Earlier this week Yandex.Turkey and Mozilla Corporation announced that Yandex will be the default search engine for Turkish language versions of Firefox on mobile and desktop, starting with Firefox’s next update, planned for this week.
“The agreement is part of Mozilla’s new strategy to promote choice by making locally relevant search engines the default in various countries. Introducing Yandex’s enhanced search experience to Firefox users on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android is part of this strategy,” the corporation stated.
“We have a commitment to make Firefox a browser for everyone, with more choice, empowering the users. Last year, we ended our practice of having a single global default search provider and have in turn adopted a more local and flexible approach in search partnerships. Tests have confirmed that Yandex has become a very good and locally relevant search engine choice in Turkey and thus has been chosen as the new default for Firefox users,” explained Denelle Dixon-Thayer, SVP Business and Legal Affairs Mozilla.
Yandex launched a Turkish version of its search engine in 2011, along with a range of other services created specifically for web users in Turkey – including webmail, news aggregation and automated translation services. It was the first time the Russian company entered a market outside the Russian speaking geography. One year later, Turkish users could also enjoy a localized version of the Yandex browser.
In 2013, Tripadvisor tapped into Yandex.Maps search capabilities to show customers travel destinations and tourist sights in both Russia and Turkey, Yandex.Maps is unrivaled in both elaboration and areas covered, Tripadvisor believes.
Also noticed was Yandex üniversite, a portal aimed to simplify the college application process by offering Turkish students a comprehensive list of universities.
However, Yandex’s position on the Turkish search market has remained modest so far. Far behind Google, its marketshare does not exceed 4%, according to comScore qSearch.
