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February 2008

February 29, 2008

Baidu Search Engine Launches IM in Beta - Baidu Hi

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Search engine Baidu has launched instant messaging (IM) in beta, the first formal foray into the Chinese IM market. The "Baidu Hi" service won't be expected to generate revenue in the short term. But the Chinese search titan must find a way to diversify its revenue base.

The Chinese language search engine recently launched a Japanese portal.

Baidu, China's most popular search engine, has more than 60 percent of the search engine industry revenues, according to Analysys International, a Beijing-based research firm.

Google China holds second place with about 26 percent share.

Yahoo China site remains in third with a little less than 10 percent share.

Baidu considers the service a strategic product, according to the Chinese search engine's press release issued tonight.

As with Google, search drives revenue for the fast-growing Baidu. For the past three years Baidu has doubled in size every year. The growth rate may drop to 30 percent in the next five years as Baidu's revenue base grows.

The beta is restricted to Baidu employees only. No word on how long the beta will last or when the product will officially launch.

One company, Tencent, based in Shenzhen has about 80 percent of the IM market share in China with its QQ service. How large is Tencent's customer base? QQ has 580 million users. The company earned 1 billion yuan in the Q3 last year through Internet services.

In second place, Microsoft's MSN Instant Messaging runs far behind Tencent's QQ platform.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 11:06 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: February 29, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 7:00 PM | Permalink

Aaron Wall Shows Yahoo Lagging On Indexing Sites

Seems Yahoo has really been falling behind in updating their databases, according to Aaron Wall's article today.

This is something all people who work in the SEO area should be taking notice of since Yahoo has had good conversion numbers for many of us and if the efforts to add more content are not being recognized by Yahoo then efforts may be better spent improving existing pages - though even this may not be possible.

Yahoo has gone through a number of changes both to its system and its personnel lately so hopefully this will soon be remedied.

Posted by Frank Watson on 6:58 PM | Permalink

Would Ask be Ask?

Ask.com If Ask dismantled its Teoma engine, would Ask still be Ask? The simple answer to this existential question is no.

The Ask search is based on the concept of expert opinion, and there are many refinement options shown in the interface based on clustered or categorized results.

So if Teoma were shut down, we think the ability to narrow or expand searches would likely disappear -- as shown in the chocolate options here.

On the other hand, it's possible to port these algorithms elsewhere if there's enough time for Ask engineers to prepare transitions. That means these search refinements could be layered on top of a different engine, albeit slowing down the response time.

According to PaidContent, the ad deal between Google and Ask includes "a clause allowing Google to engage more deeply with Ask's algorithmic search." If the algorithms from Joisey were connected inside of Google, then these functionalities live on.

Not sure what's planned here, but we can't take the user-interface for granted with a simple plug-in.

Posted by on 3:32 PM | Permalink

SEMPO Running Agency Salary Survey

Having successfully completed an in-house search marketers' salary survey in the fall (with results in January), SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, is conducting an online salary survey of agency-based search marketers.

The survey presents less than 30 questions and can be completed in an estimated 12 minutes. It's open now and will run through mid March. Results of the survey will be published in connection with ad:tech San Francisco in April.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 2:53 PM | Permalink

Google Content Network Ads Performing Better?

An informal poll by Enid Burns at ClickZ News finds that many agencies that advertise on Google's content network have seen improved results over the past six months.

Some credit the changes Google has made to improve the network, such as placement targeting, performance reports, and new ad units on Google's search, content, and mobile networks. Google also shrank the clickable area of AdSense ads to to limit accidental clicks.

Incidentally, that shrinkage is attributed by some as the cause for ComScore's report of flat click growth for Google, among other declining click volume theories.

This fits with the trend of decreasing AdSense income being reported by publishers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 2:00 PM | Permalink

The Google Killer - comScore (SCOR) Doomsday Scenario

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ComScore did what Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, and Digg only dreamed of.

ComScore killed the search engine star.

ComScore data on Google paid clicks rocked the world this week. The proprietary comScore qSearch report was analyzed to death by Wall St. analysts and media pundits. Data: summarized and judged; Google, convicted, flogged and sentenced to an early demise.

It wasn't hit and run, though: comScore's SVP of Media and Search, James Lamberti, and CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Magid Abraham delve deep into the data to correct the rush to judgment in the marketplace. It's a must-read. Great analysis; surprisingly lifeless title: "Why Google's surprising paid click data are less surprising."

It should've been "Data doesn't kill Google, people do."

QSearch showed a 7 percent decline in January '08 vs. December ‘07. Paid click annual growth? Flat for Google.

Month-over-month the number of paid clicks per search on Google dropped by 8 percent (December '07 to January '08). Consumers clicking less on search ads? Maybe. A weaker buying appetite?

Google's share price took a hit and rebounded. Reports of Google's early demise? Greatly exaggerated. That doesn't mean the momentum-driven Google shares won't take a hit if Google fails to impress the Street this quarter.

Wall St. analysts - looking for clues where Google gives no guidance - had accomplices: mainstream media and bloggers hoping for a Google stumble.

No one wants to miss the Hindenburg. The only problem? The Hindenburg Crashes Nightly when Google news goes viral.

The Google backlash reared its ugly head and this time it wasn't just Valleywag.

LendingTree whose multimillion dollar paid search campaigns are managed by search marketing firm Efficient Frontier, made public its new online marketing strategy: cutting back on PPC or paid search.

LendingTree spokesperson Allison Vail was quoted in CNET News.com by Stefanie Olsen.

"With the Fed changes in January, we were driving natural traffic. It's smarter for us," said Vail.

Our readers know it's always smart to optimize for natural search. I'm not sure anecdotal evidence from a financial services pure play in the throes of a global subprime mortgage crisis proves paid search revenues are declining.

Statistics from search marketing firms, though, would lend credence to the argument.

For average CPC (Cost Per Click) by industry vertical (Financial Services, Mortgage, Credit, Auto), click here.

Efficient Frontier Chairman Ellen Siminoff, chairman told CNET that paid search advertising spendi in financial services has typically risen between 30 percent and 50 percent annually.

So far this year it's either flat or down for some companies. credit and mortgage advertisers raised their spending by 24 percent, but this year, their spending has risen only 3 percent year over year, according to Efficient Frontier data.

Coming soon: Efficient Frontier / Search Engine Watch Average CPC data for February.

Be the first investment banker or hedge fund manager on your block to see the stats.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 1:24 PM | Permalink

Google Yahoo MSN Live Sitemaps: Cross-Hosting Grokked by SEOs for SEOs

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With sitemaps cross-hosting (or cross-submission), Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft cracked open the door for corporations to outsource search engine optimization.

How big a deal is this?

Not enough to make Robert Scoble cry. Or join the circus.

When SEL broke the news at SMX (described in excellent summary by Vanessa Fox of vanessfoxnude fame), I was hoping for a revolutionary change. Then I read the blog posts at the Google Webmaster Central, Yahoo Search and Live Search Webmaster Center blogs so you don't have to. (I'm just kidding all you search engine PR gals … and guy.)

Robots.txt ruined my night. I felt like I was decepticonned - hoping for the breakthrough that would make outsourcing SEO much easier for major corporations. Or an announcement that might provide guidance for SEOs to improve rankings for their clients.

SEW Experts SEM Crossfire columnist Chris Boggs ended the robots nightmare: "I think it's a big step forward in making it easier for companies to outsource, but the caveat is having full access to the robots.txt. Some industries such as banking and pharma may still have issues."

Still, we don't want to beat up on the search engines (unnecessarily). In the past, search engines required companies with multiple Web sites to have "one set of servers to rule them all."

In short, search engines required sitemaps to be on the same host and path as the URLs they contained. That meant the same server needed to host both sitemaps and site content.

Google, Yahoo and Live Search put aside their fierce competition for a moment to make life a little easier for Webmasters and SEOs by standardizing sitemaps in November 2006, when the Big Three formed Sitemaps.org.

SEW Experts By The Numbers columnist, Eric Enge, CEO of Stone Temple Consulting, noted, "The announcement affects Web site owners who don't have the freedom to place a sitemaps file in the root directory of the domain. Historically, site owners without the ability to place a file in the root folder for their domain haven't been able to make use of sitemaps."

A cross-hosting sitemaps scenario or two?

"There are many scenarios. Shared hosting environments and people in large corporations who may be running subdomains of a much larger site," said Enge. "This now allows them to place the sitemaps file in a different location, even on another server or domain. The sitemaps file then needs to be pointed to by the robots.txt file for the original domain. The site owner will still need the ability to make that change."

Search Engine Watch, for example, has several domains and subdomains. Our main domain, searchenginewatch.com, features a few subdomains: blog.searchenginewatch.com, forums.searchenginewatch.com and jobs.searchenginewatch.com, for example.

Now we can host all our sitemaps in one location or subdomain: such as "notreally-oursitemaps.searchenginewatch.com."

So what does cross-hosting mean for the global SEO community?

"Ultimately this opens up the site maps protocol to a large number of site owners who couldn't make use of it before," said Enge. "The SEO impact really relates to that fact. SEOs may not have been able to use sitemaps on a site previously, due to the limitations of the prior implementation. Now those SEOs have the capability available to them."

Cool.

"The impact of offsite hosting for sitemaps? It will make it easier for sitemap management by allowing site owners to manage multiple sitemaps in one location," explained Lee Odden of TopRank. "It will also make it easier for those with sites that use subdomains."

So bottom line: will SEOs be able to leverage cross-hosting to improve rankings for targeted keywords?

"As for impact on rankings, it's no different than the effect of making sitemap data available previously," said Odden. "Providing a list of URLs to search engines serves as a supplemental source of information to what their spiders would find in the wild."

Here's how it works:

"Search engines make no guarantee that providing URLs in a sitemap will increase the number of pages indexed - but they might," said Odden. "So in that regard, making it easier for sites that previously did not provide sitemaps, especially subdomains, may help them get more pages indexed, but I see no effect on actual rankings."

For the Google Guy's take on sitemaps, nofollow and other great tips, read the highest ranked Matt Cutts interview ever done (by Eric Enge).

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 1:01 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Standards for SEO and SEM: The Time is Now

The question comes up often in search marketing circles: Is now the time for search engine marketing standards? In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Standards for SEO and SEM: The Time is Now," Chris Boggs outlines a proposal for standards that define common tactics and assign them a risk level to help search marketers make wise decisions about the most appropriate search marketing plan for their situation.

Do you agree with Chris? Please share your thoughts on establishing SEO standards at the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Drowning in Red Tape: SEO and Pharma Regulations

In many industries, regulatory issues can add considerable complexity to an SEO implementation. The challenge is not to let that complexity get in the way of a campaign's success. In today's Outsourced column, "Drowning in Red Tape: SEO and Pharma Regulations," William Flaiz describes some ways to navigate the waters of SEO for a pharmaceutical client.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 28, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 28, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 5:00 PM | Permalink

7 Ways Brands Can "Get Social"

Many brands are wary of exposing themselves on social media sites, but as anyone who's been involved in social media for more than five minutes knows, they're too late. In today's SearchDay, "The Role of the Brand in Social Media Marketing," Userplane's Mike Jones shares seven social marketing tactics to help your brand "get social" and join the conversation:

1. Boost the Fun Factor
2. See the Forest and the Trees
3. Widgets are Welcome
4. Conversation is King
5. Engage
6. Research and Listen
7. Don't Go It Alone

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 4:14 PM | Permalink

Schedule optimization for SES New York

The biggest Search Engine Strategies conference of the year will be held the week of March 17 in New York City. Whether this will be your first SES New York, or the fifth one in a row that you've attended since 2004, you might appreciate some free advice on schedule optimization.

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One look at the conference at a glance will tell you why. There are more than 70 workshops, keynotes, panels and sessions over the four-day Search Engine Strategies conference. And, on the fifth day, there are an additional six SEM training classes following SES New York.

Since there are five concurrent tracks during the four-day Search Engine Strategies conference and three concurrent workshops during the fifth day of SEM training, no one can attend everything. This is not daunting to the first-time attendee. It is also a challenge to someone like me, who attended SES New York in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. I'm looking at last year's conference handbook and this year's conference at a glance and more than 70% of the sessions are new!

Now, Danny Sullivan programmed last year's show and Kevin Ryan organized this year's agenda. But, that's only one of the factors driving the dramatic changes in the content at the event.

