Conduit – an organization that powers apps for more than 260,000 Web publishers – has been a partner of Google’s for four of the six years the smaller company’s existed.  Big changes are underway, however, as Conduit has picked Bing to act as a partner going forward.

Ronen Shilo, Conduit’s founder and CEO, wrote this morning on the corporate blog, "Today I’d like to announce the next step in our journey – we have entered into a partnership with Microsoft which we believe will significantly improve our offering to publishers, accelerating the growth of Conduit’s massive network."

Shilo then continued, "Both companies are highly driven by improving the user experience, and as such, see a strong alignment in our long-term strategies and are looking forward to a mutually successful partnership."

This counts as a significant achievement for Bing, even setting aside the symbolic replacing-Google angle.  That’s because Conduit’s connections with publishers put it in touch with around 200 million individuals, meaning the deal should raise Bing’s profile quite a bit.

Then, if all goes well, other companies might choose to follow Conduit’s lead.

Unfortunately, the exact terms of the Bing-Conduit arrangement haven’t been disclosed, so details related to timeframes and financial components remain hazy.

Hat tip goes to Kara Swisher.