From February onwards Yahoo will implement smart pricing for all of their pay-per-click (PPC) services. Google been utilizing such a system for some time. Smart pricing allows PPC links to rise to the top based on additional factors rather than just price. Traffic quality is the term most commonly used for such factors. In the event of a link resulting in a larger number of people actually clicking through and purchasing a product then the link in question may appear above a more expensive link that is not performing as well for the advertiser.

It is not known yet how this will affect PPC parking, but some have predicted a decrease in income from Yahoo-based services as the lower-paying links rise higher on pages. There is also a case for increased income because of a higher number of clickthroughs on the higher quality links. Yahoo stock rose briefly in late January when Yahoo stated that Panama would be in place ahead of schedule. More should be apparent by this time next month.