On the last day of last year's Search Engine Strategies conference in New York City, Google announced its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, which is still pending. A couple of weeks later, Yahoo! acquired the remaining 80% of Right Media for $680 million. Then, last May, Microsoft acquired aQuantive for $6 billion. Last July, Microsoft acquired AdECN for an undisclosed amount of money and in September, Yahoo! acquired BlueLithium for $300 million in cash. Then, on Feb. 1 of this year, Microsoft proposed to acquire Yahoo! for $44.6 billion.

That's a lot of M&A news for the industry to digest – and our search engine marketing definition needs to be rewritten this year.

And our search engine optimization definition needs to be totally rewritten, too.

About a month after last year's SES New York, Google announced its critical first steps toward a universal search model that offers users a more integrated and comprehensive way to search for and view information online. It was the biggest thing to hit the search engine marketing industry since Google's Florida Update in November 2003.

In June 2007, Ask3D was launched. In September 2007, Microsoft launched its biggest update to Live Search since its debut in January 2005. And in October 2007, “an all new Yahoo! Search experience” was launched.

Meanwhile, comScore reports that YouTube, Google Image Search, Google Maps and Google News are approaching 1.6 billion searches a month, which is more than Live Search. In other words, Google (6.2 billion searches a month) is the #1 search engine, Yahoo! (2.4 billion) is #2, YouTube and all other Google “expanded” search sites (1.6 billion) would be #3, and Microsoft's Live Search (1 billion) is #4.

So, is it any wonder that even SES alumni are heading back to New York?

So, to help industry veterans as well as search newbies, I've put together the optimized schedule below for the Search Engine Strategies conference that starts on Saint Patrick's Day in the Big Apple.

Now, when you get to SES New York, you'll make adjustments on the fly. As Bob Shirilla of Keepsakes Etc. told me at SES Chicago back in December, “I had a detailed game plan when I came to SES, but I'm calling a lot of audibles.”

Nevertheless, schedule optimization will help you get the return on marketing investment that you're looking for. Here are the workshops, keynotes, panels and sessions that I'd recommend:

Day 1 - Monday, March 17, 2008

9:30-10:45am
Creating Compelling Ads
Organic Listings Forum

11:15am-12:30pm
Analytics: Data Into Action
Igniting Viral Campaigns

2:00-3:15pm
Web Analytics: Measuring Success
Auditing Paid Listings and Click Fraud Issues

3:45-5:00pm
Orion Panel: Getting Vertical Search Right

Day 2 - Tuesday, March 18, 2008

9:00-10:00am
Conference Welcome and Opening Keynote
Nick Carr, author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google


Nick Carr, SES New York 2008, The Big Switch

11:00am-12:15pm
Introduction to Search Engine Marketing
Ads in a Quality Score World

1:30-2:45pm
Orion Panel: Universal Search

3:15-4:30pm (Sponsored Sessions)
Hitwise: Know about Your Competitors' Paid and Organic Traffic
Google: What's new with Google Analytics and Website Optimizer?

4:45-6:00pm
Search Engine Friendly Design
Ad Copy & Landing Page Clinic

Day 3 - Wednesday, March 19, 2008

9:00-9:45am
Morning Keynote
Gordon McLeod: Search Has Changed Everything... And So Can You

10:15-11:30am
Link Building Basics
Ad Testing: Research & Findings

1:00-2:15pm
Search Advertising 101
Top Search Trends

2:30-3:30pm
Afternoon Keynote
Jason Calacanis, Founder & CEO of Mahalo.com, Inc.

4:00-5:15pm
The New Face of In-House Search
Social Media Research: Informing Search Strategies

5:30-6:45pm
The Business Case for SEO Content Development: Turning Words Into Action!
Ad Exchanges Are Changing Everything

Day 4 - Thursday, March 20, 2008

9:00-9:45am
Morning Keynote
Andrew Tomkins, Chief Scientist at Yahoo! Research

10:00-11:00am
Usability & SEO: 2 Wins For The Price of 1
Podcast & Audio Search Optimization

11:15am-12:15pm
Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions
Images & Search Engines

12:45-1:45pm
Meet the Crawlers
Video Search Optimization

But wait! There's more!

On Friday, March 21, there are six half-day SEM training classes, which can be taken in addition to the SES New York conference or independently – at an additional cost.

Again, look over the descriptions of each workshop to see which ones are for you. But, here are the SEM training classes that I'd recommend:

8:00am-12:00pm
Link and Reputation Workshop
Optimizing for Universal Search

1:00-5:00pm
Search & Analytics Workshop: Using Analytics to Increase Search Effectiveness
The 7 Step RSS/Content Syndication/SEO Strategy

If you register for the Search Engine Strategies conference by tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 29, you can save $150. Conference attendees get free access to Market Motive training and Bruce Clay tools. And, if you attend SES New York, you could win a Scion xB! A free drawing will take place on Wednesday, March 19, in the Expo Hall.

I should disclose that Search Engine Strategies is now a client, but I've been writing about SES since 2002, when the March event was still held in Boston.

The search engine marketing industry has been totally transformed since then. For example, the keynote speaker at my first Search Engine Strategies conference was from Terra Lycos.

Remember them?

That's why both industry veterans as well as search newbies will be heading to SES New York in a couple of weeks. The newbies will want to learn everything they can. And the veterans need to relearn most of what was being taught just a few years ago.

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Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR and Amanda Watlington of Searching for Profit at SES London 2008

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 1:42 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Changes Minimum Bid Policy on Search Ads

Yahoo this week changed the way it will set minimum bids on some keywords in Sponsored Search ads in the U.S., bringing it closer in line with Google's policy. Instead of setting all minimum bids at $0.10, Yahoo will now allow the market to set a variable minimum bid. That means that in some cases, the minimum will be above $0.10, and in other cases it could be lower.

The minimum bids will be set based on the relevance of ads to a keyword, the number of bidders and their bid amounts. It will not be based on advertiser conversions. These kinds of factors are already used by Yahoo to rank ads based on a quality score, but the difference now applies to the minimum bid, or reserve price.

Google changed its minimum bid structure in July 2005. Many advertisers were not happy with the move at the time, but so far there does not seem to be much outcry in blogs or search marketing forums.

A key difference between Yahoo's new method and Google's is the institution of alerts and a grace period when the bid on a given keyword is about to fall below the minimum. Yahoo will notify advertisers in their Account Dashboard if a bid is about to drop below the minimum, and will offer a grace period of up to a few days to allow the advertiser to raise their bid to keep the keyword active.

The first batch of keywords goes live in the U.S. with the new reserve pricing model over the next few weeks, with more keywords to be added internationally in the future.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 10:36 AM | Permalink

The Search Engine Watch List, Part 1

Tamara
Chris
Ron
Patrick
Liana
David
Lauren
Jeffrey
Jordan
Greg
Jacob
Joan
Greg
Kevin
Heather
Brian
Perry
Paul
Lee
Mark
Steve
Ed
Phil
Eric
Jill

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 9:42 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Google is an Optimist. Newspapers are Pessimists.

The Internet is a speeding freight train. If newspapers, and for that matter all traditional media, don't begin immediately to think drastically different, the train will pass them by. In today's Link Love column, "Google is an Optimist. Newspapers are Pessimists.," Sage Lewis explains why today's newspapers have to stop making incremental moves while expecting gigantic results. They simply must become the center of innovation, courage and change.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Online SEO Training Options

There are both benefits and drawbacks to taking an online SEO training course. In today's SEM.EDU column, "Online SEO Training Options," Ron Jones outlines several options available across the Web, making it easy to learn SEO online.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 27, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 27, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:46 PM | Permalink

"Googlewash" Is Googlewashed by Online Reputation Defenders

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Googlewashing is now the domain of live nude girls.

SEO PR and online reputation management companies officially co-opted the word "Googlewashing" today with the help of KUSA, a Denver NBC TV station. Yesterday the local news affiliate broadcast a story about "cleaning up negative information on the Internet."

The story on embarassing photos and digital dirt resurrected the googlewash meme. Googlewashing now appears to be the domain of online reputation management companies like ReputationHawk.com, DefendMyName.com and ReputationDefender.com that charge to clean up your digital dirt.

Why else did googlewashing become such a hot topic on the day William F. Buckley Jr. died?

KUSA's report and Web site video features nude and topless young women (covered by black bars for TV and Web audiences). No doubt that sent viewers racing to the search engines - and spawned follow-up stories at other local TV Web sites and blogs.

Googlewashing started as a threat to free speech and not a solution to personal indiscretions.

Andrew Orlovski of The Register UK coined "googlewash" from the word "greenwash" - a spot of paint that "transforms" something rotten into something new. The reality? Nothing's changed.

The phrase that spurred Orlovski's imagination originated almost five years ago to the day (Feb 17, 2003). Patrick Tyler in a front page story in the New York Times wrote that global anti-war protests had become "the second superpower." Yet within 42 days, a small group of A-List tech bloggers had co-opted the phrase to mean something much more benign, pushing the anti-war slogan in the Times story further down in Google rankings.

That led Orlovski to realize Google had been "gamed" - and, he noted, the English language perverted - by the power of inbound links. The "meaning" of the phrase "second superpowers" had changed almost instantly.

Googlewashing soon morphed into googlebombing. The famous "miserable failure" ranking for President Bush (since eliminated by Google). Marissa Mayer responded to the controversy on the Official Google Blog in September of 2005 in her post "Googlebombing failure."

Only months later Brian Livingston blogged Googlewashing' Makes Your Site Invisible.

Livingston changed googlewash to mean the practice of scraping and stealing Web content on another blog. The result? Duplicate content appearing above your own.

He called it an example of "Googlewashing" -- a term that combines Google and brainwashing.

In the ultimate irony, former war correspondent Kevin Sites, recently did a report on googlewashing: not for its Orwellian role in the anti-war movement but in a multimedia profile for Yahoo News of paid search advertiser ReputationDefender.com.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 6:43 PM | Permalink

Google News UK Sorting News Without Bias?

Can the flap of a butterfly's wings in the Googleplex set off a tornado in the top UK news and media sites? In today's SearchDay, "Stop Press 2: Hitwise Data Shows Google News UK Unbiased," Greg Jarboe looks at some Hitwise UK data showing that Google News is getting more traffic from Google UK, but it's also sending more traffic to other sites, including competitive news aggregators.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 2:44 PM | Permalink

SEW Experts: The TV Writers -- And the Buzz -- Are Back

Learning to use the tools we have before us is an integral part of online marketing success. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "The TV Writers – And the Buzz – Are Back," Kevin Ryan shows how the end of the TV writers' strike holds some meaningful lessons for search marketers.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 26, 2008

Spamalot? Yahoo! Buzz Is Not Your Holy Grail

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Yahoo! Buzz promises to squash spammers with a team of spam cops: the Yahoo! Buzz Editors.

Yahoo! has a team of editors who program links on Yahoo.com. These same editors will now be reviewing all top-ranked stories on Yahoo! Buzz for possible feature placement on Yahoo.com homepage.

How many? Your guess is as good as mine. Yahoo doesn't share specific numbers on the size of their teams. Or their secret identities.

During the initial beta Yahoo! tested with a limited group of publishers that represented a broad range of content types, large and small. How you can get in the game:

Yahoo will open up to more publishers over the course of the beta. Interested publishers can join the mailing list via this link for updates.

Here's how Yahoo plans to keep spammers out and their buzzworthy results from being manipulated:

Users will need to login to Yahoo to vote which should help keep spammers out. Yahoo! Buzz plans to insure the integrity of the votes by combining user voting on-and-off network with a proprietary search ranking algorithm.

From initial Buzz results, very little censorship and keyword cleansing.

PopSugar and GiggleSugar join the entertainment category eaderboard dominated by Yahoo O&O properties. Voting? Fast and furious.

So what do Yahoo! Buzzters yodel?

Warning: Adult Content including the V-C words after the jump ...

Yahoo Buzz! omg!: "Fonda, The C-Word," "V-A-G-I-N-A" on The Today Show? You bet.

GiggleSugar scored 1,000 buzz points with that one in a closed beta.

A vid of Letterman's Top 10 Jane Fonda excuses for using the four letter word didn't hurt.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 10:59 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: February 26, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 9:24 PM | Permalink

Google Maps User Reviews to Neighborhoods: Google Rat Pack!

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Google Lat Long Blog announced Google Maps and Google Earth teaming up to provide User Reviews and refinement by Neighborhood in local search results.

