We Could Be Lovers: AOL Courts Google & Microsoft (http://searchengineland.com/we-could-be-lovers-aol-courts-google-microsoft-43... by Greg Sterling - Search Engine Land (http://searchengineland.com/author/greg-sterling/) Coy AOL is trying to get as much as it can for its flat to declining search volume (http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/5/comScore_Releases_... from either current partner Google (AOL CEO Time Armstrong’s corporate Alma Mater) or Microsoft, still hungry for more search wins and share. In an article (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704025304575284943022614302.html) recapping the D8 interview of Armstrong this week, he asserts there are “more than two potential partners†for AOL. The current Google search deal expires in December of this year. Sure, there are scores of search engines out there but only two that are able to genuinely compete for AOL’s business: Google and Microsoft. Yahoo’s not on the list because its index is going to be Bing/Microsoft before too long and the companies are in that transition process now. What Armstrong is negotiating for is an index and ad revenue share (and possibly revenue guarantees). On the ad-related side the choice is clear: Google. The volume of advertisers and Google’s capacity to monetize search queries are unmatched, even in the new combined MicroHoo universe. But Microsoft, depending on how aggressive it wants to be, could potentially compensate with revenue guarantees.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment