Who came out ahead in the Microsoft-Yahoo deal?

MSFT and Yahoo announced their deal earlier today. I’m curious what you think–who did better in the deal?

(This poll is now closed, but I’m including a picture of what the results were.)

Who won: Microsoft or Yahoo?

Let me know what you think.

168 Responses to Who came out ahead in the Microsoft-Yahoo deal? (Leave a comment)

  1. Google?

  2. Obviously, option #3. Google won today.

  3. Ouch. Maybe Yahoo should have charged a guarantee, eh?

  4. Don’t front Cutts – Google was the real winner here.

  5. Isn’t it funny how twitter launched the search box on their home page the very same day? I think your poll needs some more options (like google, twitter, ask…)

  6. I guess this deal only Benefit Microsoft for their Bing. Yahoo will benefit may be the money but that’s all!

    I believe Google shouldn’t have any concern about this Deal because Google Search Rock!

    if i want to search for anything all what i need is a text box & Search button i don’t really care about the background image (Bing). I just want to search for something this is it 🙂

    Thanks,
    Mohammed

  7. Results: “No duh!” 😉

  8. We can’t vote for Google?

  9. Bing becoming Yahoos search engine is a complete win for Microsoft, and a big loss for Yahoo and for the world wide web. The search engine landscape will become a lesser place after this.

  10. I’d say the real winner here is Google…

  11. Microsoft for sure. Sure maybe they were slowly gaining market share with the release of Bing, but now they will control around 30% of the SE market instantly. Microsoft also has more resources ($$$) to compete with Google, more than Yahoo had anyway. Don’t worry Matt, I’m still a Googler 😉

  12. Yep, have to go with Google! http://twitter.com/iRobC/status/2913898928

  13. Microsoft definately win want they initially came to take. Their strategy worked very well for them! This looks like a masked sale…

    But Yahoo also benifits a lot from this as I do not believe they would have been able to stay idependant (and alive) much longer

    Another winner is the search users and us advertisers. With the combined Yahoo/Bing ad platform it has become more likely that we will get a real alternative to AdWords. That is good – especially for the regions (such as Denmark) where AdWords is too dominant now.

    And the big looser in this is Google. Yahoo and MS just doubled their “army” focusing all forces on beating Google.

    It will be interesting to see how this all play out but I am pretty sure it will be good for users and advertisers – and thats what I care about 🙂

  14. Wow, Matt tries to take a simple poll and people are falling all over themselves trying to kiss his a$$! Unbelievable. Hey Matt, Google’s the best Matt, Matt, I love Google, Google’s #1 Matt. Settle down! There, I feel much better. 🙂

  15. There’s no option for both? I think they both win. Obviously there is no hope for either one on there own. I always found Yahoo’s search results poor. Even with Bing being as new as it is I find their results more accurate than Yahoo’s. I hope they leave all of Yahoo’s algorithms out of the equation. Google will remain the market leader for years to come but this does level the playing field ever so slightly.

    P.S. I’m missing the webmaster videos 🙁

  16. was today the beginning of the end for any hint of Inktomi in Search engine results? A possibility… the end of two eras in SE monetization in Overture and possibly paid inclusion. I miss Inky she was a fine lady! For the foreseeable future 88% for traffic acquisition probably makes it a loser for M$.

  17. Ask.com ! They had nothing to lose…much like YHOO and MSFT…

    Seriously- The big winners were probably all of their respective dirt-merchant search syndication partners.

    -w-

  18. Microsoft blew wads of cash promoting Bing and it didn’t do so well. Yahoo is “Plan B.”

  19. Bing.com! Microsoft efforts to build their search brand is the winner. Probably yahoo’s shareholders are also getting some money back on their stocks.

  20. Well, its clear that Microsoft is the winner from this deal, along with their strong platform base, lots of money ( clearly they “bought” this advantage ) and definitely a larger unit of default users. However, what Google has is “experience”… even if Microsoft rapidly push their gimmicky interfaces and now to a large content network of Yahoo!’s, information retrievers or searchers will always seek precision and simplicity. And when it comes to the latter two, i can’t find anyone as a competitor to Google. ( and I’m NOT writing this because I’m writing in Matt’s blog 🙂

  21. @Jarle: You are Absolutely Right. i can’t imagine why Yahoo loose simply all their Internet Marketing like this! they will have to give up their sponsor links, Directory i mean did anyone heard that Yahoo is passing a bad time regarding their financial?

    Did they announced how much Microsoft paid to get this deal?

  22. Why doesn’t anybody mention the impact on users ?

  23. In the way you present the question i answered Microsoft!

    However, I agree with others who have commented that Google, in the short run, are the real winners. But a great company needs diversified competition. Nobody wins in the long run in current situation with only two real copetitors, and since I don’t really believe in Microdoft’s ability to develop a search engine as good as Google, I think the public might be the losers of this deal.

  24. peter mcdonald

    Seems to be quite a lot of fan boys here. Why would this be good for Google?

    Microsoft I beleive are the winners out of this and hopefully so will the searchers. The higher standard of competition that Google will have will raise the bar and push both companies to improve services.

    Bob Calder this is not Microsoft’s plan b. Microsoft and Yahoo were in discussions way before Bing was released or conceived however the deal fell flat at that time due to (if I remember correctly) Yahoo wanting more than Microsoft were wanting to pay.

  25. I think this is one of those “big picture” issues, where Yahoo will be the winner down the stretch!

  26. Google wins this round again.

  27. @ Mohammed Alaa : NO Upfront Payments!

