MSN courting Google (again)?

• Oct. 31, 2003

If you haven't already heard, Microsoft and Google have been in talks in recent weeks to form a partnership, or merger. Microsoft even hinted at takeover.

We already know that Google snubbed Bill earlier this year when Microsoft made an offer to buy Google. But we were wondering, what has changed since then? Why would Google be in consideration of such an offer now?

And why is Microsoft coming back to the table? They have already begun development of their own search technology. Indeed, we've asked the question before - where is Microsoft headed? The answer seems to be to Google's doorstep.

Perhaps MSN realized that simply building a spider doesn't make you a search engine. They may have found that it isn't as easy to qualify pages accurately as they first assumed.

And why is Google reconsidering? Could it be that MSN has upped the ante? We know Google is estimated to be worth between US$15 and US$25 billion in an IPO (which by the way is due in the spring of 2004), so maybe Microsoft increased their offer, based on the estimated value of Google today. But would Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin relinquish control to Bill Gates? I guess for the right price anything is possible.

So what does this mean to the search marketer? Well, if Microsoft were to buy and integrate Google, there is a good chance that free submissions to the popular engine would eventually disappear. Microsoft would want to monetize on the new asset as soon as possible, and with an already impressive 1/3 of the internet audience, their numbers would improve. Conceivably, they could take over Google's 1/3 to give them well over 60% of the total search market.

Yahoo! would also have some trouble trying to compete. I wonder, would Yahoo! keep Google/MSN results as their primary search results even though MSN is their direct competition? After all, MSN still displays Overture results, and Overture is owned by Yahoo! Or would MSN cut that tie, and make Yahoo! fend for itself? They could easily say "thanks for the memories"?to Overture, and replace them with AdWords.

Would MSN replace all the "off the shelf" Linux servers, which power Google, with their own ASP.NET versions? And would they have the problems with security that seem to plague many Microsoft operating systems?

So many questions, so few answers. Seems to be the theme of our very volatile industry as of late.

Rob Sullivan

Production Manager
Searchengineposition.com
Search Engine Positioning
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