Yahoo has released a new zip code targeting feature for Panama search advertisers that allows them to direct ads to searchers based on their zip codes.

The service comes with an interactive mapping interface that allows advertisers to specify cities and zip codes and is more precise that the geo-targeting feature in Google Adwords which is only city-specific.

Yahoo’s service - like Google’s geo-targeting feature in Google Adwords - is based on identifying a searcher’s IP address, as well as some other factors. As such, it’s not fool-proof and Yahoo notes that the accuracy of its geo-targeting is not guaranteed.

Currently, the service supports cities and zip codes in approximately 3,500 municipalities in the U.S and Canada.

Source: Zachary Rodgers, “Yahoo Adds Granularity to Local Search Ads”, The ClickZ Network, October 20, 2008

AdGooroo’s latest search advertising market share report reveals that the market share leader is still Google, with a 76.6 percent share of all search advertisers, followed by Yahoo with a 31.9 percent share, and Microsoft in distant third with a 9.9 percent share.

Google’s share slipped by 6.4 percent between the first and second quarters of 2008, however, and is down 8.5 percent year-over-year. Yahoo’s share increased by 0.03 percent in the second quarter, and by 9.8 percent year-over-year. Microsoft, however, is clearly struggling to keep its advertisers, having lost a massive 20 percent of search advertisers in the second quarter, bringing its year-over-year decline to 6.7 percent.

Source: AdGooroo, “AdGooroo Q208 “share of advertisers” estimates now available for Google, Yahoo!, and MSN”, Press Release, July 8, 2008