After starting with ‘MSN Search’ and then moving to ‘Live Search’, Microsoft made yet another attempt to beat Google in the search engine war with the launch of Bing – the “decision engine” in May 2009. However, based on industry reviews Bing is not a show-stopping disruptive technology, and in fact, has only some new features and a new name; hardly enough to capture a sizeable market share from the formidable search giant, Google.

Despite the luke warm response to Microsoft’s rechristened search engine Bing, it has managed to increase its total search market share both in terms of search penetration (May: 13.7% to 16.7% in June) and share of search result pages (May: 9.1% to 12.1% in June) according to Comscore. The search sector is a huge market so this increase is very significant. Rumor has it that Microsoft spent over 80 million dollars in marketing to promote Bing.

 Since the launch of Bing there have been some other very interesting developments in search. In fact, the buzz in the search industry was just settling when the possible alliance between Microsoft and Yahoo, long considered dead, resurfaced. Microsoft and Yahoo, two of the most potent challengers to Google’s search dominance, this month officially agreed on a 10 year search deal. There are two important aspects of the deal which are worth noting as they could change the search arena in days to come.

1.Microsoft will acquire an exclusive license to Yahoo’s core search technologies and is hoping to use it to better Bing. This could effectively mean better and more relevant search results, the prime reason behind Google’s success.

2. Microsoft’s Bing search algorithm will power both organic and paid search platform on Yahoo and Bing itself.

The partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo has inescapably altered the search industry landscape. This deal also means that Google’s attempt to get Yahoo paid search has come to a full stop; at least for the near future.

The Microsoft-Yahoo search deal will have major repercussions for the search industry because Yahoo and Bing carry a lot of weight and together they will be powered by Bing. Search marketers and advertisers will have to align their strategies and offerings to keep themselves ahead in the game. Some of the important points to be considered would be:

1. Search engine optimization for Bing is worth the time and money because even if you go by conservative estimates, together they command 28% of the market share (Comscore)

2. Leaving Bing out of your paid search campaign (PPC) is not a sensible choice.

3. Getting listed on Yahoo and Bing local will gain importance.

4. Paying more attention to Bing’s webmaster tools has become a necessity as there is a risk Yahoo site explorer will be left by the way-side.

While Google still continues to dominate the search landscape with over 70% of all search traffic, it is now clear that ignoring Bing in one’s overall online strategy could be a fatal mistake.