Top-line Questions
Q: Why have Yahoo! and Microsoft formed the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance?
Q: What does Microsoft provide to this Search Alliance?
Q: What does Yahoo! provide to this Search Alliance?
Q: What things will the alliance NOT change?
Q: Who benefits from this Search Alliance and why?
Q: When will this affect advertiser accounts?
Organic Search Transition
Q: What does the transition of organic search on Yahoo! mean?
Q: Will my site ranking change now that Bing supplies organic search results for Yahoo!?
Q: Is there anything I can do to ensure that my site ranks highly on Yahoo! Search?
Q: How can I get help with organic search optimisation efforts?
Q: Why have Yahoo! and Microsoft formed the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance?
A: Yahoo! and Microsoft have formed a Search Alliance to combine their complementary strengths to create a competitive choice in search with the scale to fuel sustained development. Both companies aim to ultimately enable searchers to find relevant results faster, and provide more value for advertisers and better results for web publishers.
Q: What does Microsoft provide to this Search Alliance?
A: Microsoft will be responsible for the algorithmic search serving platform used by both companies, including web, image and video results. Microsoft will also be responsible for the search advertising platform that will be used by both companies (adCenter), and will manage the search advertising marketplace, including the API platform for tool providers and SEMs. Microsoft will be responsible for marketing to and support of self-serve search advertisers who are not managed by an account team.
Q: What does Yahoo! provide to this Search Alliance?
A: Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide sales force for all high volume search advertisers, SEM and SEO agencies, and resellers and their clients. Yahoo! will provide Microsoft with an exclusive 10-year license to certain Yahoo! search technologies. Yahoo! will also deliver a differentiated search experience for its users by innovating around the listings it receives from Microsoft by integrating Yahoo! content, shortcuts and tools.
Q: What things will the alliance NOT change?
A: The agreement does not cover each company's web properties and products, email, instant messaging, display advertising, or any other aspect of the companies' businesses. Each company will innovate their own consumer search experiences to compete for search users and search queries. Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force, and will service their respective publishers, or affiliate search partners.
Q: Who benefits from this Search Alliance and why?
A: We believe that combining the strengths of Yahoo! and Microsoft to create a competitive choice in search with the scale to fuel sustained development is good for both companies, good for advertisers, good for consumers and good for our partners.
Q: When will this affect advertiser accounts?
A: Our aim is a high quality transition of advertisers and partners in at least the US prior to the 2010 holiday season. However, we may wait until 2011 if we determine this will be more effective.
Q: What does the transition of organic search on Yahoo! mean?
A: All organic search listings on Yahoo! Search are now powered by Microsoft’s Bing technology. Microsoft provides results for all web, image and video searches, while Yahoo! will continue to oversee the user experience for Yahoo! Search. This transition is completed in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Republic of Ireland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, India, Australia, New Zealand, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Western Sahara, Yemen, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
Q: Will my site ranking change now that Bing supplies organic search results for Yahoo!?
A: It is possible that the ranking of your site on Yahoo! Search will change now that Yahoo’s organic search results are powered by Bing. Your ranking is now 100% based on how the Bing engine indexes and ranks the relevance of your site for a particular search query, as Yahoo! cannot change the order of the listings it receives.
Q: Is there anything I can do to ensure that my site ranks highly on Yahoo! Search?
A: While there is no way to guarantee a high ranking on Yahoo! Search, it’s very important that you optimise for the Bing engine, as it now powers Yahoo! Search results.
The Bing website provides a set of materials on search engine optimisation (SEO). An SEO webmaster’s toolbox can be found at http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/. To help ensure that your site is being properly indexed, we recommend that you visit this online resource to submit your site and sitemap. The toolbox also includes other information to help you organise web site content using non-paying methods, to help you improve your site’s ranking in search engine results.
Q: How can I get help with organic search optimisation efforts?
A: Bing’s website provides a robust set of materials on search engine optimisation (SEO). An SEO webmaster’s toolbox can be found at http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/. It provides webmasters with valuable information on organising web site content and using non-paying methods, to help improve your site’s ranking in search engine results. | 
