It's perhaps one of the strangest product pitches I've heard. Asked on stage at Web 2.0 Summit by John Battelle about his Bing search engine, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer encouraged the audience to try Bing because, well, it's pretty much the same as Google. The Ballmer 70/15/15 Challenge "I would issue you all a kind of challenge to try any search you want on Bing and Google," Ballmer said, explaining that 70% of the time, there won't be any difference in the results, that 15% of the time, Bing will be better and 15% of the time, Google will be better. Now, if Ballmer had said that maybe [...]

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David Roth is Director Of Search Marketing for Yahoo, as well as being a very large Yahoo advertiser. Offering an insider’s perspective, Dave provides some unique insights into the forthcoming Yahoo/Microsoft search alliance. Here are his tips and information that will enable both large and small advertisers, publishers, and webmasters to navigate the process smoothly.

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Yahoo has provided an update on the current status of the transition over to Bing's search technology. On the organic side, Yahoo began testing Bing powered results. They are currently testing Bing powered results on about 25 percent of the traffic. They hope to transition over to Bing fully, sometime in September or October. That is, of course, if their tests go well. On the paid side, Yahoo is currently testing Bing powered ads, adCenter ads, on about 3.5% of the search queries. Yahoo has provided a detailed PDF document detailing the difference between the Yahoo and Microsoft ad [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal | Microsoft: adCenter | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: Search Ads

Right now, up to 25% of the Yahoo Search results are powered by Bing. Yahoo began testing Bing search results this month, currently there are live bucket tests underway on both the organic and paid side. Mark Morrissey, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Yahoo, told me that while only 3.5% of the paid ads are being powered by Bing in their tests, up to 25% of the organic results can be powered by Bing. Yes, up to 25% of the time you go to Yahoo and conduct a search, it can be a Bing powered set of search results. How would you know? You won't necessarily see a "powered b [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal | Microsoft: Bing | Top News | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Search

As early as Fall 2008, Microsoft set off on a crusade to openly evangelize what would become "Bing Cashback" with strategic agency partners and retail advertisers alike. The consumer rewards program was built to incent online shoppers with the purpose of influencing search behavior to gain repeat visitors and generate loyalty. Microsoft's goal would ultimately be to drive increased search revenue and market share. As an extension to adCenter search and Shopping listings, Bing Cashback held far-reaching promises of increased scale and brand enhancement for advertisers. It provided a unique l [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal | Microsoft: Bing Shopping & Cashback