Microsoft (MSN) Considers Bid to Buy Yahoo

Is it a sign of defeat when the #2 and #3 search engines (Yahoo, MSN) can only see themselves matching Google's market share by teaming up?

Microsoft has looked into acquiring Yahoo search before, and now it seems they are at it again. The idea is that with Yahoo's broader audience and Microsoft's technical superiority, they could combine forces and compete with Google (who has more market share than Yahoo and MSN combined).

What's the true motivator here? Ad dollars. Lots and lots of ad dollars. Search engines bring traffic. Traffic brings advertisers (pay-per-click sponsored search). And advertisers bring the top revenue source for search engine companies.

What does all this mean to the average web user? Nothing for the moment. If they do combine, I only hope there's a smidgen of consideration for the quality of search results. After all, that's why Google dominates the others. It crawls the web more aggressively, it finds new material faster, and it's more focused on weeding out crappy sites that "trick" their way to the top.

Did I just "reveal" the top factors of Google's success? I think I did.

~Brandon