytics firms have themselves to blame to some degree. They didn't jump on API access early in the game. They either balked or weren't aware where the market was heading.

[AussieWebmaster]

This has been up for awhile. But here is my view:

OVT's current API has been experiencing quite a bit of "system degradation" over the last few months. Therefore it only makes sense that they don't allow access, at this time, to any of huge analytics firms out there. This would simply cause further "system degradation" and make the API less useful for its current users.

I know the big analytics firms are crying foul. But OVT can't add more clients to the API if they can't handle the load. Thats only common sense. Now is OVT delaying so that its own tool gains marketshare? Not sure... But once again the current API is definitely under some huge stress. I know this firsthand.

The big analytics firms have themselves to blame to some degree. They didn't jump on API access early in the game. They either balked or weren't aware where the market was heading.
Great insight... I hope they are reading this or being made aware by the current users of this....

[PortofDreams]

Amazing that I still can't get a straight answer from Yahoo or WSS on this, but I can confirm that I was told the same thing as the last post. Apparently the Overture API was created many years ago and just can't handle the load that Google's can, which could be the sole reason they are denying large firms access. Yahoo did state that the API is currently being rewritten. Either way, I have a feeling WSS and Omniture are going to be out of luck for awhile. Alot of good a PPC management tool is with access to only 1 of the 2 major services.

[AussieWebmaster]

Has anyone heard any news lately on this? WebSideStory seems to be going back and forth about whether they will have access for their "Bid" product, as does Omniture. WSS stated to me a week ago that it looks like it will have access. I was curious if anyone had anything further?

I am eager to see WSS Bid in action.
WSS will be incorporating the Yahoo API but it may not be part of their roll out of the bid management tool at SES in San Jose.