Yahoo!'s New Search Engine - Yahoo Replaces Google as Search Provider

The impact of Yahoo replacing Google as search engine provider can be enormous on anyone's web traffic. Until now, according to comScore Media Metrix, a Nielsen//NetRatings competitor, Google boasted market share of around 79% which included 16% through the AOL partnership and 28% through Google's agreement to provide search results at Yahoo's portal.

Yahoo, on the other hand, through its Inktomi subsidiary, has been providing search results to MSN. In addition, Yahoo through its Overture subsidiary owns AltaVista and AllTheWeb. The switch from Google-provided search results to Yahoo's own search results at Yahoo Search implies a major shift in search engine market share -- from 28% to 51% for all Yahoo search properties and partnerships.

While nobody argues the dominance of Google as the top search engine, now that Yahoo provides its own search results, it is only logical to anticipate that Google's position will be diminished. This leaves Yahoo and Google as the two main search engine providers, leaving Ask Jeeves (and its Teoma subsidiary) with 3% market share and 2% for all other search engines.

What if you are not included in Yahoo's index?

Currently, Yahoo provides two options to get your web content indexed in its new search engine: by using a free URL submission box available to its registered users (you would need to login to Yahoo to access that feature), or by using Yahoo's paid inclusion program, Inktomi.

Yahoo claims that submitting a web link via the free URL submission box is considered only "suggestion" and not a guarantee that the page will be added to the index.

The only guaranteed way to have your content included is to use the Inktomi paid inclusion program. The pricing for Inktomi paid inclusion is as follows:

1st URL - $39
URLs 2-1000 - $25 each

Yahoo has not commented on the fate of its other search engines, AltaVista and AllTheWeb, which were acquired through the Overture purchase last year. Currently only the Inktomi inclusion will feed search results into the new Yahoo Search index.