Google V Yahoo Search

Yahoo! Search are hot on the heals of Google! Personally I welcome the move, Google have been in pole position in the search arena for too long.

Google won't go down without a fight, its first-quarter profits were up 60% from a year ago to approx. £332 million. The surge in travel & financial services ad spend, seem to have given Google's European search business a much needed boost.

It wasn't that long ago that the legal battle resulted in Google paying up to $60 million in future advertising credits due to click fraud, their legal costs to oversee this were speculated at half this figure again.

Until now affiliates and internet real estate owners have prefered Google Adsense as its revenue source. Its customisation and volume of advertisers were second to none. The launch of Yahoo! Search marketing ads through OMG may finally offer affiliates and alike a much needed alternative. The program will allow sites to integrate Yahoo! contextual ads, tailored to their site content, paying per click on a very competitive revenue share basis. The OMG partnership seems to be an extenstion of Yahoo's own Beta testing for direct sign ups.

Remember MSN Search is also in the pipeline after intial beta testing in France! 2006 is certainly shaping up to the be the "Battle of the Search"