Yahoo: "Will Continue To Be In Search"

[engine]

Yahoo: "Will Continue To Be In Search" [news.bbc.co.uk]

Web giant Yahoo said it is still in the search game despite falling market share in a business it helped create.

The company held a press event to address what it called "misconceptions" about its search efforts.

Yahoo said a deal to let Microsoft's Bing power searches on its sites might have led many to think Yahoo had abandoned one of its core businesses.

"Yahoo has been in search, is in search and will continue to be in search," said Yahoo's search boss Shashi Seth.

[dertyfern]

Between the MS deal and their falling share of traffic how can they continue to be anything but a shadow of their former self. It's a shame because the net really needs more competition in this space.

[tigger]

so does this mean Y will hold onto its "own" search data ? rather than pulling Bings data in ?

[mack]

This totally contradicts their previous statements. They are a search engine, then they aren't now they are again. Yahoo has really lost focus.

Mack.

[engine]

Yes, it's a strange, mixed message. I think most of us know it's losing its place as a 'search' player.

[tigger]

what you mean its now 3rd ! not such a massive group anymore and when you consider when I joined WebmasterWorld there was maybe 10 or so players - sad days!

[JS_Harris]

The message wasn't "mixed" and it's not us who is confused, it's Yahoo!

From the NY times and an interview with Yahoo CEO Carrol Bartz - Quote "We Have Never Been a Search Company". Aug 2007 - [bits.blogs.nytimes.com...]

When it comes to those pages, Yahoo seems to be in a state of confusion. Its Sports section, for example, has reporters producing top-notch original material ranging from scoopy news items and blogs to long-form analysis pieces. The other parts of Yahoo tend to rely far more heavily on stories and other content from outside organizations.

According to Ms. Bartz, the majority of Yahoo’s sites will go the way of Sports. In particular, Yahoo will throw investments behind its entertainment, finance and news operations. Ms. Bartz noted that there are plenty of unemployed journalists out there to pick up.

This is, of course, a delicate dance for Yahoo. The company’s strength has been in collecting information, not producing it. As Yahoo competes more and more with its partners, they may turn their back on Yahoo.

[engine]

>The message wasn't "mixed" and it's not us who is confused, it's Yahoo!

Yes, that's what I mean. ;)

Carol Bartz has put out those messages in the past, and now we get this recent one.

If I believed all the spin, i'd be in a bad way.

[Harry]

Well, now Google has lost its ways, we need Yahoo more than ever as a search engine.

p.s. no one ever accuses Google of being confused because they racked in so much money, right?

[lammert]

Yahoo Search has been powered by Google until 2004 while they were working on a transition from Inktomi to their current search engine. Therefore it wouldn't surprise me if they use Bing as a temporary solution to create breathing space for their development team to come up with something new.

[ponyboy96]

We've been seeing a steady decrease in Yahoo traffic referrals over the past couple of months; although, our rankings are the same or better. Is Yahoo loosing traffic?

[JS_Harris]

Yes Yahoo is losing traffic, Bing passed them on my site several months ago although Bings gain has been almost exclusively yahoo's loss with Google increasing 0.1% for the same period time.

My rankings in Yahoo remain the same but the cache copy Yahoo is displaying is over a year old in some cases, Yahoo doesn't update very frequently.

[TheMadScientist]

That is the stake we have put in the ground. We will continue to show innovation and drive lots of great features and products into the marketplace and wow our users

Yeah, they definitely made me say 'WOW?' when they released the purple, cluttered, oversize text, undersized results SERPs. I mean they really wowed me, to the point of my not even bothering to check results there anymore. About all I could think was 'WOW?!?'...

"Yahoo has been in search, is in search and will continue to be in search," said Yahoo's search boss Shashi Seth.

Yes, but they still have no idea what they're searching for which makes it much tougher to find...

[Leosghost]

They should have rebranded as YoYo ..because that is what they have been behaving like ..

[edacsac]

I use yahoo and I kind of like what they offer at the moment for a portal. I do compare search results with google depending on how obscure my search is, but for day to day I stay with yahoo. I like the functionality, the news, etc.

I hope they stick it out and come back competitive in the future.

Although as a photog, I'm starting to really enjoy the home page images on bing.

[skibum]

Semel was the first nail in the coffin for Yahoo! It's been downhill since he rode in in his white knight outfit.

[JAB Creations]

Using Microsoft's engine is no different from a Ford truck using a Toyota engine, it's no longer an American vehicle even if you bought it in America.

Evil wins another round: Americans choice has been reduced from three to two.

- John

[jmccormac]

The only thing that Yahoo seems to be searching for now is a clue.

Regards...jmcc

[rise2it]

Yahoo shot themselves in the head when they left their directory (which actually made them different) and became 'just another search engine'.

A search may have only returned 5 results, but at they were RELEVANT results.

Instead, they chose to jump into the race of indexing and sorting the giant, neverending garbage dump which is the internet, forgetting that people that used Yahoo at the time used it because they did not want to sift through all of the garbage in the landfill.

[Seb7]

I don't understand how Yahoo can say this while passing search to MS. Do they really know what they are doing and saying?

Yahoo has done well up to now. But I think recent decisions will put them under.

[subhankar ray]

It has always been a pleasure to work with Yahoo. Some of their research guys, I met at different conferences, are very knowledgeable, sharing and humble. I hope Yahoo survives this challenging time in an Apple-like comeback.

[saxman]

Let's address the Pink Elephant in the room please... Yahoo's search results SUCK! plain and simple. I never thought that I would say that Microsoft Search Results are better than anyones, but here I am saying it? What happened to Yahoo? The last time I ever actually paid attention to their search results was 2004 - 2005... since then... :- P'''

[menj]

They should have accepted MS' offer when they had the chance.

[mack]

I think yahoo can still be I search, even if they don't build it maintain their own index. Yahoo has used another provider for search during most of its existence.

Inktomi, Google and soon to be Bing. Back in the ink or Google days Yahoo was still seen as a search engine.

Mack.

[saxman]

"Back in the ink or Google days Yahoo was still seen as a search engine."

Thats because they were using Ink and Google as their SERPs...

[mack]

Agreed, and soon they will be using Bing in their serps. Will they still be a search player? I think so.

When we look back to the Google and Ink days Yahoo! has more or less a customer. They paid for the service provided by the provider. How with a strategic agreement in place Yahoo can free up their resources and concentrate on ad sales. Not haveing the massive outlay of running their own search engine but still displaying results will probably help yahoo's bottom line.

Mack.

[saxman]

I thought I heard that Yahoo was using MS AdCenter for their Sales Ads though? Won't that just decrease their bottom line? The only thing that I see Yahoo doing by doing this is freeing up resources to delve further into video and news. I read an article just the other day where Yahoo said they were planning on shifting all of their power to these areas, but that, yes, they were not giving up totally on search. My theory is that they are ultimately going to try and develop a social network like Facebook and try to leverage that into a new search field...What do you think?

[TheMadScientist]

"Yahoo has been in search, is in search and will continue to be in search," said Yahoo's search boss Shashi Seth.

Uh, yeah, sure I believe you... NOT!

The U.S. Justice Department and the European Union have approved a deal in which Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. would combine their Web search operations...

Microsoft's plans to buy Yahoo's internet search and search advertising businesses have been cleared by both European and US regulators.

From the Bing Forum. The full articles are linked here: [webmasterworld.com...]

[saxman]

Thank you MadScientist.... MMmmmmhahahahahaaaaa

[Nuttakorn]

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