Bing’s David Pann recently penned commentary for the Bing Ads Blog, assuring marketers and SEOs that the relationship between Microsoft and Yahoo is not nearly as shaky as it was made out to be by the media. Last week, marketers put their ears to the wall so they could listen into discussions about the extended search revenue guarantee agreement, and learn whether it might be on the chopping block in the future.
Brafton recently reported that if the alignment between Microsoft and Yahoo crumbled, it’s rumored the latter could join forces with Google instead. Google’s massive market share would expand further if Yahoo joined its team, and SEOs would then need to hone their internet marketing strategies to earn top search positions.
Pann squandered the idea by assuring audiences that they “are pleased with our partnership with Yahoo and very encouraged by the momentum [they] are seeing in terms of revenue per thousand searches (RPM), ad relevance and the growth trajectory of Bing Ads.”
He adds that the renewal of the agreement solidifies the collaboration between the two companies and together, they have reached impressive benchmarks in recent months, including a 25 percent lift in click volumes year-over-year and the expansion into 15 new markets in 2012.
Findings from a recent Rimm-Kaufman Group report also show promise for the Yahoo-Microsoft partnership. The Q1 Digital Marketing report found client spending on Bing Ads rose 53 percent between 2012 and 2013, while the search engine’s keyword to query matching improved. Ultimately, this resulted in solid impression improvement throughout the year, RKG revealed.
As long as the search market continues to have multiple players with different technologies vying for internet users’ clicks, marketers will need to build their SEO strategies around each engine’s preferences.
