Yahoo has announced that it will be shutting down its Search Marketing blog. Search marketers might take this as one of many signs that the company is fading from the search market.
The company claims it is eliminating the Search Marketing blog to focus its efforts on its Yahoo Advertising Blog. The latter will feature some search marketing-friendly content, such as SEO articles, according to Yahoo.
Still, internet marketers might take the end of this blog as a sign that Yahoo's search services are declining. Ever since the company entered a search alliance with Microsoft, Bing has fielded the queries conducted on Yahoo sites. More recently, Yahoo's search volumes have declined while Bing has gained search ground.
Yahoo also saw its search revenue drop last quarter. While CEO Carol Bartz tried to blame problems on the Microsoft adCenter, many industry experts agree that these revenue losses are an indication that SEO marketers should focus on Bing instead of Yahoo.
Indeed, many paid search advertisers would disagree with Bartz's assessment of the Yahoo search revenue situation. According to the recent State of Search Marketing Report from Econsultancy and the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, nearly one-quarter of North American marketers (22 percent) say that the Microsoft/ Yahoo alliance has had a positive impact on their paid search marketing activity.