Move over Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr!

Start spreadin' the news. There's a new Google Rat Pack in town.

That's right. As Bubby's restaurant will soon find out local search lives and dies by user reviews. It's not all about the stars, bubby.

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA, Rocco Dispirito, and Anthony Bourdain never had to deal with the wrath of Googlers.

Ratz n the Hood. It's enough to make Iron Chefs yelp.

Yup - Yelp reviews can be found in Google Maps along with Zagat, CitySearch and UGC so restaurant owners: Start bribing your favorite Yelpers, Zagatics, CitySearchers, Gothamists and Gawkers.

From the search results for Pinkberry in New York, all traces of rat infestation have been removed from the Google Maps local search results. (Not so in the Google SERPs - keyword "pinkberry rats" - where the popular yogurt shop's rat infestation will live in infamy.)

Kudos to Pinkberry for their stellar online reputation management - or for just being lucky.

SEOs of the World unite in thanking Google for unearthing a gold mine of online reputation management opportunities.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 5:53 PM | Permalink

Many See AdSense Income Dropping

I have been hearing and reading a lot of reports about decreased income from AdSense. A recent detailed post on the topic was done over at WebMasterWorld.

Barry Schwartz and the SERoundtable crew polled publishers at the beginning of the month and found that 63% have noted a drop in their AdSense income.

Add to that the changes in the T&Cs where sites that don't meet impression and click numbers will be terminated from the AdSense program and you have some serious changes to the AdSense landscape.

Has Google finally gotten to the point where they feel they can cut back their publishers? Have they started to thin the herd by making the pay outs lower? Or have the bigger publishers started to take all of the higher paying ads, leaving the rest of the publishers a much lower paying pool of ads to run?

Other possibilities are Google is pushing their newer ad styles such as video - with drops in text maybe publishers will feel more inclined to run the other options....

Is Google not getting enough people embracing the new ad types?

Have the little publishers served their purpose now that Google has many of the once suspicious large publishers?

Has policing small sites become too much work?

The future direction of AdSense seems to be changing. Where it now plans to go is something they should be sharing with the people who helped get them to where they are today.

I would love some input.... losing AdSense income, tried the newer ad formats, have an opinion? Post comments here.

Posted by Frank Watson on 1:03 PM | Permalink

Matt Cutts' Google NoIndex Discussion Gets Interesting

The ongoing discussion of the ways you can stop search engines from indexing specified pages and the use of the noindex meta tag was the topic of Matt Cutts blog the other day. Matt started a poll of what people would like the noindex tag to do: A: Don't show the page at all; B. Find some middle ground; or C:Show a link to the page.

The results have been massively in favor of not showing the page at all, 617 to 61 and 53.

Interestingly Matt argued that Google needs some discretion of what pages the noindex tag stops from being listed in the search results. He uses a couple of instances of government essential sites that have been dropped because they mistakenly used that tag.

"The vast majority of webmasters who use NOINDEX do so deliberately and use the meta tag correctly (e.g. for parked domains that they don't want to show up in Google). Users are most discouraged when they search for a well-known site and can't find it. What if Google treated NOINDEX differently if the site was well-known? For example, if the site was in the Open Directory, then show a reference to the page even if the site used the NOINDEX meta tag. Otherwise, don't show the site at all. The majority of webmasters could remove their site from Google, but Google would still return higher-profile sites when users searched for them," Matt blogged.

The post lays out the difficulties Google encounters when errors by site owners use the tags incorrectly and stop people from accessing information that should be available to the web.

The comments have a solid cross section of well known marketers from our industry and present some good insights.

Joost de Valk, search strategist for Onetomarket notes "The fact that some websites get the noindex wrong by accident is a problem, I can understand, but you don't solve a problem a minority of websites has by forcing a majority of people to change their ways. You solve that problem by educating the people maintaining those website."

Philipp Lenssen of Google Blogoscoped added: "I think it's a pretty clear-defined case: webmasters put “noindex” in their page because they don't want the page indexed or shown. As you can't know whether a webmaster perhaps accidentally put the noindex there, you have to err on the safe side and do what you're told. Or how would you feel if people started to interpret Google terms of services in terms of, “oh maybe their lawyers just misspelled this and really mean something else, I'll ignore it.”

Also, please do not try to push webmasters to always use a Google tool — like a URL removal tool — to do stuff; while Google search is close to a monopoly there are still other engines out there, and webmasters have better things to do than toggle a dozen tool's configurations."

Posted by Frank Watson on 11:28 AM | Permalink

Hilary Clinton Accused of Obama Turban Warfare in Universal Search

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Universal search has changed the course of history. Blended search - the combination of the universal searches for Obama turban photo, Barack Obama news stories, YouTube Obama Girl videos and buzz-worthy blogs have created a political firestorm ignited by Internet search.

Forget the official YouTube debates and lofty and admirable aspirations of Google's Sergey Brin. Welcome to the grim, new Making of the Internet President.

Once again the conservative anti-Clinton Drudge Report blog created an onslaught of Internet searches for the Obama photo - Muslim turban and Somali robes - traditional African dress and not a reflection of Obama's religion.

The New York Post - arguably the best headline writers in the free world - call it "Turban Warfare" and a "Bum Wrap."

That's funnier than Hilary's ill-fated lines mocking Obama - the trademark violation “change you can Xerox” and “Shame on you, Barack Obama" -- one that has surely come back to bite her and her alleged leaking campaign.

Comedian, American Express pitchwoman and TV host Ellen DeGeneres appeared via satellite at a Clinton fundraiser on Monday to banter with Hilary. The segment will be aired on DeGeneres' show this week. (A follow up to comedian Tina Fey and her SNL b-word rant.)

Is Obama Photo Worth 1000 Keywords? That's the topic of Search Engine WarGames in politics this week - an in-depth look at how keywords and keyword phrases have shaped the political debate: from "bitch is the new black" to "raisin in the sun;" from former crack cocaine addict and Oliver North (Iran Contra) secretary "fawn hall" to "obama turban" -- politics will never be the same.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 11:15 AM | Permalink

Yahoo! Buzz Launches! April Fools!

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Yahoo, in desperate need of good buzz these days, today launched Yahoo! Buzz, promising to uncover and deliver the most interesting and relevant content from Web sites across the Internet to the Yahoo homepage.

Sounds like a search engine! Social search anyone?

The only problem: Y Live! redux. This was the message on Yodel Anecdotal, Yahoo's official corporate blog:

"Not Found ... Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here. How did I get here?"

I know how I got there, Yahoo. The question is, How did you get here?

We saw your new Y! buzz logo on TechCrunch but not on Yahoo!

Still in beta, the new Yahoo! Buzz allows consumers to vote (Digg) and even submit to Digg and other social media sites.Yahoo! Buzz also uses search patterns to identify stories and videos from news sources and blogs.

The prize? Editorial consideration for feature placement on Yahoo.com.

The audience? More than 500 million users. The final judge? Human editors.

Yahoo! Buzz ranks the most popular content using what Yahoo terms "a unique approach that combines consumer votes with search popularity" to give a story a Buzz Score. The Yahoo initiative creates a lens (Squidoo!) on what people are most interested in to enhance relevance on Yahoo.com, and help publishers deliver content to a wider Yahoo audience.

The goal? To make Yahoo the gateway to the Internet again. The world's home page.

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In its beta phase, Yahoo Buzz has content from nearly 100 publishers, ranging from large online publishing brands to small, influential blogs. It will open up to all publishers interested in having their content included in Yahoo! Buzz.

Participating publishers are given an online 'badge' enabling their readers to vote and submit stories to Buzz in real-time. Stories with the highest Buzz Scores will be highlighted via direct links to the publishers' sites from http://buzz.yahoo.com and submitted to Yahoo.com's editors for possible coverage on the Yahoo! homepage.

Yahoo "allows" users to submit Buzz stories to social news sites including delicious, Digg, Facebook, Propeller, Reddit and Stumbleupon.

We'd like to see Yahoo try to stop 'em!

Yahoo Buzz promises to form the basis for an open ecosystem of publishers, advertisers and consumers.

Coming soon: new syndication and monetization tools that enable publishers to share relevant content, connect to more advertisers and reach a broader audience. For example, a Yahoo! Buzz API will enable publishers to add customized Yahoo! Buzz modules or shortcuts to their sites to showcase their own most buzzed items or other popular stories on relevant topics.

Over time, Yahoo expects this to extend into a powerful content exchange that connects owners of content with distributors of traffic.

Adsdaq anyone?

So who were the mystery beta testers? The proponents of the "Free-conomics." Find out what Yahoo and fire hoses have in common after the jump.

"Getting a link on Yahoo!'s Front Page is like connecting to a fire hose," said Evan Hansen, editor-in-chief, Wired.com. "Thanks to this program, we got more than 2 million page views in less than two hours from a single headline, helping to drive a 1400 percent increase in Yahoo! referral traffic versus the previous month and enabling us to reach a vast audience that may not otherwise see the stories we publish on Wired.com."

Another Buzz-timonial from People Digital:

"Yahoo! Buzz builds on an openness initiative Yahoo! launched last year in which editors began highlighting third-party content from across the Web in the "Featured Today" module on Yahoo.com. This effort has already provided tremendous value for consumers and publishers, representing a first step in the creation of a more open system for Web content. "When Yahoo! linked to People.com's Sexiest Man Alive coverage, referrals from Yahoo! increased by over 11 times versus the average day," said Fran Hauser, President, People Digital.

And another official press release statement:

"Yahoo Buzz is a good example of how we are continuing to innovate and open up our key starting points to third party publishers, making Yahoo! more social and personally relevant for our half a billion consumers," Jeff Weiner, executive vice president, Yahoo! Network Division said in a statement. "In addition, we recently announced that we will be opening up our user interface for Yahoo! Search, as well as creating a smarter inbox by opening up Yahoo! Mail, two other key ways that consumers start with Yahoo!."

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 12:14 AM | Permalink

Yahoo to Allow Publishers to Improve its Search Results

Yahoo Open Search - Yelp In another move toward openness, Yahoo is creating a platform to allow site owners to create plug-ins that its visitors can add to their Yahoo search accounts to see enhanced listings from that publisher in Yahoo Web search results. The plug-ins are intended to expose structured information, and provide more deep links into a site, images, or ratings and reviews, for example. In today's SearchDay, "Yahoo Opens Up Search Results," we'll take a closer look at the move.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:05 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Global SEO Strategy: Advanced Search for Large Enterprises

Many companies have chosen to expand overseas with the growing global economy. With this, each multinational must develop a search marketing strategy for each new international market, which also fits into a holistic global search strategy. In today's Big Biz column, "Global SEO Strategy: Advanced Search for Large Enterprises," Aaron Shear explains that advanced global SEO requires more than just keyword research, translation, and localization. He offers a primer on key issues to consider when developing global search engine strategies.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: SEO Site Clinic: American Express

You'd expect large companies to adhere to basic best practices in SEO, usability and accessibility. But you'd be wrong. In today's au Natural column, "SEO Site Clinic: American Express," Mark Jackson discusses ways in which the site is in need of SEO help, so that we can all learn from their mistakes.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 25, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 25, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:24 PM | Permalink

Flickr photo sharing awards for SES London 2008

Search Engine Strategies London wrapped up last week and the 2,000 attendees have returned to work with a new understanding of how Google's universal search is incorporating images as well as videos, news, maps, books, and websites into a single set of results. And, demonstrating that they aren't the cobbler's children, some of the speakers at SES London 2008 have shared their news photos, party pictures and professional event photography with the rest of us.

As I mentioned in my previous post, “Tag your Photobucket, Picasa and Flickr photos: SES London 2008,” I have selected the Best Photo of SES London 2008, the Best Photos of SES London, and Best Photography of SES London 2008.

The envelope, please.

And the winner of the Best Photo of a market trend at SES London 2008 is … Mel Carson, adCenter Community Manager, Europe, Microsoft adCenter. The winning entry can be found on Mel's Biog in a post entitled, “SES London 2008 - A Few Pictures.” Mel captured the Orion Panel All-Star Analytics Team – Jim Sterne, Bryan Eisenberg, Ian Thomas, and Steven Jackson – all on their mobile phones! Coincidence? I think not.

Mel wins one static text link to his blog: DigiTales & Other Stories.

