14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo Search has already started to be replaced on some Yahoo properties but not with Bing as one might expect but with Google. British Telecom's portal for its broadband subscribers, created in collaboration with Yahoo, has decided to switch to Google to power the search portion of the site. The rest of the services of the portal, like email, are still provided by Yahoo.
The co-branded portal was launched in 2003 to provide BT broadband users with a number of Yahoo services, including search at the time. But with Google now having about 90 percent of the UK search market share BT decided to make the switch hoping to get more users doing searches on the site, bringing BT more money in the process. It probably helped that Google is likely raking in about two or three times more from the searches than Yahoo, as Connected Internet reports.
The move comes as Microsoft and Yahoo have reached an agreement with the latter effectively selling its search business to the former. The deal means that Bing will power the searches made on Yahoo properties though the search result pages will retain their branding and design. However, Yahoo will take over the ad sales for major clients for both companies. The deal is for the next 10 years and should be gradually put in place, provided the authorities approve of the transaction, which will give Bing around 30 percent of the market in the US.
Still, partnering with Google isn't exactly something new for Yahoo. Last year, after talks with Microsoft crumbled, the two companies attempted an advertising deal that eventually fell through, with concerns from the US government. But the relation between the two actually goes much further back as, up until 2004, Yahoo didn't have its own search engine and licensed Google technology to power searches across all of its properties for several years before that.