Yahoo & Bing Search Partnership Update
In case you didn’t know, Yahoo and Bing (Microsoft) have been search partners since 2009. At that time, they signed a 10-year agreement which basically meant that Yahoo would display Bing’s search results (organic and paid). In return, Bing agreed to pay Yahoo an ad revenue share. The partnership is still in effect, but in April of this year (2015), both companies agreed to an amendment of the original deal.
“Over the past few months, Satya and I have worked closely together to establish a revised search agreement that allows us to enhance our user experience and innovate more in our search business,” said Marissa Mayer. “This renewed agreement opens up significant opportunities in our partnership that I’m very excited to explore.”
There are 3 main changes to the Yahoo & Bing search partnership:
- Yahoo will now be able to display up to 49% of their own search ads on desktop computers. In the original deal, Bing had control over 100% of desktop search results.
- Both companies will now handle their own advertising sales. Previously, Bing Ads was taking on most of the clients through its advertising platform, with Yahoo handling some of the “premium” accounts.
- Yahoo will receive a bigger chunk of the ad revenue share. Up from 90 to 93%.
What does this mean for advertisers?
Now that Yahoo Gemini and Bing Ads have their own separate search advertising platforms, you should consider signing up for both accounts. While Bing Ads may still display your ads on both Bing and Yahoo, you would receive more exposure by advertising through both networks. Also, my guess is both companies will eventually go their separate ways once the 10-year contract is up, so it doesn’t hurt to sign up for both.
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