Microhoo: search will be a two-horse race by year end

Adam Bunn

Microsoft's plans to buy Yahoo's internet search and search advertising businesses have been cleared by both European and US regulators (See: EU, US clear Microsoft, Yahoo! deal)

This will mean Bing powers the natural search results for Yahoo!, while Yahoo! handles advertising for Bing. This was among the 10 predictions for paid and natural search  we made earlier.

Microsoft has a good chance of increasing Bing's market share over the year, making ''Microhoo'' worth paying much more attention to from an SEO perspective.

However, SEO functionality-wise, Microsoft has so far shown little inclination to offer the kind of information that Site Explorer does, not good news for the majority of SEO's, who rely on Site Explorer for backlink analysis and competitive link intelligence. Bunn explains.

Microsoft and Yahoo! finalised their tie-up in early December, shortly after the competition regulators in Canada and Australia approved the deal. Its approval by the US department of justice and the ECC, paves the way to integration before the year is out.

That will mean that Bing powers the natural search results for Yahoo!, while Yahoo! handles advertising for Bing, leaving the search landscape a two-horsed race -  well, in so far as a market where one player has 80 per cent plus market share can be called a ''race''.