In a Seattle PI article, analysts and Yahoo CFO say that Google may be so far ahead in the core search business that it’s almost game over in some countries because Google’s dominance is so strong. While Google adds more services and tools to their consumer offering, Yahoo is considering ways to bring in more revenue from individual searches. News that Yahoo is prepared to settle for second place, only maintaining their market share, will be heartening news for rivals like Ask Jeeves who’re desperate to increase market share.
“We don’t think it’s reasonable to assume we’re going to gain a lot of share from Google,” Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker said in an interview. “It’s not our goal to be No. 1 in Internet search. We would be very happy to maintain our market share.”
Yahoo!’s comments underline the difficulties any Internet company faces in trying to challenge Google’s dominance of the Web search industry. Google has at least double the market share of Yahoo! and Microsoft Corp. in Internet search, the largest and most profitable segment of online advertising.
“In some countries, it’s already game over in search, with Google the clear victor,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Jordan Rohan in New York. “Google’s product development pipeline runs at such a fast rate that it’s very difficult for any company, Microsoft or Yahoo! to catch up.”
To boost revenue from each search, Yahoo! plans to make ads more relevant to search terms, meaning people will be more likely to click on them. Advertisers pay Yahoo! a fee when Internet users click on the ads. “We have held our own, and we should gain revenue share in the industry as we roll out these new initiatives,” Decker said in the interview after the company reported earnings last week.
Slashdot: Yahoo! Yields Search Dominance to Google
Seattle PI: Yahoo! Gives Up Quest for Search Dominance
Popularity: 1% [?]
I’ve always wondered how many people actually click on those ridiculous Google ads. It took me about three idly curious experiments to realize (a) they are never really germane to the particular search involved and (b) frequently enough, they only lead to Google-bomb link pages with no real content, anyway. Of course, most of the time I’m only looking for stuff like the von Schlegel translation of Hamlet into German or government white papers on correctional treatment alternatives, so what do I expect, anyway?
I know! I always wonder that because I’m always looking for things with really specific collection of terms like:
“white paper” coffee phosphorus “fair trade”
…or something like that! What kind of ads do you put next to that?! Well they put loads of ads on but they’re all trying to sell me coffee! When I’m researching stuff, I’m not buying!
I can see, however, why Yahoo! might be faltering a little because I always find their results just go less deep
For example, a search for ‘sortroom’ on Google vs on Yahoo! Google’s results, though perhaps less focused because they don’t have ‘sortroom.net’ in the title of the page all the time, give a much greater depth of understanding, finding links. That’s a very specific example, but when you look at something very generic like Kelly Clarkson on Yahoo! and Google you see a similar picture but with interesting differences. Yahoo’s results make you have to look down the page just to see what you searched for while Google’s results are not only more helpful (telling you that KellyClarksononweb.com is the official site) but also gives you a picture. You know you’ve found what you’re looking for and it’s immediately clear what’s an ad and what’s a search result and so those ads are more likely (I think) to be deliberately rather than erroniously clicked on and so will be more valuable. By making their ads and results blurred Yahoo distract the user from what they’re looking for (the results) and make using the search less enjoyable. It’s an effort rather than a tool. I think Yahoo’s problem is that they’re so focused on monetising their product that they forget to keep things simple so that people actually want to use their search. If they’ve lost the core they’ve lost everything because users no longer have a reason to visit and so you find side distractions attempting to keep our attention. However no number of entertainment specials or cheap car promotions are going to keep me going to Yahoo! It’s the search that’s important!
So I use Google. Could you have guessed?
[ironic] No. I never would have guessed [/ironic]
And yes, I always instinctively turn to Google, too – precisely because everytime I’ve tried to do anything at Yahoo (like search for a particular kind of Yahoo Group, for example) I’ve gotten inextricably lost in the welter of rabbit warrens of totally illogical links thrust in my face as so-called search responses. The place is like the Labrea Tar Pits of the Internet.