Is Yahoo! The Center Of Your Online Life?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis

When Yahoo! brokered a deal with Microsoft to let the corporate monolith handle the former’s search functions, both companies were criticized all over the Web. Of course, there were the kudos as well. Some people thought the deal didn’t go far enough while others thought it went too far. But the bottom line, for Yahoo! at least, was could it be profitable?

The answer is in.

But I have one question: What does this little sentence mean?

“With new products like Yahoo! homepage, our brand revitalization campaign and expansion in the Middle East through Maktoob.com, our execution is improving and we’re focused on what we do best – being the center of people’s online lives.”

Yahoo! has always defined itself as a Web portal. To many people, that meant a place where people could go to search for information on a variety of topics. You could do that with Yahoo! search or pick a category like Sports, Autos, Games, etc. You could hang out on Yahoo! all night and really enjoy yourself. And many do. Do you?

This may be great for people who just want to relax when they get off of work. Instead of settling down with a beer and an episode of South Park, they can play Yahoo! Games, chat with Aunt Martha, or check the weather. But how does this help marketers?

Well, Yahoo! still accepts advertisers. So you could purchase a display ad and see how many people don’t click on it. But you could also advertise through Yahoo! search using paid search marketing – Yahoo!s equivalent to Google AdWords. The search function may be managed by Microsoft, but Yahoo! is still managing the advertising and taking a cut in the profits. That may not matter to you if you are an advertiser, but if Yahoo! remains profitable then it at least means that advertisers have another option on the table.