Firefox Chooses Google As Default Search Engine To Replace Yahoo

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With the release of Firefox Quantum, Mozilla Firefox launched what is probably the greatest update of its browser in recent times. Firefox has become lighter and faster, and you should indeed try it. As you browse using Firefox, you will notice also that Firefox chooses Google as the default search engine. This means that Google replaces Yahoo, at least for users living in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada, and the United States.

This move seems to have come as a big blow for Verizon’s Yahoo, whose engine has been the default choice in Mozilla Firefox for the past four years since the firm signed a five-year deal with Mozilla Firefox. Clearly, the deal has ended prematurely in an unprecedented manner, and Yahoo is now talking about the terms of its previous contract with Mozilla.

Firefox chooses Google for better service

According to Denelle Dixon, Mozilla’s chief business and legal officer, Firefox chooses Google for various reasons, including what is best for its brand, its effort to offer quality website searches, and the bigger content experience for its users.

The Firefox browser has been using Google as its default in some countries, but since it signed the five-year deal with Yahoo, it has maintained Yahoo as its default search engine for American users and those in a number of other countries. In 2015, Yahoo paid Mozilla $375 million and stated that it would be paying the same amount for the next four years for the right to be Mozilla Firefox’s default search engine in some strategic markets.

In 2016, it was discovered that there was a clause which stated that Mozilla could renege on the agreement if another firm or person bought Yahoo and still get about $1 billion in annual compensation from Yahoo. Needless to say, earlier this year, Yahoo was purchased by Verizon and regardless of whether that has any effect on the five-year deal, Firefox chooses Google as a replacement.

You can still use Yahoo’s search engine

Yahoo is still one of the many search engine options available to Firefox users who might prefer it over Google. However, it’s the default spot that seems to make the difference for search engines, mainly because not many people go through the hassle of choosing another search engine.

Dixon stated that even though Firefox chooses Google to replace Yahoo, Mozilla still believes that there is still an opportunity to work with Yahoo.

The decision to switch to Google comes after Mozilla released its latest Firefox Quantum browser, which is 30% lighter when using memory and twice as fast as Google Chrome.

Mozilla states, “The latest version takes advantage of a new receptive engine enabling for fast switching between tabs and new features such built-in support for WebVr.”

Conclusion

By choosing Google, Firefox has made Google’s search engine the most common default search engine in most parts of the globe, with the exception of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey, where the default engine is Yandex, and China, where Baidu is the default.

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