The Bing- Yahoo Partnership: Good News or Bad?

by Ronald North

Microsoft and Yahoo finally signed an agreement to join forces. There was not a buyout or a merger, as some analysts thought there would be: that may come later. But, the current contract between the two corporate giants, if not blocked by the Justice Department, has big implications for search engine optimization companies and everyone with a website. Here are a few of them.

1. Up to now, most SEO companies and website owners have focused on getting good rankings on Google, because nearly 85% of online searches are done on Google. With Yahoo and Bing sharing the new Bing search technology, they are very likely to take significant market share from Google. Thus, Yahoo and Bing can no longer be ignored.

2. Website owners with better rankings on Yahoo than on Bing will have to find a way to improve their rankings or compensate for the traffic they will lose when Yahoo adopts the Bing search.

3. On the other hand, if you now rank higher on Bing than on Yahoo, you can expect a nice traffic boost. I’ve got a big smile on my face because one of my sites which has a mediocre ranking on Yahoo for “online degrees“, comes up on page one of Bing for the very same term. With a half million searches every month for “online degrees”, I can’t wait for Yahoo to adopt the Bing search.

4. Because the Yahoo- Bing partnership will almost surely boost traffic on Yahoo, advertisers looking for high volume pay per click advertising campaigns will now find Yahoo- Bing a more attractive advertising option.

5. With the increased competition the Yahoo- Bing partnership will produce, there may be an incentive for Google to lower advertising rates and/or become more aggressive about reducing click fraud. Advertisers will benefit.

6. SEO companies will aggressively promote campaigns designed to boost search engine rankings in Bing. And, we’ll begin hearing from self-proclaimed gurus on Bing…count on it. Hopefully, most website owners will keep their wallets in their pockets.

If you own a website, I suggest that you do what I am doing.

1. Determine how your important keywords rank in Yahoo and Bing. If your Bing rankings are lower for somes, engage in article marketing to give them a boost and create several additional pages on your website which are optimized for them. Four or five well received, keyword rich articles can make a big difference in search engine rankings, especially if the keywords are no more than moderately competitive.

2. Resist the temptation to spend money on “special” Yahoo- Bing focused SEO campaigns. Remember that Bing is a new search engine and not much is yet known about its ranking algorithms.

3. Remember that the same three factors will continue to determine your search engine rankings; content, site structure, and inbound links. Concentrate on the big three and you’ll be fine.

A few minutes of analysis followed by a few weeks of keyword- focused promotion can help you overcome any challenges the Yahoo- Bing merger may create for you. Best wishes.