    Once again, Danny’s da man – here is complete “in a nutshell” summary:

    http://searchengineland.com/microsoft-yahoo-deals-2008-2009-side-by-side-23245

  28. peter mcdonald

    Mohammed Alaa Yahoo have been struggling for some time, they tried to enter a deal with Microsoft last year but the deal fell flat, Yahoo’s share price dropped dramatically.

    Most of their ads were not sold by them selves at that point (not sure about since). If I remember correctly they used Google ads.

  29. I think a lot people don’t realize that yahoo was never really into “search engine” – they are more of an “internet directory”. Throughout the years, they have used different search engine technologies (including Google: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1024_3-5160710.html) to power the “search feature” of yahoo. Now they moved to Bing.

    This means possibly two things:

    1) It is a good thing for yahoo because they already showed interest in selling themselves to MS.

    2) Its a good thing for MS because they already showed interest in buying Yahoo.

    They couldn’t reach a deal before on buyout, but with this search engine deal they are now a step forward towards reaching a deal in the not too far future.

    tl;dr : They both win.

  30. @ peter mcdonald: well, Jason said it the best in his blog post.

    The once proud warrior of the internet space laid down its sword, knelt at the feet of Microsoft and gutted itself today. There was no honor in this death, it was one brought by the shame of losing to Google and a lack of faith in one’s ability to compete in the space they created. To be clear, Yahoo didn’t need to do this deal, Microsoft did. Ultimately Yahoo will look back at this moment as the second–and perhaps fatal–mistake in their epic history.

  31. In the end it won’t matter.

    Microsoft will still fail at trying to beat Google and once again change their formula and rebrand with another name. The “Yahoo!” brand will begin to die off and Microsoft will put it on their shelf as a collectors item like they do with so many other companies they swallow up.

    All the while Google will still remain Google.

  32. Nathania Johnson

    twitter

  33. @Evgeni “Why doesn’t anybody mention the impact on users ?”

    You have to actually have users to measure impact….

    I would really like to see a solid competitor for Google. We need diversity, but so far I think a public domain PERL script could do better.

    Still, Google kills just about any 3rd party service they purchase and should probably focus on their core competency…except anyone that shares a brain cell with an amoeba knows “search as we know it is going to change.” Google knows it too.

    MSFT running arbitrage CPA deals through prime real estate? Sad.

    -w-

  34. @rez: hmmm that’s Weird but may be they were forced due to financial crisis?

    @ peter: Yeah I remember that deal.

    Matt What about you? what do you think?

  35. So basically, Yahoo and Microsoft are merging? Isn’t this the same thing that was going to happen a while ago, except Microsoft isn’t paying for it this time?

  36. @Nathania

    Google knows that tweets move far faster than even the best crawler can keep up with…Jaiku is kind of a tragic story.

    @rez The fatal mistake (ok too many to mention) was making a BS offer to acquire GOOG early in the game, and then kicking them out as a search provider due to fear.

    I would add that Google really puts user experience first and while I think they are now partly evil- I use what works. YHOO and MSFT (see the immanent MicroHo toolbar) never grasped it with all the 486×60 flashing banner ads and punch the monkeys.

    MSFT has a vast war-chest, but they keep using it to buy bows and arrows while Google uses photon torpedoes.

    -w-

  37. I think Google has a strategic advantage being the number one search engine, and also a “time” advantage, since it might take 2 years for Yahoo and Microsoft to get the ball rolling. In the Internet world, 2 years is like a century.

  38. Microsoft has the resources. Between Bing Search and Yahoo Search I prefer Bing. Overall I still use Google 99% of the time

  39. Ok, so MS finally won. They now kind of control Yahoo as Yahoo Search is a big part of Yahoo.

    No more Yahoo Search results and lot more Bing Search results.

    Yahoo have a very nice SE, I wonder why they agreed to use Bing to power up ?

  40. I actually feel Yahoo had better search results than Bing. Bing seems to rely too much on keywords, resulting in spammy returns. I personally use Google and I don’t see myself ever changing.

  41. Microsoft will tune up his brand new “bing”

  42. Google! =)

  43. Microsoft comes out ahead because Bing will fire on all cylinders now. Microsoft’s paid search program will improve, and Microsoft will gain market share. The question now is, who comes in to the new #3 spot for search? Ask (jeeves)? This is the perfect time for some shiny new search product to pop on the scene and dominate both video and semantic web.

  44. I believe that Yahoo! walked away from being a search competitor as they will give up their R&D as MS becomes the search provider for their properties. Now we are down to just to major search engines for a long time.

    The public has lost its options. The winners might be Ask.com and others who can now grab Yahoo searchers who do not enjoy Bing.

  45. Not sure why everyone says Google… I know that Google gain from this, and that it is clever to say Google when they are not an option, but Microsoft’s net gain relative to their previous search positioning is more than the net gain Google will receive. So both Google and Microsoft gain from this, but microsoft will gain more relative to where they were than google will.

  46. @mattcutts ..1 day we need to privately discuss Friedberg’s (MSFT) exclamation to McLaughlin (GOOG) about how GOOG is the real “spyware” during the 2004 FTC spyware workshop in D.C.. I had the pleasure of being on that panel and getting to watch the carnage first hand. Awesome.

    I won’t dig deep into the myriad of dirty issues, but from first-hand experience GOOG has always been very responsive and forward thinking in response to threats (i.e. Orkut Worm, Kmeth Worm, etc). Gates had to wait for his daughter’s PC to get hijacked before Windows Defender was born. As an aside I wonder if WD will detect the MicroWhore toolbar? Oh wait- there will be a EULA. I know you do a good job Matt, but there is still plenty of bullshit going on in…but yeah- I know you are nice…

    Remember when Google only embraced a couple of CPM ads at the top of the fold a few years ago? Then they wizened up and figured out Goto.com had a good thing going with CPC ads…they, however, put them on the side and factored in CTR. Brilliant. They only sold 1/6 of their soul to satan, and while satan likes CPC deal structures- Google ads are actually useful.

