Search Engine Optimization News and Updates Search Engine Marketing For Google, Yahoo and Bing
Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Google vs Bing vs Yahoo

June 8th, 2010 seotrade Posted in Google News, SEO Tools, Yahoo News Comments Off

“Google handles 71% of all search queries in the United States in May 2010, while Yahoo handles around 15% and Bing around 9%.

The changes to search engines from Google and Microsoft are causing some consternation among users, who typically don’t like changes to a service like search that they use so frequently. Some users complained that Google is looking more like Bing with the addition of a new navigation bar, while Bing is adding tabs to look more like Google.”

While it appears that the Internet search argument was won decisively by Google, rivals Yahoo and Microsoft haven’t given up yet. The two companies formed an alliance in 2009 that will result in Microsoft’s Bing search engine powering Yahoo’s portal by the end of 2010.

Google’s 10 toughest rivals for 2010

Google handles 71% of all search queries in the United States in May 2010, while Yahoo handles around 15% and Bing around 9%.

Despite its dominant position in search, Google continues to innovate.

In May 2010, Google introduced SSL-based searching to give more privacy to users. The encrypted search service, available as beta code, allows users to hide search terms – but not maps or images – from third parties such as ISPs. Google, however, continues to retain information about end user searches for its own usage.

Google also is enhancing its search capabilities for smartphones, which is likely to be the next battleground for search. Google is concentrating on Android and Apple iPhone platforms, but it has promised to offer its revised search capabilities on other smartphones.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is adding new features to Bing, including real-time mapping data from upstart Foursquare. Bing also added tabs and an answer box, which are designed to differentiate its results from Google’s.

The changes to search engines from Google and Microsoft are causing some consternation among users, who typically don’t like changes to a service like search that they use so frequently. Some users complained that Google is looking more like Bing with the addition of a new navigation bar, while Bing is adding tabs to look more like Google.

The argument about which search engine is best is going global, with an increasing focus on the fast-growing user base in China.

Google’s decision in March 2010 to stop censoring Internet search in China has helped boost the revenues and profitability of China’s domestic search engine, Baidu.

Google’s other main competitor in China is Alibaba, which has been aligned with Yahoo since 2005. Yahoo owns a 40% stake in Alibaba, and in return Alibaba operates Yahoo China.

Microsoft is muscling into the Chinese market, by pre-loading Bing as the search engine in Android mobile phones sold by Motorola in China.

Where will the next battleground appear? Perhaps Russia, where Google faces stiff competition from the local Yandex search engine.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/06/06/urnidgns852573C4006938800025773B001F4F6A.DTL#ixzz0qGbcC9lN

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Google vs China: A chance for Yahoo! and Bing?

January 15th, 2010 seotrade Posted in Google News, SEO Tools, Yahoo News Comments Off

With Google looking increasingly likely to pull out of China, could this be a major opportunity for Yahoo! and Microsoft’s Bing to gain bigger shares of the search market or are they likely to follow to suit?

Chinese internet cafe - Microsoft blacks out Chinese computers

Despite Google’s seemingly inevitable exit from the Chinese internet market, analysts predict a limited windfall for the two remaining major Western search engine players.

Microsoft has remained tight-lipped about the whole affair, refusing to put anyone forward to discuss its role in China or it views on censorship. The only statement a spokesman would release was the following: “We have no indication that any of our mail properties have been compromised,” a reference to Google’s blog post in which it talks about “at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses including the internet” which have been the victim of “a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China” and affected users of Gmail.

Yahoo! will not disclose whether its own network has ever been attacked – nor has it said it will exit China, following Google’s lead. All a spokesman has said is: “Yahoo! is committed to protecting human rights, privacy and security. We condemn any attempts to infiltrate company networks to obtain user information. We stand aligned with Google that these kinds of attacks are deeply disturbing and strongly believe that the violation of user privacy is something that we as internet pioneers must all oppose.”

However, a major difference for both of these companies, which trail behind Google’s share of the search market both inside and out of China, is that they have always remained businesses and have no moral high ground to maintain.

“Google put itself on a pedestal and positioned itself as a company with morals that believes in organising the world’s information freely and for the good of all. Microsoft and Yahoo! have never done that. They are just businesses,” said Nate Elliott, a principal analyst at Forrester Research.

“Each company has had to play by the Chinese government’s rules for the last few years and I am sure they were not to each company’s taste or easy to comply with – but it was harder for Google to keep doing so while trying to maintain its morals. Google’s increasingly likely exit from China does open up an opportunity for Microsoft and Yahoo! to win some share.

“I would be surprised if either company sacrificed the chance to exploit a huge developing market – especially when they are both losing the search war so badly to Google in the other major markets.”

