Remington BeggAs part of Yahoo’s recent earning news, it revealed a new search deal with Google. Essentially, Yahoo reached an agreement with Google that provides it with additional flexibility to choose among suppliers of search results and ads beyond their deal with Bing Ads. This could be a big change for your company’s SEO reach and inbound marketing strategies, so let’s break down exactly what we know for sure:
Yahoo Needs to Increase Revenue
Which would you rather do, compete against one of the leading companies on the planet, with a brand name so commonplace that is has actually become a verb in it’s own right, or have them join with you to boost your profits? Yahoo is under tremendous investor pressure to increase revenue and part of that is increasing user experience, which is where Google comes in. User experience is Google’s top priority, and it has made them ultra successful.
Yahoo Is Not Completely Leaving Microsoft Behind
But wait, doesn’t Yahoo have a contract to use Bing Ads for their search engine? They do, and that agreement was actually just renewed. Google’s offerings will complement the search services provided by Microsoft, not replace them. As part of the renewal, Yahoo agreed that Bing’s ads would appear on 51 percent of the desktop searches that Yahoo delivers. The other 49 percent could be “powered” by Yahoo’s own ad system or from any third party that Yahoo wanted to use- ie. Google. So while this new Yahoo-Google deal is a big shake up, Microsoft isn’t completely left in the dust.
It Includes Both Organic and Paid Results
The agreement covers both organic and paid search advertising, so this change is big news to both SEO and PPC specialists. Since mobile is king, the deal also spreads beyond the desktop results and includes mobile as well. However, Yahoo has near total control over when or whether to use Google results on either platform.
Not All Countries are Included
North America is obviously included but Europe is specifically excluded from the deal because of their strict Anti-Trust Laws which has already embroiled Google in lawsuits. Many South American and Asian countries, as well as Australia, is included in the deal too.
The Deal Has Already Started
It’s not a matter of when this deal will start, it actually already has. The agreement between the two companies went into effect on October 1, 2015. The term of the three-year contract runs through December 31, 
2018, and is presumably subject to renewal. But even that could change because...
The Deal Could Still Be Terminated
While the deal has already been struck, the actual implementation of the agreement won’t happen until after a regulatory review, the timing of which is unclear right now. Yahoo and Google are voluntarily allowing the US Department of Justice a “reasonable period of review.” If a governmental or regulatory body in the US threatens to take action or takes action against the deal, either party could terminate at any time to avoid a suit. Even in Europe, where the deal doesn’t even apply, the European Commission could still kill it.
The implications of this deal, when rolled out, could have big changes for our digital landscape. In the world of SEO, many experts, leave out Yahoo altogether and focus solely on Google. But could this change now that Yahoo has total discretion over when to use Google organic results and ads on their platform? While we wait for more information, like a release date of the roll out, catch up with other current organic practices in our free eBook Modern SEO.
