In the weeks after the partnership was announced, Yahoo! officials went on to say that they never viewed Yahoo! as a "search engine" but rather as an "information portal" or starting point for users on the web. But no matter how Yahoo! views their web presence and purpose, the fact remains that they are slice of the search marketing pie.

So what does this partnership mean for PPC campaigns? MicroHoo (as the partnership has long been called by speculators on the internet) hasn't been completely clear about whether or not SEM specialists will use Microsoft's adCenter to organize and pay for sponsored search ads that are displayed on Yahoo!. As more details of the partnership are ironed out, the way the SEM industry conducts campaigns will have to evolve to incorporate the changes that MicroHoo is bringing to the way users conduct search.

What major changes may happen as MicroHoo begins to change the way it handles sponsored search marketing? Here are some suggestions:

• A different ad interface. Microsoft may replace or improve its adCenter platform to include the option to place ads on Yahoo!
• Sponsored Search Marketing Campaigns Remain Exactly the Same. In theory, if PPC campaigns are kept separate, than there will be no need to alter them even though Bing is powering Yahoo!'s organic search results. However, this is not guaranteed and time will tell whether or not tweaking will be needed.

Mashable.com reports that each company will maintain its own separate advertising business, but self-serve advertising will go through adCenter. Whatever does happen during the transition from two separate entities into one, the SEM industry needs to look for changes to their existing ad campaigns. The ever-evolving nature of search makes it difficult to stay behind on the latest developments and updates.

Have you seen any changes to your PCC campaigns since MicroHoo announced their partnership? If so, comment below and let us know!

Kelsey Childress is a Social Media & Search Marketing Specialist at BIGSHOT. When she's not overseeing client search campaigns, Kelsey updates BIGSHOT's Twitter and Facebook accounts and offers guidance to clients on how to best use social media to reach out to customers. Check out her tweets at http://twitter.com/BIGSHOTmktg. To read Kelsey's full bio, click here.

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