Yahoo Japan Chooses Google for Search

By Geoff Duncan July 27, 2010

Yahoo might have entered into a ten-year deal with Microsoft to have Bing handle Yahoo’s searches behind the scenes, but that deal does not extend to all the Yahoo businesses around the world…and today Yahoo Japan officially zigged rather than zagged, announcing it would be turning to Google to power its searches, rather than going with Microsoft. Yahoo Japan is an independent company, although Yahoo owns about a one-third stake in the operation. Yahoo Japan’s searches are currently being handled by Yahoo’s own search technology, which is being replaced by Bing: by going with Google, Google will be responsible for almost all search traffic in Japan, one of the world’s largest Internet markets.

“We are very pleased to form an alliance with Google, which offers its service globally and has a very good reputation among Japanese Internet users,” said Yahoo Japan president and CEO Masahiro Inoue, in a statement.

One driving factor in Yahoo Japan’s decision was apparently technical: at a news event, Inoue indicated Yahoo Japan has seriously evaluated Microsoft’s search technology, but didn’t find it capable of meeting Yahoo Japan’s needs, particularly in areas of Japanese language search. Yahoo Japan also said it is confident their alliance with Google will not run afoul of Japanese antitrust regulations.

The deal will also see Yahoo Japan adopting Google’s paid keyword search advertising system, as well as making its content available to Google services. Yahoo Japan said that it doesn’t expect the arrangement will alter its relationship with Yahoo proper: it expects to keep using the Yahoo brand and have Yahoo in board as a stakeholder and strategic partner.

Yahoo Japan’s biggest shareholder is Softbank Corp.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Web
Google

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Computing

What is MusicLM? Check out Google’s text-to-music AI

MusicLM prompt.

MusicLM is one of Google's experimental artificial intelligence (AI) tools that uses natural language models to interpret your instructions. But instead of chatting to you like ChatGPT, or helping you search, like Bing Chat, MusicLM is an AI that takes what you tell it and creates music based on it.

You'll need to join the waitlist to get access, but once you're in, you can start making music with Google's latest AI tool.

Computing

Now’s a great time to buy Google Home, Android and Chromebook

The Google Nest Hub Smart Display on a nightstand.

This content was produced in partnership with Best Buy.
Best Buy has a huge variety of cool tech seeing discounts right now, with Google Home and Android products stealing the show, along with some major discounts on Chromebooks. If you’re in the market for one of the best smart home devices or need to land something practical for work or school, it’s worth browsing these deals to see if a discount is available on the piece of tech you have your eye on. You’ll find all sorts of great devices with discounted prices, from Google smart displays to wireless security cameras and from HP Chromebooks to Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
Why you should shop the Google Home sale

Google has really settled into itself as a maker of smart home devices and ecosystems, and right now at Best Buy you can pounce on all sorts of things to add to your smart home setup. Pricing starts as low as and savings reach as high as $500 on a . Low prices on popular products reach across the board, with the , and the 4K model of the . If you’ve already got a fairly complete smart home setup, you can easily shop for a new device that or . Whether you shop for an upgrade to your smart home or shop just to land some savings, get over to Best Buy now and browse the Google Home discounts.

Computing

How to use Google SGE — try out the search generative experience for yourself

Google SGE search tool.

Google's Search Generative Experience, or SGE, is an in-development tool for finding information faster and more readily in Google search. It involves an AI summary of some of the results from your search at the top of the page, letting you get quicker access to the information you're looking for -- at least in theory.

If you're eager to try it out for yourself, here's how to use Google SGE.