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Yahoo Stealing the Top Search Engine Result?

Yahoo Stealing the Top Search Engine Result?

Over at SEO Chat a member is complaining about Yahoo! including a relevant result to a Yahoo property at the top. Do a search on Beatles at Yahoo and you will see under the sponsored ad, a Yahoo Shortcut. The Yahoo Shortcut for this result leads you to either the Beatles page on Yahoo! Launch or if you prefer to buy a CD, it will lead you to Yahoo! Shopping with Beatles CDs.

How is this any different then what Ask Jeeves is doing with that result? They are probably doing a better job. Of course Google is too pure to shove you commercial results unless you specifically ask for it. But I personally would like to see Froogle results included in the Web results at the top Beatles CDs for sale when I search for Beatles CDs.

DanielMar brings up an interesting opinion in the discussion on the difference between Yahoo and Google search philosophy; “I believe that the main difference between Yahoo and Google is their philosophy in doing business. Google is owned by geeks whose main interest was the technology itself (pr), they are customer oriented, and the more relevant their results are, they more successful they will be. Money comes later from advertisers who will eventually pay to get listed on a relatively honest serp. If Google loses relevancy and accuracy in serp, then it’s out of business, at least in the search industry.

Yahoo’s always was “advertiser” oriented, and that’s how it will remain. $$$ comes first. Yahoo seens a tough rival in Google, that’s why they optimized their search technology, but still yahoo is a portal, and it makes money from a lot of other sources than search itself (games, hosting, astrology, shopping, etc…). I see MSN driving the same road Yahoo does. That’s why I am confident that Google will remain the “standard” search engine for many years to come, considering the powerful Froogle, and other new technologies all aiming to one direction : search and find documents fast and easily.”

Is Yahoo! stealing results? I don’t think so. I think they are using their large network of content and quality information to make for a better user search experience.

Barry Schwartz is the Editor of Search Engine Roundtable and President of RustyBrick, Inc., a Web services firm specializing in customized online technology that helps companies decrease costs and increase sales.

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SEJ STAFF Loren Baker Founder at Foundation Digital

Loren Baker is the Founder of SEJ, an Advisor at Alpha Brand Media and runs Foundation Digital, a digital marketing ...