14 DAY TRIAL // The anti-Google search alliance between Microsoft and Yahoo is quietly moving forward. Carolyn Miller, from the adCenter Community Team, provided a small update on the evolution of the search and online advertising deal between the two companies this week. According to Miller, US customers leveraging Bing and Yahoo for their online advertising will be able to start taking advantage of access to an increased number of searchers starting with the fourth quarter of this year. At the same time, the promise from the Redmond company is that the duo is working to open up their respective search engine to advertisers in additional markets worldwide come 2010.
“Through the convenience of one account, you’ll have access to an audience of over 154 million searchers in the U.S. (15.7 million in CA)¹. The Yahoo! and Microsoft teams have been working hard to design a high quality transition experience for customers. We’re working toward completing this transition in the U.S. and Canada before the start of the 2010 holiday season, with additional countries following on a staggered schedule beginning in 2011,” Miller explained.
In February 2010, Microsoft and Yahoo got the green light to move ahead with their search agreement from antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. It was only after regulators in the European Union and the United States gave their OK that the duo proceeded with plans to create a stronger no.2 on the search and online advertising market, to go against Google.
“If you’re an adCenter customer, the two most important things you can do are to manage your Microsoft adCenter campaigns as usual, and keep your eye out for Search Alliance email updates,” Miller said. “If you’re a Yahoo! customer, you’ll start to receive emails from Yahoo! in the coming months with tips on how to prepare your campaigns for Microsoft adCenter. Yahoo! and Microsoft have worked together to develop transition tools to help guide you through the step-by-step process of moving Yahoo! campaigns to adCenter. Beginning in late summer, Yahoo! customers will be able to initiate the transition process, and have several weeks to complete it.”