In a battle of users' favorite online brands, search engines Google and Yahoo topped a recent Jupiter Research poll that surveyed Internet users' preferred Web sites of choice. When broken out by age, however, MySpace proved just as popular among younger respondents.

Of the 3,500 people polled by Jupiter analysts, 36 percent cited Google as their favorite online brand, with 32 percent selecting Yahoo and 20 percent choosing online retailer Amazon.com. eBay and MySpace ranked fourth and fifth, with Microsoft/MSN, AOL and Apple trailing them, according to the report.

Broken down by gender, there was a slight preference among men for Google while women chose Yahoo. Among the 18-24 set, Google still reigned supreme with 35 percent of the vote, but Yahoo and MySpace tied in second place with 32 percent. MySpace barely registered for users 55 years of age and over, garnering only 1 percent of the vote. They preferred Google (39 percent) and Yahoo (30 percent), though 21 percent of these respondents said they did not even have a favorite online brand.

Jupiter also requested that respondents select more than one favorite online destination. They found that Google was popular among users of Apple and Amazon.com, though the search engine was not favored as much among MySpace and AOL fans.

In that case, however, "that just means Google has to share paid search revenues, as it powers both those companies' search offerings," the report said.

Source: pcmag.com

A Web rumor of late has Yahoo selling off its search business, possibly even to its adversary Google.

It's not surprising that Yahoo would consider giving up on search, considering Google has the most market share in that ever-important category. Plus, over the years Yahoo has focused more and more on its media offerings, and has put much emphasis on developing its Panama ad management technology. Indeed, the company seems to be aiming to manage display ads for other publishers, and selling their inventory to national advertisers.

If Yahoo were to sell off its search technology and related contracts, surely other firms besides Google would be interested. However, if Google ever does agree to buy that business, one would expect the Federal Trade Commission, consumer advocates and firms like IAC's Ask.com and Microsoft to raise eyebrows. After all, if Yahoo's search contracts were to go to Google, the firm would have much even more defined control of the search market.

There's been so much speculation about Yahoo over the past year or so, I guess we can add this one to the pool of what-ifs.

Source: blog.clickz.com