    Meanwhile Yahoo never showed up for said workshops, had no clue of where to take their search engine acquisitions and were banking on paid inclusion. WTF? (Even after MSFT killed RealNames- a very lucrative CPA model.)

    While Google acquires “shiny trinket” companies to play with, and often destroy, they do one thing very well. Print money in a way that does not tick off users. No punch the monkey. No dancing girls pushing mortgages, etc. Produce inventory and monetize it…They were smart enough to figure out CPA + CPS (or hybrid) deal structures were a good move to brace against CPC rate erosion. Witness a savvy acquisition of Performics. There is still bullshit going on in 2nd tier syndication, but that is a cost of doing business.

    Google continues to fire brilliant salvos- screwing with MSFT’s O/S market, Desktop applications and pushing Firefox in order to erode browser share until Chrome was ready. (Good riddance Internet Explorer- mourning the poor folks at Netscape).

    Why? It’s a double pronged attack. Take out their base, and in the process create inventory that will eventually be monetized via unobtrusive CPC/CPA ads- and maybe even sell something. The cloud will rule the desktop- give it time.

    But wait- there’s more. Google checkout- leveraging mass to position themselves between merchants and buyers. Charging into voice, mobile (screw you AT&T), even if that white space deal fell through… If only MSFT had made a concerted effort to assault JavaScript…

    I could go on and on, but then it would be a better blog post- blogging is dead btw. Micro-chunk or die.

    By my calculations Google is now 21% evil, MSFT 34% stupid and YHOO 89% afraid.

    And yeah @Matt, as I am sure you realize, those are Fibonacci numbers. 😉

    -Wayne

    @EGOL yes options are now reduced, but I think we all saw that coming…

  47. Honestly If I can’t say Google.com I’d say Ask.com…
    I had always considered Yahoo as the Escape parachute search engine if Google went crap. Live/Bing has never been all that great search wise for me…
    So that really only leaves me with one other…

  48. 50:50. It’s a deal benefitting both of them, and you should have given this option too to vote.

    “Together We Serve” eliminating our common enemy should be the logo!

  49. Yahoo! does. If Microsoft is controlling the search side of things, that means Yahoo! can devote more resource to things such as the pathetic spam filters on Yahoo! mail accounts (they even block their own partners’ e-newsletters sometimes!) and hopefully they won’t suck anymore…or at least not as much.

    I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen, though.

  50. My guess is that Google will benefit most from the deal. I suspect that a lot of people (especially younger people) who use Yahoo! will not want to transfer their search loyalty to Microsoft, or a “Yahoo! Powered by Bing”. Microsoft just rubs so many people the wrong way. They continue to be completely contrary to the open source culture that is opening up new avenues and speeding so much technology our way today.

    And, most importantly, Google has been and continues to be focused on one thing… their customer, the searcher. Yahoo! could have been a true competitor, but they decided several years ago to be an entertainment company instead of a search company. C’est la vie!

  51. Well, something is going on behind the scenes and of course, Marketing Promotion is ruling this game. I’m getting some poor results lately in Google of course (being not another a$$ kisser). And I know Microsoft is trying to gain the terrain and can be utilizing their marketing machine to push their search engine ahead of their current position. Matt, you are totally right on paying a close attention to this movement. Probably your work will be more challenging. I would love to see a better ways for normal users helping Google on removing spamming web pages out from the search engine. The current spam report is a kind of dark cloud that never provide a good feedback about our submission. I am currently in Brazil and speak Portuguese. BR Google is far from being clean from spam. I personally sent a lot of spam report recently for real spammers and after more than two months, nothing was done and I get the same spam results. What if they are not spam? well, I will never know since there is no feedback on my submission (of course I know they are, but I’m leaving this as a tip). By the way, I still prefer Google.

  52. This is kind of like a warm liquid having ice thrown in. The ice will simply melt and the drink will only slighty be bettetr

  53. Short term, I do think Microsoft came out ahead in this deal. But I voted for Yahoo, long term. Why? I think that Yahoo is being more realistic about its strengths. Yahoo is better at portals & content in general. Their latest crop of websites suit what’s popular perfectly: Light, breezy, fun, has pretty pictures, not too heavy on wordings. Quick and easy to go thru. Websites like OMG! for example.

    Yahoo has quit the search engine business for real (for the most part) today. Its the end of an era in some ways. Yahoo is now focusing on content from now on and is putting all of the search engine burden on Microsoft. Its clear Yahoo was thinking about this for a long time, remember their failed deal with Google? They couldn’t do it so the next one was Microsoft. I suspect Yahoo would have preferred to work with Google instead of Yahoo but antitrust crap stopped that cold.

  54. Short term, I do think Microsoft came out ahead in this deal. But I voted for Yahoo, long term. Why? I think that Yahoo is being more realistic about its strengths. Yahoo is better at portals & content in general. Their latest crop of websites suit what’s popular perfectly: Light, breezy, fun, has pretty pictures, not too heavy on wordings. Quick and easy to go thru. Websites like OMG! for example.

    Yahoo has quit the search engine business for real (for the most part) today. Its the end of an era in some ways. Yahoo is now focusing on content from now on and is putting all of the search engine burden on Microsoft. Its clear Yahoo was thinking about this for a long time, remember their failed deal with Google? They couldn’t do it so the next one was Microsoft. I suspect Yahoo would have preferred to work with Google instead of Microsoft but antitrust crap stopped that cold.

