Google market value has topped $50B, so now they're worth more in dollar value than Yahoo. That goes right in line
with being worth more in search value and relevance. (CBS MarketWatch)
I've written before that Yahoo has their fingers in so
many pies that they don't have the necessary attention on search that Google does. Google only buys companies
that offer services, software and add-ons which increase the value of the Google search experience.
Yahoo buys companies when they think they might be able to squeeze some extra bit of profit from them and add to
the already confusing array of services which take an alphabet soup of
109 Yahoo "properties", broken down alphabetically.
Yahoo bought up all the available search "properties" within the last couple of years and, as I said in mid-July
of 2003, "Well if it is a horse race, Yahoo may gain on leader Google if they are able to integrate their
Inktomi and Overture (and by extension,
Altavista and Fast/ AllTheWeb) purchases into relevant search results that searchers trust. But all of the
Jockeys on those horses will be whipping their charges toward the finish line with an eye to the winning purse."
The fact is - Yahoo search is no better than Google now that they have bought up all real competitors. Referred
traffic from Yahoo search results to web sites is still only one fifth that of
Google at 70% versus Yahoo's anemic
15 to 20%.
The new MSN search may pose a threat to Google if they continue on their current path toward relevant search
results. As of October 2004, Google market capitalization of $52 billion with shares hovering around $160 per
share price, reflects the true value of Google.
Yahoo is kind of like a WalMart, a "Portal" with everything under one roof and over a hundred wildly diverse
"properties" that don't contribute to search relevance or search value.
Google confirmed today that they have no intention of becoming a portal, but instead intend to keep the laser
focus on search that made them number one. This focus was underlined by CEO Eric Schmidt's comment in the
Financial Times of London, "We are not building a browser," to stop that circulating rumor.
Yahoo! Search has introduced a Google clone search page but who will see it? If you visit the Yahoo home page,
you'll see a couple of hundred links to all their services such as Yahoo Jobs, Yahoo Dating, Yahoo Finance,
Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Movies Yahoo Stores, Yahoo News, Yahoo Web Hosting, "More Yahoo" and "Even More Yahoo" links
near the bottom of the home page, blah blah blah, etc. But they've put up an elegant Google clone for
their search page at search.yahoo.com that nobody will ever see unless
it is bookmarked or typed directly into the browser address bar!
Yes, you can search from the Yahoo home page and that is the most prominent of all the Yahoo's glut of stuff,
but I'll bet they posted this spare little copy of Google's home page to appease those who don't want to wade
through the rest of the mess to get to search. This placement means that only those of us that purposely
avoid their home page and jump right to search by typing http://search.yahoo.com/ into the address bar
will find that page.
That's the equivalent of MSN of course where you must type in search.msn.com to
see their spare search page. But MSN has at least kept some elements of branding in the design of that page,
while Yahoo has made their page look like the Google home page with a Yahoo logo. I can't wait to see how
they'll integrate Yahoo Desktop Search into the browser ... the same way Google did.
Yahoo enters the Desktop Search race how? Buying a company! According to Mike Grehan in a
Pandia Search News article "Yahoo! may also be
joining in the race for Total Search. They recently acquired the e-mail software company Stata Labs which sells
an e-mail application called Bloomba that lets people search message text and attachments."
Today the market has confirmed what searchers already know, that Google now tops Yahoo in financial relevance
as well as in search relevance. Google leads and Yahoo follows. Google develops new technology while Yahoo buys it.
Google envisions & innovates but with Yahoo it's more like "Yahoo see, Yahoo do" done by buying another company.
About The Author
Mike Banks Valentine does Search Engine Optimization. Contact him at
SEOptimism.com. Visit RealitySEO.com for Mike's daily commentary on the
Search Engine business. Subscribe to the RSS feed or join and comment yourself on the latest search news.
