Well, at least while they’re still kinda sorta doing this “search” thing ;)
1) Yahoo’s keyword suggestions can equal disaster. Who knows your business and customers best? You do, so why bid on the broad, irrelevant and often pricey keywords Yahoo recommends? Take ownership and find the time and resources to develop highly relevant keyword lists that will drive more qualified traffic to your site.
2) Start with Standard match for all keywords. Yahoo’s Advanced match is equivalent to Google’s Broad match, and it can bleed your budget faster than a teenager with your gold card. You can expand to Advanced for more traffic opportunities after your campaign is profitable, and when you have a comprehensive list of negative/excluded keywords.
3) No Content Match, unless you really know what you’re doing! Seriously…don’t go there :)
4) Everyone has noticed an increase in poor performing Yahoo Partner traffic over the last few years. Yahoo FINALLY added some advanced features to help curb advertisers spending on some of this non-converting traffic.
a) Network Distribution Performance Reports: Allows you to see impressions, clicks, CTRs, CPCs, costs and conversion data for Yahoo Search and Yahoo Partners. Use this report to understand whether or not you should even advertise on the entire Yahoo Partner network. If you determine Partner traffic is unprofitable, simply opt out by adjusting your Network settings. Follow these steps to change your Network settings.
b) Dig even further by running an Ad Delivery Report, which can be found under the “Traffic Quality Reports” section of your Reports tab. This report shows impressions, clicks, CTRs, CPCs, costs and conversion data for domains and specific URLs where your ads are being displayed on Yahoo’s Partner network. If you find domains that are driving clicks but no conversions, the next step is to block your ad from appearing on those domains. Follow these steps to block domains:
Good luck and happy optimizing!