  55. It looks like only one of 54 votes for Yahoo! (as of this moment) actually stated their case in comments…

    Multi-Worded Adam, you’re my hero!

    I did actually vote for Microsoft, but I think they both stand to gain… or at least not suck anymore, as Adam has so wisely stated.

  56. Search bloggers are the big winners. They get fresh topics to write about.

  57. “Search bloggers are the big winners. They get fresh topics to write about.” -Jonathan Hochman

    Yeah, what he said…

  58. For everyone saying Google is the winner, why? I don’t think it is ever a good time to celebrate when your two biggest competitors join forces. If any googler is thinking the same way, maybe it is time to study an ancient Chinese war (lasted 90 years) during the “Three Kingdoms” era in their 20% work hours.

  59. This is the first step to the full acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft.

  60. The people won! Bing is a better search engine…

  61. Giordani Pasqualon

    I think should be a third option: win-win situation. In my opinion both companies came ahead with this deal… 🙂

  62. I am going to continue to be difficult.

    The *real* winner is…featured in the book “The Google Story”, Updated Edition by David A. Vise (and Mark Malseed). 10th printing 2006, September- Delta Edition.

    Page 5 of photos- aerial photograph of Google Campus… (priceless!!!)

    Nothing to do with @mattcutts he is on page 6- porn cookie guy 😉

    -wayne

  63. Finally @mattcutts Your base question(s), phrased differently, are rather ambiguous. I would have preferred something more nuanced- but I am being difficult.

    Found some whiskey! Nite- unless I have enough to get drunk enough to post this late.

    -w

  64. Definitely MSN!! Yahoo should have sold last year when they had the chance. I guess they need a better poker face 🙂

  65. Hey Matt, now that you got our feedback, every SEO out here has been watching your moves hoping for a response from you on the merger, Thanks! @stroseo

  66. Who came out ahead in the Microsoft-Yahoo deal?

    Only time will tell. BUT, I doubt “Google” will become a “winner”, or it’s shareholders.

    The Google Story”, Updated Edition by David A. Vise (and Mark Malseed).

    Great book, I’m a proud owner 🙂

  67. After this deal google might have got good competitor so there is possibility for more creativity come out from google.All the best. So waiting google..

  68. I think Microsoft is keen to do this. But any which ways google is the winner.
    King of Internet – GOOGLE

  69. Always glad to see I’m in the majority but it’s kinda sad to see what’s been happening to Yahoo! …

  70. Users/customers are the winners! Competition is good for us! Monopoly in any market is a bad thing. Even in the search market.

    And I am sure that this deal will make Google innovate more to stay ahead. This is good for us (users/customers) again. 🙂

  71. That Yahoo is Microsoft’s last straw at anything web was evident in Microsoft’s desperation the last time they were trying to buy Yahoo. But no matter how much money Yahoo makes from this deal, its people friendly image will take a hit. I doubt if this deal affects Google at all.

  72. I voted for MS and interestingly 84% thinks the same!
    May be because obviously it would be embarrassing for Yahoo to approach MS saying “Hey, we think your new service Bing is doing well, why can’t we make a deal?”.

  73. Tedious Google Fanboy

    Like OMG, you guys, has anyone totally mentioned that this poll needs a third option?! Cuz it’s Google! Google, like, totally wins everything! ZOMG what’s it like working for the awesomest most amazingest company ever @mattcutts? Can I have your autograph? Can I have your babies?

  74. I believe Yahoo! had an advantage. With Microsoft’s Bing doing a bit well, Yahoo! did not have much choice being independant. So, yeah, Yahoo! is what I choose.

    But, I guess it should be Google, cause that gives Google now a chance to do better, less competition (one better than two?).

  75. I think we now Have a real #2 Player.
    If Bing Succeeds in compressing flash sites just like they did http compression.Then We Can Expect BING a big impact in places like Australia and New Zealand.

    But Not to forget Our #3 Player : Twitter Search

    Good Luck Bing!

  76. In all seriousness though. Yahoo! made out on this one. What was the last successful product that they launched…does ANYTHING come to mind? …nope. Microsoft will benefit from being able to graze over Yahoo!’s search tech, but overall Yahoo got the better deal… a way to stay afloat a little longer.

  77. hello @all, I love colors, but if there’s only one color, it is boring … so the question should not be msft or yahoo, the 2 options should be “Searchers” or “Webmasters”, anyway, greets from swiss

  78. The winner may well be some new innovative search engine company who we haven’t yet heard of, who could spring out of nowhere. Consolidation of the few big players in the industry could leave a gap for something new. No-one stays at the top forever.

  79. Well… Finally I voted..

    But I was searching for Google here 🙂 Who is the winner always….

  80. The biggest loser IMHO was search.
    Yahoo is a better search engine than Bing – it’s faster, bigger and more sophisticated.
    One of the tests for a search engine is how good it is at connecting and grouping words ie Yahoo and Google algo’s appear to understand that recycle, recycling and recycler are connected, Bing doesn’t.

  81. For me initially it looks like Microsoft have taken this but it is the longer game that will prove far more interesting. But it does kind of look like Yahoo are rolling over now for a bit of a tummy tickling :).

  82. Microsoft has gained because it is better to be at number 2 position rather than number 3 and I agree with Hart that it is never a good time to celebrate when your two biggest competitors join forces. It can be beneficial for Google if Bing doesn’t deliver that well but Google does need to keep its focus on search ( no matter how exciting chrome and Chrome OS are!)

  83. This deal does show that Microsoft is the bigger winner. Overall, however, Microsoft may take the lead in the long run. Why?

