Google Search Engine Optimisation

The gloves are about to come off for the mother of all search and SEO wars with news that European and U.S. regulators have approved the Yahoo/Bing collaboration.

Though the 10-year search partnership deal between the former rivals was finalised in December, it still required approval from both the US Department of Justice and the European Commission.

Microsoft and Yahoo! CEOs seem thrilled with the deal, with Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer defining it as ‘an exciting milestone’ whilst Yahoo!’s Carol Bartz declared it a ‘breakthrough search alliance.’

Both companies will continue to compete for users. However, the Yahoo! search engine will now take all its listings from Bing. Yahoo! on the other hand assumes sole responsibility for volume advertisers, SEO companies, Search Engine Marketing specialists and resellers as well as also offering improved listings, rich content and a range of other tools.

Whilst some analysts point to recent Google marketing tactics such as their multi-million dollar Super Bowl ad or their commitment to mobile marketing through the Nexus One and Android as revealing their concern over the Yahoo/Bing alliance, some experts aren’t so sure that it will pose anything other than a minor threat to Google’s search domination. The Microsoft-Yahoo!

Partnership is a ‘devious and potentially powerful strategy’ says Erik Sherman on Bnet. Others in the industry offer the case that although Bing is widely regarded as technically a very good search engine, few people use it and it’s still unprofitable. They don’t believe that the deal poses a serious threat to Google. “A not-too-shabby and profitable world number two search engine. But still no Google,” analyst Chris Green of DMG Europe told Big Mouth Media.

Whether Google’s stranglehold on search engine dominance sees any genuine weakening remains to be seen. That said, the joint efforts of Yahoo! and Bing will almost certainly increase their combined market share. In future it will be increasingly important for web site owners to optimise their sites for more than just Google.