Thread: Google out Yahoo is comming default search option in firefox

This could be a new opportunity for SEOer
in accordance with the spirit of the European Parliament announced


Starting in December, Firefox will use Yahoo as its default search engine in the United States on mobile and desktop. As a part of this five-year deal, Yahoo will also launch a new search experience for Firefox users in the U.S., which should go live at the same time Firefox makes the switch away from Google.

The new search experience will feature “a clean, modern and immersive design that reflects input from the Mozilla team.” Here is what that will look like
In Russia, Mozilla will use Yandex Search and in China, it will use Baidu as the default. Google, DuckDuckGo and a number of other local search engines will remain as built-in alternatives.

The Mozilla Foundation has long made most of its money through its search partnership with Google, which has always been the default in Firefox. Indeed, in 2012 — the last year we have data from — 88% of Mozilla’s income came from Google. That contract with Google was set to expire this year, though, and it look like either Yahoo made an offer Mozilla couldn’t refuse or Google decided to walk away from the deal.

Default-“Google has been the Firefox global search default since 2004. Our agreement came up for renewal this year, and we took this as an opportunity to review our competitive strategy and explore our options,” said Chris Beard, Mozilla’s CEO in a statement today. “We are excited to partner with Yahoo to bring a new, re-imagined Yahoo search experience to Firefox users in the U.S. featuring the best of the Web, and to explore new innovative search and content experiences together.”

Likewise, Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer today noted that she believes that “search is an area of investment, opportunity and growth for us. This partnership helps to expand our reach in search and also gives us an opportunity to work closely with Mozilla to find ways to innovate more broadly in search, communications, and digital content.”

Yahoo Search, in its current form, is powered by Microsoft Bing, of course, though the company heavily modifies the results it gets from Microsoft, both in terms of layout and ranking. There have long been rumors that Yahoo could end this deal and bring back its own search engine, but that seems unlikely given the investment the company would have to make after it dismantled its old search engine infrastructure.

This partnership with Firefox will surely give Yahoo — and Microsoft — a stronger presence in the search market, however. While Firefox usage has declined over the last few years, it still accounts for at least 15% of the U.S. browser market. Yahoo currently owns about 10% of the U.S. search engine market. Switching the default back to Google only takes a few seconds, but most users will likely stick with the default.

Thanks for sharing...this news is really worth sharing... I am sure YAHOO! and firefox will make a strong interface for users online to surf the web easily with lot more fun and stuff online.

Thanks for sharing, on the other hand Google will also get better promotion from it's competitors; Google push another great move.

This is great news, the less power to one company is always better.

Interesting, curious to see how yahoo will revamp their search experience

Thanks, This is very informative and interesting news.

So annoying! I've had to change the search engine a few times for it to finally stick. They also updated my default search engine on the rest of my browsers as well. Annoying!

What's up with Firefox using Yahoo anyways? Some of the worst results I've ever seen.

I see the move as one of three possibilities:

1. Google withdrew their financial support
2. Yahoo made them a more lucrative offer
3. Mozilla Foundation decided they did not want to aid what has become their major (only real) competition

Mozilla is not a company with products to sell. They are a research foundation and are dependent on contributions from various sources for funding. Google has been a supporter in the past.

Originally Posted by wink0r

I see the move as one of three possibilities:

1. Google withdrew their financial support
2. Yahoo made them a more lucrative offer
3. Mozilla Foundation decided they did not want to aid what has become their major (only real) competition

Mozilla is not a company with products to sell. They are a research foundation and are dependent on contributions from various sources for funding. Google has been a supporter in the past.

I think the 3rd must be it with the combination of first two