As of this afternoon, there were 451 photos from sessions, panels, exhibits, the night life, and everything in between in the SES London 2008 Flickr pool. Now, you might think this would make it extremely difficult to select the winner of the next award. But, you would be wrong.

The envelope, please.

And the winner of the Best Photos of SES London 2008 posted to a photo sharing site is … Liana “Li” Evans, Director of Internet Marketing at KeyRelevance. With 300 photos, Li (aka storyspinn) was the top contributor to our group photo pool on Flickr.

Li wins one static text link to one of her blogs: Search Marketing Gurus.

The final award is for Best Photography of SES London 2008 by a professional photographer.

The envelope, please.

And the winner is … Edward Klaus of ProPictures. Now, I should disclose that SES London is a client and that I hired ProPictures to help document the event at the Business Design Centre in Islington. But, I hope there's no debate over the quality of the 113 photos that they took at SES London 2008. Make your own judgment by looking at five of Edward's photos below.

Still, it would be wrong to link to someone that I hired. It would appear to be a conflict of interest. So, instead, let me donate one static text link to The Scientist Photographers Group's Annual Charity Project, which supports Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors without Borders.

Which raises an interesting question: Why doesn't the search engine marketing industry have a similar charity projectt? If you're going to SES New York next month, let me know what you think of this idea.

And don't forget to bring your camera or cameraphone.

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The Business Design Centre in Islington

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Audience listening to the Orion Panel: All-Star Analytics Team

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Left to right: Kevin Ryan, Fredrick Marckini and Mike Grehan at SES London 2008

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Catching up with the office between sessions at Search Engine Strategies London

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The Landing Page Testing & Tuning session at SES London 2008

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 5:11 PM | Permalink

Media Spend on Search, Verticals, Continues to Grow

Search made up 31 percent of the $735 million in media billings in 2007 by Microsoft-owned Avenue A | Razorfish, second only to ads on vertical sites at 39 percent of spending, according to Jeff Lanctot, senior VP of Global Media, who published details of the agency's spending in the latest Digital Outlook Report. That's up from search's 28-percent share of billings in 2006.

Search, at $227.8 million, and verticals, at $286.6 million, were the big winners last year, while the agency's media spending slowed in both portals, at $139.6 million, and ad networks, at $80.8 million.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 1:11 PM | Permalink

Kelsey Group Predicts Growth in Interactive, Directional Ads

Interactive advertising revenue in the U.S. will grow from $22.5 billion in 2007 to $62.4 billion by 2012, according to a new Kelsey Group report. Interactive advertising revenue, which Kelsey defines as search (including local search), display advertising, classifieds and other interactive ad products, grew its share of global advertising revenues from 6.1 percent in 2006 to 7.4 percent in 2007. By 2012, Kelsey Group analysts expect the interactive share of global ad spending will reach 21 percent.

"Growing from 7.1 percent to 21 percent is a lot. We're saying that there will be a big shift to digital advertising markets," Matt Booth, SVP interactive local media for Kelsey, told ClickZ News. "The global shift to digital products will be the most interesting and we'll see what kind of global company start-ups will go after that acceleration of dollars moving to digital products."

Directional advertising, which comprises local search, print Yellow Pages and Internet Yellow Pages (IYP), is forecasted to grow from $33.3 billion in 2007 to $41.4 billion globally in 2012, a 4.5 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Local search revenues will grow from $2.1 billion to $6.6 billion (25.5 percent CAGR), IYP revenues will grow from $3.7 billion to $9.2 billion (20.1 percent CAGR), and Print Yellow Pages revenues will decline from US$27.5 billion to $25.6 billion (-1.4 percent CAGR).

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 10:55 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Google AdWords Contextual Advertising Mystery Solved

Readers have tried running placement-targeted campaigns, and found many AdSense publisher sites don't seem to be available to them. In today's Content Advertising column, "Google AdWords Contextual Advertising Mystery Solved," David Szetela shares a way to work around issues with the tool Google offers to discover new sites to advertise on.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 24, 2008

How It Came To This: Virals vs. Microsoft

Microsoft recently published a letter from Kevin Johnson, President of Microsoft's Platforms & Services Division, to his team. The letter details Microsoft's interest in the Yahoo! merger, and the benefits the company and its employees will gain if the deal goes through. The letter seems to focus entirely on a friendly purchase, though Microsoft has already authorized a proxy fight for Yahoo! NYTimes.com DealBook looks at the letter as a "pep talk" to employees in preparation of a protracted and dirty fight, despite the letter's gentle nature. I'm inclined to agree.

But how did it get to this? How was such a huge, and by many accounts, generous, offer so roundly rejected by Yahoo? Let me propose a novel answer; you're to blame.

Yes, you - the average Flickr user, Digg poster, YouTube browser. You embraced virals that broadcasted the "evil empire" stereotype of Microsoft and directly appealed to Yahoo to either reject the deal--or to hold out for more money. You flooded Flickr with images opposing the purchase, pledging to keep Microsft's "evil grubby hands" off of Flickr. You Dugg a video of Sphigler advising Jerry Yang to pull out an iPhone during his meeting with Microsoft as a negotiating technique. In fact, you Dugg it twice. According to Ran Harnevo, CEO of 5min.com, which created the Sphigler viral (below), the video may have been directly responsible for the decision by Yahoo's board. "I received a mail from someone at Yahoo that everyone had seen the video," he said, "including Jerry Yang."

In short you lived up to your honorific as Time's Person of the Year. You tanked the biggest deal of the decade. At least for now.

Posted by on 5:58 PM | Permalink

February 23, 2008

Searching for Gotti in the Brave New JackassWorld

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So I was reading Techmeme, clicked thru to the Times of London story on Apax Partners bidding on Reed Business Information (£1.25 billion publisher of Variety, New Scientist, Computer Weekly et.al.) to merge with eMap (bought for a cool £1 billion) and Incisive Media (that would be us).

Then I noticed another TL story on the power of search in the jackass world: "Microtrends: gangsta spray tans."

U.S.-based sports blog (more of an online lad mag) barstoolsports.com posted pix of spray-tanned Guidos. If only the barstool blogger had googled the Gotti-wannabes before labeling them "New Jersey Freakshows."

The London Times reporter Tom Whitwell asked, "What makes a young man paint himself orange, put on a skin-tight T-shirt and pose like a supermodel?"

Whitwell called the pix "a window on a bizarre and unexpected underworld." (Not if you had mobsters in your extended family, as I did. Or grew up in my neighborhood, as I did.)

The barstoolsports blogger thought the pix were taken in Jersey clubs. Jersey guys said no way, "Long Island." (I would've guessed Staten Island.)

The truth? Europe. The Old Country. One more reason theworld needs Google Universal Search.

The pix were from PartyPhoto.hu a Hungarian Website showing musclehead, spray-tanned club kids in Vienna, home of Sigmund Freud and more tellingly, erstwhile home of Governor Schwarzenegger. Ahh-nuld. That explains it.

Of course barstoolsports might've been tipped off by the .hu domain in the big red PartyPhoto.hu letters imprinted on one jpg they published.

As the astute Times reporter noted, the club kids were no doubt inspired by the grandchildren of the late (reputed) Mafia boss John Gotti.

(Like Michael Corleone and the Italian American Anti Defamation League we deny the existence of any organization by the name of Mafia or La Cosa Nostra.)

We do believe in the 24 hour takeover of MTV Studios today by Jackassworld.com, the just-hardlaunched Johnny Knoxville blog Frederick Marckini tipped us off to at SES London (at the cocktail reception, not during his SEO keynote address, natch).

But that's another bizarro world search story ...

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 6:29 PM | Permalink

SEO Shenanigans Bury Digg, Trip StumbleUpon, Poison Delicio.us?

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If you read only one blog post this weekend, let me micropersuade you to read Steve Rubel's SEO Shenanigans Pose a Clear and Present Danger to Social Media.

Before engaging in the debate, I'd like to invite Steve to expand on his Micropersuasion post in Search Engine Watch, home of Sergey Brin's Internet Doomsday Scenario.

Hey, we don't hate debate. We like controversy. We love search engine optimization, SEOs, social search, SMM and search engine marketing.

Steve: help our readers around the world understand what specific search engine strategies are "SEO shenanigans." You listed this Search Engine Watch blog post first: Boost Organic Results. Link Build with Social Media.

I think it's a brilliant guide: How to earn more money, improve online reputation and build brand equity online -- goals, Steve, you share for your clients?

Even so our blogger received death threats. Marty's blazing new SEO and SMO trails and that takes courage.

Wikipedia (Slate's new BFF) defines a shenanigan as a "deceitful confidence trick, or mischief causing discomfort or annoyance."

I don't think your brilliant linkbait blog post is a con game. It's a great SEO shenanigan!

Anonymous Wikepedian(s) go on to say, "However, in some regions, shenanigans can merely refer to harmless mischievous play, especially by children. It should be noted that the word itself is considered humorous, because of its unique sound."

So Steve were you - a PR maven - just joking around? Let me know. I think I may agree with you to a certain extent but I'm not sure.

So let's dynamically insert "search engine optimization" and "social media" keywords into Dictionary.com's definitions from the Random House Unabridged Dictionary:

1. SEO mischief; prankishness by SEOs: Halloween shenanigans.
social media marketing deceit; SEO trickery.
2. mischievous or deceitful SEO trick (Googlebombing?) practice, etc.

Here's the revised American Heritage Dictionary version of SEO shenanigan:

1. A deceitful SEO trick; an underhanded SMM act.
2. Online social media remarks intended to deceive; SEO PR deceit.
3. A playful or mischievous search engine optimization act; an SMM prank.
4. SEO mischief; SMO prankishness.

None of the above seems to pose a clear and present danger.

Graywolf points out in your post's comments that everyone's playing by Google's rules. Here's what The Google says:

Google's number two SERP (search engine results page) suggests shenanigans engaged in by couples present a clear and different danger.

Shenanigans - Indiana - Midwest's Premier "Couples Only" Club for ...
The Midwest's Premier "Couples Only" Club ! Shenanigans "Where Adults Come for Fun". Couples Only!

For inquiring minds, that's shenanigans.net. Since the keyword's in the title, it's not SEO shenanigans at work (or in play).

Google's paid search algorithm matches "shenanigans" with the "biggest losers" crowd: diet, fat and weight loss tips and tricks:

Sponsored Links
10 Rules to Cut Belly Fat
Lose 9 lbs every 11 Days with these 10 Idiot Proof Rules of Fat Loss.
www.FatLoss4Idiots.com

Steve, did your database of intentions intend SEO shenanigans to encompass a Google broad match/Thesaurus.com semantic search? For example, did you mean:

SEO antics, SEM capers, SEO dirty trick, fooling around with SEO, social media optimization frolicsomeness, search engine optimization funny business, SEO gag, search engine optimization hanky-panky, SEO high jinks, SEO PR horseplay, SEO PR horsing around, social media misbehavior, social media marketing mischievousness, monkey business*, SM naughtiness, SEO nonsense, search marketing prank, SEO trouble, social media marketing vandalism

If so, Google contextual advertising (content advertising) seems to think shenanigans are just a joke: Super Trooper-style (see YouTube result for keyword "shenanigans") or in a Superbad Knocked Up kind of way.

Here's another AdSense ad matched to "shenanigans" on Thesaurus.com:

Readers, your results may vary - my Google results? Not personalized:

Sponsored Links
FreshTurd.com
What's in Your Bowl? Turd-O-Gram, send one to your Boss.
www.FreshTurd.com

Whether that's "funny or die" funny is a matter of taste. What it is: Google's algorithm at work in the Google Ecosystem.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 12:53 PM | Permalink

February 22, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 22, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 11:53 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Says “You Like Me, Right Now, You Really Like Me”

Well, that seems to be the case for both Sally Field and Yahoo.

When Sally won her second Oscar, she felt the love and respect of The Academy. All those years of TV acting, training with Actor Studio's Lee Strasberg, and towing the line had paid off. She had been cast in strong dramatic roles, and won two Oscars. It was not a fluke.

Yahoo recently felt the love and respect of Keynote Academy. They worked hard, and had ups and downs. Then they focused on Search Assist, and jumped to #1 Keynote rankings for “Search Assistance and Suggestions” and "Homepage Appeal." It was not a fluke.

With the Oscars ahead, I wanted to investigate other similarities between Sally and Yahoo -- and there were more than I expected.

