The Yahoo-Google Competition

[Garrett]

Today’s Search Engine Strategies session titled “the Future of Search” brought representatives from Google, Yahoo, AOL and AskJeeves into the same panel.

The New York-based conference brought two interesting industry tidbits into the limelight.

AskJeeves admitted it is considering ditching its paid inclusion program. However, the real buzz begins with Google and Yahoo.

There was some bristling between the two competitors over paid inclusion. Google has made its belief known on numerous occasions that paid inclusion will reduce the quality of search results. Yahoo firmly believes that paid inclusion is beneficial, allowing for dynamic content and quicker inclusion.

There has also been unconfirmed speculation by some professionals that AOL might be interested in observing the benefits of paid inclusion. However, AOL representatives claim that these speculations are unfounded and that the company is happy with Google.

When asked whether a Yahoo-AOL deal might be a future possibility, a company representative declined to comment.

[WebMetro]

Anyone remember when AOL dropped Excite search engine over night, reducing Excite's market share from 28% to 10% (back in late 1999). AOL can single handedly put the search engine war in Yahoo's favor if they were to switch.
AOL TimeWarner is always looking at money first... anything is possible.

[dmcgill]

I would like to add to the above post and throw this in the hat.
What do you think would happen if MSN joined up or bought out Yahoo. Where would the rest of the engins play then?

[DanThies]

You're getting pretty good at sensationalizing the headlines, Garrett. AOL is a lot like Yahoo was a couple years ago, content to serve up Google's results.

Why does AOL run Google search results? So that AOL users don't leave the comfort of the AOL portal (where they are surrounded by paid ads) to go use Google.

Until Yahoo is dragging users away from AOL like Google did, there's no reason for AOL to change. That's not likely with Yahoo's share of search probably hovering closer to 8-10% than the 27% that's often reported.

[jmweb]

interesting...

[dmcgill]

Garrett is a busy man. I believe that the whole focus on google is getting blurry and that Yahoo will soon dominate the search engine world again, with or without the input of MSN. As a matter of fact, I believe that it is totally possible that the competition between MSN and Yahoo will help both of them. AOL is definatly in the picture but one thing that marketers and analyse type people often forget is the loyalty factor. You know, I drive a ford because that's what our family has always driven, even though several other makes may have a better product. Yahoo is still considered by most as the grandfather of all search engines and that loyalty goes way back to the internet beginnings. It is going to do just fine.