It is undeniable that online search has become part of our daily lives. It is also undeniable that we all rely on Search Engines (Google more precisely) to give us the right and correct answers to all of our queries. We hear of search algorithms being improved and refined on a daily basis or Search Engines releasing applications and gadgets to impress us and gain more monopoly. For the Search Engines, it is all a question of market share.
The past few weeks prove that, as it has been rather eventful for the four main players in the world of search: Google, Yahoo, Bing and Baidu. Let’s look at some of the main headlines the last two weeks:
1) The YaBing merger:
It all started back in mid-2009 when Yahoo announced that it was joining forces with Microsoft’s Bing to take on Google. As explained in the Yahoo Search Marketing Blog, in short, Microsoft is powering Yahoo’s search with the Bing engine. This affects only the Yahoo organic listings for now, although some algorithmic testing for paid and unpaid listings have started in the beginning of July (please refer to Yahoo! begins testing with Microsoft for more details). For all SEO-ers, the main question is what does that change from an optimisation point of view? Well, Nothing really. Who optimises for Bing or Yahoo nowadays? But it’s still a good idea to do it anyway. Good tips can be found on this Search Engine Land article.
2) Yahoo! Japan says ‘Arigato’ to Google
Yahoo strikes again, this time from Japan. Indeed, a new deal sees Yahoo! Japan employ Google technology to power its search engine and online advertising systems.
This can be regarded as one of the best deals in the Search Engine Market share war as they are now both covering almost all of the search market in second largest economy.
Although Microsoft made a bid for Yahoo back in February 2008, the announcement was made on the 27th July 2010 leaving Microsoft feeling a bit lonely.
3) Baidu, the international Search player!
This week saw a rather interesting statement from Robin Li, CEO of the Chinese player Baidu, released on the 9th August. Li commented on Baidu’s international expansion plans as follows:
“Going forward I think we should make this kind of move as early as possible,” Li said. “During the next five to 15 years we should see some meaningful revenue outside of China.” Bloomberg published the interview with Li portraying him as ‘increasingly keen’ on acquisitions.
With 70% of the Chinese search market, one thing is for sure, Baidu is definitely hunting for more market share on the Google territory.
4) Final announcement and no later than a few days ago, Google is dropping its old keyword tool and this by the end of August 2010. The New keyword tool has been available on beta for quite a while. The new tool apparently offers more features (such as removing duplicate keywords, adding negatives to the list). The old version can still be found here.