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Yahoo/Bing merger 'benefits travel'
Friday, July 31, 2009 The newly formed alliance between Yahoo and Microsoft could benefit travel agencies who rely on internet-generated leads. The internet giants this week announced they were pooling resources to challenge Google’s market dominance. The deal sees Yahoo implement Microsoft’s Bing search engine and become the sales force for both companies. Agencies and operators spend millions every year on search engine optimisation to make sure their company appears high on Google’s results. But the new partnership will challenge the incumbent monopoly and may lead to a drop in advertising rates. Online travel agency directline holidays has topped a number of Google’s recent monthly search engine polls, with more than half of total bookings generated by the web. Maria Whiteman, the company’s chief executive, said the coalition was “good news” for the industry. She predicted the “healthy competition” would improve the user experience. “The challenge to Google will benefit advertisers. Traffic volume, quality and cost are key. We won’t be changing anything over night and we have a good relationship with Google, but it is important to have innovation and proactive companies which offer choice and value.” Warren Cowan, chief executive of search engine marketing company Greenlight, said the deal would not have a significant impact on travel agents and operators in the UK. “The idea that a Yahoo/Bing merger will create a search player with close to 30% market share might be accurate for the US, where Google’s share is approximately 65%, but across the rest of the world and in the UK, where Google holds nearer to 90% market share, a possible deal will have less of an impact, he said.” Even Bing and Yahoo combined won’t dent Google’s dominance in Western Europe. A deal may shake up the industry in the US but as for the UK, it would probably have little or no impact at all – at least not in the short term.” • Yahoo boss warns over online spend (23 Jul 2009)
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