Yahoo surrenders its claim to be a search engine

Where will the innovation come from in this new marriage of convenience?

In the interest of full disclosure, I have never been a fan of Yahoo.

In the search marketing and pay per click advertising world, there is Google and well, thats about it. Yes, as marketers we will pay some attention to Yahoo and Microsoft but lets face it, if you have limited resources and budget, it only makes sense to focus on Google and its 70% market share for Internet search.

Not only does Google have more eyeballs hitting its search site every day, they have a superior paid advertising system. Yahoo and to a lesser extent, Microsoft, have been playing catch up for years.

I've often said that neither Yahoo or Microsoft will surpass Google in search until they do something significantly different. If you have followed the evolution of Bing, Microsoft's new decision engine, you will see that in essence they are copying other search properties such as Ask and even Mahalo - companies which tried and failed at taking away share from Google. So today, I wasn't surprised when I read that Yahoo and Microsoft are now partners in search, and that moving forward, Yahoo's search results would be powered by Bing.

My stance now is that Yahoo is no longer a search engine. Whenever you outsource your search technology, algorithms and results to another company, you lose the right to call yourself a search engine. The decision is being heralded as a win-win for the two companies and also consumers. Steve Ballmer was quoted as saying that "we think this is one of these cases where the coming together will produce more effective market competition, not less."

More effective competition, sure. But more choice for consumers? Hardly.

Effectively there are now 2 major search engines, not three. And for all of Yahoo's flaws, they do have a history of at least trying to be innovative, which is more than you can say for Microsoft during the same period of time. Lets face it, being complacent is what allowed a young, agile startup like Google to come in and dominate the Internet space in the first place. Putting Microsoft in the driver's seat in the new Yahoo/Bing relationship will only further widen the gap between Google and everyone else.

Do you like this new merger of search contenders? Will it ultimately tip the balance of power in Microsoft's favor? What should Google's response be? Tell me what you think!