For the last 1.5 years, Yahoo has been secretly working a project labeled Yahoo! Gemini. Perhaps a hidden gem in prepping for its official arrival. Since the Bing/Yahoo Search Alliance Deal that formed back in 2010, Yahoo gave up its position in the paid media space. Instead it gave in to its rival Bing and ended up being refueled by its algorithm for the last few years. Many saw this move as a cap on Yahoo’s potential to innovate in the PPC arena. However, over the last year and a half, Yahoo seems to have been turning the wheels on this new secret project.
What is Yahoo! Gemini?
In all honesty it’s a bit complicated. It’s a PPC model based platform allowing advertisers to promote products and services on the Yahoo search engine. Perhaps in a discreet fashion though while Microsoft is snoozing on its own Bing endeavor. The Yahoo! Gemini PPC platform gives advertisers quite an influx but the challenge remains in identifying its competitive nature. Was the recent inclusion within Mozilla browser an attempt to increase market share and emphasize upon the Gemini project? Well, that’s the obvious part.
Here’s what we know about Yahoo! Gemini thus far in terms of functions and capabilities.
Targeting
All too familiar of an option. Resembles every other SEM platform including Google AdWords and Yahoo|Bing Ads Network. Yahoo! Gemini advertisers have the ability to target within a specific geography including location, search terms, interests, language, and other filters. The versatility of geography targeting settings seems a bit gray at the moment but for the most part resembles its competitor features.
Budget
Naturally, like everything else in PPC, it’s imperative to set a comfortable budget. That is unless you have a continuously running faucet to tap into. The Yahoo! Gemini cost features allows you to specify the maximum amount you’d like to spend on your ads. The system will charge the card on file only when it accrues click charges. Sound all too familiar?
Reporting
I’ll admittedly state that I’m sort of impressed by the intuitive reporting. It brings memories of my earlier days as a Yahoo! Small Business Marketing Solutions Ambassador. That seems like so many moons ago already. Then again, I’m a sucker for big data and any time reports fly across my desk I tend to gawk at them for a bit. Yahoo! Gemini seems to be betting on its reporting as a factor to reel in new clientele. One of the key ingredients worth notating though is the real-time insights reporting. Perhaps an intent to give Google Analytics Real-Time reports a run for their money?
Why Yahoo! Gemini?
I’ve been asking myself this very question for a while now. According to the Yahoo! team though, it’s an innovative platform allowing for mobile and native ads marketing. From a top-level overview, the platform emulates much of Google AdWords and Yahoo|Bing Ads Network features. Maybe it’s just me being so intertwined in the SEM arena and able to pick up on that. According to sources, Yahoo! Gemini is now classified as a third PPC platform and an alternative to its rivals. After the Search Alliance Deal apparently Yahoo! developed its own proprietary web property not covered under this agreement. Therefore allowing them to branch out and explore other horizons. Hence the birth of Yahoo! Gemini.
If in the market for mobile audience reach then the Yahoo! Gemini should cover your needs. It will be interesting to keep tabs on the evolution of this platform as it progresses in 2015.