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The New YAHOO! Advertising Blitz

Right On Target or a BIG Waste of Money?

         

skibum

4:07 am on May 27, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



It seems YAHOO! is aiming dead on for Google. Head to head combat, all out war in a bid to dominate the search market. YAHOO! just launched an all out advertising ccampaign [internetnews.com] even a gigantic billboard in Times square [siliconvalley.com].

IMO it will either work brilliantly, or possibly, prove once and for all that the net is different and this kind of branding campaign will not work on the net or maybe just in search.

If ya had to place a bet, will dumping all this money on offline advertising help stem the surge Google is experiencing and prime users for the new YAHOO! supersearch (whadda think the chances are that will be unveiled at SES San Jose or Chicago?) or will they just burn through a ton of cash while Google continues to grow on word of mouth?

AAAkkkkk! Already in progress:

[webmasterworld.com...]

jeremy goodrich

6:34 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



he he he, nice write up though - even if it was a repeat :)

I noticed Yahoo! bought a spot on a famous billboard on highway 101 here in Silicon Valley (north end) so I see that every time I'm on my way home from work.

Though, between that & all the rich media banner ads, I still have yet to see #1 solid reason to start searching there.

Dunno if it will impact "joe six pack" or not, only time will tell I suppose.

2_much

11:37 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Skibum, I think it'll be #2. Word of mouth. I've been talking to a lot of non-techies lately, people who can barely turn on their pc's and only know how to check their email.

When they talk about searching, they say, "I did a Google search and ... "

Yahoo may gain ground based on its name and all the features they're rolling out, DSL, etc. But not advertising offline advertising I don't think.

At the end of the day it's all about quality. And the "Google Experience" is still much better than the "Yahoo Experience". Even though I uninstalled my Google Toolbar and have the Yahoo toolbar installed, I rarely use it. There's a feeling of clutteredness in Yahoo that makes it difficult to use. Plus you have to scroll down to get real results. I wish they would reduce the site of their header.

In any case, I think Google has surpassed Yahoo in search and I think it'll stay that way.

skibum

2:43 am on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I'm kinda hoping the ad campaign is a big flop. It would be nice to see a good search engine win over one that tries to brand its way to the top with massive in your face ad spending.

mfishy

9:40 pm on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



2_much,

Not really sure where your coming from here. Yahoo uses Google results, so the quality is exactly the same. Thye also have a new search that is not cluttered at all. [search.yahoo.com...]

I have seen this come up a few times recently and am curious as to why webmasters would claim Google has better results than Yahoo when the results are very similar.

Hunter

10:25 pm on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



mfishy, the point is that Yahoo appears to be unable to provide the quality searches that Google provides. That is why Yahoo incorporates Google results.

mfishy

11:56 am on May 30, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Agreed. Obviously Google is better at search technology than Yahoo. However, I doubt if joe surfer really cares where the results are generated as much as finding what they search for. In this case, Yahoo will get you to the same place as Google.

It should be interesting to see how and when they incorporate Ink. This will changes things dramatically on the search scene.

2_much

6:50 pm on May 30, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



mfishy, the new search interface isn't cluttered, but the SERP's is.

You have to zone out a lot of information before you can actually get the results.

Even though the results are mostly the same, Google gives it to you immediately, without having to tune anything out - what you need is just right there.

Yahoo makes you sort through a lot of information first. Instead of using the toolbar to search, I prefer going to Google.com and typing my searches in there, even though the results are almost the same. It's just quicker and cleaner.

mfishy

10:57 am on May 31, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I agree and use Google myself. Just pointing out to those (obviously not you) here that don't know that Google provides Yahoo search.