Search engine marketers aren’t crazy about how the Google-Yahoo-Microsoft power struggle has played out, CNET News‘ Stephanie Olsen writes. “It’s not that they disapprove of Yahoo remaining independent of Microsoft,” she said. “It’s just that Google’s search market share, at nearly 70 percent in June, has only grown stronger during its rivals’ kerfuffle.” She wrote that online marketers at the RBC Capital conference this week said Google’s dominance limits their options with search-based ad campaigns.
In a telling quote, Will Margiloff, CEO and founder of Innovation Interactive, an online marketing agency, said during one of the panel discussions, “We always have a need for multiple sources of quality traffic and we don’t see that need going away as Google’s share increases… complexity is good, consolidation is bad.”
Another panelist said, “In the last 10 years, I’ve seen a dramatic decrease of competition between Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, and that’s increased the importance of success on Google. When our clients come to us to talk about search, what they really mean is, ‘Let’s talk about Google.’”