However, although an opportunity would present itself to both Microsoft’s Bing and Yahoo! it wouldn’t be a clear pathway to the top of the leader board – Baidu, a Chinese technology company, occupies that top spot, accounting for approximately 60 per cent of the search market, while Google comes second with 30 per cent of the Chinese market. Yahoo! comes in third and Microsoft’s Bing at fourth, according to the 2009 Q3 comScore statistics.

Felix Cohen, a technical consultant from Headshift, a technology and social media consultancy, said: “Undoubtedly the majority of Google’s share of the search market will go to Baidu, if Google pulls out of China. Some may go to Yahoo! and a negligible amount will go to Microsoft, as Bing is still very new and has not penetrated the market.”

However, Mr Cohen believes that there are greater issues at play for both companies, which also prevent them from following Google’s lead.

“Microsoft has a complicated relationship with China at several different levels. It has its web presence and web business but the software side of the company is under threat from China’s high piracy levels. Fake copies of its programmes and operating systems really undermine its efforts in this side of the business – so it needs to keep China onside if it is to successfully lobby the government into introducing effective antipiracy laws.

“Microsoft would be loath to side with Google while trying to have illegal filesharing and piracy regulated in China.”

Yahoo!’s presence is made more complicated in China by the fact that in 2005 it sold its China business to a Chinese company called Alibaba, and while its maintains a 39 per cent shareholding in that company, it no longer has operational control or day-to-day management over the Yahoo! China business.

A senior technology analyst said: “The fact that Yahoo! business in China is totally operated by a local company, has meant that Yahoo! has complied with greater ease to the censorship and restrictions put upon its services by the Chinese government. Yahoo! has totally complied with these restrictions, appeasing the government, as it is eager to do business with China.”

Ultimately, it still remains to be seen if Google will fully pull out of China, but if it does, it seems like it will be doing so alone – leaving Microsoft and Yahoo! to attempt to reap any benefits and keep as open a dialogue as possible with the Chinese government.

“If Google does leave China, it will noticeably hit its global growth levels – as its growth is much larger in developing markets and has stabilised considerably in developed markets such as the UK – where last year during the first three quarters it only grew its business by one per cent,” said Mr Elliott.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

The effect of the Yahoo/Microsoft deal on your website

August 31st, 2009 seotrade Posted in SEO Tools, Yahoo News Comments Off

You’ve probably heard about the Yahoo/Microsoft deal. This will have a major impact on the search engine landscape and there definitely will be effects on your website rankings and the number of visitors that your website will get.

The basic facts

Yahoo is going to give up their own search technology and use Microsoft’s search technology instead. Bing.com will power the organic and the paid search results on Yahoo (except for premium ads on Yahoo).

Self-serve advertising (i.e. the AdWords competitor) will be managed by Microsoft’s AdCenter. Microsoft will get access to Yahoo’s search technology and can use it to improve its own search technology.

Yahoo and Bing

What does this mean for your website?

  •  
    1. You should optimize for Bing.com.

      Yahoo/Bing will have a search market share of at least 15% (that’s the current market share of MSN and Yahoo combined – some statistics show a much higher market share). 

      If you do not optimize some of your website pages for Bing, you’ll lose a lot of visitors and sales. Fortunately, IBP’s top 10 optimizer already enables you to optimize your website for Bing.

      The optimizer works with the US version of Bing as well as with many country versions. Recent research has shown that Bing’s traffic is more likely to convert.

    2. Yahoo’s inbound link data will probably be lost.Yahoo is the search engine that currently returns the most inbound link data. When Yahoo drops its index, that data will probably be lost. We recommend using IBP’s link manager if you want to get an overview of the websites that link to your website.

      The link manager in IBP will retrieve all links that are returned by Yahoo, Bing, Google and other search engines.

    3. A big PPC provider will be gone, an even bigger provider will appear.Microsoft will provide the search ads for Yahoo and Bing. Yahoo will close its own paid search offerings. That means that you will be able to manage your ads for both Yahoo and Bing in one user interface. It probably also means rising bid prices on Yahoo and Bing.
    4. Yahoo might close some of their websites.Yahoo might put its Internet directory into question as well as their alternative search applications SearchMonkey and SearchBOSS. Applications such as Yahoo Maps might also be reconsidered because Bing offers similar services.
    5. There will be two independent search result pages.Yahoo will have full control over the user interface of their search form. The ordering of the results, the layout and the whole search focus can be different from Bing. That means that you still might have to optimize your website for both search engines.

Optimize different pages of your website for different search engines and different keywords. What works with one search engine might not work with another. Optimize each web page for a dedicated search engine/keyword combination to get better results.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

« Previous Entries