Never before has there been so much activity in the world of internet search as in the last two months and by no means are we through the the search wars… they have only just ‘hotted up’ and were in for a rollercoaster ride of awesome new internet search tools.
These are bound to, once again change, the face of human interaction with the internet/information and the manner in which content is indexed and represented in search, resulting in necessary changes to SEO strategies to cater for modernised search algorithms.
The Giants make a rumble
In the second quarter of 2009 search engine analysts and search engine related blogs were creating a bit of buzz about the immanent launch of Microsoft’s ’new’ search engine believed to be launching with the name Kumo. We now all know that Bing was the name of choice and I personally have been impressed by the engine which really is a part of the make or break strategy Microsoft must be taking to ensure they have a foot hold in the software business going forward, especially with the up and coming competition that Google is brining to the operating system (OS) table (article on topic to follow).
Google search which has constantly been evolving has had to kick into action some serious modifications and although I am sure they were on their way it can definitely be seen that the giant of search is having to respond to the competition which is something the behemoth has not had to do in its history to date. The most notable addition to the Google search results pages is the more options tab which displays filters for the search results that are definitely quite handy.
Yahoo continued to plod along and it is fair to say that the focus of this the third largest search engine has been more about creating an audience as can be seen by there well designed and functional landing page which saw a number of changes in July that actually lean towards a renewed focus on search users with a less ‘designed up’ interface and greater focus on the search field of the site.
Ramblings of the Yahoo! and Microsoft joining forces were rife in July see this, and this… it made a lot of sense and outlined how the deal could work with Microsoft bringing search technology to the table and Yahoo working to monetize the search audience.
An deal is made!
On the 29th of July Yahoo! and Microsoft announced that a ten year search deal had been struck that will as expected see Microsoft provide search technology to Yahoo! and in return (at least for the 1st five years) for a major portion (88%) of search advertising revenue from Yahoo! audiences. More info on the deal…
The likelihood is that this added market using Microsoft’s search technology will ultimately result in better search quality via search quality improvement programs making use of a larger number of users and adoption to using it as the search provider of choice as it proves to be an innovator in search that fulfils the promise of good relative search results.
I have for a long time been of the opinion that Microsoft is fully aware of the necessity for it to get internet search down so that it can have one last attempt at it before the Google machine engulfs the entire internet.. this move shows the faith the company has and those around it in their search technology. Interesting days are ahead…
From the left field
Google is not only having to contend with Bing gnawing away at its search market share but July saw a number of real-time search engines joining the race for your searches.
Real-time search poses a big threat to the more traditional search engines and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) strategies because because for the engines it means having to contend with small innovative start-ups (that have awesome product offerings) and SEO taking a whole new meaning as social real-time content added to the internet starts to work its way to the top of search results pages.
Watch this space for more info on real-time search as I will be posting on the topic in the coming days.
The search landscape…
One thing is for sure and that is that search is undergoing some radical changes and July 2009 is sure to be just the beginning of an extremely competitive fight for dominance in this extremely lucrative market.
Contrary to most Microsoft nay-sayers I really do hope that Microsoft can master search and build on its market share because that alternative where Google has such dominance and continues to extend its hold on new markets such as advertising, email, web analytics, books and everything else it can get its fingers into is very concerning!