Ba Da Bing…Yahoo Switching Search Results
I’m sure you’ve heard this already (as the news was released on the 15th) but I’ll tell you anyway.
Yahoo has made the grand, but not surprising, decision to completely switch to Bing organic search results.
Starting in August, Yahoo will start showing the results…as result of the original deal they agreed to in July of last year. Of course there is talk about bringing all of their paid ads to the Microsoft people as well….however, this might not happen until the end of this year – or the first part of 2011.
In an e-mail sent to advertisers, and obtained by Clickz.com…Yahoo expounded on the recent change:
“If organic search results are an important source of referrals to your website, you’ll want to make sure that you’re prepared for this change,” the e-mail read, while advising webmasters to ensure their sites are optimized for the Bing crawler.
This is a lot bigger than some think. For the average online surfer the change will result in a different set of results. For the average online biz owner who relies on substantial search traffic (outside of Google)…a huge plunge in traffic just might be in the works.
On the flip side, if you rank well in Bing but not Yahoo…well, its your lucky day.
Case in point: Let’s take a general keyword phrase like “web hosting”
>>> Top 3 Bing Results<<<
1.) webhostinggeeks.com
2.) smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting
3.) webhostingchoice.com
>>>Top 3 Yahoo Results<<<
1.) www.bluehost.com
2.) www.siteground.com
3.) www.godaddy.com
Even though the top 3 on Yahoo are established companies, I highly doubt they will be too thrilled about the rank drop…considering they are dead last in Bing.
With that said, I think Yahoo will fall on the good side of this deal….Microsoft agreed to pay Yahoo 88% of revenue generated from all of Yahoo’s online real estate during the first five years of the “marriage.”
Wow, 88%…not bad for a little give and take.
On a side note, I’ve also been impressed with Yahoo’s new ad campaign…yes, the Kanye West one. We’ll see where it goes.
As far as GoDaddy is concerned and to make up for the search plunge…would probably be good if Danica could win a few more races.
As always, drop me a line or leave a comment…I value your feedback.
Do you think Yahoo is making a wise decision by switching?
Also, will the change hurt or strengthen Bing’s brand?
