Microsoft & Yahoo Finally Reached A Deal - Yahoo Gave Up Search

By Cheow Yu Yuan, July 30 2009

The much anticipated deal between Microsoft and Yahoo has finally concluded - Yahoo gave up search.

Microsoft and Yahoo has inked a 10 year deal to challenge Google’s dominance in online search. Microsoft has created a microsite about the deal.

Under the 10 year deal, Yahoo.com and Bing.com will maintain their own branding but search results on Yahoo will be powered by Bing. As for Yahoo, they will be responsible to attract premium advertisers.

Yahoo announced that the agreement will modestly decrease its overall revenue but increase its operating income by about $500 million annually.

Also, Microsoft will pay Yahoo 88% of the revenue it gains from searches on Yahoo’s sites. Microsoft will also have the rights to integrate Yahoo’s search technology into its own existing search platforms.

We can expect the deal to be closed in early 2010 and US users will start to see the changes 3 months later. Users from around the world will see the full effect within two years.

From SEO (search engine optimization) perspective, it seems that we do not need to optimize for Yahoo anymore. Because the Microsoft search engine Bing will power the Yahoo! organic search results.

As for PPC advertising (pay-per-click) perspective, it is good news too. By combining the Bing and Yahoo! search marketing platform, we can get the best out of the two companies. Once they integrate both platform, we will only use adcenter to manage ads on both Yahoo and Bing.

For more information about the deal, visit:

1) Microsoft Microsite

2) Press Release by Microsoft

3) CNN: Microsoft and Yahoo: Search partners

4) Search Engine Land: It’s Finally Official, Microsoft & Yahoo Make A Deal, Yahoo Gives Up On Search