SEARCH ENGINE GIANTS: GOOGLE VS YAHOO 1

Search Engine Giants: Google VS Yahoo

Google versus Yahoo. We tend to rely on these two search engines more and more in
everyday life. When using the internet, two of the most important websites are Google and
SEARCH ENGINE GIANTS: GOOGLE VS YAHOO 2

Yahoo. They are two of the biggest search engines, and also have many other web and
entertainment services. They are mostly known for their search engines though. We use it to
look up things, while were doing homework and when we are bored. Both companies have an
extensive and interesting history to say the least.
First up is Yahoo! In January of 1994 two students named Jerry Yang and David Filo
made a website called Jerrys Guide to the World Wide Web and then about two months later
then renamed the site Yahoo! The name Yahoo! is an acronym which stands for Yet Another
Hierarchical Officious Oracle. Some other people insist that the name came from the slang
definition of yahoo which means rude, unsophisticated, and uncouth (Google vs Yahoo -
Difference and Comparison). An interesting fact is that this meaning came from a fictional race
of people in Gullivers Travels. A year later the company was taking off.
The two dropped out of school and made a $2 million dollar venture to incorporate
Yahoo!. They hired a man named Tim Koogle as their CEO. (WSJ)" At first it was simply just a
search engine but its popularity they diversified their services and acquired a company and
created a subservice called Yahoo! Mail. In the same year MyYahoo launches, which is a
personalized home page that shows current news, sports or even weather. The company grew
quickly through the 1990s when it added a web portal. Yahoo also has subsidiaries such as,
Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Sports and many more.
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Fast forwarding to the early 2000s the stock price of Yahoo! went through the roof
during the internet boom. The shares were going for $118.75 each. Nonetheless, after the
internet boom the shares fell to an all-time low of $8.11(WSJ). During this same time Yahoo
started using Google for its search engine and over the next four years it finally developed its
own search engine. Seeing how successful Gmail was becoming Yahoo offered unlimited email
storage in 2007 and then the company began struggling in 2008 and has been ever since. On
May 19, 2013 Yahoo board approved a $1.1 billion acquisition of blogging site. The
announcement supposedly indicates a changing trend in the tech industry, as large corporations
like Facebook and Google obtain start-up Internet companies that produce low quantities of
revenue as a way to connect with large, popular online communities.
In August of 2013 Yahoo announced it will be moving into a new building for its
headquarters. It is called The Chronicle and is located in San Francisco, CA. Yahoo signed a 5
year lease, with the building 70,000 square feet, The financial details werent released to the
public but with market rates in the area a 5 year lease for that much square footage would come
out to about $17 million dollars which is about $47.67 a square foot (Temple).

Google was founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998. Google began as a research
project by the two students. They initially nicknamed their project Backrub. They then
changed the domain name to google.com on Septemner 15, 1997. The name "Google" coined
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from a misspelling of "googol", which refers to the number represented by a 1 followed by 100
zeros(Difference between Yahoo and Google).They properly incorporated their
company, Google Inc., on September 4, 1998 at a colleague's garage in Menlo Park, California.
In March 1999, the company moved into offices at 165 University Avenue in Palo Alto,
home to several other noted Silicon Valley technology startups (Google). After quickly getting
too large for two other sites, the company leased a compound of buildings in the Mountain
area at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway from Silicon Graphics in 2003. The company has continued
at this site ever since, and the compound has since become known as the Googleplex. In 2006,
Google bought the property from Silicon Graphics for $319 million. The Googleplex is
the corporate headquarters complex of Google, Inc. The four core buildings, totaling
506,310 sq. ft., were built for and originally occupied by Silicon.
Google and Yahoo are similar in what they do and the services they provide. Google and
Yahoo are most popular for their search engines. The search engines of both Google and Yahoo
use the words in user searches to tailor results to the users geolocation (Smith). When people
need to find something on the web but not sure what exactly they want they just type in whatever
they want. Both companies were founded by two colleges students doing research projects. Both
companies offer various free services to its user which keeps them interested in sticking with one
or the other. Both Google and Yahoo make their money in related ways. Although they may be
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publicly observed as providers of free services, from a business viewpoint they are effective
advertising companies.
Web search allows for ads to be directed at an specific group of people, for example
those who have just searched for Alabama Crimson Tide or of that nature (Google vs Yahoo -
Difference and Comparison). Google and Yahoo both give companies opportunities to pay to
place ads in search results, which generate much of their income. Both Google and Yahoo have
expanded and add new services to their companies since being formed. For example, Yahoo was
hosting free email accounts since 1997 but Google launched Gmail and took over the email
services game. They have also both expanded overseas and have in turn increased their customer
base.
Now the differences between the two. Unlike Yahoo, Google has developed its own
mobile operating system known as Android. Google also has Google Chrome which is a browser
operating system. Google has recently launched a line of cellphone devices call the Nexus series
(Difference between Yahoo and Google). In the recent years Google has been developing Google
Fiber provides an internet connection of 1 gigabit per second for downloading and uploading.
This will create internet that is 100 times faster than what most Americans have already.
When it comes to the looks of each companys homepage its like day and night. The
Google homepage is simple and clean. It consist of the company logo and a search bar on a
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white background. Yahoo has a homepage that can be customized to a number of things. The
standard for a Yahoo homepage contains the company logo, a search bar, current news stories,
financial data, weather for your area or any area you choose, top trending searches, and options
to view Yahoos other free services.


















References
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Difference between Yahoo and Google. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2013, from
http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-yahoo-and-google
Google vs Yahoo - Difference and Comparison | Diffen. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2013,
from http://www.diffen.com/difference/Google_vs_Yahoo
Google (n.d.). Company ? Google. Retrieved November 5, 2013, from
http://www.google.com/about/company/
SEC (n.d.). United States SEC. Retrieved November 8, 2013, from
http://investor.google.com/pdf/20130930_google_10Q.pdf
Smith, M. (n.d.). How Is the Information in Yahoo! Different From Google? | Chron.com.
Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/information-
yahoo-different-google-31966.html
Temple, J. (n.d.). Done deal: Yahoo finalizes big lease at Chronicle headquarters, expands
SF engineering presence - The Technology Chronicles. Retrieved from
http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2013/08/01/done-deal-yahoo-finalizes-big-lease-at-
chronicle-headquarters-expands-sf-engineering-presence/
WSJ (n.d.). The History of Yahoo?Timeline - WSJ.com. Retrieved November 6, 2013, from
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405297020351360457714095054637
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