According to a recent announcement on the Yahoo Search Marketing Blog, Yahoo Sponsored Search advertisers now have a couple more options for geo-targeting their ads.

Up until recently, Yahoo’s geo-targeting functionality was based solely on Designated Marketing Areas (DMA), determined by Nielson Media Research. Yahoo has now incorporated two new options for geo-targeting, allowing advertisers to target at the City or ZIP code level.

This ZIP Code level targeting, currently in beta, allows advertisers to supply a list of ZIP codes, which Yahoo then uses to designate the targeted area. An interactive map provides advertisers with a visual of the area they have selected. In addition, advertisers can also use the map to zoom in or out to find nearby zip codes and further define their targeted area.

Yahoo has joined ASK.com as the only major search engine to provide advertisers with ZIP-code specific ad targeting. While this gives businesses that want to advertise at a more targeted level than DMA a new option, only time will tell if this is an actual improvement on the targeting options offered by Google, or is simply a case of Yahoo playing catch up with AdWords.