Website optimisation turned on its head as Yahoo transforms into Bing

esterday (August 24th), one of the biggest developments in the world of search engine optimisation took place. Yahoo and Microsoft buddied-up, with the former adopting the latter's Bing search engine technology - in North America at least.

The move could shake-up the world of website optimisation as it will essentially mean that Bing has dramatically increased its market share in the territory.

Just last week, Google came top of comScore's US search survey. The online software giant racked up a healthy 66.2 per cent market share, which is streets ahead of Yahoo (on 17.1 per cent) and Bing (on 11 per cent). But combine the two and Google's lead over Yahoo and Microsoft looks a lot less threatening.

What it does mean is that billions more people will now be searching using Bing's technology - making it a force to be reckoned with in the world of website optimisation.

Any SEO Company solely targeting Google with its search engine marketing strategies will have to seriously reconsider its stance. Ignoring billions of potential customers by failing to optimise content for Bing's algorithms could be hugely damaging.

Commenting on the integration of Bing into their search service, Shashi Seth, senior vice-president of Yahoo Search Products, said: "First let me say, wow, what a week!

"I am proud to announce that the transition of organic search between Yahoo! and Microsoft is complete."

He added: "With this week's milestone behind us, Yahoo! will continue to drive technology innovation in the search [market] to bring more value to users and advertisers alike."

Meanwhile, Satya Nadella, senior vice-president of Microsoft's Online Services Division, also called the integration a milestone and added that the company is continuing "to work hard on the migration to adCenter, and are optimistic about completing this phase later this fall".

So it seems that the partnership will involve developments and decisions from both Microsoft and Yahoo's leading search engine specialists - which, in turn, could point to a potential increase in market share.

But whether the partnership lasts or not, now is not the time to ignore the importance of tailoring website optimisation strategies to Bing and Yahoo, and Google.