    Well it seems that a certain wicked witch of the west, who is either naive or paid-off, claimed that:

    Microsoft antitrust issues are, like, so 1990s

    And is looking to usurp Google on antitrust issues, yet with this MS-Yahoo! deal, it gives Microsoft that perfect opportunity to climb to the #2 spot and wait – a tactic that they employ very well.

    Without Varney this deal is a no brainer for Google, however, with her it seems that the SE waters are getting choppier by the minute.

    Watch yourselves Google!

  84. The fact that the programmers from two different working groups will now be working in only one group, will limit the new ideas that get introduced into the competitive world of search.

    So we all loose – the financial winners and losers are another matter altogether.

  85. I think its hard to say who has won on this, I mean, they’re just mashing together one technology with one database aren’t they?

    Yahoo have a lot of data but what is the point in this new search engine if all they are going to do is populate it with Yahoo data?

    Yahoo will make some money from it sure and it’s only a ten year deal but if Bing was that good why not just let that organically grow the business. What I mean is, if it really is good it will get big, this sort of feels like the usual Microsoft and ultimately because they are not doing it right from teh beginning, it isn’t going to change anything.

  86. I just want to add; this might turn out to be a mistake and where Microsoft actually cocked up (to use an English term).

    Yahoo know they’ve lost the fight, so for them this is a great deal, but had Microsoft just done it properly, it might have worked, but this way, I just can’t see it working.

    I’d rather have 1% of Google than 88% of this ..

  87. Clearly Microsoft – Yahoo! got a really bad deal. As Danny wrote here http://tr.im/uIxB

    “this is it? this is what you sell crown jewels for? what’s the guarantee? where’s the billions? OMG”

  88. Bing is a decent search engine. It’s been branded nicely and it’s miles ahead of Live and Yahoo, but I’m not sure it’s going to save Yahoo.

    It’s also an ugly clash of brands. Too confusing for consumers.

    Google FTW.

  89. Microsoft and Yahoo are desperate. Funny really.
    They have donated a massive amount of free advertising to Google through the whole affair.
    Maybe in 10 years they’ll figure out what they’re doing – I doubt it!

    Jay

  90. The only danger is if inadvertantly Google draws the attention of the regulators to its dominant position – and Googles senior mangement seem to have a rather sketchy grasp of how polatics works and i could see some of your senior team realy screwing the pooch if they are not carefull.

    And having worked for a tigtly regulateded company in the past you realy dont want to go there

  91. I agree, the deal sure looks like a Microsoft win (yeah, Google too) but I actually voted for Yahoo because I’ve been on the purchasing end of their sales and marketing efforts. They were starting to get pretty desperate and had no traction. Slip sliding away!

    I hope that their joining forces will make the search product better. For me, Google’s been the only decent option for a long time, but as a few others have said, the bar just may get raised now….

  92. i think microsoft came out better
    Google remain on top

  93. I’m guessing that with the inevitable delay while Yahoo and Microsoft try to get their unified act together, Google will be the winner as it steals an even bigger lead.

  94. I think this deal and hype is the only hope for keeping Bing alive. Beyond that, I’m rather uninspired by the whole topic.

  95. I don´t know, but i tought we have to choose between MSFT & Yahoo, i think it was MSFT, Ballmer was trying to save his ass! =)

  96. I’m praying its going to have a big impact on Google’s market share of search in 24months time. Too much dominance is never good for anyone.

  97. Big Win for Microsoft – Big Lost to the Yahoo shareholders who wanted to sell last year!

  98. Short-term, it gives Yahoo! the cash it needs. Long-term, they just sold what should be the core of their business.

  99. Don’t be Evil. All I care about is that. So long as the competition in the market isn’t being driven to some perversion of what the consumer really wants, and trying to drive them to what benefits the company’s, I don’t care. My only concern is how this will affect current PPC campaigns that we use with Yahoo, I’m interested to see how Microsoft with make our lives miserable with changes.

    Keep up what you are doing at Google, Don’t be evil, and make sure that the drive is behind the consumer and not making more money, cause we all know you all (microsoft, google, whoever) are going to pay the bills without any issues.

  100. Microsoft! They get to keep the User info!

  101. Bing needed scale and got some scale with hundreds of millions of Yahooligans soon using and training the service. If it works it might be good for Yahoo to outsource Mail too, sell Flickr to Google and concentrate on what they can best …. hm … just forgot what it is.

  102. I liken this deal to the Red Sox (Microsoft) acquiring the Dodgers (Yahoo) to team up against the Yankees (Google), and in the end the Yankees will probably still probably just spend more!

  103. If I remember correctly didn’t Yahoo give up their search in 90’s to Google and created monster for themselves that killed their search business and now they are doing it again. Soon Yahoo will become AOL, a portal that has no relevance. So yes at the end its a win for Microsoft and Google, since Google knows how to take market share away from Microsoft.

  104. …where Microsoft actually cocked up (to use an English term).

    It’s also the name of a wrist splint (although I haven’t got a clue how they managed to come up with that one.)

  105. Including this poll on this post seems to have also put the poll in other spots of your blog – see http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/webmaster-videos/

  106. Microsoft paying nothing upfront for Access to all the Yahoo web site data that will now be powered by Bing. Plus Adcenter controling the add auction prices so Microsoft have control of a key area. RIP Yahoo !!

  107. Until Microsoft and Yahoo focus more on positive user experiences the partnership is no more than two “2nd place” firms teaming up. At the end of the day they are not bringing anything new to the market that people need; in other words there is no benefit to their customers, only them. Result is that Google wins in the long run as they are focused….

