Jeff Woelker : Chicago SEO, SEM, and Social Media Consultant

The story was floating around for the last month or so that this might happen, but many have wondered if it would. Well, the wait is over, it appears that Google and Yahoo are indeed partnering to offer Google ads within the Yahoo search platform. According to the conference call transcripts, Yahoo will still be running Panama and Google ads will appear beside their results.

Overall, part of me is excited in that I may only have to do two media placements in the future, Google and MSN, as Yahoo’s search advertising will essentially be defunct, although they act like it won’t be. Then there is the other part of me, which is somewhat disheartened. With Google now serving their ads on Google and Yahoo, it seems that CPC’s (costs-per-click’s) are going to increase as advertisers move from solely Yahoo based solutions to Google-centric solutions in addition to competition increasing for the top keywords as more advertisers move over.

The one nice thing about this is that it essentially changes nothing for end users. So search behavior should, technically, remain the same with Google, Yahoo and MSN continuing to stay the course with their market shares. Although, I have to think that some consumers will hear this news and think that Google and Yahoo are merging, and as a result, move over to Google, I think the majority will stay where they are.

Really, I see this as the first step to a Google acquisition of the entire search arm of Yahoo. Other than the seemingly corporate minded Justice department, what’s stopping them from purchasing the Panama platform and perhaps other assets?

Although I’m normally all for Google and the great products they create, this whole deal with Yahoo makes me cringe just a bit. What do you think? Am I overreacting or is this a sign of things to come?