Google vs. Yahoo-Bing: The Race for Top Search Engine Isn’t Over
If David can’t knock down Goliath, what does he do? He joins forces with the next biggest thing. That’s exactly what Bing (Microsoft’s new search engine) did, when it struck a deal with Yahoo!, currently ranked #2 worldwide, after Google.
A recent study by online advertising network Chitika found that, across its network, Bing users are over 50 percent more likely than Google users to click on Bing ads.
Microsoft prefers to call Bing a “decision engine,” not a “search engine,” touting that it analyzes the content of Web pages and delivers better results in four main categories: shopping, travel, health and local searches.
Basically, Bing will be the default search engine on Yahoo! for the next 10 years, while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. The deal is still subject to regulatory review, and both companies expect it to close by early 2010.
“Success in search requires both innovation and scale,” says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “With our new Bing search platform, we’ve created breakthrough innovation and features. This agreement with Yahoo! will provide the scale we need to deliver even more rapid advances in relevancy and usefulness.”
For now, that “scale” is still far behind Google’s. June data from comScore shows that together, Yahoo! and Microsoft command about 28 percent of the online search market, while Google holds 65 percent. Even if the new team succeeds in bringing troubled AOL into its mix — AOL’s search-engine partnership with Google is up for renewal next December — that will only add an additional 3 percent.
Google — whose name has become synonymous with “search” — doesn’t seem to be worried about the competition. And indeed, the battle to be the #1 portal for Web users goes well beyond search capabilities. Google still may have “a few tricks up its sleeve,” including the much-anticipated Google Wave. New partners Yahoo! and Microsoft are amping up their own weapons. Yahoo!, for example, has revamped its homepage and will be providing photo sharing features on Yahoo! Mail through Xoopit.
But the two companies are hardly merging. “This agreement does not cover each company’s web properties and products,” Yahoo! and Microsoft said in its joint press release. “In those areas, [we] will continue to compete vigorously.”
