The Death Of Yahoo!

Next time you perform a search in Yahoo (US and Canada for now) the results you will get will officially come from Bing. The inevitable switch has at last been completed and Yahoo’s face will now have Bing’s heart behind it. As was announced last week in Yahoo’s Blog, the Yahoo! Microsoft Search Alliance has been nearing a conclusion and finally yesterday (24^th August) it was officially announced on Yahoo’s Blog that for organic search, the transition is complete. This was also announced on the Bing blog.

Shashi Seth, the wonderfully named Yahoo Senior Vice President of Search Products, said:

“Yahoo! Web, Image, and Video search experiences on both desktop and mobile devices are now powered by the Microsoft platform in the US and Canada (English), with more markets to come.

“[W]e are also working hard on finalizing our revenue model for the Yahoo! Search BOSS program going forward, and will be offering other search-related tools for publishers in the months to come.”

Sad Day

While this is a big day for the two companies, it cannot be ignored that with this announcement and the eventual adoption of Bing results in Yahoo everywhere else soon, the fact is that this is the end of Yahoo. Yahoo was the first major search engine and the great ancestor of many search engines today. The original Yahoo Directory’s dominance made search engine submissions a key part of every SEO’s activities for many years. Some might say that Yahoo has been riding the coat tails of others since the late 90’s having had its search engine powered by both Altavista and Google already, but it has at least had its own algorithm since 2004. Now the only thing separating the Bing and Yahoo search experience will be the interface.

The Future

This alliance is a good move for both Yahoo and Bing though as they should, with this merger, command about 25% of the search market. Not a patch on Google’s roughly 70% but enough that Google might just begin to notice a blob, as opposed to a spec, in its rear view mirror.

The next part of the Yahoo Bing merger should see it made available in other countries and in languages other than just English. Also, they plan to get Yahoo’s transition to AdCenter sorted out, as at the moment ads on Yahoo’s search results page are still powered by Yahoo.

But for now, a moment of silence….to allow the sorrow to fill many hearts, looking on as Microsoft picks the bones of its once proud adversary…

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