Starting this week, Yahoo Search Marketing will shorten sponsored search text ads to 70 (from 190) characters, and most marketers view the move in a positive light, writes ClickZ. They say the standardization (with Google) simplifies the management of keyword buys and makes comparing results across engines easier. It's also what time-strapped consumers want. Noah Elkin, director of industry relations at icrossing, is quoted as saying "broadband penetration is forcing users to think and act more quickly, in line with how technology in general is changing."

Another factor may be an intent to make ads more readable on handhelds, Elkin notes. Ben Perry, director of paid search programs at iProspect, points out that Yahoo will now be able to serve more ads on each page, thereby potentially increasing ad revenue.

"The short-form forces advertisers to be more concise, and to only include that important information that delivers results," says Andrew Levasseur, senior search manager for Avenue A | Razorfish Search.

"Google ads tend to get about double the click rate of Yahoo ads. Why? I'm sure Yahoo is working on figuring that out - which may be why Yahoo is going to the shorter format," said Dana Todd, EVP of SiteLab International.

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