Updated January 13, 2023
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$1.8 Billion Reasons
Move over Google. There’s been a coup. The Firefox default search will be powered by Yahoo! Well, not really (more on that later). The new deal ups the ante from the $300 million paid to Mozilla since Google first partnered with them in 2004. In this post I’ll explore what it all means for search visibility.
Running the Numbers
According to SEO Book’s article, Firefox users conduct over 100 billion searches per year. According to Google Search Statistics, Google processes 3.5 billion searches per day. That’s 1.2 trillion (yup, that’s a “T” not a “B” folks) a year worldwide. Yahoo’s $1.8 billion bid to be the Firefox default search is one indication they need to buy market share in order to remain competitive. Here’s what CEO Marissa Mayer had to say:
At Yahoo, we believe deeply in search — it’s an area of investment and opportunity for us. It’s also a key growth area for us – we’ve now seen 11 consecutive quarters of growth in our search revenue on an ex-TAC [Traffic Acquisition Cost] basis. This partnership helps to expand our reach in search and gives us an opportunity to work even more closely with Mozilla to find way to innovate in search.
Who’s Really Behind the Firefox Default Search
In case you don’t know, Yahoo’s organic search results are actually powered by Microsoft’s Bing. It just has different window dressing. This transition occurred back in August 2010.
Global Market Share
According to comScore’s analysis of global search, here’s the market share breakdown by search engine:
- Google – 78%
- Baidu – 9.9%
- Yahoo! – 5.8%
- Yandex – 3.3%
- Microsoft – 3.1%
Even with the Firefox default search deal in Yahoo/Microsoft’s favor, the scales still tip over to Google’s side when it comes to sheer volume of searches. From an SEO perspective, staying in Google’s good graces (by following quality guidelines) is as important as ever. If you put the human searcher first — relevant content and respectful user experience — your organic search visibility should rise.
photo credit – top: Pleuntje
photo credit – body: Jeffrey Beall
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