Yahoo’s caste system may not be known by everyone so I thought it would be helpful to shed some light on the various tiers of their accounts. This information originally appeared in Welcome to the Panama Jungle: A user’s guide to Yahoo!’s new interface. But before we get the tier break down, here are a few things to keep in mind regarding your account status:

  • Yahoo! reviews all accounts every quarter (March, June, September, and December).
  • They figure your monthly average and then decide who qualifies for which account status.
  • If your account has not been active for an entire year, they will simply take your monthly average and determine in which status your account belongs.
  • The monthly average includes all your accounts, domestic and international.
  • All advertisers will be notified of account status changes.
  • All new advertisers receive Gold status for their first 90 days. After that they begin determining your monthly average to decide in which status your account belongs.
  • If you have separate accounts, you SHOULD link them together, which may get you into a higher status.

And now here’s the list of account tiers, how they are determined and what level of service you receive with each:

Super Diamond:

  • Customers must spend $120,000 a year to qualify.
  • Super Diamond accounts receive 100 campaigns, 1,000 ad groups, and 250,000 keywords.
  • This type of account also gets a dedicated customer service representative.

Diamond:

  • Customers must spend $120,000 a year to qualify.
  • Diamond accounts receive 100 campaigns, 1,000 ad groups, and 150,000 keywords. That’s 100,000 fewer keywords than Super Diamond status.
  • They also get a dedicated customer service representative.

Platinum:

  • Platinum customers must spend a minimum of $80,000 a year.
  • Platinum accounts receive 50 campaigns, 1,000 ad groups, and 100,000 keywords.
  • They too get a dedicated customer service representative.

Gold:

  • Gold customers must spend a minimum of $10,000 a year.
  • Gold accounts receive 20 campaigns, 1,000 ad groups, and 100,000 keywords.
  • Gold status also includes a dedicated customer service “team,” in which you have any number of people supporting you, not one specific person.

New/Premier:

  • New accounts are called, well, new or premier customers. While they have no minimum spending limit, they do receive 20 campaigns, 1,000 ad groups, and 100,000 keywords.