Yahoo Directory-Once The Google Of Its Time-Is To Close

 

Yahoo Directory-Once The Google Of Its Time-Is To Close

From Yahoo's post on September 26, 2014:  

Yahoo was started nearly 20 years ago as a directory of websites that helped users explore the Internet. While we are still committed to connecting users with the information they’re passionate about, our business has evolved and at the end of 2014 (December 31), we will retire the Yahoo Directory. Advertisers will be upgraded to a new service; more details to be communicated directly.

 
Yahoo was founded in 1994  by Jerry Yang and David Filo  as a directory of websites that helped users explore Internet. Very rapidly, it became the most popular search engine on the web worldwide. Yahoo was perceived so powerful at the time, that there was even talk of whether the company should be regulated ,just as some talk about Google today.   

What contributed to Yahoo Directory end?

 Yahoo's  directory relied on humans to review websites and organize them with short descriptions into  categories. Yahoo's system was very effective at the beginning because they weren't as many web pages as there are today. Besides, the human classification gave the directory a high search relevance in comparison with the current competitors at the time: InfoSeek and Excite. However, this strategy had an evident weakness: difficulty on achieving scale because of the human dependent input of information.
 

SEO has been and will always be an industry of economies of scale, in which the companies would beneficiate from network externalities. Also, share of market is by itself a strong barrier to entry and therefore the leaders can create a value loop in which scale is constantly creating additional value. However, in the technology industry  change is a constant factor in the competitive context and breakthrough innovation can effectively revolutionize a market. This is what happened in 1998 when Google quickly proved that search results could be generated by automation, rather than through human effort, having better relevancy. The rise of Google was the beginning of the end for Yahoo.

Google's Future

The biggest question nowadays is if Google would be able to remain its leadership position in the SEO market, or if it will become the Yahoo Directory of the future. In my perspective, Google's position-based competitive advantages deter the entry of new competitors to the market. Also, the company's technology resources gives them the solid foundation to successfully continue innovating and creating more effective search solutions. As long as Google reinforces its competitive advantages of scale with superior products offering, I think it is possible to continue having Google as the king of SEO for decades.

Read complete article: The Yahoo Directory — Once The Internet’s Most Important Search Engine — Is To Close
Source:  Danny Sullivan. The Yahoo Directory — Once The Internet’s Most Important Search Engine — Is To Close. Sep 26, 2014.