Yahoo has published their 2015 Q3 Results, which shows a 7% growth in GAAP revenue, a loss from operations, oh and a partnership with Google that lets Yahoo show Google search results and ads. I’ll quote directly:
In October, the Company reached an agreement with Google that provides Yahoo with additional flexibility to choose among suppliers of search results and ads. Google’s offerings complement the search services provided by Microsoft, which remains a strong partner, as well as Yahoo’s own search technologies and ad products.
How exactly this will play out we do not know yet. Will Yahoo split up which search results they display? Will they run a/b testing? Nobody really knows yet – however it’s going to be interesting to see how Yahoo handles this new agreement and what effect it will have within the SEO community. What I do want to point out is that Yahoo isn’t forced to use Google at all. Here’s a direct quote from the 8-K filing:
Under the Services Agreement, Yahoo has discretion to select which search queries to send to Google and is not obligated to send any minimum number of search queries. The Services Agreement is non-exclusive and expressly permits Yahoo to use any other search advertising services, including its own service, the services of Microsoft Corporation or other third parties.
So the ball is in Yahoo’s court. The agreement officially went into effect on October 1st, 2015 and is set to expire on December 31st, 2018 – so I’m sure whatever Yahoo plans to do will go into effect shortly. If you wish you can read the rest of the financials from the Yahoo Q3 2015 report here or read Yahoo’s 8-K filing here. If you have any thoughts regarding this new agreement between Yahoo & Google leave them in the comments below.