Are Google And Yahoo Going To Split?
from the increasingly-competitive dept
SFGate has an article about how Google has grown up, saying that Yahoo! is now looking for ways to be less reliant on the company that, in some ways, they consider to be a competitor. This story has come up before, and I stand by what I’ve said in the past. If Yahoo sees Google as a “competitor”, then they’re making a strategic mistake. The people who stick with Yahoo seem to do so because it gives them a number of different services in one place, including a strong search engine. If they were to ditch that for a weaker search engine, they would end up driving people right into Google’s arms. As it stands now, people know they can get the same search results and will keep using Yahoo’s search (and other properties) allowing them to get more ad impressions. It’s not as though Yahoo users don’t know Google exists. Pretending it doesn’t exist isn’t going to make the searching experience any better. It’s just going to make users less happy, and more likely to use Google directly.
Comments on “Are Google And Yahoo Going To Split?”
Probably true but...
It probably would be a poor decision by Yahoo–but there are other options, and the search engine “industry” (for lack of a better term) has shown time and time again that it’s extremely difficult to dominate for too long. Teoma seems to be doing some pretty good things, and there are others. So assuming that Yahoo ditching Google would mean they’d have a weaker search engine is a little too bold. Once upon a time, Altavista was king & powered Yahoo, and that switch certainly was pretty bright. I still think Google is fantastic and really makes the web better, so I’m mostly playing devil’s advocate here, but I’m definitely open to the fact that some one else can (and probably will) come along outperform them. Google has a lot of brilliant people, and a terrific, culture that really fosters their billiance, so it wouldn’t be easy.
Of course, the marketing side of it is trickier. The fact of the matter is Google is a competitor to Yahoo. (Though so was AltaVista). It really should come down to demographics–XX% of people will use Yahoo no matter what. XX% use Yahoo because it uses Google and would switch to Google. XX% would stick with Yahoo if the Google replacement is good enough and switch to Google if it weren’t. Without really knowing what those percentages are, I don’t know that you can really say whether it would be a good or bad decision.
Re: Probably true but...
Yup. Definitely good points. I should have mentioned the caveat that if Yahoo really can find a better search than Google, they should absolutely go for it.
As for the %s, also a good point, but I was implying that I believe those percentages weigh heavily in favor of Yahoo sticking with Google.
competitors
Hi, my name is Chris Jeffery and I am a Penn State student. I am in a management class and I am doing some research, and looking for some help. I am wondering who is Yahoo’s two biggest competitors and what are the differences between Yahoo and those two. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Thank you,
Chris Jeffery