In case you hadn’t heard, Microsoft put a bid in to purchase Yahoo and create a formidable software and online behemoth. For all the publicity that Google gets, you can’t forget that Yahoo is the most trafficked site on the Web, and Microsoft has a monopoly on Operating Systems and a near-monopoly on web browsers. To this point though, they haven’t had much of an impact on the marketing efforts of businesses. Google has ruled that arena, which is why they are worth $165 Billion. But a merger of these two big players will directly impact your business and your bottom line.

The Latest

While Yahoo has spurned Microsoft’s initial offer of almost $45 Billion, most analysts thinks this is just the first round in drawn-out negotiations that Microsoft will eventually win.

Let’s say that this does follow through - how will it affect your business?

Why Some Think You Won’t Be Affected

Analysts of the online industry don’t think this merger will do anything to decrease the sizable advantage Google has over both companies. Technically and culturally, Google is just far superior so “two wrongs don’t make a right”. I agree with that assessment - that Google is still the superior company than the two combined… but

Why You Will Be Affected

Businesses can advertise (and should) advertise on each of the three search engines. If anyone suggests that you should advertise elsewhere, they’re just trying to get your money. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft make up 90% of the industry so you’re reaching 9 out of 10 people searching for you online - pretty good percentages if you ask me.

The problem is that most people only focus on Google. With their dominant share, it makes more sense to focus all your effort on one advertising platform that reaches over 50% of potential clients than split that attention among two other systems. The fact is, we do the same thing. We only move to the other search engines when we’re trying to get a larger target market. It’s just not worth our limited time to go after the additional search engines when you won’t get as great of a return.

But if it’s two platforms, and they both reach an equivalent amount of people online, we’ll start rethinking our marketing efforts (and our clients’). All of a sudden, it makes sense to work on both. So by moving two platforms to just one and increasing the viewership, a lot of smart marketers are going to rethink their strategy.

You Will Be Able to Reach More Potential Clients, with Less Effort

If you’re marketing online and you’re seeing a new influx of clients from these efforts, you will now be able to double this effect. If you’re not marketing online, your competitors who are already online will move on to this new platform and continue to attract new clients who are searching for everything online.

So we think the merger is good for businesses. Fair competition great for the consumer and this will only make online search and Pay-Per-Click marketing even more dominant as the most efficient way to reach potential client.

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