Bing Teams up with Yahoo – Is the Google Monopoly In Danger?

Bing, the new search engine from Microsoft (formerly MSN Live) has signed a ten year deal to power all Yahoo searches. The buzz is that this is a power play to try to even or over power the search engine playing field, which, as we all know is dominated by Google. It is a fact that Google gets over 70% of all searches online.

Data provided by Hitwise, February 2009

This merger will give Microsoft access to the Internet’s second-largest search engine audience and Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer stated in an interview, “This agreement gives us the scale and resources to create the future of search.”

Yahoo estimates an overall 500 million dollars in revenue as a result of this merger, as they will keep 88% of the money generated from all ads that run alongside search requests for the first five years of the deal, and it will save them over 275 million dollars in expenses to run its own search technology.

Reportedly Google tried to stop this merger by offering Yahoo a search advertising deal, but that was stopped when some U.S. antitrust officials threatened to sue.

Microsoft has big hopes for Bing and has launched a big campaign to promote their new SE in print, radio, online and TV ads.

Bing returns good results and has a lot of promise, and as of late some would argue better than those of Google’s for many search queries, since Google’s weird SERP changes that have been going on since late May.

The Merger and Internet Marketing

As an Internet marketer I welcome a more even playing field in the search engine market, because the Google monopoly is a big thorn in our sides. We all worry so much about Google and they can literally make or break our online businesses with just some SERP changes.

It would be nice to even out the competition and get more even traffic numbers across the board. Many of my sites rank in Bing and Yahoo, and it’s a shame that so little traffic comes via those sources.

Time will tell, with Google being as dominant as they it will not be an easy feat! Plus the fact that this deal is not expected to close until early next year, and then it maybe be another two years before all the pieces of the partnership are in place with antitrust regulators needing time to review the merger’s effects on the Internet ad market and of course to stitch the technologies together.

Read the full story on the Yahoo and Bing Merger Deal at Yahoo News

What do you guys think?

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Comments

Motorbike Insurance Articles

Is the Google monopoly in danger?

Short answer, no. Longer answer, hell no!

In all seriousness though, like you say it would be good to not have to rely on Google so much for pretty much all of my traffic. Traffic coming from a more even spread of sources would help minimise damage by a drop in rankings in Google.

Rik

Reply 07/30/2009 at 3:01 am
- JR
  Follow Me on Twitter @: imstrategies
  
  @Rik
  For sure, it would be much better for us, Google can destroy us in one fell swoop and that really bites!
  
  Reply 07/30/2009 at 1:19 pm
Matt @ Sacramento Weddings

There is NO CHANCE of Bing ever gaining market share on Google! In many areas, Google has 80% of the search engine traffic. I don’t worry about MSN, Live Search, or Bing (they can keep changing the name, but its still the same old crappy search engine).

Reply 07/30/2009 at 8:40 am
- JR
  Follow Me on Twitter @: imstrategies
  
  @Matt
  You think? They seem very optimistic, overall I agree with you, I think the only winner in all this will be Yahoo, with the extra revenue and savings on searh technology.
  
  Reply 07/30/2009 at 1:18 pm
- A.P. Scanner
  
  @Matt @ Sacramento Weddings, yeah, just as Microsoft keeps dragging its crappy IE around, it’ll keep dragging it crappy search engine technology along.
  
  Reply 08/04/2009 at 6:03 am
burlesque performer

nothing will ever beat google, jo public uses google and always will

Reply 07/31/2009 at 5:45 am
Make Money Online

I don’t think Google will be in danger even though Yahoo merge with Bing. Google has a big brand for everyone, when you want to search any info, the first search engine in your mind will be Google, it’s not a big deal even Bing merge with Yahoo, it will not stop Google to keep growing.

Regards,
Lee

Reply 07/31/2009 at 9:34 am
Surfers paradise

when you want to search any info, the first search engine in your mind will be Google, it’s not a big deal even Bing merge with Yahoo, it will not stop Google to keep growing.

Reply 08/01/2009 at 6:09 am
PLR Videos

Wow, 2 bigwigs, Google has now every reason to be vigilant and wary over the news.

