Yandex, a prominent technology company, has unveiled plans to modify how advertisers manage their campaigns on the Yandex Advertising Network (YAN), marking a significant shift in its advertising strategy. Starting April 22, 2024, Yandex will phase out the “Maximum clicks with manual bids” option for campaigns running on both its search engine and the YAN. This move will limit campaign strategies to either “Maximize conversions” or “Maximize clicks,” steering advertisers towards more automated bid management solutions.
This update is slated to roll out in stages, beginning with the discontinuation of new campaigns using manual bid control on April 22. Following this, from May 20, adjustments to bids in existing campaigns that utilize manual control will no longer be possible. By June 2024, all active campaigns employing manual bidding strategies will cease operation. Yandex emphasizes the need for advertisers to transition to alternative strategies to avoid disruptions in their advertising efforts. While stopped and archived campaigns will default to the “Maximize Clicks” strategy, they will not resume automatically.
Yandex assures that advertisers will receive ample notifications ahead of each phase to prepare for the upcoming changes. This decision comes after a preliminary announcement made in early 2023, where Yandex had hinted at the discontinuation of manual bid management, citing the then-limited capabilities of automated strategies to address specific advertising challenges. However, with advancements in Yandex’s automated tools and the overwhelming adoption of auto-strategies—now exceeding 95%—the company is confident in fully transitioning to these more efficient options.
Additionally, Yandex highlights its efforts to expedite the application of settings within the YAN interface, signaling an ongoing commitment to improving user experience and campaign effectiveness on its platform. This update reflects Yandex’s broader strategy to harness automation for enhancing advertising performance, simplifying campaign management, and ensuring optimal use of advertisers’ budgets.
