Will Yahoo and MSN Ever Catch Up to Google?

Katherine Bennett - October 30, 2008

It’s a question that at some point and time has crossed our minds.  Will Google always be the stand alone giant with internet revenue double and even triple the competitions? I think that as long as they keep offering new tools, new promotions, and expanding into new areas, they will stay ahead of the curve.

I recently received site update e-mails about Yahoo and MSN showing the new capabilities and features that they had added. Yahoo now allows users to geo-target at the country, state and zip code level. Google allows the user to do custom geo-targeting. The user actually pulls up a map and draws the area that they want to target. Yahoo still has some catching up to do, but they are definitely making progress.

Let’s look at MSN and how keywords are handled.  MSN now enables users to pause their keywords. There used to be a time when the only option was “active” and “delete. It may seem that MSN is behind the curve, but in their defense they have a tool similar to AdWords Editor in beta. Yahoo says they are working on one as well.

It seems that Google will continue to stay ahead of the game because they make it feasible for both small and mid size players to operate effectively.  Google has also branched out into other industries. They launched their G1 Google phone with cell phone carrier T-Mobile. They also offer traditional advertising through the internet and give out free 800 tracking telephone numbers for a traditional media buy placed and bought through them. The next thing you know they’ll be a Google shoe. Don’t laugh! Did you ever think they’d launch a phone?  It seems that Google is pulling away from the competition and delving into new areas.  Only time will tell if the G1 Google phone and the selling of traditional advertising will work for Google. If Yahoo and MSN ever intend to catch up with Google they are going to have to step up their offerings in a number of areas.