JIC Design Blog: SEO, Web Development and Technology

Well I hate to say it, but it’s about time. Rumors of a pending restructuring at Yahoo have been circulating for weeks due to a leak in an internal memo, known as the “Peanut Butter Manifestoâ€? because Yahoo had spread itself too thinly over too many areas to be effective. And now it’s out! Yahoo is second best in the search industry as the company has become product focused, and even so, Google still releases more intriguing software for its users. However, Yahoo is merging multiple product groups to form an Audience group and an Advertisers & Publishers group. They feel that this will help them become more user and advertiser focused as well as capturing more of the online advertising growth, and I believe this is a great decision by Yahoo!!

Yahoo has the potential to compete with Google on a much higher level than they have been. Don’t forget Yahoo has acquired Delicious, the most famous bookmarking site of Web 2.0, and Flickr, the most popular online photo sharing product to date. If the Audience group focuses on merging their current social media products to allow tagging, reviewing, and posting photos on My Yahoo, then I have no doubt they will take off and crush products like Myspace.

Lately, Yahoo has become a sleeping giant other than their webmaster tool Site Explorer, which I must say is so great that even Google and MSN employees plug it at Search Engine Strategies conferences. This revamping of staff and focus at Yahoo may be what they have needed for over 2 years, and I am waiting patiently to see it’s outcome, because Google needs a solid, financially backed, knowledgeable competitor.