I recall clearly as a child my front row seat to the great fast food wars of the early 80s. Television commercials for the major chains had turned aggressive, charging competitors with serving inferior sandwiches and sides. For years all you heard and saw was McDonald’s versus Burger King versus Wendy’s – duking it out for the title of top burger joint as though competing for a coveted Highlander spot.

There can be only one? Well, as time told the three chains survived and you still see them all over the place. Of course, now they have to contend with the Taco Bells and Subways, adjusting their menus for healthier options as we suddenly realize our obesity caused in part by eating at these places.

What does this have to do with SEO? If you think about it, the competition between Google and Yahoo and MSN isn’t that much different. Three large companies, vying for your attention, and making adjustments where necessary to keep you coming back. Who delivers the most beef here? Many will argue Google – it’s name has become synonymous with search. In conversation people will mention if they want something on the Internet they’ll “Google” for it. Nobody ever “Yahoos” anything. Over the years Google has acquired major innovations in web technology, including Blogger, Youtube, and Feedburner, and perhaps may add a Twitter feather to its cap. Internet users can send e-mail with Google Mail, write papers with Google Docs, hunt down an address on Google Maps, and research with Google Book Search.

Yahoo, hardly a slouch in the industry, provides users with a useful portal for news, weather, classifieds and site search. You’ll find a similar setup at MSN, which makes me wonder why MSN continues with the plan to launch a search engine.

Is another major search engine necessary now? True, the competition gives users more options, but one who knows his Internet history understands that the Microsoft Network hasn’t been able to knock the two big dogs off the porch. Will Kumo make a dent in Google’s usership? Preview articles suggest a blended search model, which would be beneficial for sites optimized to attract users through audio and video in addition to static site content. We will truly see for ourselves in the next month or so when Kumo launches, and those of us in the SEO business will look to see how to optimize for it search. After all, a referral is a referral and the more the better. But as to whether Kumo will deliver the beef remains to be seen.