Sally: She has delivered some Hollywood hits, including Smokey and the Bandits which drew $59 million (per Box Office Report). That same year, Star Wars was released and earned $271 million.
Yahoo: They also have delivered big numbers, and drew 2.5 billion searches last month (per comScore). That was eclipsed by Google's 7.7 billion searches.

Sally: She's quite popular elsewhere, especially on the small screen.
Yahoo: They're very popular elsewhere, especially through email and overall portal traffic.

Sally: She had a carefree youth, starring as Gidget and then the Flying Nun.
Yahoo: They had a carefree youth, starring as the search directory and then the portal.

Sally: She is currently single.
Yahoo: They are (well, it is) currently single.

Sally: Sally has remained outspoken and quotable. While accepting an Emmy Award, she declared: “If the mothers ruled the war, there would be no @#$& war in the first place.”
Yahoo: We certainly have heard a lot from Yahoo lately, who officially told Redmond to go away.

Posted by on 11:08 PM | Permalink

The Tao of Crafting Strategic SEM Partnerships

seo-strategic-taoFirst, maybe you’re in-house, working for a CPG big-brand,  e-marketing multi-million dollar health insurance products, a solo designer, are president of a boutique SEM shop in Toronto, or perhaps your wild-thing is classic PR. This post applies to you.

Every professional needs someone. This timeless axiom is especially relevant to both those who consume and those who provide search marketing services. aimClear interviewed 21 marketing companies and solo practitioners for this article, in order to clarify our anecdotal understanding of how industry peers view strategic partnerships.

Let the Games Begin
In 1999 it was feasible to be a small search marketing shop or in-house team and literally cover all the bases: SEO, paid search, social media, link/traffic building, analytics, and content development. Now SEM has exploded on to the scene, becoming the most relevant skill-set in the entire marketing universe; the multi- headed hydra of interconnected disciplines which can’t easily be handled by a single small (or sometimes medium) SEM department or agency.

In-house or out-house (always wanted to say that) healthy business things result from crafting strategic partnerships amongst specialized and trusted peers with complementary skills. Herein lays the golden path for many a marketing team to remain compact and efficient, whilst providing world class solutions to satisfy any client’s needs.

"Although we position ourselves as a full-service SEM agency, we've been partnering (more than ever) with what I would have considered competitors in the past. For one company, we manage PPC while a partner of ours manages SEO. In another example, we provide strategic consulting for a content portal, while the current SEM firm will manage the launch and ongoing activities.

I believe it's a win-win-win in most cases, as the client gets best-of-breed service providers while the vendors get a unique opportunity to learn from each other and share revenue.”
Kent Lewis, Anvil Media, Inc.

Full Service SEM, Circa 2000
Back in the day, social media was a phenomenon looming intangibly on the horizon and required little attention. ” Socially informed search” meant humans maintaining the Yahoo Directory and community meant AOL chat rooms, IRC, and Yahoo Personals.

Overture was easy to operate, dominated the paid search landscape (there was no Google AdWords) and organic optimization was easy for the well-informed.  Analytics were rudimentary, conversion tracking was an afternoon cookie-bake for the clever, and link building meant directories, exchanges, and cold phone calls. Danny Sullivan, Chris Sherman, Aaron Wall, and other “old fart” SEOs hadn’t invented terms like “linkbait” and search engine algorithms were refreshingly easy to reverse engineer [sigh].  

The search marketing industry was about to undergo an explosion of epic proportions, bringing the entire planet’s media empire paradigm to it’s very KNEES. Those were heady times indeed. A small SEM shop could make a massive difference for any client on any “best-practices” front.  We could literally do it all ourselves.

“Our in-house SEM department is charged with targeting 15-24 year olds artsy types.  These days the young are incredibly savvy and demand that we serve them by publishing with increasingly familiar tools. Even with our [significant] in-house marketing resources, we delegate out design, some application development and even SEO projects. 

The in-house/out-of-house hybrid approach results in better conversion and ROI, satisfies our customers’ expectations, and our team is always current with crucial SEM information. In the end it costs us less and we sell more.”
Lance Sabin, Institute of Production and Recording

Not Your Mother’s SEM
Things have certainly changed! Social media participation permeates the very fabric of society. Organic optimization remains an intense mish-mash of authentic content, publishing technique and hundreds of distribution channels. Link-building has crossed over into social media. This is especially intriguing as organic optimization and SMO (even Social PPC like Facebook) fold into the realm of social media practitioners.

“I’m a social Media marketer. That said, we social-side SEMS sure know we don’t live in a bubble, sweet as that would be. It’s in my best interest to have relationships to share with my clients… a diverse set of brilliant professionals. Then my clients can do anything, and I happily play my part. “
Shana Albert, SocialDesire

Personalized and Universal search blew “old” SEO out of the water.  Client relationships begin with taking inventory of digital assets and highly complex PPC campaigns sport millions of keywords, where sharpshooters mine long-tail ROI.  Each specialized endeavor requires deep commitment to craft and have become cottage industries unto themselves.  It’s easy to understand why solo or small SEM practitioners often choose to focus, as opposed to attempting to do it all it all. 

“Our focus is our agency’s organic search, paid search, and social media. We keep these functions in-house as we have the knowledge and expertise. Other activities where we don't feel we have as strong a competitive advantage (usability, email marketing, web design, and affiliate marketing) are outsourced to experts we view as being the market thought-leaders.

Often our strategic partners bring us work that’s perfect for what we do best. In the end, it’s all about working together to get clients the results they expect in this incredible age of specialization and heightened expectations.”
Jeff Quipp, SearchEnginePeople

Should Relationships be Transparent?
Some of the firms we interviewed transparently share subcontractors with their clients, even to the point of direct billing and no marked up fees. The advantages can include more efficient communications channels, clarity, and shared customer service responsibilities. Points of danger are sometimes fragmented communication, lack of a coordinated front, a confused client and more complicated communication.

Other strategic partners find it less complicated to remain in the background. In our interviews we heard repeatedly that a key advantage to having the partner-firm remain invisible was that the “originating” company nearly always has a better understanding of the client’s goals and makeup. Decisions as to the “transparency issue” are personal to every strategic partnership and should be embarked upon intentionally.

“We’re an advertising agency that specializes only in pay per click. That’s all we do. Maximizing conversions is critical for our clients, so we partner with web designers analytics firms and a range of others. Reciprocally we also partner-out, usually transparently, to agencies who subcontract PPC work to us, so they can provide top service to their clients without maintaining an expert staff in-house. It’s just easier’.
David Szetela, ClixMarketing

PR agencies are all over the SEM revolution and have learned to partner with SEM shops. Social media is such a huge component of the “new” PR and so makes total sense that “traditional” practitioners appreciate the benefits SEM-type thinking brings to the arena. Savvy PR practitioners embrace social and are partnering more and more with SEM shops

 "SEM agencies and PR agencies are usually 180 degrees apart on the spectrum of measuring results of their efforts.  To SEMs, immediate feedback means spreadsheets with detailed analytics. PR clients are more used to clip-books with column inches counted months later. These days, clients want immediate feedback and statistics as to their efforts. We’ve learned to embrace this conundrum and partner to capitalize on the advantages of both PR and SEM. Using strategic partner-vendors helps us link PR results with the magical measurement capabilities of the modern SEM.”
Janet Johnson

 “Search marketing is expanding and becoming much more of a specialized field. We've found it highly beneficial to partner with key providers and concentrate on our areas of specialty. Our entire approach to the web is to unify the various components of marketing under a strategic umbrella, so it often makes sense to augment our strong points with complimentary solo consultants directly for specific projects. This is the model we're working with and it's been successful.”
Adam Audette, AudetteMedia 

In-House, CPG, big pharmaceutical, independent designer, local SEO or up and coming carpet cleaning company -- everybody needs somebody else sometimes. The timeless reality of the interdependent corporate web has never been more obvious than in the field of search marketing. Paid search, organic, social, PR, email, and every classic node, there’s work enough for everybody. Specialization, as the SEM universe expands, is inevitable.  Many of our peers reach out to forge strategic relationships.

Posted by Marty Weintraub on 10:07 PM | Permalink

Google's Microsoft Yahoo Internet Doomsday Scenario: Google's Brin

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Yesterday Google co-founder Sergey Brin described the Internet doomsday scenario if Microsoft wins its Yahoo takeover bid. How does Google love thee, Microsoft? Let me count the ways:

Internet innovation? At risk. Antitrust laws? Violated. Internet users? Harmed.

"Unnerving" is how Brin described a Microsoft-Yahoo tie-up according to an AP Report.

Speaking after the Google Lunar X Prize event at the Googleplex, Brin emphasized the need for open standards, Internet diversity and an open OS (operating system). Not surprisingly, Microsoft executives committed to a more open platform yesterday, too.

Brin said, "The Internet has evolved from open standards, having a diversity of companies. And when you start to have companies that control the operating system, control the browsers, they really tie up the top Web sites, and can be used to manipulate stuff in various ways. I think that's unnerving."

Brin's statement elaborates on Google's official opposition to the merger, first outlined in an official Google blog post by Chief Legal Officer David Drummond: the threat of Internet portal control and limited access to competing products: E-mail, IM, Web services.

Microsoft has rebutted the Google argument that won't be settled until the Yahoo hostile takeover bid plays out, noting Google has the highest share of searches of any company. The search engine industry question: how long will people care about the lovers' spat between Google and Microsoft?

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 9:31 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: The Ginsu Guide to Search Analytics

The ability to track online (and in many cases offline) advertising to offline conversions has been the biggest hurdle in measuring ROI for many Web-based or Web-involved businesses. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "The Ginsu Guide to Search Analytics," Frank Watson shares some search analytics strategies from his SES London presentation.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: How to Market Your Search Engine Agency - Part 2

Although we're in the business of marketing, there are many different things to consider when writing your own marketing plan. In today's Business of Search column, "How to Market Your Search Engine Agency - Part 2," Fionn Downhill continue her exploration of different ways to market a search engine marketing agency, such as networking, referrals, and partnering.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: How Search Marketing Slays Seasonality in Travel

The most sophisticated advertisers in online travel rely on years, even decades of data collection and analysis to formulate their marketing plans. In today's Vertical Challenge column, "How Search Marketing Slays Seasonality in Travel," travel search expert Elisabeth Osmeloski notes that pearls of search marketing wisdom handed down from the top dogs in travel can make an impact on your bottom line.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 21, 2008

Search Engine Strategies London -- Day Three

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:00 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: February 21, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 5:52 PM | Permalink

comScore Search Engine Rankings: Google Up, Double Digit Growth for MSN Live

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Rich search engines got richer in January in the monthly search engine rankings. Among the Top 50 properties worldwide some surprises surfaced this month as comScore reported total searches grew at a 7.9 percent clip.

Sites owned and operated by Google enjoyed 7.7 billion searches. No shock, maybe awe.

Yahoo sites again came in a distant second (2.5 billion searches) -- again growing at less than half Google's overall 8 percent rate.

Google.com grew even faster - 9.4 percent. YouTube's modest 2.6 percent growth rate slowed the core search engine down.

Microsoft sites at 1.1 billion searches means a combined Microsoft-Yahoo would only total 3.6 billion searches.

Key takeaways:

Long discounted as a player, MySpace when combined with other Fox Interactive Media properties outpaced the fast-growing Facebook. Not enough to make Yahoo shareholders lust for a MySpace swap, though.

As social media, Facebook appears invincible.

Yet viewed as a social search engine or people search engine, Facebook looks, well, more human.

AOL, also reportedly in talks with Yahoo, registered less than a billion searches, totaling 903 million for the month. Still not the most attractive dance partner.

Biggest surprise: MSN Live had double digit increases: 10.5 percent on a base close to one billion searches. Anyone who counts out the Redmond giant in search needs to sit up and take notice.

Yahoo and Microsoft stockholders certainly will.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 12:40 PM | Permalink

Google to Offer AdSense Video Units

Google today opened up its 9-month-old pilot program to allow qualified publishers to put video ad units on their sites. The AdSense for video beta will use the InVideo ad units which Google uses on YouTube. Unique to the AdSense for video ads will be a text overlay element, a text ad contextually targeted to signals in your videos and on the page where the video lives.

