My Wish List for Panama 2.0

Now that we’ve all had some experience with the new Yahoo Panama system it’s time to look ahead to Panama 2.0. The account organization à la Google is a nice first step as are many other new features. But let’s talk quantum leaps in interface design and functionality to catapult Yahoo to the top of the search engine heap.

First on my list is dayparting. “Dayparting? That’s not a quantum leap! It’s been around forever!” you say. It does seem like Google has offered this feature since the 20th century. C’mon Yahoo, this capability should be added to Panama ASAP.

Next is functionality that’s a bit more robust – ad position reporting by specified time frame. Imagine being able to examine a list of all campaign keywords – and their average position – on one screen for, say, 2-4pm on 1/13/07, a Saturday. Then pulling up average positions for the same time frame two days later, the following Monday. This kind of granular data would certainly contribute to improvements in ROI.

Along the same lines is conversion tracking tied to ad creative and time of day. Imagine knowing which ad creative is pulling more conversions (we have such reporting in-house) and when those sales occurred. This would make it possible to daypart during the most productive times of day. We’ll need time zone specification abilities too, please.

How about true PPC site targeting? Say I want my PPC ads to show on Yahoo.com only. Seems like a simple thing, really. The competition does it. Now let’s take it a step further. Make it possible for me to specify sites in the Yahoo search and content networks where I don’t want my ads to appear. Make this a screen in the interface where I can list sites to include and exclude. Let’s take it up another notch. Show a master list of search and content network sites and let me pick and choose sites where my ads will appear.

I could go on, but you get the idea – much more user defined control to boost ROI. Yes Yahoo, it is possible to be #1 in search. Think like your customers and give them what they really want – transparency and control.