July 29th, 2009 by Kasi
A deal between the 2nd and 3rd place search engines has finally been confirmed and is reported to close in early 2010. Microsoft and Yahoo!, who have been in talks since early 2009 after Microsoft’s failed attempt to buy Yahoo! last year, are teaming up to try and chip away at Google’s market share.
What Does this Mean?
Basically, the long and the short of it is that Yahoo! will use Bing’s search engine to supply organic search results. Pay-Per-Click ads that appear on Yahoo’s search engine results pages are going to be powered by Microsoft’s paid search platform, AdCenter. In return, Yahoo! will use their data and technology in other areas of the search business, including enhancing its display advertising technology. Both companies will maintain their own separate advertising and sales teams.
Let’s Look at the Numbers
Google scored 65% of the total US searches in June. Yahoo! came in just under 20% and Bing’s slice of the search pie was 8.4%. Together, the two underdogs don’t account for even half of Google’s share, but it’s still a step closer in rivaling the giant. “They should be worried,” Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineLand.com, said of Google. “It’s going to give Microsoft in one fell swoop a much bigger share of the search market.”
Will There Be Much of a Change?
At this point so early in the game, it’s unclear whether or not Yahoo! and Microsoft will be able to greatly increase their current combined market share. There still needs to be some sort of driving force to steer people away from using Google. In my opinion, I’m not sure it can be done. I used Google to find more information about their search deal, which speaks volumes about the fact that people’s habits are hard to break. Will my preferred search engine change? Not very likely.
Stay tuned for more updates as the details unfold…
