It has been done. I caught an email off the CJ (Commission Junction) Newsletter Wire this morning that stated the following:

After more than six months in the making and much customer feedback and testing, we are pleased to announce that Yahoo! Search Marketing (YSM) has recently updated its editorial policies and will now allow U.S. publishers to direct link to their advertisers. In the past, YSM’s editorial policy prevented publishers from linking directly to their advertiser partners and required that traffic be sent first to the publisher’s Web site. The new policy eliminates this restriction and opens a much broader search marketing opportunity for publishers.

This YSM policy change is the result of a strong relationship between Commission Junction and YSM. We have spent more than six months working with YSM to enact the new editorial policy and are very pleased that this effort has resulted in changes that are sure to create opportunities for our publishers and advertisers.

We find this policy change exciting on several levels. First, this is a significant shift for YSM and could be a great opportunity for your search marketing campaigns. Second, you heard it here first – YSM has asked us to communicate this change to the affiliate community. Third, the work we’ve done with YSM on this policy change is just another example of our commitment to listening to and speaking up for our publishers.

So do we jump up and down and thank the search marketing gods that Yahoo has finally introduced a method the ole Google Casher’s like?

My opinion is that bid prices will now rise harder and faster than usual with Yahoo. Maybe, maybe not but you can almost guarantee that a lot of lazy affiliates who had problems with Yahoo’s stance on direct linking will start coming out of their shells and you will start to see an influx of competition and bid prices. Ahh well, at least if your advertising to building YOUR business first and not your merchants then in the end you still come out on top.

What’s your opinion?

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