26 Magazine » Search Engine Optimization http://www.26magazine.com Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:15:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 What to expect when Microsoft and Yahoo get together http://www.26magazine.com/what-to-expect-when-microsoft-and-yahoo-get-together/ http://www.26magazine.com/what-to-expect-when-microsoft-and-yahoo-get-together/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:00:10 +0000 andrea http://www.26magazine.com/?p=749 It just might be one of the most powerful unions ever. Their marriage just might change everything about the way you search online.

It’s the blessed union of Microsoft and Yahoo. This union is a definite attempt to overpower the top search engine in the country, of course, Google.


As mentioned in Microsoft uses search engine to find legitimacy, Microsoft may be pretty awesome with its software, but its search engine is sub par.

Microsoft has struggled for years to get out of third place. With the recent introduction of their improved Live Search search engine, known as Bing, Microsoft seemed to be going in the right direction.

Bing was met with many doubts but it has gotten a lot of media attention and is strikingly different than its forerunner. Critics were surprisingly impressed with the specificity of Bing’s results, as they are broken down in a sidebar.

Impressive or not, Google still remains the favorite. It might be just because we’re all in the habit of “google-ing” it. I mean who really says, “I’m going to go Bing that”?

Old habits die hard, but this new merger is ready to fight.

Since February of last year, Microsoft has been bidding to get Yahoo to enter a meaningful relationship, according to CNET. On Wednesday, they finally decided to get together. The deal is supposed to be final in early 2010 and will last for 10 years.

The plan is for Microsoft to power Yahoo’s search results. In return, Yahoo will handle all advertisements. What a perfect relationship. Somebody has the power and somebody does all the important work. (That sounds about right.)

This power couple has some high hopes of moving up the search engine hierarchy to really be popular again. With this combination, it just might work, but it won’t come easily.

The Washington Post reported that Google holds “65 percent of the market for Internet search advertising.” Yahoo and Microsoft together draw about 28 percent of it so… It’s going to take quite a bit of work to beat Google.

The deal has to be reviewed by the Justice Department’s antitrust regulators, or by the Federal Trade Commission.

The Washington Post also reported that Microsoft is currently under investigation by the European Union for bundling its Internet browser, Explorer, with the Windows operating system.

Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee said that there will be “careful scrutiny” because they are “concerned about competition issues in these markets because of the potentially far-reaching consequences for consumers and advertisers.”

Advertisers will definitely be affected, as they will see a change in their outlets and financial situations. As for consumer consequences, I have yet to understand what that could mean. (Then again, maybe the consequence would be not using Google.)

Considering that the deal has yet to be approved, we probably can’t expect to see much of a change for at least another six months. If you’re pulling for Microhoo, take the first step and instead of “Googling it,” maybe you could “Bing it.”

]]> http://www.26magazine.com/what-to-expect-when-microsoft-and-yahoo-get-together/feed/ 1 Microsoft uses search engine to find legitimacy http://www.26magazine.com/microsoft-uses-search-engine-to-find-legitimacy/ http://www.26magazine.com/microsoft-uses-search-engine-to-find-legitimacy/#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 18:07:51 +0000 andrea http://www.26magazine.com/?p=134 When you think of search engines what is the first one that comes to your mind? If you are like millions of other Americans you’ll probably say either Google or Yahoo. Did you even know that Microsoft had a search engine? It’s called Live Search. (Sound familiar now? It’s the one that gets crappy results in comparison to its counterparts.) Well, Microsoft is hoping to change your mind.

Microsoft plans to introduce their new search engine, (nick-named) Kumo, within the next few weeks. It will only be introduced at D:All Things Digital Event. But by the way that Google and Yahoo’s new add-ons look, Microsoft may want to work on it a little bit.

Kumo is the updated version of Live Search and features a left-hand navigation menu that breaks down each category into a subcategory. The look certainly is different than other search engines. Still, the questions remains if that will be enough.

According to CNET, Google recently introduced new enhancements. These will allow people searching “new ways to filter results and adding new types of data to the search results themselves.” Some other new options provided by Google include providing a news timeline and the option to turn results into a spreadsheet.

Yahoo plans to “redefine Internet search by focusing on intent, not results,” according to CNET. They have been working on a project called SearchMonkey which aims to get Web publishers using thoroughly descriptive tags. If publishers were to do this, searchers would know exactly what content they could expect to see on those pages.

As for Microsoft, they remain the third popular search engine. (Can you guess who the first two are?) They’re desperately trying to regain popularity by this revamp possibly because their online services lost $575 million of their $721 million in revenue, last quarter alone.

Maybe Microsoft $100 million advertising campaign will help. There is no known date to when Kumo will be available to the public, if it will be available to the public or what it will actually be named.

While this analysis is bleak for Microsoft, it speaks volumes of Google. Google was created in 1998 by Sergey M. Brin and Lawrence E. Page with everything to prove. From there, it’s basically taken over the Internet world with a search-engine, e-mail, mapping, social networking and countless other helpful technologies. Then, there’s poor Microsoft which was founded in 1975 by (you know who) Bill Gates. It only seems right that after over 30 years, that Microsoft would have a well-established fan base and would be at the top of the game.

With the overwhelming popularity of Google and Yahoo, is it really worth hundreds of millions of dollars for Microsoft to spend if we all know that there’s only a slim chance of success?

Perhaps this is their last attempt before giving up. Maybe this is their last hurrah. I know I can say, personally, that I’m a big fan of Google. I have it in my toolbar. It’s my go-to search engine. Part of me hopes that Microsoft finds success and the other part knows they’re wasting their time. People are creatures of habit and many of us have been using Google or Yahoo for years. Will we be able to give something new a chance?

One thing to be said about Microsoft is that they are darn persistent.

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