  108. Microsoft had saved A LOSS by the grace of events in the economy – but both are lost for a better idea as they do not listen to markets expectations and wants – like the one i own as A GURU for the EchoLogical Machine by natural logic syntexting of automatic comprehension for Computers and Robots. See USCIIIIII CODE reasoning and samples.

  109. I think the internet users are the real winners here. I’m a Google fan too but shouldn’t it be better if people have a choice? Isn’t life about making choices? And let’s face it, when I take a close look at image search on Bing, and I wonder how many of you all have had a serious look, I can see that they have done a great job, something even Google can learn from.

  110. I agree. I think Google is the one to prevail on this deal. The threat of the two ‘runner ups’ is nothing for Google to fear.

  111. Google came out the loser. Not only is Bing producing better search results than Google at the moment, they will soon have over 30% of the market share and growing every day thanks to the over zealous filters that have destroyed the SERPS at the beginning of the summer.

    I pesonally no longer tell people to use Google because the results plain suck.

    How a geocities site with nothing but links and adsense can be #1 over numerous other authority sites is a mystery. Bing nails that search with nothing but quality sites and no geocitie site to be seen.

    Guess the Goog is trying to push the adsense sites to boost profits.

  112. Doesn’t matter who lose and who win. The strongest & fittest would be the survivor. I really welcome this deal, will be adding lot of free innovative value to the ordinary web citizen like me.

  113. Morris Rosenthal

    Microsoft and Yahoo together send my site less visitors than UK Google.

    But Microsoft is clearly the big winner, Yahoo shareholders the big losers. Yang has a lot to answer for.

    Morris

  114. Yahoo! is better 🙂 Or may be more Developer’s friendly 😉

    Can you tell me about the difference between Live & Bing ?

    Money is building everything from nothing !!!

  115. I would have to say overall Microsoft is the winner. The losers, however will be the rest of us, especially if tools such as Yahoo! Site Explorer go away.

  116. It sounds like the deal will give Microsoft the leverage it needs for Bing to get ahead. I have a bad feeling that Yahoo is going to get screwed on this one.

  117. Is Carol Bartz smoking the devil’s lettuce???

  118. A TALE OF TWO SEARCH TITANS
    In the beginning… Google and Yahoo were talking ads awhile back, cuz remember they were pals back in the 90’s.

    Then… Yahoo said ‘hard cheese’. So Google gave them the finger.

    Lurking in the shadows… Microsofty came over and offered Yahoo a dumptruck full of money for their soul. Yahoo, still feeling guilty over breaking up with hot chick Google, decides to take it.

    And now we have the bastard child of it all, Bingo, or whatever it’s called. And still, NOBODY CARES. We all know it’s all about Alta Vista anyways.

  119. peter mcdonald

    @ spamhound

    I would not go as far as saying the Google results suck but I do agree thr sentiment, Google have been aggresively (and deceptively) pushing paid ads, sometimes trying to slightly hide they are paid ads.

    If theiradsense customers employed the same tactics they would be removed from the program.

    Also the integration of search results from the likes of youtube and product search are wholely ill placed at times, sometimes you get results that have very little releavance to what you are truly searching for however they are placed in a more prominant position to the results you were looking for.

    Also I hate the split search pages where you get x amount of results for the search term you types then x amount for a “did you mean this term” result. If I wanted to search for that term I would have done I don’t need Google second guessing what I am trying to type. By all means have the did you mean link at the top of the page but dont corrupt the results with possible search results I was not looking for. This just infuriates the searcher for the most and also makes it harder to find what I was actually looking for.

  120. The big winners are the lawyers, regulators and politicians. They’ll have a field grandstanding on the competitive investigation that will inevitably drag on ….and on. Nobody in the regulatorati will be able to resist the airtime and earning opportunities to bash big bad Microsoft.

  121. It is good for the industry as it was stagnating as of late. It is far too early to say who came out ahead on this deal.

    On a slightly different topic… Matt do you find it hard to sit with all these lips pressed up against it all of the time? j/k

  122. Hah, pretty clear what your readers think there.

  123. Choice #3 should have been “Who Cares” as that would be my answer.. Honestly people, does it really matter what Microsoft, Yahoo or anyone else does for that matter? None of them have a change at dethroning the big G unless they find a way to shut down, break or ruin Google financially.

    I am all for competition, but Google has such a strong grip on the market it would take a very very compelling reason for me to go even try to use someone else on a regular basis.. Pay me a grand or if Google were to happen to be down, that would be about the only reason I would be motivated to make the switch.. just my 2 cents

  124. Strategically, I don’t think Google has won anything here. Yes it’s the best Search Engine and will remain so for a long time. But what feeds Google today is the advertisers money. For those of you who already used GYM (Google, Yahoo & Microsoft) to sell something, you know that Yahoo and Microsoft convert way better than Google for much less money per click! So if the purpose of this deal was to divert advertising money from Google, clearly Yahoo & Microsoft have touché their target. Wanna bet?

  125. Whatever pans out from this, there should 1 winner, PPC advertisers. Google is also getting Billions of dollars of FREE Global adverstising from this.

    IMO, it’s too little FAR too late from M$ and YaWho? They have messed about far too many Years and allowed Google too much market share and allowed Google to become a household name.

  126. Matt do you find it hard to sit with all these lips pressed up against it all of the time? LOL! Rather sad to read some posts, isn’t it.

