Yahoo and Microsoft originally formed a partnership in 2009 in an effort to reduce Google’s search stronghold in the United States market: 65% of US search market share at the time. The deal resulted in Microsoft powering Yahoo’s search results and paid advertising for years.

Now, with Google still holding strong at 64%, Yahoo and Microsoft announced this past summer that they would loosen their partnership agreement since they hadn’t disrupted the search ecosphere as they’d hoped. This freed up Yahoo to make a new deal; but this time, with Google.
Google and Yahoo were previously partnered back in 2000.

What this Means to Paid Search Advertisers

Companies using paid search services are typically advertising on Microsoft and Google. Now, to successfully retain your strong presence on search advertising, it’s essential that your campaigns are actively managed across three search engines: Google AdWords, Microsoft’s Bing AdCenter, and Yahoo Gemini.

Even though advertising across three platforms is more labor-intensive, if advertisers don’t utilize Yahoo’s new advertising platform (Yahoo Gemini), they risk losing a portion of the desktop and mobile traffic they were previously receiving through Microsoft’s Bing. Bottom line: this could mean a loss in leads and leases.

Yahoo Results Will Change

For the first five years of the Microsoft/Yahoo relationship, Microsoft’s Bing Search engine powered organic search results and search advertising results on Yahoo.

The changes in this partnership mean that now:

  • Yahoo must still have Microsoft’s Bing power 51% of desktop searches
  • Yahoo is responsible for powering the other 49% of desktop searches and all mobile searches made on Yahoo (assuming the deal with Google holds, some or all of these results may come from Google)
  • Yahoo can power their mobile searches in any way they want

From an advertising standpoint, this is important to your search advertising success because:

  • By regaining control of their search share, Yahoo believes it can make more revenue than under the Microsoft/Yahoo agreement
  • Advertisers will see a lower cost of advertising on Yahoo Gemini because competition is currently low (compared to the more competitive Google and Bing)

How You Can Win in the New Search Advertising Landscape

As a Yahoo partner, G5 was able to prepare for the transition to Yahoo Gemini. Instead of taking a hit with a potential loss in leads and leases, our clients will benefit from G5’s training on how to run, track, measure, and optimize campaigns on the new Yahoo Gemini platform.

While we haven’t yet seen a full traffic shift from Bing to Yahoo, we’re prepared to shift all of our clients over quickly and efficiently.

Here’s why it matters to your search advertising success:

  • Your campaigns need to be found by an increasingly mobile target audience on the new Yahoo Gemini mobile advertising platform — without losing presence on Bing or Google
  • The native advertising offerings on Yahoo mix content with ads. If your content isn’t well-positioned on this advertorial platform, your competitors will grab audience share instead of you
  • These partnership changes are only one facet of the constant flux in your marketing mix

“Yahoo fully intends to bring as much traffic under the Yahoo Gemini platform as it is able to under their renegotiated agreement with Microsoft.”
-Mark Ballard, Search Engine Land

Source: Search Engine Land “As Yahoo Gemini Ramps up, How Well Is It Performing for Search Advertisers?”

 

As ad inventory and available budgets divide across Google, Yahoo, and Bing, G5’s Paid Advertising team is working to ensure a seamless transition of campaigns across all search engines.

G5’s team and marketing cloud give clients the ability to measure and optimize ROI. Contact G5 today to learn how your business can best leverage this critical new search engine landscape.