• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 9, 2016

Yahoo joined the ranks of companies that are supporting custom audience targeting with first-party data for search advertising, offering the service through Yahoo Gemini.

This feature allows advertisers to use their own first-party data, in combination with Yahoo data, to target customers across devices. Combining the data enables brands to personalize the message to consumer based on behavior.

Custom audience targeting quietly became available Friday for both native and search ads on Yahoo Gemini for U.S. advertisers. It brings the benefits of audience-based buying to search advertising, such as targeting online behavior and interests in addition to search queries.

The feature focuses on the ability for advertisers to choose audience segments defined by their own data or use Yahoo data to engage searchers who are more likely to be interested in their products.

A Yahoo spokesperson declined to share a list of company names testing the platform, but said retail and travel clients were among the approximate 150 companies participating in an early pilot program. Companies piloting the platform saw on average a 200% higher, or three times higher, click-through rate (CTR) and better ad positions for audience targeted traffic.

On average, those testing the audience targeting saw better conversion rates and lower cost per acquisitions. Conversion tracking through Dot and optimizing bids for their designated keywords garnered advertisers on average a 90% higher conversion rate and 30% savings in CPA.

Through Yahoo Gemini, advertisers can choose audience segments defined by their own data, or use Yahoo data to engage searchers who are more likely to be interested in their products.

Stefanie Hineman, online advertising marketing manager at Intuit, told MediaPost Search Insider Summit attendees last week in Key Largo, Fla., during a panel discussion on scaling audience-based optimization with first-party data that it has become increasingly important to know more about the customer. Not just intent.

Scaling first-party data means Intuit can combine multiple data sources to customize not just ad copy and landing pages, but also make bid adjustments. Hineman said if consumers search on non-branded term queries, Intuit can become a little more aggressive. If the consumer searches on "Turbo Tax," than Intuit can determine if the consumer has used the software for years and adjust bids accordingly.

Yahoo made available more than 150 audience interest categories that can retarget consumer who visit or perform specific functions on a Web site, or target consumers based on their in-app behavior, as well as cross-device targeting based on mobile advertising IDs or in-app behavior.

The benefits of this targeting capability is to reach the desired audience with a personalized offer. Some might apply a bid modifier on the search bid to increase impressions and ad positions, leading to better CTR and conversation rate. The campaign data Yahoo provides on their targeted audience offers additional insights for advertisers to optimize their bidding strategy.