Attention digital advertisers, Yahoo Gemini is important! There, I said it. Over the past 2 years, Yahoo has been working diligently under Marissa Meyer’s leadership to once again be relevant. To get there, they had/have to make money. Getting a percentage of revenues with the Search Alliance apparently isn’t cutting it. So, Yahoo Gemini has been quietly growing and maturing for quite some time in mobile search and native advertising. Now, they are preparing to (somewhat) step out on their own with regards to desktop search.

Since former Google search exec Marissa Mayer took over Yahoo as CEO in July 2012, she has reportedly been trying to wiggle out of the agreement in order to reassert Yahoo’s search business.  –AdStage

In April, Bing and Yahoo announced changes to the Search Alliance agreement. Technically speaking, the amendment removes any exclusivity and will allow Yahoo to strike deals with other ad networks like Google AdWords, Facebook or even Amazon. But it also gives Yahoo an opportunity to beef up their own Gemini platform and “get real paid” as the kids say these days. Our safe and semi-simple 2-party system (AdWords and Bing Ads) will cease to be. We will once again enter the reality of a 3-party system for PPC search advertising. For better or worse, this is happening and Yahoo Gemini is important.

What Does It All Mean?

• While Bing is focused on growth on their own merits, the immediate [potential] impact on search share and impressions is real. Yahoo is a big chunk of Bing’s available ad inventory. Bing knows this and is going to show us weekly click volumes to try and assuage any fears.
• To avoid lost impressions, clicks and conversions – you will need to begin running search ads through Yahoo Gemini.

The Con’s

• There’s another ad platform to manage. More time, more training and more resources will be required.
• The core structure for managing search campaigns exists in Gemini, but the platform is designed with native ads in mind FIRST. Search is clearly a secondary priority at this point. Furthermore, the name of the platform is also the name of the search/native blended campaign type (Gemini). To isolate search requires a bit of sleuthing to find.
• There is a lack of 3rd party tool support – at least for now.
• There’s no desktop editor. Gemini does support bulk import/export for management via spreadsheets.

The Pro’s

• There’s another ad platform to manage. Think about it – Gemini will add more flame to the competitive fires, thus driving innovation.
• Yahoo has had its fair share of hardships and made mistakes over the years. That being said, they have a long history in search and have proven themselves survivors in addition to innovators. And if my memory serves me correctly, Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM) didn’t completely suck. There was a time when it trumped Bing Ads, aka Microsoft adCenter. Hell, when I started in the search industry Yahoo sold their ads to Microsoft, not the other way around.
• You will be able to optimize/bid to Yahoo search traffic performance. You can’t do that in Bing Ads right now.
• More people will be introduced to native advertising. While this will spur competition for available impressions, my opinion is that it will also spur Yahoo to keep developing awesome tools and features around what is already a pretty damn cool ad type.
• The Search Alliance isn’t dead – not yet anyways. There is still a partnership between Bing and Yahoo. There are potential features to come from this partnership that have promise (like leveraging Bing’s UET and retargeting functionality for Yahoo’s native ads – yeah, that’d be sweet!).

Bottom line, this is real. Yahoo Gemini is here to stay. Set up an account(s) with Gemini, install the conversion tags and start planning how this channel will fit into your digital advertising strategy.

Yahoo Gemini image originally appeared on Marketing Land.