You have no doubt heard the news that Microsoft and Yahoo! have joined forces to take on the ever persistent Google.
What the partnership means for Yahoo! is they will be using Microsoft’s Bing search technology for searches on their own site, in exchange for an expanded platform with which to show their ads. This will allow Yahoo! to concentrate on ads and their network of websites, which are still among the most visited on the internet.
With Microsoft’s recent launch of the search engine Bing, they need all the push they can get in order to extend the momentum of its early success. The search engine has been touted as being as good as, or better than Google and with Microsoft’s seemingly endless supply of advertising dollars, they will make sure everyone knows.
Depending on who you talk to, the joint venture will give Microhoo! approximately 28% market share, which, while still much less than Google’s 65%, is a somewhat respectable second place. Google has been increasing slowly, month over month, almost a direct opposite to Yahoo!.
This 10 year deal will not be fully realized until 2012, which is when both companies expect the full transition to be complete.
What does this mean for our clients? We will be able to focus our SEO and SEM efforts more effectively on Google/Adwords and Bing/Adcenter. What this means for the future of Yahoo! is anyone’s guess, but I believe it’s Microsoft’s foot in the door and they have some muscle they are not afraid to use, in order to get what they want. Don’t forget, Yahoo! denied a $9 billion offer from Microsoft just over a year ago for this exact same joint deal.
My bet, Yahoo! will be a very different entity by 2012. The search world just got a bit more interesting.
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