The Future of Yahoo! According to BING

Posted on | October 14, 2009 | No Comments

With a deal being reached between Yahoo! and Microsoft to integrate their respective technologies and strengths, there will be several advantages that will be attractive for the SEO market. The licensing of Yahoo! core technologies should provide several new features for which Microsoft’s new Bing search engine will be able to take advantage. Yahoo! will handle all of the advertising and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) sales for both Microsoft and Yahoo! while Microsoft will power the technology side. The self-serve SEO sales will be handled through Microsoft AdCenter.

The new alliance should increase competition in the SEO market. At present, Google maintains an eighty to ninety percent market share. With the number two and three search engines combining forces, they hope to be able to erode Google’s market dominance. Developing a link building strategy for the Bing search engine will become increasingly more important over the next 2 years when the two search engines are targeting the completion of the technology integration.

One new idea being put forth for the combined search is that it will likely not focus on the old search box in the browser method, although it will be included. The focus will instead be more of an advertising approach where a user can utilize a search box that is part of an advertising ad, an image, a map, or even a video. This will give the new search engine more visibility than if it were just sitting in a list of available search providers in a browser. It could also provide a more targeted in-line search with the media being viewed. Users will have the ability to fire a search from almost anywhere while they are browsing.

What most consider a benefit is that the new sales and advertising model will not include paid inclusion for links. This is the process by which advertisers pay to have their links displayed higher in search rankings. Instead, the pattern will more closely resemble that of Google and rely mainly on web crawler technology for link rankings instead of the economic standing of the companies submitting links.

At first glance the alliance between Yahoo! and Microsoft seems like a favorable change of events that could provide several new attractive features for the SEO market. Search technology should be more accessible, powerful, innovative, and competitive as a result of the technology merger of two of the biggest and oldest players in the search engine arena.

It’s been a little while since the announcement, feel free to share your thoughts on what the Yahoo! and BING agreement means to SEO & PPC going forward.

Category: Engine News

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