Here are some tips from the Yahoo blog about steps to take before the adcenter transition.
3 key steps to take before all traffic transitions to adCenter
In just a few weeks, Yahoo! Search Marketing advertisers will be using Microsoft Advertising adCenter to manage search marketing campaigns on both Yahoo! Search and Bing. To help ensure that you’re ready, it’s time to take a fresh look at your keyword and ad strategies.
Here are three tips to help you prepare:
1) Expand your keyword list
adCenter allows you to bid separately for singular/plural variations and common misspellings of your keywords, which gives you more control in fine-tuning your ROI. Because there is typically less advertiser competition on keyword variations, you’ll have an opportunity to get greater value on your ad spend by bidding on these terms.
Try the Microsoft Advertising Intelligence tool—a keyword research and optimization tool offered as a Microsoft Office Excel add-in—to develop keyword lists and gain insight into current bids, as well as historical and forecasted search volume. For help on using this tool, check out these step-by-step video tutorials.
2) Set keyword match types
While Yahoo! Search Marketing offers the Standard and Advanced match types, adCenter uses three match types: exact, phrase and broad. If you transition your Yahoo! Search Marketing campaigns to adCenter, your Advanced match keywords will be set to broad match, and your Standard match type keywords will be set to exact match.
In adCenter, you can specify unique bids for each match type, which allows you to align your bids to individual performance. For example, you can bid more for exact match keywords that represent your core products and services, to help you reach highly qualified potential customers. Learn more about strategies for match type success.
3) Monitor your ads’ positions as you begin to use adCenter
As more and more Yahoo! advertisers begin using adCenter, you may see an increase in the number of advertisers bidding on your keywords, which could affect your ads’ positions. If your ads’ positions have gone down due to increased competition, consider adjusting your bids and setting incremental bids as needed to help meet your objectives.
Remember, you still need to manage your Yahoo! Search Marketing account until ad serving fully transitions to adCenter in late October. You’ll receive an email notification once this final stage of the transition is complete; then you’ll be able to use your adCenter account exclusively to reach customers on Yahoo! Search and Bing.