For those of you who use Yahoo Search Marketing in the UK, this week Yahoo will be implementing the same ad quality score technology that was put into place in the U.S. back in February. ADHEREL

That means that Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM) ads will no longer be ranked strictly by bid amount, but also by the quality of the ad and the landing page (ad quality score). Previously, you could outbid any other advertiser for the top rank regardless of landing page or ad. Under the new ad quality score system, the actual landing page and ad along with the bid amount and ad click-thru-rate (CTR) will all be factored into determining the rank of the ad on the search page.

For example, if you are bidding on “red bicycles”, under the new system your ad abd lading page better be about red bicycles, i.e, the keyword “red bicycles” should be featured prominently in your ad copy and landing page.

Per Yahoo: “The new model is designed to help you spend less time in bidding wars with other advertisers and more time creating the most relevant, effective ads, which can help drive better results for your business.”

If you have been a user of Google Adwords or Yahoo Search in the U.S., you should be fully aware of this system.