Before the search engines’ merger which will take place in August this year, Yahoo started to test Bing powered organic results. They confirmed this testing by sending emails to all their advertisers in which Yahoo states clearly that tests are being done at these moments.
The email sent to advertisers say that these tests are made for ensuring a quality transition and for all the complex pieces that will combine to do it right. Even though Yahoo said there is nothing much to do as a preparation for these tests, they will test both organic and paid results from Bing, however the paid results will be kept at lower level not to impact on advertisers’ accounts.
The email also states clear that if the tests appear to deliver high quality results, in August/September Yahoo’s organic search results will be powered by Bing. After this transition, the single difference between the « before » and « after » search results will be that organic results will be served by Microsoft’s search engine Bing and no longer by Yahoo, but with the same design and interface Yahoo is using now.
These testings should determine website owners to keep an eye on organic traffic from Yahoo and Bing and to check if there are any fluctuations, differences between last months and July onwards and even consider changing search engine optimisation strategy if let’s say traffic takes a hit from theses tests.