Reply 08/03/2009 at 4:51 am
Juhani Tontti

It`s always the question about people. Sergei Brinn and Larry Page, founders of Google only ten years ago, developed a customer friendly tool to find information from the net. I use it daily for my internet business in the form of SEM. I don`t know, what happens, but I doubt, that Microsoft can beat Google. Why haven`t their people done it earlier?

Reply 08/03/2009 at 6:38 am
sussane

No matter what Google is the king and can’t be taken down. But still yahoo is Ok for me..

Reply 08/03/2009 at 9:56 am
Home Loan Modification

Now, it’s high time for Google to be worried about competition.

Reply 08/03/2009 at 11:26 am
- Water Skiing Equipment
  
  @Home Loan Modification, Google is ultimate It doesn’t matter with that.
  
  Reply 08/06/2009 at 12:19 am
Luggage Tips

Google is definitely in danger here. Microsoft has effectively gained ahold of 20% of the search market. That’s a big enough percentage for seos and sems to start paying a lot of attention to Bing.

Bing is also innovating a lot in terms of search, with a lot of features not found in Google. Their image search, for example, is above and beyond Google’s, which should be worrying since it’s estimated that 10-20% of the searches that take place on Google are for images!

We’ve seen a whole lot of new features roll out from Google in just the past few weeks, and part of that is probably due to the growing popularity of Bing (the default search engine for Windows 7). The competition is probably going to eat into Google’s market share, but will hopefully be a net positive for us users.

Reply 08/03/2009 at 12:28 pm
- JR
  Follow Me on Twitter @: imstrategies
  
  @Luggage Tips,
  I agree, I have been using Bing lately and it is quite useful and for many searches I have done, better at relevancy than G is right now, though G is still doing an update of some sort.
  
  Reply 08/04/2009 at 12:07 am
James Moralde

I hate monopoly. It’s a good thing that Microsoft is about to break down the monopoly of google in the search engine field. Now, I’d like Microsoft’s monopoly in the Office fields broken too.
James Moralde´s last blog ..Basic Manual Keyword Research Methods I Learned So Far

Reply 08/04/2009 at 5:59 am
- Luggage Tips
  
  @James Moralde,
  Just wait until Google Wave comes out. Can you say Google Apps 3.0?
  
  Reply 08/04/2009 at 11:36 am
TJ

First time to the blog. You are now bookmarked

As far as the post goes – I knew Google was cornering the market but it looks so much more severe mapped out by a pie chart.

Reply 08/04/2009 at 3:12 pm
Make Money

How the hell did Google get 72% of the market share. That is a lot. I hope this merger would help, so that we don’t live with only Google SEO rules.
Make Money´s last blog ..Is There Any Number 1 Way to Make Money Online?

Reply 08/05/2009 at 9:59 am
Logo Design

I wish someone would give Google some competition I just don’t see it coming from this partnership.

Reply 08/09/2009 at 9:39 am
IT Company Dubai

I don’t think google will be in danger with yahoo bing merger. Google will still be no.1.

Nyomi

Reply 08/10/2009 at 5:18 am
Teeth Whitening

I think it will take 2-3 years for market share to start changing but there will be changes. I’ve read somewhere how MS official said their biggest mistake was that they entered this SE game to late. That sentence can say how serious they are about SE. I agree SEOs will now pay more attention for them as market share is bigger now and SEOs will promote bing also so they can have more options if new Google algorithm make them lose their traffic. With Google changes nobody is safe today and it would be best for us that msn and yahoo take bigger market share.
Teeth Whitening ´s last blog ..Peroxide Teeth Bleaching

Reply 08/10/2009 at 9:12 am
Internet Marketing

Bing will become great competitor for google but i think google have secret strategy to face them. Google is smart, look at the case their buy youtube and feedburner. Or their advertising method called Adsense, it’s not predicted berfore, right?

I think google is not easily defeated.
Internet Marketing´s last blog ..Article Marketing – How to do it the right way?

Reply 08/11/2009 at 4:16 am
understanding trade show displays

hey JR,
After the merger, Bing may have 20-30% market share… but the question is if they can keep it.
I don’t think it is Bing’s race to win, I think it is Google’s race to lose.
The only company that can dethrone google is google, I think. ~ Steve, understanding trade show displays

Reply 08/11/2009 at 11:07 am
alice@custom logo design

i dont think that yahoo and bing are a sign of danger for Google,google wil dominate the search industry.

