By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-09-27 21:28:19 | Word Count: 664
The effectiveness of a search engine takes on a whole new meaning for online business owners. Their indexing process is responsible for driving traffic to sites and as such can have a direct impact on the success of an online enterprise. Courting search engines through the process of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has become an industry itself, with companies, freelancers and DIY guides popping up everywhere. Google still reigns supreme, but the recent rebranding of MSN Live Search and changes to the Yahoo search platform, optimization specialists must now consider which of the search engines to primarily focus on. While there is some indication from tracking firms that Bing is beating Yahoo in search, perhaps what optimization specialist and online business owners should be focusing on is a joining of forces between Bing and Yahoo.
Google has really been giving the internet search industry an unstoppable force, with daily developments for user interaction. Both MSN Live Search (now known as Bing) and Yahoo have re-invented their search platforms, but Google is still on the up-and-up and maintaining firm control in the search market. To cut costs and raise revenues the two other search engines have joined forces.
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Microsoft has attempted the acquisition of Yahoo in the past, but the deal was turned down because management was greedy, even delusional. The company now sells for a small percentage of Microsoft’s offering price. Now that Microsoft has released Bing, Yahoo has changed its tune, and since there has been evidence that the revamped search engine is able to compete with Google by gaining a few points back in market share.
From now on, when you search through Yahoo, you will really be seeing the indexed pages provided by Bing. Yahoo will save money by outsourcing the indexing process, which includes web crawling. Where the two are hoping to make more revenue is in the advertising associated with Pay per Click. Yahoo will focus on the paid ads and give a percentage to Microsoft. Site owners who have a PPC program with Bing will also be shown on Yahoo giving their customers a visibility bonus.
The search community that utilizes these two search engines will not likely see a change until 2011; but change is coming. What does this mean for the search engine marketing industry? For one, Bing ranking guidelines will become increasingly important. If more site owners begin to use paid search on the joint venture, there will likely be more requirements to become certified in PPC management for Bing, and not just Google. Also, SEM experts use the link and link domain metrics for Yahoo to quickly measure backlinks. This will now also be influenced by the importance of Bing’s metrics.
Until such the changes are implemented, SEO consultants will continue focusing on Google and their guidelines for the purposes of optimization. Still, keeping a close eye on Bing’s indexing guidelines help online businesses improve rankings with both Bing and Yahoo.
At Optimum7 we help you consider all your options for optimizing your business. Contact us to see how we can help you rank with Google, Bing and Yahoo.
