Hi
YES - We're getting exactly the same. I use my own monitoring software so I can see exactly where it's all coming from. We're getting traffic originating from parked domains that have been "monetized" by hitfarm amongst others.

What concerns me greatly is that my account has Content Match switched off. I assume that this is a bug in Yahoo (the implications of it being deliberate are just too much to consider).

I have emailed them but got the usual automated "we might respond sometime within the next decade" answer.

I'll post any responses I get from them

Isn't it fairly well established by now that both Yahoo and Google have their largest domain parking partners in their search networks rather than content networks? This is distribution fraud IMO, and there's been much, much discussion on this topic.

I hear Yahoo is working on their version of Google's SmartPricing, which hopefully will allow them to effectively discount the cost of clicks from these low-converting domain parking sites.

-Shorebreak
PS - Search for 'Searchquant Distribution Fraud' on Google if you want to read my blog posts on this topic.

These are definitely part of the "search network"

YSM's "Domain Match" program puts your ads on parking pages regardless of whether or not you are part of the content network. They also will not allow you to opt out of this program. From what I've seen on WebmasterWorld, yahoo's forum folks tend to avoid the subject because it's very difficult to justify such a policy.

I emailed Yahoo about this and was told that turning Content Match off in my account does not turn Content Match off......go figure!

I note with interest that nobody from Yahoo has posted any replies on this thread, which makes me wonder.

If I were a search engine I would be seriously concerned about this, as advertisers will quickly realise that instead of sending targetted, relevant traffic to a site, junk, low converting traffic is being sent instead.

Using my experience and the experience of other posters on this thread, I would say that the cost per aquisition for advertisers using this marketing channel has gone up by a factor between six and ten. This surely makes PPC a very expensive activity, and one which will no longer be economically viable for most businesses.

This has got to bad news for the search engines as advertisers (their main source of revenue) will vote with their feet.

Come on, Yahoo, give us an opinion........

I note with interest that nobody from Yahoo has posted any replies on this thread, which makes me wonder.

This is not new, it's being going on for years.