A while ago I wrote a post asking if a Yahoo search revival was under way. Shockingly, new evidence seems to indicate I was correct. This comes as Yahoo is trying desperately to salvage their Google tie-up – a deal which would pretty much cede whatever gains Yahoo has made to the dominance of their bigger partner. That is way more ironic than, say, rain on your wedding day (which isn’t really ironic at all unless you’re a weather forecaster in which case the chances of irony is 30%.)
The evidence?
To start there is Yahoo’s own earnings report, a document that was singularly cheerless save for the fact that search queries rose 10% and revenues per search were up 20%. It sounds like some of that fiddling with their search algorithms is paying off.
Adding to this is verification from our friends at ComScore who report that Yahoo’s share of the search market increased in September to 20.2 % from 19.6 %. While that’s not a mind blowing figure in and of itself, putting these three data sets together suggests strongly that Yahoo’s search business ought not to be counted out.
This is all the more so when they are experiencing comparatively sluggish growth in their vaunted display as business, a sector which is expected to fall under increasing pressure. Marketer’s budgets are under increased scrutiny and search increasingly is the flight to quality where they are parking their resources for the best return.
So with the Justice Department and Congress casting a wary eye on GooHoo does Yahoo really have to turn to Google to make more money from search? Particularly when approval of the ad deal will probably require all kinds of restrictions and exceptions that will cut into potential profits? Let me know your thoughts!