  127. To my mind, one of the biggest factors that helped Google grow awareness back in the day was the fact that they supplied the search results for both Yahoo and MSN before both developed their own engines.
    I suspect that in the coming months, we will see a rise in PPC bids on Bing, and a slight drop in the cost for Google, which makes Yahoo and MS both winners, and has an impact on Google’s profits.
    Winner: Microsoft

  128. Yahoo’s and MS’ search experience is somewhat still inferior to Google (well the marketshare itself tells this). The traffic, as I’ve seen on almost 20 clients that I work with and 3 of my own portals, converts at much lesser percent as compared to Google. With these things in mind, an initial spurt ig going to happen in Adcenter’s subscription but till the time it really becomes phenomenal, Google will gan in the longer run.

  129. Personally its clear the MSFT came out on top, they will now be running two search engines, have control of the ‘361 patent and will force Google into a corner with it I believe.

    There is a lot of history surrounding this deal with overture and miva involved quite alot. want to know more I posted an article on the MSFT Yahoo Deal Reasons the other day (beware its quite detailed in parts).

    How this will effect the seo industry is something I will be watching like a hawk over the coming weeks… with bing now incontrol (in theory) does this leave Google vulnerable to loose some of its 90-odd% share in the market? How will google face this issue?
    The other option is that this will do nothing much other than continue the tit-for-tat war between MFST and Google! ….

  130. we will all know…. later bit 🙂

    won’t place my bet though

  131. Nothing changes, bing’s search engine could be better than Googles (i don’t think it is), combined yahoo and bing could be better than Google but it doesn’t matter because they are going at it the wrong way, they need to collaborate with the general public to get things rolling, increase market share. Open source anyone?

  132. The poll needs a third choice: Neither came out ahead.

  133. off course Yahoo!… as it already acquired a great share (better than Microsoft)….

  134. It kinda feels like yahoo had to give up its soul for this deal – what was left of it.

  135. Both losers?

  136. Yahoo! came out on top, with no search costs and more advertising revenue. I don’t think people have taken that into consideration. It was a fantastic deal for Yahoo!

  137. Angsuman Chakraborty

    What do *you* think?

    Personally I am waiting and watching. I have seen Bing traffic increasing in my small blog, even more than Yahoo traffic.

  138. Who came out ahead in the Microsoft-Yahoo deal? – Google and here’s why:

    Second and third place got together and created 4th place. Yes, you are reading it correctly. They have now garnered more of the “less” market share that they have with regards to Search Traffic — approximately 35%.

    Now, what’s going to happen is that Microsoft is going to continue to give us irrelevant search results with BING (BECAUSE It’s Not Google), and they will probably hurry themselves out of the search engine business much sooner than anticipated.

    A web developer I know sent me the following search examples for the time in different places:

    This first one was for the phrase “time hyderabad”

    Google:
    http://www.google.com/search?q=time+hyderabad

    BING:
    http://www.bing.com/search?q=time+hyderabad
    (Apparently, Hyderabad is in Pakistan, according to BING.)

    Second search: “time parsippany, nj”

    Google:
    http://www.google.com/search?q=time+parsippany

    BING:
    http://www.bing.com/search?q=time+parsippany

    (Flops completely, and doesn’t even try to guess a time.)

  139. @clickmagnet , I don’t want to sound like a geography geek, but there is a Hyderabad in Pakistan as well as a Hyderabad in India.

    I do agree with the principals of what you are saying though, that Bing still has some way to go in terms of relevancy

  140. I want to know why it’s OK for Microsoft and Yahoo to have a relationship but for Google it becomes an anti-trust issue? Microsoft? Are we on the same planet or what?
    I see because Google does it better we must now punish them with Binghoo?
    Look out here comes Godzilla!

  141. Microsoft are doing their best to pull down Google, seems that Chrome OS is a big threat to their Windows.

  142. All you Google lovers need to pull your heads out of the sand and take your lips off of Matts rear end.

    Google has become a joke and is getting worse every day.

    You can find a tit for tat search all day long if you want to. It doesn’t matter. Just read some of the webmaster community boards and you will quickly see that the support Google once had, is no longer as strong or as loyal.

    I’ve been a Google fan since 99 and can’t count how many people I turned on to Google, but since the beginning of summer, I also lost count of the people I’ve turned on to Bing since Google totally has lost it.

    As far as Chrome OS threatening Windows, please don’t make me laugh.

    Google was a great ride but sure enough they have ruined a good thing by producing some of the worst results I’ve ever seen.

  143. Bing results are good enough. Their presentation is quite good compared to google.

    Yes, hyderabad is in Pakistand too.

    http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=hyderabad%2C+pakistan&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

  144. Hmmmm, well I think this is more of a no brainer, look at how big Microsoft is and look at how far Yahoo has faded? I think obviously Google has benefited from this again, simply because this is another attempt for Microsoft to reclaim part of the search market, which we all know means that Bing is probably just another waste of time and money?

    Yahoo is by far the oldest running search engine, stemming back from its early competiton from Altavista, Lycos, Freeserve etc. Yahoo lost its handle when the simplicity of search was hidden behind advertisements and an abundance of services.

    So its simple, Yahoo are ticking over, and have been ticking over for years, Microsoft has acquired the ability to spend more money in yet a million dollar run.

    Back to the drawing board? Google can claim even more of the search market when Microsoft decides that anyone using Yahoo needs a service pack update, or maybe a system vunerability patch!

  145. There is no option of GOOGLE, means will always ahead. Its betwen the MS & Yahoo (No google), hay ha he..

  146. Those who say Google came out ahead are completely missing the point. Not sure about the MS-Yahoo deal, however lately Microsoft is creating all this fuss that makes people wanna try if Bing is any good. And this is a good way of advertising.

  147. A few thoughts:
    1 – with Y and MS now combined, big G have to take 1 out and its all over with no real seconds
    2 – big G needs to get back to doing nothing but search. do 1 thing good and stick to it.

