By now, you probably know about Yahoo! Publisher Network, Yahoo’s answer to Google Adsense. It launched over 2 years ago, but is still in Beta. The service is only open to US publishers and, unlike Adsense, you need to talk to a Yahoo representative after submitting an application.

But, here’s the real kicker: Clicks only count, if they originate in the U.S. Yahoo’s also been banning publishers for having too many international visitors/clickers. If you sign up, you’ve been left to literally pray that you won’t get too many clicks. Not fun.

Geotargeting

But, Ilya Lichtenstein of Neomeme has created a script that will only allow YPN ads to be shown to US IP addresses. This technique is also known as geotargeting. You can see how that’d be an asset to anyone using YPN. If you’re interested in using Yahoo’s ad program, give Ilya’s script a shot.

On a similar note, Darren Rowse had posted about Yahoo’s banning of publishers that get too much non-US traffic, back in February of ‘06. He posed an interesting question which, to the best of my knowledge, has gone unanswered to this day:

I wonder if banned publishers will be allowed back into YPN if and when they go international.

Action like this makes me wonder whether YPN might actually be some time away from expanding into an international ad network. Perhaps non US publishers might have a bit longer to wait to be included than they thought.

My Opinion of YPN

August 2007, and the program has the same policies. I’m enrolled in YPN, but don’t run their ads. While they pay more for clicks than Adsense does, their targeting is so bad, you’re better off with getting more, lower-paying, Adsense ads.