Google does not just focus on search. Here is a good article about what else they do:http://www.seobook.com/are-you-following-googles-strategy

It does make sense for Yellow Pages to have a search page it just doesn’t make sense for Yahoo to partner with them. Yahoo already does what the Yellow Pages does. Its called Yahoo Local and Yahoo people search.

So it makes perfect sense for yellowpages.com to offere a Web search option as well. They already have local businesses paying them for advertisements. Why not combine the local with the virtual world.

Yellow Pages is dying brand. Internet companies don’t want to buy duying brands. They want to by growth brands.

The other interesting point is that Yahoo’s entire ad inventory is being devalued by social networking. There have been so many billions of new impressions created, that a bust in CPMs will further hollow out Yahoo’s business. A deal with Microsoft doesn’t change that.

Walk, Microsoft, walk away.

LinkedIn or MyYearbook or CafeMom?

http://collegemogul.com

http://www.note...ng.blogspot.com

The significance in the timing of Yahoo!’s test with Google’s search ads seems to be underestimated. The fact that the results will be available precisely around the time that Microsoft might take an offer to Yahoo! shareholders seems very important. The results will certainly be positive, putting the power back in Yahoo!’s hands.

As an intern with Yahoo! this past summer (current intern with TechCrunch!), I took the opportunity to ping a bunch of execs for lunch, including David Filo (founder) and Brad Garlinghouse (Vice President, Peanut Butter). At the time there was much talk about Microsoft’s original unsolicited bid, so many of my questions were about on Yahoo!’s strategic mentality. The overall mentality has always been that Yahoo! will remain independent, and there was already a huge focus on “platformization”. Everyone at Yahoo! with half a brain knows that they missed the boat on social networking, and that utilizing their huge community base of users in their web destinations, messenger, and email is essential. If Yahoo! were to source search to Google, it could even free up cash to pursue a proper social aspect with a strong acquisition (such as LinkedIn).

I disagree that such a partnership would result in the “AOL effect”. AOL was already a dying company, which highly skewed the numbers in that situation. Sourcing search to Google could even increase searches by allowing Google users to comfortably search directly within one of the most internationally travelled networks on the internet.

As Mark mentioned, there is very little likelihood that this deal would cut into Google’s market share whatsoever. But on the other hand, if Microsoft can combine MSN/Live with the sheer numbers of Yahoo!’s users, it holds the key to users established in the type of online community that Google has not yet been able to secure (other than in YouTube).

In this fascinating interview, Mr. Mahaney made the keen point that even if Microsoft and Yahoo merger were to go through “reasonably smoothly”, the combined firepower would still not be able to fend of the real Iron Man in this arena — Google.