AdSense for video is now available to U.S. publishers with English language sites who serve at least one million video streams a month. In the near future, Google plans to expand the program to more publishers of various sizes and locations.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 9:58 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: 5 Ways to Discover Link Building Ideas

Coming up with great link building ideas can be a challenge. It requires creativity, research, and thinking outside the box. In today's Link Love column, "5 Ways to Discover Link Building Ideas," Justilien Gaspard reviews some techniques to get your business started in the process.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Social Media and Online Commerce: Birth of Socialommerce

With all the media attention focused on Microsoft's not-so-friendly takeover bid of Yahoo, a below-the-radar acquisition target proves why social commerce is the future of search. In today's Brand Equity column, "Social Media and Online Commerce: Birth of Socialommerce," Erik Qualman discusses rumors that Google is in talks to acquire Facebook competitor and global social network, Bebo.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 20, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 20, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

  • Search Engine Strategies London – Day Two
    Search Engine Strategies London has wrapped up Day Two and the 2,000 attendees have adjourned until this morning. Meanwhile, the bloggers, videographers and photographers covering SES London have posted another batch of blog posts, YouTube videos and Flickr photos.
  • Google Tightens Restrictions on AdWords Display URLs
    Beginning April 1, Google will no longer make exceptions to its policy requiring advertisers to match the display URL in an AdWords ad to the landing page to which it leads.
  • Microsoft-Yahoo Fight Heats Up
    Microsoft's unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo is heading down an unpleasant path. This week, Microsoft is reportedly undertaking a proxy fight, sending letters directly to shareholders to garner enough support to oust Yahoo's board of directors and replace them with a merger-friendly board.
  • SEW Experts: Landing Page Optimization for SEM: Design and Execute
    As a search marketer, you need to understand landing page optimization because it impacts your results. Higher conversion means a bigger impact for everything you do with search, and the availability of more dollars to invest back into search marketing.

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 8:31 PM | Permalink

Search Engine Strategies London – Day Two

Search Engine Strategies London has wrapped up Day Two and the 2,000 attendees have adjourned until this morning. Meanwhile, the bloggers, videographers and photographers covering SES London have posted another batch of blog posts, YouTube videos and Flickr photos. Here are the ones that I found this morning/evening (depending on the time zone you're in):

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SES London 2008: Day 2 Roundup Feb. 20, 2008. This YouTube video includes just some of my interviews with speakers at Search Engine Strategies London yesterday. (More to come over the next few days and weeks.) Andy Beal, Consultant, Blogger & Author, Marketing Pilgrim LLC, gives positive reviews (however ambivalent his accent) of his own sessions and those he sat in on for their direct applicability to increasing revenue and extensive use of case studies. Piers Stobbs, VP of Comscore Networks, previews his big-picture presentations on user trends in search with implications for search marketing, such as increases in frequency and familiarity/capability of individual searchers. Jim Sterne, Chairman of the Web Analytics Association, evangelizes on behalf of website testing, and breaks down in brief the web analytics players between free and paid packages and their various advantages in increasing ROI. And Jon Myers, Head of Search at MediaVest, provides some down-to-earth comments on dealing with click fraud.

Video: Interview with Adam Lasnik of Google by Lee Odden, who was able to catch up with the Google Search Evangelist to do a short (10 min) video on several topics important to web masters looking for better results on Google.

SES London 2008. More than 60 photos on Flickr provide an overview of the speakers, attendees and exhibitors at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

SES London Day Two Photos by Lee Odden. Additional pictures from Search Engine Strategies London capture the highlights of the event.

SES London 2008 - A Few Pictures by Mel Carson. Even more photos from the event.

SES London 08: The Changing World of Search, Keynote Roundtable by Li Evans, who covers the video from Nick Carr and panel discussion of Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo.

SES London 08: News Search Optimisation by Li Evans, who covers the News Search SEO session.

SES London 08: Video & Podcast SEO by Li Evans, who covers the Video & Podcast SEO session.

SES London 2008 - Competitive Research by Simon Heseltine, who covers the Competitive Research session.

Ralph Wilson's Introduction to Search Marketing at SES London by Amanda Watlington, who covers the Introduction to Search Marketing session.

Search Engine Strategies - London - Video & Podcast SEO by Mal Watlington, who also covers the Video & Podcast SEO session.

Nofollow, What a Load of Crap! by David Fairhurst, who covers the Organic Listings Forum.

SES Update #1 by Rick Bosch, who provides half a dozen observations from the event.

SES Update #2 by Rick Bosch, who covers the Search Engine Friendly Design session.

Collapsed Lungs & Micro-hoo: SES London Day 2, Part 1 by ciaran, who covers the keynote, News Search SEO session, and Search Term Research and Targeting session.

SES Audience: Pro-Merger by Andrew Goodman, who polled the audience: "From your standpoint as a marketer using these ad platforms: would you prefer that Yahoo remain an independent company, or that Microsoft and Yahoo merge to form a single #2 vendor in the space?"

Pilgrim's Picks for February 20 - London Edition by Andy Beal, who links to the coverage of Search Engine Strategies London by Li Evans.

Off to London to Tempt Scottie and Simon by Jennifer Laycock, who is hopping a flight to London.

SES London Day Two Recap by Barry Schwartz, who provides a roundup of coverage.

What a Blackhat SEO Looks Like by Barry Schwartz, who comments on one of the photos from the show by Lee Odden.

SES London and SES New York by Jason, who will be going to the post-con party organized by LondonSEO.

Search Engine Strategy à Londres by Estelle Schomann, who provides a roundup of the coverage in French.

PÃ¥ vej til SES og SMX by Mikkel deMib Svendsen, who writes something in Danish that I'm sure is insightful, if I could read Danish.

SEO Headlines by Lisa Barone, who says she is being "ranty" today because she can't be in London for SES.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 8:26 PM | Permalink

Lunar Eclipse: Google Earth Shows When in Google Sky

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A total lunar eclipse occurs tonight (Wednesday, February 20, 2008) for skywatchers in the United States. The total eclipse of the moon will also be visible tonight in most of South America and North America. You can find out when and where with Google Earth Sky .

Here in London, as well as all of Western Europe, Africa, and Western Asia, you can see the lunar eclipse Thursday February 21, 2008.

Hundreds of millions of skywatchers are expected to turn out worldwide. During a total lunar eclipse, the moon can appear blood red, an earthy brown or the color of a blood orange.

The (unofficial) Google Earth Blog discovered a free Google Earth Sky downloadable KML file that shows the exact time and place the lunar eclipse will begin in your hometown.

Naturally Google Earth must be installed on your PC. The only drawback: Google Earth will guess your location on the Earth by your IP address. As search marketers and local search experts know, it's far from GPS-accurate.

For lucky Google Earthlings: you'll see an animated lunar eclipse. When the virtual moon is in total eclipse on Google Earth Sky, onscreen you'll see when you can view the real moon eclipse outside.

NASA lunar eclipse Web page, here.

Remember, it's not a solar eclipse. You can look straight at a moon eclipse.

The last total lunar eclipse was on August 28, 2007 when the Sun, Earth and Moon were in total alignment. The lunar eclipse still held magic before the birth of Google Earth. In 2001, BBC News reported 1,500 white witches would gather in the UK, Sweden, Iceland, France, Canada and Australia during the eclipse to ward off doom.

Kevin Carlyon, high priest of the British White Witches and the Covenant of Earth Magic, said, "In old days the peasant people used to think that it brought gloom and doom." And now? Not so much.

Still, there's no word whether witches will cast their spells on Google Earth tonight.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 6:45 PM | Permalink

How to Drive More Organic Traffic by Understanding Search Engine Algorithms

This morning over at Seattle-based blog SEOmoz, Rand Fishkin asks "What is an Algorithm? How does it apply to the Search Results at Google, Yahoo! & MSN/Live?" The post, How to Track the Evolution of Search Engine Algorithms & Why It's Important to Do So, amounts to a free clinic regarding the "whys" and "hows" for professionals seeking to garner more organic search traffic.

"The vast majority of search marketers operating in the organic space at least lay claim to "following the latest algorithms" at the search engines, and in 90% of the client pitches I've ever heard (or made, for that matter), the subject comes up at least once. However, I think this is still a topic about which there's not a lot of true understanding and for those new to the field, it's probably the most daunting aspect of the work. So, to help ease some pain, I figured I'd address many of the most common questions about keeping up with the search engines' ever-changing mathematical formulas that rank search results."
Rand Fishkin

The article gets to the algorithmic red meat: inherent trust in link metrics, domain trust over the importance of individual pages, temporal analysis of link growth, sandboxing of new websites, fixing blog comment spam, and Google's recent crackdown on reciprocal tactics.

Posted by Marty Weintraub on 7:53 AM | Permalink

Google Tightens Restrictions on AdWords Display URLs

Beginning April 1, Google will no longer make exceptions to its policy requiring advertisers to match the display URL in an AdWords ad to the landing page to which it leads. Google's existing policy already requires that an ad's display URL matches its destination URL in the AdWords interface and the landing page to which it leads, but exceptions had been made for things like redirects or vanity URLs.

Under the new rules, all advertisers, regardless of past exceptions, will need to show users the same top-level domain in the display URL and the landing page where a user is sent.

The only exceptions allowed will be for using tracking URLs as the destination URL, as long as the URL of the landing page matches that of the display URL. For example, a display URL of www.google.com/adwords could use a destination URL in AdWords of www.trackingurl.com/google123, if the landing page where the user arrives is www.google.com and not www.trackingurl.com.

Display URLs will be allowed to show different subdomains or directories, as long as the top-level domain shown in the ad (such as google.com in the above example) is matched.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:08 AM | Permalink

Microsoft-Yahoo Fight Heats Up

Microsoft's unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo is heading down an unpleasant path. This week, Microsoft is reportedly undertaking a proxy fight, sending letters directly to shareholders to garner enough support to oust Yahoo's board of directors and replace them with a merger-friendly board. A proxy fight is estimated to cost Microsoft up to $30 billion, but was likely seen as a cheaper alternative for Microsoft than raising its bid price.

"We sent them a letter and said we think that's a fair offer," Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, told The AP on Monday. "There's nothing that's gone on other than us stating that we think it's a fair offer. They should take a hard look at it."

At the same time, Yahoo's current board has approved retention packages and enhanced severance benefits for all Yahoo employees. The aim is to both keep Yahoos around during the threat of a takeover, as well as to give them a more lucrative way out if the Microsoft acquisition is fulfilled.

As outlined in a Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, employees would get an enhanced severance package if they lost their job or left for "good reason" within two years of a change of control. An employee exercising the package would get a continuation of base salary and health insurance for 4 to 24 months, depending on job level. Employees will also benefit from accelerated vesting of all stock options, restricted stock units and any other equity-based awards previously granted.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:02 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Landing Page Optimization for SEM: Design and Execute

As a search marketer, you need to understand landing page optimization because it impacts your results. Higher conversion means a bigger impact for everything you do with search, and the availability of more dollars to invest back into search marketing. In today's By the Numbers column, "Landing Page Optimization for SEM: Design and Execute," Eric Enge outlines some of the best practices outlined in Tim Ash's new book, "Landing Page Optimization."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 19, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 19, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:15 PM | Permalink

Search Engine Strategies London -- Day One

London Search Engine Marketing EventSearch Engine Strategies London 2008 is underway. With Day One under our belts, we're happy to share some of the coverage of the event from around the Web:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:00 PM | Permalink

Snakehead Fish Crosses The Pond?

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A giant snakehead fish (the "Jaws" of freshwater fish in Southeast Asia) was caught by a fisherman in England. The snakehead hooked in a river caused a panic in the Midlands and created something of a "Snakes on the Plains" buzz online. The British Environment Agency tried to assuage fears of a snakehead invasion but many of us here in Islington (London SES) remain scared out of our wits secure in the knowledge the Thames River is only kilometres away.

The giant snakehead has been known to crawl on land.

Snakehead fish can grow to more than 5 feet in length. Sharp teeth make the snakehead a feared predator of other river dwellers.

FOG (Fear of Google) was one of the themes of the Orion Panel (All Star Analytics Team). London FOG reminded me of the giant snakehead fish. Consumers, corporations and regulatory bodies often have an irrational fear of Google.

They say Google will invade privacy and destroy our natural Internet habitat. Companies fear the mega-search engine will use Google Analytics, Google Conversion Optimizer and Google Checkout to artificially inflate keyword prices. In short, to rig the keyword auction. They worry Google will prey on competitors and customers alike.

