We are now offering Windows hosting at exactly the same price as our Linux hosting, unlike many other companies who charge EXTRA for Windows Hosting.

Microsoft’s hosting division has managed to carve out an impressive market share in recent years with 25% of all active sites reportedly run on Microsoft servers (Source: Netcraft).

Order web hosting from Freshwebz and choose Windows hosting for FREE!!!

Yahoo and Microsoft have announced confirmation of a long-rumoured internet search deal that will help the two companies take on chief rival Google.

Microsoft’s Bing search engine will power the Yahoo website and Yahoo will in turn become the advertising sales team for Microsoft’s online offering.

Yahoo has been struggling to make profits in recent years, but last year it rebuffed several takeover bids from Microsoft in an attempt to go it alone.

Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer said the 10-year deal would provide Microsoft’s Bing search engine with the necessary scale to compete.

“Through this agreement with Yahoo, we will create more innovation in search, better value for advertisers, and real consumer choice in a market currently dominated by a single company,” said Mr Ballmer.

“Microsoft and Yahoo know there’s so much more that search could be. This agreement gives us the scale and resources to create the future of search,” he added.

In return for ceding control of its search engine, Yahoo will get to keep 88% of the revenue from all search ad sales on its site for the first five years of the deal, and have the right to sell adverts on some Microsoft sites.

‘New era’

Yahoo said the deal would benefit Yahoo’s users and advertisers.

“This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo, our users, and the industry. And I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of internet innovation and development,” said Ms Bartz.

“Only a Yahoo outsider like Ms Bartz could do such a deal,” said Tim Weber, business editor of the BBC News website.

“She has no sentimental attachment to what was once the core of Yahoo, its search business. Microsoft was helped by the fact that at long last it managed to develop a search engine – Bing – that is a credible alternative to search giant Google.”

Technology analyst Rob Enderle said: “This move makes up for a lot of the stupid mistakes made by the preceding [Yahoo] administration”.

The tie-up will give Microsoft and Yahoo a combined market share in the US search ad market of about 30% with Google still the dominant force with a share of about 65%. In the UK, the Google share is even higher (around 85%).

The deal ends years of back-and-forth negotiations between the two companies.

With Microsoft bringing their new search engine Bing to the fore in recent months, it’s interesting to know which engine actually provides the best results.

Recent statistics show that a considerable number of users HAVE started to use Bing, with Statcounter reporting that Bing has overtaken Yahoo! as the number two search engine in the U.S! But do the users stay there & what are the results like? Could they be better (i.e. more relevant) than Googles?!

Most people will quickly dismiss the idea because Google has almost been seen as the only search engine for such a long time. But, if you were subject to a blind test, an unbranded comparison between Bing, Google and Yahoo! – would Google still come out on top?

There’s a great new tool that’s available to test this for yourself: http://blindsearch.fejus.com

Type in a search query, hit search then vote for the column which you believe best matches your query. With each search you’ll be presented with 3 unbranded columns of search results and you simply pick which one you think is most relevant to your search term. The columns are randomised with every query.

The goal of this site is simple, to see what happens when you remove the branding from search engines & how you’ll perceive the results without knowing where they came from!

After you choose, you’ll then be told which search engine provided the results. Try it with a number of searches, keep score & see which search engine came out on top! You may be surprised!

I’ve tried a few searches myself & have to say that Google provided the WORST results each time!!!! Out of the usual 10 results, they had more irrelevant entries…..for example, online mature dating sites actually produced an adult dating website & dating website review sites amongst the top 10, rather than online mature dating sites which, after all, was what I was searching for! Yahoo actually returned the best results in my test searches, but it will be interesting to know what results other people get!

It seems that the proposed relationship between two of the worlds biggest search engines, Google & Yahoo!, is all over.

Google has pulled out of the deal due to ongoing concerns from the Justice Department on the fairness of the deal and Google’s belief that it was a case not worth fighting.

