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And Yahoo Deserves it too!

You bet they do, so what is this all about?  It is about Googles new customized search program that allows users to build their own search engines.  The bigger issue is that if you are an adSense Publisher you can then display your adSense on the results page.

So how is this a punch in the face to Yahoo and just why do they deserve it?

Simple because on August 7th Yahoo Released "Yahoo Search Builder" and beat Google to the punch so to speak in allowing a real customized search engine to be built by anyone.  The custom search relied on Yahoo results but was customized by allowing users to include up to 25 sites that would be listed first in the results or restricting results to only that group of sites.  

The biggest problem was (and still is by the way), that there was no way for anyone to monetize this by linking the results to Yahoo Publisher.  To make matters worse if I built one of these custom engines and my users did a search with it they left my site and ended up on Yahoo.  So I sent my visitors off site and made no money.  Not exactly a win-win scenario is it?

When this occurred it prompted me to write two articles in what I consider Yahoo's self destructive behavior.  They were,

Is Yahoo Crazy

Followed up by

Yahoo Is Crazy  - In this second piece I quoted a member of the Yahoo Search Blog who responded to my comments on their failure to link Yahoo Search Builder to the Publisher Program with the following,

From Ariel at the Yahoo Post about Search Builder: "Actually, yes! Stay tuned. In the meantime, if you have some ideas/thoughts that would make for a killer integration of Search Builder with Yahoo! Publisher Network please let us know"!

My response was, "just do it".  Yet no, they never "just did it" and still till this day I have "stayed tuned" waiting for the ability to get really creative with my sites and especially those that really maximize contextual advertising. 

I had a few other issues with Yahoo's program.  Listing them all together in order of priority they were,

1.  The lack of any monetization
2.  The lack of ability to easily display the results on your own website and customize the look of the results page.
3.  The lack of ability to allow for user input and suggestion of sites for inclusion (community building)
4.  To choose if one of your sites were specified or simply given priority

Well along comes Google just a bit over two months later with Google's Custom Search Engine program which is part of Google Co-op.  I want you to think about my above four criticisms of the Yahoo Program as you read these four Bullet Points right off of the Google Page Announcing this new program, they are,

"What you can do with a Custom Search Engine?

1.  Place a search box and search results on your website.
2.  Specify or prioritize the sites you want to include in searches.
3.  Customize the look and feel to match your website.
4.  Invite your community to contribute to the search engine."

So am I some marketing genius that I figured out the exact formula Google would use when they countered the Yahoo program?  Hell no!  This is common business sense.  

Consider that if you are either Google or Yahoo you should know that your most savvy users with the biggest web presence are your contextual ad partners.  You should know that they have the largest ability to take a product like custom search and get it out into the market and turn it into a profit center for you.  

Honestly this is really simple, Yahoo focused on the one user, the creator who would build an engine for their own personal daily use or the little personal web site owner that wanted a few gadgets for his 20-30 daily visitors.  Nice thought!  Nothing wrong with that but it won't make any major impact on the market, besides if you make the product so that publishers CAN implement it the individual user can still use it as well, you loose nothing but gain everything.

Google however, thought about the market place and how they could find more ways into it.  They thought about how they could stem the advancement of thousands of tiny niche search engines that combined could take away 2-5% of the market in time (knowing in 10 years 2% will be billions of dollars) by making them partners rather then competitors.

Think about it, if you wanted your own search engine, one you could own and sell your own ads on did Yahoo or Swicki give you any real reason not to build one?  Using them you had two choices

1.  Give your traffic to Yahoo for free with some ability to customize the results - not much of a choice

2.  Get more control with a Swicki but have to split your adSense money THREE WAYS.  Yes three between, Google, Eurekster and You.  Further you could not customize the results page at all and often adSense results display Public Service Ads even on Eurekster pages for very competitive terms. - not much better

Now let's look at this major blow that Google has delivered to Yahoo and all competitors for that matter.

With this new program by Google I can do all of the above and really do it far better then I could even with a bunch of venture capital money.  I can do it on my own with no specialized programmers and I can do it in any niche I choose.

"Wait", I hear you yelling at your screen, "what about selling ad space"?  Well simple with Googles "Advertise on this Site" feature you can even customize that.  Yes folks Google just delivered a free customizable search engine, with instant monetization, the ability to fully control the results, fully complete with waiting advertiser dollars and punched Yahoo square in the face!

And yes Yahoo deserves it!  Yahoo could have delivered a solution like this long ago but instead they stood hands at their sides while the blow was delivered.  Yahoo stock holders should be asking why.  I myself wonder why.  Is this self destructive behavior, lack of vision or simply a poor decision?  I don't know but this is one of those fights where an onlooker can have little sympathy for the looser.

I have been called a "Yahoo Hater" as of late for pointing these things out and I want to end here by stating that I am not at all.  I really like a lot of things Yahoo does I just feel in this case they had the opportunity to make a simple adjustment and define themselves in a really unique way, to gain the incumbency in a new emerging market and they dropped the ball.  Anyone could have seen this coming, plenty did and practically screamed, "watch out", all while Yahoo took it firmly on the jaw.  

My fear is while not down for the count, Yahoo is going to spend a lot of time on the canvas for not making the right move on this one and honestly they have no one to blame but themselves.

More Info on Google Custom Search

- Google Custom Search on Google Co-op
- Announcement on the Jensense Blog
- Announcement on the Google Blog
- Search Engine Watch Blog Report on Google Custom Search

Technorati Tags: google, yahoo, seo, sem, search engine, custom search, personalized search, search engines, yahoo publisher, google adsense, contextual ads, internet marekting, search enging marketing, search marketing

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