Windows Vista Launch Hurts Yahoo, But Not Google

 

The launch of Windows Vista has lifted Microsoft's Live Search share of the U.S. search market, but Microsoft's gain has come at the expense of Yahoo and Ask rather than Google.

"We saw a pretty substantial lift for the first time this year for Live Search," says Jeremy Crane, director of client services at Compete, an online market research firm. "And it happened to coincide with the consumer launch of Vista."

Live Search is the default search engine in Vista, a home-field advantage that Google has sought to counter with distribution deals for its search software.

In a blog post published today, Compete reported that Windows Live had received almost 590 million Web search queries in the United States in February, a 10% increase from 534 million in January.

During this period, Microsoft also saw a 10% increase in search query volume, which translates to a market share gain of 1 percentage point, moving Live Search from 8% to 9%.

Google also saw a market share gain of 1 percentage point during the same time frame as a result of a 3% gain in overall search volume, which reached almost 4 billion queries. Google's share of the U.S. search market in February rose to 63% from 62% the previous month.

Yahoo and Ask lost market share during this period, dropping from 23% to 21% and from 4% to 3% respectively. Yahoo's market share loss of 2 percentage points was the result of a 7% drop in search volume. Ask's market share loss followed from a 5% decline in search volume.

Last month, comScore Networks reported that Google had captured 47.5% of the U.S. search market in January, a significantly lower percentage than Compete counted. comScore also noted that Yahoo's U.S. search share dropped to 28%, Microsoft's rose slightly to reach 10.6%, and Ask's declined to 5.2%.

Crane attributes the difference in statistics to different methodologies. comScore, he says, includes a variety of online properties such as video search in its search numbers, whereas Compete only counts Web search.

Yahoo! All Set To Get Google?

The year 2006 was a fixing time for Yahoo!. It focused on the Panama update and now it is fully functional.

Yahoo!'s Terry Semel, CEO and Susan Decker, CFO say that last year they focused their attention on fixing up everything. With the Panama up and running Yahoo! has a lot to look forward to in the coming year.

Sooner than positive feedbacks were received for Panama, Yahoo! stock soared by 20%. Their stocks are actually in a better position when compared with Google.

A press release informs:

The top two executives of Internet media firm Yahoo! told investors Tuesday that the company hopes to gain market share against industry leader Google as its new search tool is leading to more relevant and higher quality search results for advertisers.

"We are really pleased with the new system. It is generating higher quality leads at more competitive prices. Click through rates are increasing," Decker said.
Decker also said that Yahoo is not seeing any weakness in online ad spending this year, despite some concerns about the overall economy cooling.

Yahoos Terry Semel: Call For His Head

Seeking Alpha has a long story outlining Yahoo CEO Terry Semel’s failings since his hiring in 2001, and basically calls for his head on a platter. The bottom line: Google has grown its shareholder value 21 times more efficiently than Yahoo during the time Semel has been at the company. Semel supporters point out the Yahoo did buy Overture, keeping them in the game, but others note that Semel had the opportunity to buy Google instead for $3 billion or so in 2002 (Yahoo also didn’t buy YouTube or MySpace when the opportunity came up). The article also mentions Semel’s total compensation over the last 5 years - $550 million.

Panama is off to a brisk and surprisingly strong start (more on this in an upcoming post). Forgetting Semel for a moment, it may be the single most important factor keeping Yahoo an independent company in the near term. It also might be the product that allows Semel to keep his job, or at least make a graceful exit later this year.

Google- First Result for Yahoo Email Privacy Is Gmail Privacy Policy

Old issue, but possibly new news: Searching on Google for "Yahoo email privacy" returns, as the first result, a link for Gmail's privacy policy. That's silly. The user is obviously looking for Yahoo! email, not Gmail. Bad Google.

A search on Yahoo for "Yahoo email privacy" returns Yahoo results first. A search on Yahoo for "Gmail privacy" or "Google email privacy" returns Gmail results first.

A few months back, Google was taken to task for promoting its own services when users searched for blogs, calendars and other tools.

Yahoo Sued for $20M for Illegal Image Use

An Ohio woman is suing Yahoo for $20 million for allegedly using a photograph of her when advertising Yahoo e-mail services, Google Watch has learned.

According to a complaint filed in Ohio federal court, the woman, Shannon Stovall, learned of the alleged misuse of her likeness after she signed up for Yahoo e-mail. An image of Stovall (left) was included in the sign-up confirmation e-mail sent to Stovall's new Yahoo e-mail address.

Stovall, who is represented by attorneys from three firms—read: not a pro se lawsuit—is alleging Yahoo violated her right to publicity and right to privacy. 

Stovall is seeking $20 million for compensatory and punitive damages and a portion of the profits that have been generated through the use of her likeness, and to cover her legal fees.

Reps from Yahoo were not immediately available for comment. Lawyers for Stovall have not returned calls seeking comment. 

Note: A previous version of this post reported the lawsuit was for $10M. That was incorrect. The lawsuit is for $20M, plus attorney fees.