...old competitiveness, but now that Googles stepping up its defense of the deal, so is Yahoo, this time bringing in President Sue Decker.

Fridays post on the Yahoo Anecdotal blog, entitled Myth-Busting and the Yahoo!-Google Agreement, highlights the reasons why Yahoo wants in on the deal:

• Yahoo! will use this agreement to help us become a stronger competitor in all aspects of online advertising; and
• Yahoo! is not exiting the sponsored search business. We plan to remain a strong player in sponsored search.

Search Engine Watchs Nathania Johnson says that this Yahoo-centered explanation doesnt offer much persuasion to critics, who include some current AdWords advertisers:

But the fact that shes going after this argument by defending the business aspirations of Yahoo might show why this company is struggling in the first place.

Companies succeed when they focus on the customer. But Yahoo is focused on stock prices and board preservation. This is not the way to win the hearts of search advertisers or investors.

Personally, I think that showing that your company is still in the business of making money is probably a good thing to show investors, but I agree that saying that this deal will help Yahoo stay afloat competitive doesnt make me want to jump right in as an advertiser.

Decker also addresses the question of implementation, telling us that Googles paid ads wont replace Yahoos system altogether (hence the above reassurance that Yahoos not getting out of the search advertising business):

We will implement the agreement in a way that respects an important principle you may know as the Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm. That is, we will not use Google ads in a manner that would create a significant risk to the health of our own sponsored search business.

Before I comment, I have to bow to my factchecking side: FIRST, DO NO HARM IS NOT IN THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH. See the full text of the Hippocratic oath. Search for that phrase. Its not in there. Now you know. Never make that mistake again and be ye therefore educated.

Ahem. Anyway. Instead of replacing their ads with Googles, Yahoo will use Googles inventory to backfill their results pages: on queries where Yahoo doesnt have very many ads, they have the option of including some of Googles ads to (1) increase their profits, (2) provide more leads/clicks for advertisers and (3) provide users with relevant ads. (I know, its like Christmas in September.) Yahoo has the right to exercise its backfill option on any page"or none at all.

Decker also echoes many of Googles arguments, including that the two will not collude nor fix prices. Of course, as Danny Sullivan writes in todays Ad Age, Google is already fixing prices through its quality score.

Who will benefit most from this deal"users, advertisers, Yahoo or Google? What do you think?

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