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Yahoo! Outranks Google in Web Traffic for First Time in Two Years

For the first time since 2011, Yahoo! outranks Google for web traffic. According to comScore, Yahoo! had 196.5 million visitors in the month of July, while Google had approximately 192 million visitors. There is no doubt that this will cause quite a stir, especially in the online marketing community. While this may sound like big news, it’s important to keep a level head and not let it affect your marketing strategy. Here’s what you need to know.

Yahoo! Outranks Google in Web Traffic, Not Search Traffic

This is the huge takeaway that businesses and marketers need remember. Yahoo! is a very large entity. They have many properties around the web, and their revenue streams and assets have a broad reach. They get significant amounts of traffic from source types that Google does not target. This is where the big numbers come from. Google is, by far the clear winner for search traffic. Even in July, we are seeing Google as a source over four times as high as Yahoo! in the most conservative cases, and 20 times higher in others. Don’t let this affect your marketing efforts. Yahoo! outranks Google in web traffic, but doesn’t hold a candle to them in search.

Yahoo! Recently Acquired Tumblr

In May, Yahoo! bought the popular blogging service “Tumblr” for about $1.1 billion. Tumblr currently ranks 38th on the comScore list, receiving significant traffic. The list notes that “Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.” There is no doubt that the numbers from Tumblr have helped push Yahoo! over the edge.

Yahoo! and Google Have Always Been Close.

The numbers for Yahoo! and Google have always been close, though Google has been the consistent winner. This report does not mark a sudden tidal-wave-sized shift for Yahoo!, but it does represent a climb.

New Leadership for Yahoo! Is Helping

The acquisition by Yahoo! of Google’s Marissa Mayer has been big news for the company. Though there has been a lot of talk about structural and policy changes within the company and uncertainty about what these changes would bring, it appears that her leadership is helping the company move forward.

Where Do You Go From Here?

Take a deep breath, relax, and stay calm. Google isn’t going anywhere for search, regardless of what Yahoo! and commercials from Bing want you to believe. They are still the reigning champion for search, and it will take something monumental for that to change. Yahoo! is recovering as a company, making smart moves, and doing well. This doesn’t mean that their search tool is a threat to Google. Optimize for Google first, and traffic from the other sources will follow. As far as SEO is concerned, it’s safe to keep Yahoo! as an afterthought.

If you’re a webmaster, have you seen any difference in the traffic your site has received in the last month? Let us know in the comments below.