Yahoo is late again!?
Everyone is aware that Yahoo are second to Google in most respects; volume of search, volume of conversions, and second again for response times. You may think that this is a sly dig at the one time prevalent engine, but it all makes sense when you analyse why.
Overture was the initial PPC engine that was licensed out to numerous search platforms back in early 2000, before eventually being solely purchased by Yahoo in 2003. This was the original PPC platform based on a CPC basis – your position is based solely on price and nothing to do with quality, like Google. Yahoo has since launched Panama within the US and Europe to update to a quality basis, however it must be said they were considerably late! Not only are they late off the mark at getting the idea in place, but how late are they at implementing! They are over a year late and launching within the UK, which sums them up well.
Yahoo are also launching an Ambassador Qualification Exam to replicate what Google have done. Great idea, but how long have Google been running the GAP exam? Some 2 and a half years, that’s all! Not only this but I can also reveal that Yahoo have again delayed the launch of this Qualification due the late launch of Panama. Is this a never ending spiral of lateness?
Yahoo and Google both originated from Stanford University in America, Google didn’t come about until some 2 years after Yahoo. Yahoo even had the opportunity to buy Google but the Yahoo owners turned it down! How big a decision does this now appear to be?!
Yahoo is an effective engine to use, especially within Retail, and Recruitment is another up an coming vertical on this engine. Yahoo have a similar number of advertisers as Google but have far less resources and far less ad revenue in order to provide these resources. This is why things are different over at camp Yahoo.
As Head Of Search, I have regular meetings with Yahoo delegates to make sure our clients have the best possible chance of succeeding on the second best search engine.