    With that said, the winner of this deal is obviously MS. If anyone has any doubts, just look at how the market reacted to this deal. Y got slammed, G moved down a big and MS gained. Follow the money as it will almost always lead you to the right answer.

  148. I Just don’t understand why the hell most of the people over here started voting Google, without even having that as an option. Hey you die hard Big G lovers.. Don’t you see Matt didn’t put Google in the vote options, STOP flattering him with irrelevant votes. (Yes, I love the G too, but that doesn’t make sense to move out of the topic!!, however I’ll also move off the topic a bit at the end of my comment 😛 )

    Yes for me Both of them the Microsoft and the Yahoo! are the winner, at some points MS wins and on some other Yahoo! However I’ve voted here for Microsoft, because at first they look to be the winner, but when you see into deep you see Yahoo is also going to get benefits. But I really feel if they keep improvisations and come together with some drastic changed plans on the search advertisement front as well, It may be a threat to Google however, not in near 3-4 years, but surely after that, (however I know Google never sits dumb, so there G may strike again 😀 )

    And yeah those suckers who are talking about the search results, let me tell you, most of the people I know have regularly started using Bing n its not that they stopped using Google, but see what I’m trying to tell you that Bing has started intruding the market of Big G.

    Also even I’ve noticed the results on some front Bing gives more relevant results than Google, meanwhile its true that Bing is not yet as intelligent and wide as Google. I mean if you ask Google about the current time in New Delhi, It will tell you the Current time and then the other relevant results, But Bing has not grown up yet to show you the time, yet they show the relevant results as well. Common you know Bing is still a baby, but yeah it has born with some intelligent so just watch it grow (if MS fead it with the right food 😀 )

    ah, what I wrote this long comment? that I generally don’t do 🙁 , hmm so now I plan to post it into my blog as well ;-)(yeah, ‘m a lazy blogger 😛 ) !!

  149. Now that they just announced Microsoft is hiring 400 of Yahoo’s employees my guess is that Bing will likely start gunning for more marketshare in a big way. How does Yahoo stand to benefit from this at all???

  150. Anyway, the classification of the algorithms including from Google, Msn or Yahoo do not know how to make the difference between a clean normal indexing job and massive industrial spamindexing.

    Personnally I’m working with spam softwares to create myself as many links as I want for my X websites and it works well!

    I just need to push a button to create myself ten thousand backlinks to my adult website and the algorithm stays blind.

    Thanks to the Google team quality, thanks to go on sending me your massive traffic!

  151. Microsoft got the better half of the deal. Not that Google should be worried now.

  152. Just gives more credit to Google I believe. Here you have two major players who need to gang up to take on the Big G. Good luck.

    Google has always had a winning formula. Cater to your audience and success will come of it.. I just see the Yahoo + Bing as another extention of the self-serving blunder… too many shareholders looking at the stock, not looking at the audience.

  153. I just like the new yahoo.I somehow like that they recommend IE8. It is somehow pervert. I do not understand how yahoo and bing are going to work properly together.

  154. “too many shareholders looking at the stock, not looking at the audience.”

    LOL……… Like Google shareholders are not looking at the stock.

    Step away from the screen and put down the koolaid.

  155. From a competitive perspective, Microsoft is still telling the world it wants to be involved in the search engine game. Yahoo, while it recognizes the importance of it’s search component appears to be focusing more on the portal aspect. In my opinion, Microsoft is getting the better end of the deal only if Yahoo users are aware that Bing is the force behind the results and not Yahoo!.

  156. I think Yahoo accepted that it’s focus should not be on search, which is a very good thing.
    Accepting your faults is the first step (and maybe the only important step) to improving.

  157. Mico and Yahoo’s search experience is not poorer than Google . Yahoo was the best serach engine in the world before the born of google.But now ,google is better and better,and the most traffic search engine in the world.So the MSN unite Yahoo ,and they wanna be a unit to fight with google.but i am confident to google,as it is equal in the search results.

  158. Google is not going to benefit shit from this. Yahoo users are in Yahoo because they hate google. Two things is going to happen, either the technology is going to combine and bing and yahoo search will be great, else search engines like ask, lycos, cuil etc.. will benefit.

  159. It’s easy…”we” did. It seems Yahoo!’s end was merely one of timing. I’d rather have a re-invigorated MS search competitor helping tone Google’s offerings, than Yahoo’s at this point. Competition is good. We, the consumer, usually win when there is significant competition in any marketplace.

  160. Microsoft promoted the chances on success, however they will not be able to resist! Google is out of area of reach

  161. I believe, GOOGLE is all time winner of this game…

  162. Yahoo is a hot mess. They have lots of users, but could not execute.

    This is a good deal for both sides, but Yahoo is a sinking ship; so I think they needed this deal more.

  163. Yahoo is very bad lately. Their search engine is very poor. I think this is a good chance for them to merge with microsoft to improve their competency. However, I don’t think they can beat google in 2-3 years from now.

  164. No doubt is MS came out ahead. As from a recent news, MS decided to invest in 10% of their operating revenue to search marketing for continuously 5 five years. The newly launched Bing.com really make quite a effort for new enhancements, one new thing is overlay site links shortcut, is Google site link now. Another good feature is the video preview in the search result. Haha but I still using google in my daily basis 🙂

  165. Yahoo has suffered from poor execution of their business goals in the past. They have all the essential elements for success but somehow cant seem to find a strong enough leader or enough of an “edge” to regain their glory years. partnering with ms i think will help them remain relevant.

  166. This deal is a recognition of the market leadership of Google. However if they try combining the social parameters from facebook as well they can still challenge google 😀

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