Microsoft and Yahoo have renewed their partnership in search, aimed at improving the search experience and enabling users to more easily experience search across multiple platforms.
Microsoft and Yahoo are clearly aiming to compete with the likes of Google, which has remained at the top of the search ever since search became a prominent part of the Internet. How could this deal affect Google's position?
Microsoft's Bing currently has around 20 percent of search traffic, with Yahoo holding around 13 percent. Google, however, has a pretty massive 64 percent.
Under the original agreement between the two companies, Microsoft provided search services on computers and Yahoo got 88 percent of Bing Ads' revenue for searches made through Yahoo. Basically, Yahoo had to use Bing search results and ads on desktop searches, however, it was still able to provide its own results on mobile. This deal remains intact in the new agreement, but it will give Yahoo a little more freedom.
Under this new deal, however, Yahoo will be able to deliver its own search results and ads for up to half of the searches conducted by visitors to Yahoo.
What this means is that Yahoo will be able to innovate on a much higher level when it comes to search. This has been a goal of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer since she first took the reigns at the company. Mayer was a key figure in developing the Google we know and love today, so she's no amateur when it comes to search.
What does this all mean for Google? Well, to date, Yahoo has been a little locked up, meaning we will now be able to see what the company is really capable of. It's unlikely that we will see Yahoo take down the likes of Google within the next year or even a few years, however, it certainly does mean that Yahoo now has a lot more room to grow.
"Over the past few months, Satya and I have worked closely together to establish a revised search agreement that allows us to enhance our user experience and innovate more in our search business," said Mayer in a statement. "This renewed agreement opens up significant opportunities in our partnership that I'm very excited to explore."
Another important thing to note about the deal between Yahoo and Microsoft is that it is non-exclusive. This means that Yahoo could even partner with Google if it wanted to. While this seems a little unlikely at this point, it is certainly a possibility. Because of the fact that Mayer is a Google veteran, she very well might want to use Google's search algorithm over Bing's.
