Yahoo! and Ebay’s Paypal has entered into a partnership that would allow Yahoo advertisers added visibility and value on Yahoo search results. With the Yahoo-Paypal Checkout Program:
a blue shopping cart icon appears next to your ad in Yahoo! search results. This can help your ad stand out, and let customers know you offer PayPal Express Checkout, from the brand known for security.
This partnership is actually a part of a previous deal entered into by Ebay and Yahoo in May last year, way before Google released its Google Checkout Program. As part of the introductory activity, Yahoo is offering Merchants a free Paypal Express Checkout processing and a $100 credit in a Yahoo! sponsored search account.
Here’s how it works (From Yahoo!):
- User goes to Yahoo! Search to find an item or service
- Results page may include Yahoo! Sponsored Search results matched to the user’s query
- If the merchant has joined the Yahoo! PayPal Checkout program, a blue shopping cart icon will appear next to the merchant’s name in the Sponsored Search results.
- By clicking on the ad, users will have direct access to a safe, secure purchasing process that does not require any additional credit card information and can be completed in just a few mouse clicks.
The Yahoo!-Paypal partnership aims to improve Yahoo’s new search ad platform. eBay Chairman Terry Semiel said:
While we’re still in the early days, we’ve already seen significant increases in the relevance of our most prominent sponsor search ads and have heard from our advertisers that they are seeing meaningful improvements in ad performance
Again, the question now is whether this Yahoo-Paypal Checkout Program is up against Google’s checkout program? IMO, yes. Paypal is a widely used e-transaction tool and partnering with Yahoo gives it a good leverage against Google’s Checkout Program which until now is trying to get a good ground in the e-commerce industry. And with Paypal e-transaction on its helm, Yahoo advertisers may find it more comfortable to advertise on Yahoo. As for online shoppers, of course it would be more convenient to patronize advertised products with the Yahoo!-Paypal Checkout icon.
