Yahoo now controls almost all MSN results?

Yahoo now supplies almost 90% of all MSN search results.

[optimist]

Now that Yahoo owns Overture and Inktomi, what other results does MSN really have?

Can we not say now that Yahoo! has as much if not more search engine market share than Google?

Isn't MSN just paid listings in some manner, what use does MSN search really have after April 25th?

[2_much]

According to the numbers I see in my logs and what's reported in some of the stats services, Google still has around 50% of market share. Yahoo is now close behind with all its combined traffic.

I think MSN is useful in that it provides Yahoo SERP's, which are very good. For people who are used to using MSN, who have it as a default on their Windows-based computer, and who don't know much about the web, these results are useful because they wouldn't know to search elsewhere.

Yahoo's definitely a force to reckon with now as their traffic is more qualified than Google's and they now power a huge part of the web.

[bostonBeans]

...as their traffic is more qualified than Google's...

What do you mean by this? That the Yahoo! (and MSN) user base is more likely to convert?

-bB

[sweet_ali]

If I remember correctly it was a little more then a year ago that MSN signed a 2 year contract with inktomi to provide them with search results.

Now whether that contract is null and void after the purchases remains to be seen. If MSN still is bound by that contract, that would explain why they want to be independent but this summer.