Reply 08/12/2009 at 8:48 am
Matt @ Sacramento Weddings

News Flash: Google has just announced the “Caffeine” update to their SE algorithm:

http://www2.sandbox.google.com

the link has the new Beta version of Caffeine, which is expected to go “Live” in a few short weeks.

Reply 08/12/2009 at 10:09 am
- JR
  Follow Me on Twitter @: imstrategies
  
  @Matt
  I got their email and checked out the SERPS, did not see much difference from the SERPS that all ready exist for the keywords I watch. Though it’s interesting that their asking for feedback from searchers.
  
  This is definitely the update they have been working on and it seems like link values have changed somewhat and they are giving a lot of love to very aged sites for competitive kw.
  
  Did you notice much difference in the SERPS you watch Matt?
  
  Reply 08/12/2009 at 10:57 am
  - Matt @ Sacramento Weddings
    
    @JR,
    Yes, there are some huge increases for some of my KW, like “Weddings in Sacramento” (previously #12 or #13 on page Two, now showing at #4 or #5 on Page One).
    
    Not all the increases are this dramatic, for example “Sacramento Weddings” went from #6 to #3. “Sacramento Wedding DJ” went from #7 to #5. Still Number Two for “Sacramento DJs,”
    
    Also, I retained ALL of my positions in Local Business Center (LBC) results that appear in slots #1-A thru #1-J.
    
    Google Rocks!
    Long Live Google!
    LOL
    
    Reply 08/12/2009 at 4:19 pm
    - JR
      Follow Me on Twitter @: imstrategies
      
      @Matt
      LOL, you say that now! Congrats, sounds like you are doing very well.
      
      I am seeing very strange results for my keywords and a lot of sites that used to be on page 1 are long gone. In analyzing backlinks for some of these, it seems that Google is discounting a lot of the links that used to work before.
      
      Reply 08/12/2009 at 5:47 pm
Surfers paradise

It’s a good thing that Microsoft is about to break down the monopoly of google in the search engine field.

Reply 08/13/2009 at 3:24 am
Los Angeles Web Design and SEO

I thinks its a smart move. I think google has something to be worried about.
Los Angeles Web Design and SEO´s last blog ..Client – E1911Grips.com Website Design

Reply 08/13/2009 at 11:12 am
Bebo@bebo proxy

the smart move by the big giants

Reply 08/15/2009 at 4:54 am
IMBuzz Riches Bonus

Google has some good reason to be vigilant these days, too much competition destroys focus!

Reply 08/17/2009 at 5:10 am
Mieszkania Gryfino

I heard about this some time ago and I must say that I hope the coalition of big two will succeed. Leak of competition for Google was something terrible for that company. I’m sure that it could expand more quickly with hot breath of competition felt on its neck. Now Yahoo and Micr will surely become some kind of a threat to the biggest search engine. I hope to see some actions and tries for gaining more and more users from both sides.

Reply 08/18/2009 at 7:09 am
Martin

First thing I would like to say is that Google has no monopoly because if it has – no other search engine could be available. This is a total domination, not monopoly. Microsoft was accused of using monopoly practices – by adding IE6 to every copy of Windows (98 or Me I’m not sure). Those practices are not very common and sometimes it is hard to say what is monopoly and what is not. But I’m sure that it isn’t a monopoly.

Reply 08/20/2009 at 7:40 am
Water Skiing Equipment

Now Yahoo and Micr will surely become some kind of a threat to the biggest search engine. I hope to see some actions and tries for gaining more and more users from both sides.

Reply 08/22/2009 at 5:24 am
Water Skiing Equipment

The first search engine in your mind will be Google, it’s not a big deal even Bing merge with Yahoo, it will not stop Google to keep growing.

Reply 08/22/2009 at 5:26 am
Surfers paradise

I don’t worry about MSN, Live Search, or Bing (they can keep changing the name, but its still the same old crappy search engine).

Reply 08/24/2009 at 4:35 am