Google is still king.
A month or two ago, I saw a commercial on TV for Microsoft’s Bing, formerly known as Live, formerly known as MSN. They really need to stop changing the name; nobody really cares what it’s called. In any case, it was pretty interesting to see a search engine at PageRank 3 (it’s at 9 now, but amusing nonetheless). I was thinking to myself that Microsoft should just quit because nobody really wants to use their search engine except for the cashback deals.
Well, they too must’ve realized they suck because they recently engaged in a 10-year deal with Yahoo in hopes of tackling the almighty Google as one. Good freakin’ luck guys! I’ve heard estimates as high as 70% in terms of what percentage of the search market Google controls. At the same time I can understand their position; Google is making the big bucks because of all that revenue from AdWords. It’s in Microsoft and Yahoo’s interests to try everything they can to jump in that ring, no matter the cost.
It’ll always be about the advertisers and what kind of services they can offer them; we’ll see if Microsoft and Yahoo together can figure out how to increase relevance in the search results. At least Yahoo had Overture at one point, now known as Yahoo! Search Marketing. They’ve definitely got more seat time in the PPC than Microsoft, although I’m still skeptical to see what kind of changes their combining forces can achieve. To be honest though, I would actually be happy to see them take on the goliath that is Google.
More pay per click options would be great for guys like me. I wonder if Microsoft and Yahoo became competitive in PPC, whether the average cost per click across the board would decrease ever so slightly. I mean if you’re able to get the same conversions from Bing or Yahoo with their PPC program and the cost per click was less, why spend more at Google right? I mean sure you’d still have campaigns running at Google, that’s for sure. But would you spend as much or perhaps spend less and drop more dollars into Bing or Yahoo?
It’ll be interesting to see how this all unfolds in the next year.
