Yahoo now officially powered by Bing in US, Canada

The first step of Yahoo's transition from an in-house search infrastructure to Microsoft's Bing platform is complete. Yahoo announced the completed conversion today: its Web, image, and video search experiences on both desktop and mobile devices are now being served up by Bing. Microsoft meanwhile noted that the conversion currently only affects Yahoo's English search results in the US and Canada, with other languages to follow "in the weeks and months ahead."

The change comes over a year after Microsoft and Yahoo agreed to partner on search and ads in order to combat Google. The Yahoo search results still have the same appearance, except for the 7.5 point text stating "Powered by Bingâ„¢" at the bottom of the page.

We contacted both Microsoft and Yahoo to find out which countries will get the Bing-powered-Yahoo next but neither company was eager to share. "At this time, Yahoo! has not given details on international rollout, but I will keep you posted," a Yahoo spokesperson told Ars. Microsoft was only a bit more helpful. "As soon as we are up and running in North America, we will begin the work of scaling out internationally," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars.

As we noted on Bing's one year anniversary, Microsoft's offering has been gaining credibility where its predecessors failed. Depending on which market share numbers you follow, Bing should now have somewhere between 16 and 28 percent market share in the US thanks to Yahoo's help. The hope is that with the additional hits, Bing will over time learn to provide more accurate results as the number two search engine behind Google.

In addition to the search results in the center of the page, the two companies are also working on the sponsored results in the sidebars. The move of Yahoo's search ad infrastructure to Microsoft's AdCenter platform is due for completion "later this fall," but both companies have said they are willing to postpone the move till early next year as it may disrupt the holiday season. The revenue model for the Yahoo Search BOSS program still needs to be finalized, and many search-related tools for publishers will be released "in the months to come."

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A year of Bing brings credibility, some market share gains

Thursday, Bing turned one. What has Microsoft achieved during the last 12 months? A glance at search market share doesn't show big gains, but the product has gained credibility in search where its predecessors failed.

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Pot, kettle, black? Microsoft voices concerns over Google

You say you've heard it all? Maybe not—the company that controls over 92 percent of the worldwide operating system market is all but accusing Google of being a monopoly. In assessing the diversity of the media landscape, the Federal Communications Commission should pay particular attention to the impact of online search engines, says the Microsoft Corporation. Especially the biggest one.

"If a single search engine serves as the dominant gateway between consumers and content—there is a greater risk that economic forces will not exert sufficient discipline to prevent the dominant search engine from altering search results to favor its own interests or viewpoint," Microsoft warned the FCC last week. "Also, because consumers will lack competitive options, it may be impossible for them as a practical matter to determine whether the results reflect hidden biases or whether there is other speech that is not being conveyed."

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etc: As expected, the EU has signed off on the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal.

As expected, the EU has signed off on the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal.

Read More: Reuters

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