With respect to privacy, Jim Sterne of Target Marketing and chairman of the Web Analytics Association put it best:

"Why would I worry about Google knowing what I search for? The privacy issue is that I'm upset the bank knows how much money I have?"

There were no conspiracy theorists in the audience. Brian Clifton, Google's head of Web Analytics, EMEA, didn't even have to defend Google's honor.

Nor did Ian Thomas, Microsoft's director oif customer intelligence attempt to exploit the climate of fear.

Bryan Eisenberg, co-founder, Future Now noted Google needs to be more transparent. Separation of church and state may be tough when Google has so many evangelists, not only in their employ but among brand-loyal consumers.

Google dominates the European and UK search landscape. As scary as the giant snakefish may be, here's the key takeaway:

The more you know, the less you fear.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 12:13 PM | Permalink

Ralph Wilson's Introduction to Search Marketing at SES London

Condensing the essentials of search engine marketing into a one-hour session is a formidable challenge. This morning at SES London Dr. Ralph Wilson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Web Marketing Today, took on this challenge (In the interest of full disclosure I periodically write for this publication). Ralph provided a clear concise introduction to the lingo and processes for organic and paid search. As with any introduction, there is the challenge of offering enough meat on the bone to satisfy those who are at an intermediate or beyond level without losing the beginners. From the large number of delegates actively taking notes, Ralph's presentation was very well-received and offered plenty for everyone.

All of us who either market or provide search engine marketing services would have benefited from this session, for Ralph offered a clear roadmap just what we must provide clients not yet familiar with our services and processes. There were some nuggets – “be sure to scatter clues throughout the site.” These are essential messages that we deliver to clients, but it is not until it is put in context that is truism comes alive, as it did for the audience this morning.

Posted by Amanda Watlington on 6:43 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: How To Outrank Your SEO Competitors

Clients and readers often ask why a site that's younger, smaller, or just plain "uglier" outranks them. There really isn't a simple answer. In today's Little Biz column, "How To Outrank Your SEO Competitors," Carrie Hill offers some things to take into consideration when a competitor is outranking you.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: American Express Axes Ellen DeGeneres: Au Natural On Amex Site

SEO success lives or dies in the proper execution of necessary SEO components. Recommendations alone don't make your site rank. In today's au Natural column, "American Express Axes Ellen DeGeneres: Au Natural On Amex Site," Mark Jackson looks at the American Express site for his latest quarterly site review. Whether or not they follow his advice is up to them.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 18, 2008

Does Pay Per Click Make SEOs Lazy?

SEOBOOK's Aaron Wall, in what will likely be a hot post around the social news and bookmarking universe, serves up candid and insightful thinking on the long term competitive advantage of classic search engine optimization vs. pay per click. His writing style is hungry and tone passionate. Aaron's got his Mojo on in this delightfully self-effacing comparison of SEO & PPC's long-term value.

Wall writes, "This is why I like SEO so much more than PPC. Most people are too lazy to spend years researching their topic, years building a brand, years building links, and years building social and customer relationships. We are afraid of failure, afraid of success, and afraid that we are investing too much in one place. But, if someone sees me ranking in the organic results they can't just clone it unless they know SEO well, and are committed for the long haul."

Many A-list SEOs have weighed in to the dialog regarding the Tao of SEO and PPC in tandem and separately. For additional perspective read "PPC vs. Organic," David Naylor, Lee Odden's classic 2006 "The Lame PPC and SEO Debate," and sugerrae's recent rant, "The Lazy SEO vs. The Lazy Monetizer." In a street level video interview, Rand Fishkin discusses using PPC to test organic concepts, PPC vs. SEO in China, and other useful concepts.

Posted by Marty Weintraub on 7:13 AM | Permalink

Meta Tags As Persuasive Content

Search engines change their algorithms from time to time. We hear that this meta tag or that is 'in vogue' now. Recently we've been told that description tags are pretty much useless, as far as SEO goes. Search engines don't pay too much attention to them. However in SEO PR, descriptions are worth their weight in gold..

Getting qualified traffic to your site is a two-step dance. Showing up on page one in the search engines is only the first part of the equation. After all, it's people who are doing the searching. and it's the people you want to come to your website.

Eye tracking studies show us how important it is to be listed at the top of a search results page. Indeed, the first goal is to be seen. But don't fall into the trap of thinking that just being listed at number one or two for a search term will automatically make people click your listing and visit your site. Oh, that it were that simple!

People read the 'headlines' and the 'blurb' on the search results page before they decide which link to click. That 'headline' is your title tag. The 'blurb' is most often the description tag. So while meta tags might not be of great value in your SEO efforts anymore, they are vital pieces of persuasive content. In fact, they could well be the very first touch point with a prospective customer. They could be the deciding factor as to whether this person ever visits your site and gets to know your company.

Here is an example:

My daughter-in-law is pregnant with her first child - and my first grandchild. I am a Baby Boomer, an aging hippie with strong green and organic leanings. I have read about the connection between toxic household cleaners and childhood developmental problems. I go to the Net hoping to find information about natural, non-toxic cleansers..

This is what I get on Google when I search non toxic household cleaners

1. Make your own non toxic household cleaners
Household cleaners on the market today are harmful to your health, potentially deadly to children if ingested, expensive, and pollute ground water.

Well, that one hits all my go buttons. When I was a mom, this would have been perfect for me. However, I now own two businesses and work 15 hours a day. I am definitely not going to make my own. And neither is my daughter in law. So I move on to the next link

# 2 and 3 are also make your own. Finally at #5 I see Seventh Generation, the nation's leading brand of non toxic household cleaners. Kitchen and bathroom cleaners made without harsh chemicals. AHA!

I was training the marketing and PR staff of a large public company last week and we looked up their search listings. When we compared their 'headlines' and 'blurbs' to the other listings on the page, it was quite clear why a searcher might choose another link rather than theirs.

They were not aware that they could control what appears on the search engine results page.

And when I said you are leaving one of the most important pieces of persuasive copy to your IT department they were horrified.

You don't have to learn to code, but you do have to make friends with IT or your webmaster. And you need to learn enough about the SEO process to get the best possible content on the search results pages.

Posted by on 7:03 AM | Permalink

February 17, 2008

SEO, Social Marketing & Scientology

My last post, about how YouTube's new features will affect internet marketers, garnered a lot of attention—but not from SEO and PPC professionals. It was my first paragraph, about YouTube's response to the Anonymous-vs-Scientology online battle, that got attention.

Shortly after I posted that YouTube had not Anonymous on YouTuberemoved Anonymous' initial YouTube threat/message to Scientology, SEW was flooded with replies that YouTube had just removed it, citing a Terms of Use violation (which in theory was valid, although rarely, if ever, enforced on YouTube). Today, perhaps owing to the protests of members and the mainstream coverage this conflict is beginning to get, the video was back up (although honors for it are not being tracked correctly).

My interest piqued, I began to look even more into Anonymous' plan of attack against Scientology. DDoS attacks aside, this secretive collection of hackers is behaving, well, much like we would when we market a client in the search engines and social platforms. They are using SEO techniques to get their sites to outrank official Scientology sites; they are banding together to influence Digg and social bookmarking results. And as with any internet marketing campaign, there is a lot we can learn from their actions.

Let's start with their Googlebombing campaign. In the past few days, Anonymous members have joined together in two linking efforts; Scientology.org now ranks #1 for the phrase “brainwashing cult” and anti-Scientology site Xenu.net now ranks #3 for the keyword “Scientology.” What's amazing about the Googlebomb is not just the speed in which it was accomplished, but that it was accomplished at all. Google changed their algorithm last year to prevent Googlebombs, by requiring the phrase to appear at least partially on the site in question. That's why a search for “miserable failure” doesn't return George W. Bush's bio—except for one week when a new story about Bush on WhiteHouse.gov unfortunately featured the word “failure.” But the phrase “brainwashing cult,” not surprisingly, does not appear anywhere on Scientology.org, and yet the Googlebomb worked. Maybe Google's love for fresh, new links is more powerful than their new algorithm. Or maybe Anonymous got to Google too. Only time will tell.

Anonymous also announced a plan to flood Digg and other social bookmarking sites about their war with Scientology. And a few days later, eight out of 10 stories on Digg's home page were about Anonymous vs. Scientology. But Digg's new algorithm should have prevented that, by restricting the value of groups of friends voting on stories, and limiting the power of new users. Except that Anonymous had built up enough excitement via its many submissions to Digg, Reddit, YouTube and more sites that they had many non-members voting for them too.

Lesson learned: Google can protect the president of the U.S. and Digg can take down the “Ron Paul Cabal,” but both seem kinda powerless in the face of Anonymous—and really well-executed internet marketing.

Posted by on 3:42 PM | Permalink

The Speed Of The Web: Do We Realize How Far We Have Come

You hear it all the time, "the world moves fast" with high speed connections and wireless access, we have come a long way in a very short time.

While the web is enjoying its Sweet Sixteen - even back at the beginning the connection speeds were limited - 14.4 modems were fast and maxing out phone speed connections had not even occurred.

I saw a piece on television today about the Daytona 500 finish in 1959 that was so close the second place person protested and it took 2 days to develop the film to determine he had won the race. That had me thinking about how fast our technology has changed.

We tend to take things for granted.... in the beginning there was Alta Vista, Northern Lights and a number of other search engines. I used Lycos alot back then and was an early user of Google when a few college friends told me about this engine from Stanford called BackRub.

They were fun times and a great article about the history of search engines has been written by Aaron Wall.

For people new to the industry having a sense of the history of our industry is handy. Just realizing how fast things have developed and how quickly front runners have dropped away is important. Things move quickly and even Google with its monster share of the search landscape is not immune to this rapidly changing loyalty.

One of the things I like best about attending conferences is talking with the people I have known in this space for years. I know I may be one of the "old guys" but that just gives me a deeper perspective on how things change.

If you are attending SES London this week take the time to speak with some of us older members of the industry. When a few of us get together and talk it is like listening to parents comparing stories about their children - we love them but have had 16 years of ups and downs dealing with their erratic behavior.

In 2024, SES San Jose will be 25 years old... I have already said I am sponsoring the walkers for the older members of our industry. Many of the people who were involved with the industry back then will be moving as slow as the modems that first connected us to the web.

Hope to see you this week in London.

Posted by Frank Watson on 2:37 PM | Permalink

February 16, 2008

Hello Google Porn

hello googleporn

Porn transmitted onHello.com, a Web site owned and operated by Google, helped catch an alleged predator in South Carolina. This isn't another mix-up about googleporn.com, one of more than 9,000 domains owned by Google, Inc.

Police nabbed the alleged child pornographer who sent more than 500 pornographic images and porn videos to a cop posing as a 13 year old boy.

Hello.com, a Google-Picasa social site that allows instant upload and transmission of pictures and video was the platform used by the suspect, high school teacher Timothy Lynn Brumit, 47, of Aiken, S.C. Amanda Stewart of Potomac News first reported the Google porn story on Saturday.

As Google scales social search as the "future of search" platform, its problems with porn and illegal activities - online and offline - have multiplied.

In 2005, police in Brazil arrested a gang of drug dealers who were using Google's Orkut social networking site to sell ecstasy and marijuana. Later the following year, Brazilian prosecutors threatened to shut down Orkut unless Google cooperated with police investigating child porn on the social search site.

Orkut allegedly published content promoting crime and child pornography. Federal prosecutors asked a judge to order Google in Brazil to disclose users' information or be closed down. The Brazilian prosecutors also asked Google to pay $61m (£32.2m) in fines for damages.

Prosecutors have been frustrated by Google's refusal to release identifying information so Brazilian authorities can pursue them for prosecution.
"In some cases Google has not even preserved the evidence we need to file charges against the pedophiles that use the Internet to spread their ideas," prosecutor Sergio Gardenghi Suiama said last year.

Microsoft and Yahoo have provided user information in similar cases, noted Suiama in a press conference last summer.

"We are reviewing the documentation we received today from prosecutors in Sao Paulo and will respond to their requests," Google said in a statement last August. "Google is committed to removing child pornography from Orkut and has been working with the authorities in several states in Brazil ... to deal with this problem through valid legal process."

