And Yahoo will maintain its stable margin of 40

Despite the fall of 30 of the title since January and increased competition from Google and Microsoft in the online advertising market, Yahoo! leaders have detailed Wednesday analysts, San Francisco, an optimistic scenario of their strategy for the years to come. The network of sites most visited in the world to act on two levers: increase the quantity and especially the quality of the traffic, and improve the technological platform available to advertisers.

First, Yahoo! will promote applications that encourage and strengthen the communication between users, and the creation of original content by the latter. What, in the end, should increase the duration and frequency of visits and to enrich the search engine. Thus, the portal launched earlier this week, on its English-speaking sites Yahoo! Answers, a service available in beta since December, which allows users to ask questions and respond personally. Responses are included in the results of research conventional Web, the algorithm making back the best list. "We are at the threshold of a transition of magnitude equal to the advent of the algorithm based on the links," said analysts Jeff Weiner, senior Vice President of research at Yahoo!." Our goal is to expand access to all human knowledge and thereby create a better experience of research by the users themselves.

New advertising system

According to him, the first test pilot of Yahoo! Answers has identified the market share of Yahoo! from 45 to 65 between December and April, while Google fell from 45 to 30 during the same period. For the same purpose, Flickr, a site of publication of photos by Internet users, bought by Yahoo! last year, and Del.icio.us, a service of sharing and exchange of "bookmarks" (sites recommended, classified by subject), acquired earlier this year, will be gradually integrated into Web search results.

On the second point, Tim Cadogan, Vice President research, detailed the new advertising system that will be proposed in the fourth quarter to advertisers Americans and early 2007 in the rest of the world. It will allow advertisers to integrate image and video and to be informed in real time of positioning on the Web page to which their offer of price or quality of the announcement give them right, and the corresponding volume of clicks. They can also change at any time their supply and their announcement, and therefore their positioning. Finally, they will have access to a growing collection of variables to target their market by geographical criteria (what Google practice already), demographic (explored by Microsoft) and contextual.

This highly anticipated reform comes after three years marked by difficulties of operation which have tarnished Yahoo! relationships with advertisers, the technological delay on Google and the recent emergence of the competing platform of Microsoft AdCenter. Yahoo! expected growth of 200 of its advertising revenues between 2005 and 2008, according to the Financial Director, Sue Decker. He currently holds 13 of the online advertising market. The world market of search engine advertising is estimated at $ 15 billion in 2006, with an annual growth of 30 by 2008.

So far, the impact on income will not be felt before 2007, warned Sue Decker. In her view, the growth of the group will be consistent with the objectives announced for 2006 or 24 to 31 (with a turnover between 4.6 billion and $ 4.85 billion). And Yahoo! will maintain its stable margin of 40. "We are experimenting with various things and we sow much seed, found Terry Semel, CEO." Our sense is that the company has never been as well positioned.