I don’t usually use this blog for letting off steam or having a good rant, but I’m going to make an exception in the case of Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM).
Yesterday, after a weekend away and in a really good frame of mind, I logged into YSM, ready to set up a campaign for a client in plenty of time for the start next week (even with YSM’s mad window of up to 10 days (I kid you not!) for ad approval) – and found a message saying:
SEARCH LISTINGS MANAGEMENT ISSUES:
We are aware of current difficulties in adding, modifying or deleting listings and are working to correct the problem. Please check back for updates.
OK. I’ll check back tomorrow, I thought, in my post-Parisian glow.
The same message is there today – with no ETA for a fix, you’ll notice. It may have been there since last Friday, for all I know. The pages within have error messages where the data should be. The service is currently as useful as the proverbial chocolate fireguard.
I e-mailed support and was told they might just get back to me if they felt like it within 24-48 hours.
What is it that Yahoo! uses for communication? A retired gent as a runner, shouldering a leather satchel? Clapped out carrier pigeons? Second class mail?
Yahoo certainly gives clients and SEM professionals like me a second class service. I’m reminded why I almost always point my clients towards Google Adwords, unless they have a large enough budget to warrant our fees for having to deal with the positively Victorian-feeling Yahoo edifice.
This kind of thing is another reminder why Yahoo is scratching around way behind in Google’s slipstream generally.
Update (12 October): YSM’s errors have disappeared, and so I can get on with setting up the campaign, two days late. I’m still waiting for an answer to one of my questions from YSM support.
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