Analysis: To Beat Google, Yahoo Needs To Change The Game

Authored by Scott Karp on June 19, 2007 - 11:08am.

In all the coverage of Terry Semel’s stepping down as Yahoo CEO to be replaced by founder Jerry Yang, there’s a standard reference to Yahoo’s failure to beat Google — and the implication that perhaps Yahoo can never beat Google. The main reason way Yahoo has lagged Google is that Yahoo has been trying to beat Google at its own game:

See the pattern here? The problem is — Yahoo can’t out-Google Google — and it’s likely that nobody can.

Google’s success is based on changing the nature of the game:

  • Search relevancy based on link patterns
  • Ad targeting based on keywords rather than demographics
  • Ad relevancy determined by algorithms
  • Automated marketplace for advertising

To catch up to Google, much less beat Google, Yahoo needs to change the nature of the game.

Here’s a hint: Yahoo should focus where Google is weakest — human intelligence and human relationships (i.e. “social”)

Scott Karp


Scott Karp is the Editor of Publishing 2.0, a blog about the convergence of media and technology. This piece was originally published on Publishing 2.0 and is posted on DMW with the author's permission.

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Comments

True, Google Answers didn't catch fire

Google tried human intelligence, but Yahoo! Answers, as inane as some of those answers are, beat them at that game. Today's Wall Street Journal report points out that Terry Semel received one of the highest salaries in the industry. So shareholders should expect high levels of innovation, if not high levels of profit. -- Michael from the U.S. Desk at TheNewsRoom.com

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