Content Optimization at Yahoo!Todd Beaupré

#1: 34 MM#1: 19 MM

#1: 97 MM

Re

#1: 45 MM

#1: 33 MM

#1: 20 MM

#1: 22 MM

#1: 31 MM

#1: 17.3 MM

Re

“I think our clear strength is ‘relevance’ – whether that means knowing what weather to give you or serving up headlines you’ll be interested in. It’s all about really getting you and we have more work to do in that area.”

Carol BartzCEO, Yahoo! Inc.

Content Optimization Mission

Make Yahoo! the most relevant experience on the Web by recommending the right content and products

to the right user at the right time

• Every pixel should be there for a reason

• Combine human editorial voice with science in scalable way

• Enable real-time insights feedback loop across properties

• Preserve user trust

Relevance at Yahoo!

Important

Editors

PopularY! Buzz

Content Optimization 1.0

Personal / Social

Content Optimization 2.0

People10s of Items

ScienceMillions of Items

Ranking

Most PopularMost engaging overall based on objective metrics

Related ItemsBehavioral Affinity: People who did X, did Y

Deep PersonalizationMost relevant to me based on my deep interests

X Y

Real-time Dashboard

Voice and Business Rules

Light PersonalizationMore relevant to me based on my age, gender and property usage

Most Popular + Per User HistoryEngaging overall, and aware of what I’ve already seen

Data Flow

ContentOptimization

Engine

Content feed with biz rules

Explore~1%

Exploit~99%

Real-timeFeedback

Content Metadata

Dashboard Optimized Module

Real-timeInsights

Business Rules Engine

Yahoo! Homepage

+160% CTRvs. pre-optimization baseline

(Light personalization)

+160% CTRvs. pre-optimization baseline

(Light personalization)

+79% vs. random+53% vs. editorial(Light Personalization)

+79% vs. random+53% vs. editorial(Light Personalization)

+43% Clicksvs. editorial baseline

(Most popular)

+43% Clicksvs. editorial baseline

(Most popular)

US News

+40% CTR vs. Editorial Baseline

(Most popular + user history)

+69% CTR vs. Editorial Baseline

(Most popular + user history)

News HomeNews Article

Editors’ Dashboard

Thank ou.

P.S. I’m hiring product managers