In a bid to boost its revenue, Yahoo is partnering with its strong competitor Google by signing a non-exclusive deal to provide search ads for Yahoo's search results.
Upon issuing its third-quarter earnings results, Yahoo announced it has formed a new search deal with Google, which started on Oct. 1 and will lapse at the end of 2018.
Under this arrangement, Google will supply algorithmic search, search ads as well as image search services for both mobile and desktop.
"In October, the Company reached an agreement with Google that provides Yahoo with additional flexibility to choose among suppliers of search results and ads," writes Yahoo in its report discussing the company's third quarter results. "Google's offerings complement the search services provided by Microsoft, which remains a strong partner, as well as Yahoo's own search technologies and ad products."
Since the agreement is non-exclusive, this does mean that Yahoo can still use Microsoft-owned Bing or its very own in-house technology in providing search ads. It has been reported that the company is focusing on creating its own technology specially engineered for mobile search results.
"As Yahoo shared, they now have the option to use Google as one of their suppliers for search results and ads on their sites," said Google which touts the more profitable search and ad infrastructure.
Collaborating with the Mountain View-based company signifies Yahoo will get a chop of the earnings from Google, billed as the most powerful search engine across the globe.
In August, comScore reported the search network of Yahoo only logged 12.7 percent market share in the U.S. desktop searches. Google, however, notched 64 percent.
Deal With Microsoft
As Yahoo pointed out, its deal with Microsoft is not threatened by its recently signed contract with Google.
Yahoo teamed up with Microsoft way back 2010. The 10-year agreement between the giant companies was aimed to help Yahoo in powering its search engine. In exchange, Microsoft will get a slice of the search ad revenue.
This arrangement was loosened in April this year as a termination clause was added into the agreement, allowing the two companies to walk away from the pact with four months' notice.
