The time is fast approaching for Bing and Yahoo to begin the transition into the “search alliance” we’ve been hearing and speculating about for some time now. Here are the details we know:

The date for the first paid ad testing is mid-September. The roll-out will happen slowly, with every possible care taken to not disrupt the holiday shopping season for online advertisers. The goal is to be serving 100% Bing ads to Yahoo by mid-October. There is a plan B in the case of upsets in retail campaign performance. Organic listings will likely start to see the shifts sooner.

One adjustment we’ll all have to make is thinking of Bing and Yahoo as one engine, with no separate reporting available to distinguish one engine’s performance from the other. It will also not be immediately possible to distinguish Yahoo’s Partner Network from search traffic, but this functionality is expected to resurface.

September will be here before we know it, so giving our Bing campaigns a thorough look is essential in order to determine the best course of action leading up to and during the transition. Proactive fleshing out and polishing up Bing accounts is highly recommended.

There are options available for transitioning. If Bing campaigns perform well currently, it’s possible that simply turning off Yahoo campaigns will be enough. It will be important to prepare for this eventuality by looking closely at keyword lists on Bing, which tend to be smaller. This would be a good time to begin building Bing out to be on par with Google and Yahoo, from both a keyword variation and match type strategy standpoint.

It’s also possible to start a new account on Bing, using Yahoo or Google data as the basis. Keep in mind that all previous account history will be lost and new ramp up time will be needed.

There will be an import feature available, which will grab Yahoo data and bring it into Bing’s interface. With this option it will be important to carefully check the imported data for quality, as Yahoo and Bing have different character limits, match types, etc.

Historically, no search platform merge or transition has been without it’s issues for advertisers. We’d be remiss not to expect some technical issues and performance fluctuation. Industry experts are expecting CPCs to rise as advertisers begin to test out this new space. Overall though, thoughts on the alliance are positive and hopes are high. Time will tell.