I read this in the Washington Post this morning; that Yahoo, in a three week test, will be showing Google AdWords ads in about 3% of their searches. This is big news, but is it good news or bad news?
I have to say I think that it is bad news. Google owns such as large portion of the search engine marketing market that to expand their holdings onto Yahoo, which really had a good new program, means to the average business that you will simply pay more per click.
Competition is good in a marketplace; offers alternatives, typically keeps prices lower, and keep competitors sharper as they work to garner market support. Moving AdWords onto the Yahoo platform can only mean that you as an advertiser will now pay more money for Yahoo clicks.
Yahoo had an excellent pay per click product and different search demographics which gave advertisers real differences and an alternative to AdWords. Now, when you advertise on Yahoo, you get Yahoo AdWords! I do say this tongue in cheek now, because remember this is a limited test, and it is not a done deal, but it does not bode well for people who are currently advertising on Yahoo.
What it does appear to me however is that with Yahoo and Google cozying up, a merger there may be in order creating GoogleY! Wouldn’t that just smack Microsoft in the face? First Microsoft bids too low to move their advertising onto AOL – which really killed their fledgling pay per click program several years ago and now they are letting Yahoo slip through their fingers. A better plan would be to up the ante for Yahoo and then become a real contender to Google searches and advertising.