SubscribeWith its search-engine deal with Yahoo approved by regulators, Microsoft is gearing up for another run at challenging Google’s commanding market lead. But with comScore reporting Yahoo and Microsoft had 17 percent and 11.3 percent shares of the U.S. search market in January, the partnership will need to do some heavy lifting to dent Google’s 65.4 percent share.
Still, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he thinks the deal with Yahoo will greatly improve the relevance of advertising placed next to search results, which benefits advertisers and users alike.
“The relevance of advertising depends heavily on the density of bids,” Ballmer told the Search Marketing Expo West this week. “And the ability to put together Yahoo’s volumes and Microsoft’s volumes and use that in a way that improves the experience more — let’s call it all involved parties — we think is absolutely fantastic.”
A Lot of Work To Do
For advertisers, Ballmer noted, the Microsoft-Yahoo deal means more eyeballs in one campaign. “On top of that, we think there’s a huge advantage to scale, just in terms of our ability to get more signals [and] do more tests,” he added.
What’s more, Ballmer thinks the greater scale and volume from the deal will help Microsoft improve the relevance of results for search-engine users. He also expressed confidence that Microsoft will find game-changing opportunities by innovating in the areas of mobile phones, social networking, and real-time computing.
“We may only have our little 11 percent market share, but … we’ve been hiring a lot of great people and we’re trying to continue to push forward with great ideas,” Ballmer told University of Washington students Thursday.
Still, Ballmer admitted that Microsoft hasn’t figured out how to refashion its business search model. “We’ve done some experiments with Cashback and some other things, but…
Via NewsFactor
Yacine.org: Ballmer Sees Innovation as the Key To Search Success http://bit.ly/bciLul
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