This is what David Drummond; Google Chief Legal Officer had to say:

…after four months of review, including discussions of various possible changes to the agreement, it’s clear that government regulators and some advertisers continue to have concerns about the agreement. Pressing ahead risked not only a protracted legal battle but also damage to relationships with valued partners. That wouldn’t have been in the long-term interests of Google or our users, so we have decided to end the agreement.

Read more from David on the outcome.

Unsurprisingly, Yahoo! is not happy with the news; here is an excerpt from the press release they issued:

…Google has terminated the advertising services agreement the companies announced in June. Yahoo! continues to believe in the benefits of the agreement and is disappointed that Google has elected to withdraw from the agreement rather than defend it in court. Google notified Yahoo! of its refusal to move forward with implementation of the agreement following indication from the Department of Justice that it would seek to block it, despite Yahoo!’s proposed revisions to address the DOJ’s concerns.

So where does this leave Yahoo!, with the chief exec under mounting pressure from shareholders? The major loser from the decision is Yahoo! The deal promised a revenue opportunity that the search engine desperately needed. It was a glimmer of hope for Yahoo!’s shareholders who have been bitterly disappointed over the last few years. In fact, the ink was barely dry on announcements that the deal was off, when Yahoo!’s head Yang rekindles Microsoft acquisition talk with the comment “To this day the best thing for Microsoft to do is buy Yahoo.”

Talking at the Web 2.0 summit, Jerry continued with:

…I don’t think that is a bad idea at all…at the right price, whatever the price is, we are willing to sell the company…We were ready to negotiate, we wanted to negotiate a deal, and we felt that we weren’t that far apart. But at the end of the day, they withdrew and they since have been very clear about not wanting to buy the company.

Well, that was then and this is now. There’s no denying the worlds finances have changed radically from when Microsoft walked away from Yahoo! acquisition talks.

Yahoo! really has its back up against the wall, and with its share price about 25% lower than it was when the offer was made, it could be a good time for Microsoft rekindle discussions.

Neither of the other “major” search engines are making any real inroads into Google’s ascendancy on their own, so combined, they could possibly offer some serious competition.

Right now it seems for Microsoft the price is right – for Yahoo!, they’re desperate to sell!

It appears that Yahoo! has given up in their efforts to compete for advertisers PPC dollars, with the signing of an agreement to allow them to syndicate Google ads within their search results. This Yahoo!/Google agreement means that Google’s dominant position in the Pay Per Click market, is now set in concrete.

The share price for Yahoo has been falling after rejecting Microsoft’s takeover bid & shareholders have been very angry at what they feel was a bad management decision. Yahoo has been under pressure from shareholders, for major management changes, while others have even filed lawsuits. This deal with Google is meant to assist Yahoo!’s under performing revenues & appease the shareholders.

With Yahoo! now only achieving 19% search market share, it appears that they have now abandoned the PPC market, its users and advertisers. Google have now increased their already dominant position and bought even more market share, which can only reduce competition & increase costs!

Competition also breeds innovation – for both search consumers and the advertiser & without it, will Google now rest on its laurels & just rake in the money? The paid search market is still relatively young and has been going through rapid changes and growth. But with the battle already won, the need for product innovation is gone. Microsoft may very well have deep pockets and control of the desktop, but Live Search lacks the traffic to be a true competitor – and they also seem to have diverted their attention elsewhere – at least in the short to medium term.

A lack of competition also means that advertisers are likely to pay more for each click. Advertisers will be forced to pay for Google, rather than the cheaper Yahoo! rate & without an alternative, the Google monopoly will mean that they can increase their charges as and when they like! Whilst this is great for Google & the Yahoo! shareholders, it is not great for anyone who is already struggling to make a return from PPC marketing.

Whilst a combined Yahoo!/Microsoft might not have been perfect, it at least would’ve provided competition for Google, benefiting advertisers and searchers alike.

With the small advertiser being frozen out of PPC markting by the big players with big budgets, it looks like search engine optimisation & high natural search engine listings will be even more important for affiliate marketeers!!!