Tech Drama: How Microsoft-Yahoo Can Beat Google

 

Pick any high drama you want. But the desperate high-stakes competition of Microsoft and Yahoo vs. Google certainly has more drama than some other events preoccupying Americans. For countless stakeholders – from investors to technology employees – the nail-biting is as intense as it is for sports fans seeking respite from the weak economy in rooting for their favorite teams in the World Series or Super Bowl.

A lot of commerce is at stake: The future of the three companies, more than $22 billion in advertising, financial success for advertising companies and their employees in a tepid economy, as well as the efficacy for 180 million daily Internet users.

The 10-year Internet marketing deal – Microsoft’s Bing will power Yahoo’s searches and Yahoo will sell advertising for both companies – awaits regulators’ approval. And Google has been trying to crush the deal.

I’ll explain the merger delay a little later in this column.

Meantime, intense work is being performed by engineers from Redmond, WA near Seattle to the Silicon Valley in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Does search giant Google feel the threat of competition?  Yes, however, no one probably feels sorry for Google because it’s under attack by Microsoft and Yahoo.

Aside from the fortunes of the three companies, it’s worth noting the winner in this passionate competition will be Internet users thanks to major innovations in online searches.

Who would have anticipated that Twitter, which rose to prominence as a social networking site, would be courted by Microsoft’s Bing and Google. Just hours after Bing announced its deal to search postings on Twitter, Google followed suit.

In music, Yahoo reminded us it has shown audio-file links with Rhapsody since 2008 – just after Google announced users can easily find links to their preferred songs on Lala or MySpace.

Even with the proposed merger, Yahoo has been working on its search engine. Yahoo is allowing users to bundle searches from their preferred bevy of publishers. Yahoo also features a search pad so users can see their search history.

Google is constantly fine-tuning, such as its real-time search feature, moving its advertising closer to content results and enlarging the size of its search box. With its revenue down in text and display ads, Google is constantly updating its approach to appease publishers that have also felt the financial squeeze. (Disclosure: The Biz Coach site uses Google AdSense., but it is proving to be unsatisfactory)

According to comScore at the start of Q4 in 2009, Google had a 64.9 percent market share in search compared to Yahoo’s 18.8 percent and 9.4 percent on the Microsoft sites.

Despite all the hoopla over Google, advertisers would be well-advised to consider the time-spent user data from The Nielsen Company also during Sept.

Nielsen confirms Google is number one in total searches with an average user time-spent of one hour fifty-three minutes. But Yahoo users stay about 50 percent longer – three hours nine minutes. Users on MSN/WindowsLive/Bing spend two hours one minute. Obviously, a longer time-spent viewing on Yahoo by users means advertisers have a better shot of  their messages being seen.

My sense is that Yahoo’s success in time-spent users’ data has to do with its terrific content in finance.

With video watching up 25 percent in Sept. 2009, Nielsen says Google maintains a huge lead. YouTube had 106 million viewers.

It’s interesting to note the change in online searching and the expectations of consumers. In 1999, Nielsen reported there were119 million U.S. users and the Internet began attracting more women. At first, mostly men used the Internet.

No longer are users content just to find a Web site; they’re looking for more specific information, and they want it to be comprehensive, more appealing visually and lightning-fast. Go to any search engine and you will notice more images in addition to information, not just blue links.

The Microsoft-Yahoo merger is in a sense a surprise. Microsoft isn’t known for major alliances. And it remains to be seen if the merger will yield a productive return because of corporate cultural and technological questions. True, a merger would probably give Microsoft a bigger standing in the Silicon Valley, and momentum in Internet search expertise.

What now?

The merger ostensibly displeases the brain trust at Google, who is reportedly trying to stop it – How Google Is Trying To Hold Up The Microsoft-Yahoo Deal (GOOG, YHOO, MSFT).

Size matters in the advertising world and Internet advertising growth is the most prolific in history – even more so than television’s legendary track record. Clearly, Microsoft has ratcheted up its online search capabilities with Bing’s execution and monetization to attract consumers. But that’s expected given Microsoft’s acumen in monetization.

To simultaneously compare Bing and Google side-by-side: www.bing-vs-google.com.

My sense is that the success of Microsoft and Yahoo Google will depend on user trust, which helps lead to strong brand equity. Trust and brand equity are closely related. In years past, I wrote that Microsoft was faring badly in brand value, according to Forrester – 2005 Technology Brand Scorecard.

In March 2009, CoreBrand’s Brand Power Index – which ranks the top 100 brands in market reputation and awareness – indicated Microsoft’s brand made a small comeback in 2008. But it’s doing much worse than in 2005 – 2008 Corporate Branding Index.

However, BusinessWeek reported in 2009 that Microsoft is doing well on its top 100 brand ranking. Microsoft No. 3 behind Coca-Cola and IBM, respectively. Google is ranked No. 7. Yahoo is not listed.

The jury is still out. It’s all about user trust and other basic elements of brand equity. But to explain all that it entails requires a separate column.

As always – whether it’s the World Series, Super Bowl or business – I tend to root for underdogs. Competition is good. But as the disclaimer in the BusinessWeek ranking states, “Valuations do not represent a guarantee of future performance of the brands or companies.”

From the Coach’s Corner, here are steps to alleviate wireless Internet threats while you’re traveling, courtesy of consultant Jerald Savin at Cambridge Technology Consulting Group, Inc., www.ctcg.com.

He advocates taking charge of your WI-FI connections on Windows XP:

Step 1: Go into Wireless Network Connections from either the tray icon or from Network Connections. In Wireless Network Connections, go into “Change advanced settings.” There are three tabs: General, Wireless Networks and Advanced. Click on “Wireless Networks.” Your first surprise will probably be the number of wireless networks listed under “Preferred Networks.” My guess is that you won’t know half of the networks listed there.

Step 2: Delete the wireless networks you don’t need. Use the “Remove” button below the window listing the Preferred Networks.

Step 3: Change all of the wireless networks to “On Demand.” To do this, highlight the network and click on “Properties.” In “Properties”, go to the third tab, “Connection” and uncheck the box “Connect when this network is in range.” This means that whenever your laptop senses a wireless network, it will prompt you to connect; it won’t automatically connect. (Note: The first tab, “Association”, is where wireless network keys are entered.)

Step 4: Go to the “Advanced” tab and unclick the box “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet Connection.” This prevents “bridging”, connecting between networks across a computer.

Mr. Savin admits the steps aren’t 100 percent foolproof, but you’ll be headed in the right direction. 

Incidentally, if you’re considering upgrading from XP to Windows 7, he suggests for many people it will be an arduous task. So he advises buying a new preloaded machine instead.