SaferNet, a Brazilian non-profit organization, has alleged Orkut contains child pornography and other illegal content on user pages. Google says it removes child porn images and illegal content when it becomes aware of them.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 7:01 PM | Permalink

Gathering of the SEM bloggers at Search Engine Strategies London

When Search Engine Strategies London gets underway on Tuesday, Feb. 19, there will be more than a dozen chieftans of the SEM and SEO blogging community gathered at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

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(I'd compare what will take place next week to a "gathering of the clans," except it involves a big bunch of SEM bloggers, not a large group of related people wearing kilts. Plus, it's taking place in England, not in Scotland. But, there may be some drinking of Scotch, so I think my analogy is not entirely off base.)

I've already mentioned a number of blog posts about SES London, including:
-- "Fredrick Marckini iProspect Exclusive SEO Interview with Dan Horton;"
-- Christine Churchill's "A Chat with Analytics Guru Jim Sterne;"
-- Simon Heseltine's "SES London 2008 Interview - Piers Stobbs;"
-- Massimo Burgio's "Pre-SES London interviews: Piers Stobbs, comScore;"
-- Lee Odden's “SES London: News & Blog SEO, Reputation Management;” and
-- Lisa Barone's “Gearing up for SES London!.”

(Lisa will be missing the show, but the other prominent search engine marketing industry bloggers will be there.)

But wait! There's more!

After watching a similar but different gathering of the clans on NESN, the New England Sports Network, this morning -- which broadcast the first workout of Red Sox pitchers and catchers during spring training live from Fort Myers -- I used Google Blog Search to discover more than a dozen other posts about Search Engine Strategies London.

This includes:

-- SES London 2008 - 10 Reasons To Attend. Mel Carson was doing quite a bit of work this weekend to clear the decks so he can immerse himself in all the sessions, all the talking, and he says that he might be found with a beer in his hand (instead of a Scotch) on some, if not all, of the evenings.

-- Andy Beal Speaking at SES London Feb 19-21. You'd think that being a British ex-pat, Andy Beal would have had many opportunities to speak at SES London in the past. Well, next week will actually be his first time speaking at the London event -- joining his good friend Mike Grehan.

-- SES London 2008. Pam Hoffman writes, "If you live and breathe search, or just want to know more about it, then Search Engine Strategies is for you. SES is a great show for anyone who wants to hear experts share their knowledge, find out about the latest developments and future technologies, and hone their search expertise."

-- Connectpoint to attend SES London 2008. Both Peter Young, Head of Online Marketing for Connectpoint, and Will Graham, the firm's Online Marketing Manager, will be attending Search Engine Strategies London. Pater says, "It is the first time we at Connectpoint will be attending one of the UK SEO showcase events, and definitely not the last."

-- SES London 2008 Interview - Jon Myers. Simon Heseltine also interviewed Jon Myers of Mediavest, a Manchester, England based firm. Jon is actually involved with 5 different sessions at this conference, but this interview deals directly with the Auditing Paid Listings & Click Fraud Issues session on Tuesday Feb 19th at 11am.

-- Reminder: Microsoft adCenter Team at SES London. Mel Carson also has another post that points out that quite a few of the members of the Microsoft adCenter Team are speaking at sessions throughout the conference.

-- Meals for the Day - 2/15/08. Okay, so this one is a bit of a mish-mash. But Jennifer Laycock meant to make chicken, asparagus and maybe some pasta for dinner, but she's been working for hours and hours on her PowerPoint for the training event after SES London and completely lost track of time.

-- SES Paris 2008 – Interesting Observation… Technically, this isn't about SES London. But, Mona Elesseily does say, "I can always get me some bangers and mash at SES London 2008 (starts on February 19 2008). (If you see Mona at the show, tell her she has "nice shoes." Trust me on this.)

-- SES London Preview. And, while this isn't a blog post, check out this preview of the upcoming SES London show with Kevin Ryan, Vice President and Global Content Director of Search Engine Strategies and SES London Chair Mike Grehan.

-- London to host search engine marketing event. Chris Bolwig of IceNews writes, "The event is seen as one of the most comprehensive SEM/SEO education opportunities in the UK or Europe and a number of highly-specialised sessions on search engine optimisation will be on offer. Search marketing guru Kristjan M. Hauksson, director of a growing Internet marketing company in Scandinavia, will deliver a session on ‘Dynamic Websites: Beyond the Basics'."

-- Search Engine Strategies sets agenda for London 2008. According to this news article, "This year's conference will be hosted by search marketing specialist Mike Grehan. Mike is recognized as one of the foremost SEM experts. He was voted one of the UK's top 100 influential people in Internet marketing in a poll of e-Consultancy's 22,000 UK members."

-- Search Engine Strategies. In this forum post, Fintan aka Wannabe Geek asks, "Any one going to Search Engine Strategies London - 19-21 February 2008 - the intersection of search, marketing & commerce in London this month?" There are lots of replies.

-- Anyone going to Search Engine Strategies 2008?. In another forum, Simon aka Figleaf asks, "Is anyone going to Search Engine Strategies in London 19-21 Feb? I think I will be going so if anyone fancies a meet up, drop me a line."

Now, I should disclose that SES London is a client. But, that's not so bad. While reading The Boston Globe this morning, I saw the most tortured disclosure statement that I've ever stumbled across. In his column, "It's live - but not lively," which is about NESN's live broadcast from Fort Myers, Dan Shaughnessy wrote, "Disclaimer: the New York Times Co., which owns the Globe, owns 17 percent of the Red Sox, who own 80 percent of NESN."

Now, that's something that I can discuss with the SEM bloggers gathering at Search Engine Strategies London -- over a Scotch, a beer, or some bangers and mash.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 1:14 PM | Permalink

Social Media Buzz Pocket Mining: The New Keyword Research

The fundamental premise of search marketing remains revolutionary and timeless. We research what people care about and market (organic and paid) directly to SERPs for their queries. Classic keyword research reveals search frequency and phrase permutations to gauge marketplace interest. Lateral stemming thesaurus tools help us brainstorm frequently used alternate keyword clusters. For instance if your 're marketing "catering services," some customers are also searching for "wedding food" and "party planning." This is not earth shaking news to most.

However, keyword research's social-climbing step sister, "Buzz Pocket Mining" is not-so-quietly becoming the 800 pound gorilla next door. Buzz Pocket Mining refers to tools, usually free, that take the temperature of a social community's chatter patterns. What hot topics are people chirping about enmasse? What do social site SERPs reveal about the marketplace for your product? Who owns the thought leading authority profiles in any given community for a topic? What are the blogs of note? These are crucial questions for social search marketers who are considering forays into paid and organic social media marketing.

Each community has different methods and tools available to measure it's users' Buzz Pockets. One of my favorites is StumbleUpon's socially moderated SERPs. It's free, so let's have a look .

First, navigate to the StumbleUpon buzz page. This illustrates, at an overview level, what tags and sites are hot in SU. As an aside, getting your site to this level can mean 5K to 20K unique visitors in a day. Type gibberish into the search box (outlined in red) and submit.

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The search results for this nonexistent keyword offer a treasure trove of information revealing what StumbleUpon users are interested in. Depending on the demographic of the product you're marketing, this insight can truly be worth its weight in gold. The font size is proportional to community interest-level.

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Ok, say you're marketing candy bars. Yay! There's a relatively small (but statistically significant) chocolate Buzz Pocket in StumbleUpon. Click on "chocolate" in the Tag Cloud. The results are exciting. First, you'll note the SU users who are interested in chocolate. Yup that's me. I'm active in SU and happen to love chocolate. Make note of these users for one- to-one conversation marketing later. These are potentially valuable evangelists for your candy product. They've expressed interest in chocolate by the sites they've bookmarked and tagged.



Further down the page is a list of featured chocolate sites. Note: getting your site on this page can result in 300-1000 unique visitors over the course of several days, depending on the size of the Buzz Pocket. There's even more word-of-mouth value to be gained here. Click on the Chocolate Travel Tours link. Now you've identified a blog comments-thread to participate in order to grow your involvement in the chocolate blog community.

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Each social community presents a different methodology to mine: it's Buzz Pockets for social media marketing. The insights gleaned are invaluable while researching the likely success of SMO efforts. While traditional keyword research remains the cornerstone of search marketing, Buzz Pocket Mining is becoming more and more important as "marketing to the social graph" comes on line and evolves.

Posted by Marty Weintraub on 11:48 AM | Permalink

February 15, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 15, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 5:30 PM | Permalink

Win a Free Pass to SES New York with the SES Affiliate Program

You've seen all the reasons to attend SES London, and you can be sure that SES New York will be just as good, if not better. If you're planning on going, you probably want to tell your clients, readers, and friends. To make that worth your while, we've teamed up with Pepperjam Network to create the Search Engine Strategies Affiliate Program.

We'll supply you with unique SES banners, text links, and pepperjamADS to promote the Search Engine Strategies events. In return, bloggers and affiliates get 5% of each referred sale. To give you an idea of what that's worth, a full-conference pass to SES New York (coming up on March 17-20) costs $1,895. The commission on that would be $94.75.

Need even more incentive to join? SES and Pepperjam have another prize for the top affiliate. Between now and March 14, the affiliate or blogger that generates the most ticket sales through our new affiliate program will get a FREE full-conference pass to attend SES NY, as well as an exclusive VIP ticket to a Pepperjam-sponsored private dinner party, to be held at the Manhattan Penthouse in NYC the week of the show. Get all the details and sign up now for the Search Engine Strategies Affiliate Program from Pepperjam Networks.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 4:50 PM | Permalink

Seven reasons to slip over to Islington for SES London

Let's say you're a savvy, seasoned search engine marketer. You can easily send some of your junior staff members to Search Engine Strategies London, which is being held next week at the Business Design Centre. So, why would you want to slip over to Islington for a few days to attend SES London yourself?

Let me give you seven serious reasons:

1. Keynote Roundtable: The Changing Search World. This session on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 9:00 a.m., will discuss the global impact of Microsoft's recent bid for Yahoo! Following an introduction from Nick Carr, author of The Big Switch, Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google, Kevin Ryan, Vice President, Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch, will host a panel of leading industry analysts and search experts that includes: Mike Grehan, SES London Co-Chair and Founder and CEO, Searchvisible Ltd.; Steven Kaufman, SVP Media Director, Digitas; Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder, Future Now Inc.; and Erica Schmidt, Global Director of Search, Isobar. Watch the Associated Press video interview of Kevin Ryan on Microsoft's Yahoo bid.

2. Opening Keynote: Fredrick Marckini, Chief Global Search Officer, Isobar. Fredrick founded iProspect and is recognized as a leading expert in the field of search engine marketing. He is speaking on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 3:30 p.m. Fredrick has authored three of the SEM industry's earliest books, including Secrets to Achieving Top-10 Positions (1997), Achieving Top-10 Rankings in Internet Search Engines (1998), and Search Engine Positioning (2001). If you want an idea of what he'll be talking about, read "Fredrick Marckini iProspect Exclusive SEO Interview with Dan Horton."

3. Orion Panel: Universal, Blended and Vertical Search. This panel of industry gurus is being held on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 4:45 p.m. Moderated by Kevin Ryan, the speakers on this panel include: Andrew Goodman, Principal, Page Zero Media; Adam Lasnik, Search Evangelist, Search Quality Team, Google; Mike Grehan; and Jeff Revoy, VP Yahoo! Search and Social Media, Yahoo! Europe.

4. Orion Panel: All Star Analytics Team. This panel of thought leaders is being held on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 1:30 p.m. Moderated by Kevin Ryan, the speakers include: Brian Clifton, Head of Web Analytics, EMEA, Google; Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder, Future Now Inc.; Steve Jackson, Senior Consultant, Web Analytics & Search Marketing, SATAMA, & International Co-Chair, Web Analytics Association; Jim Sterne, Target Marketing & Chairman, Web Analytics Association; and Ian Thomas, Director, Customer Intelligence, Microsoft Advertiser & Publisher Solutions. To get a flavor of the session, read Christine Churchill's blog post, "A Chat with Analytics Guru Jim Sterne."

5. Searcher Behavior Research Update. This session is being held on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 4:00 p.m. Moderated by Jon Myers, Head of Search, MediaVest, speakers include: Piers Stobbs, Vice President, ComScore Europe; Erica Schmidt, Global Director of Search, Isobar; Dr. Jon Dodd, Co-founder and Managing Director, Bunnyfoot; and John Marshall, CTO, Market Motive. For a preview of what one of the speakers plans to say, read Simon Heseltine's blog post, "SES London 2008 Interview - Piers Stobbs." Or read Massimo Burgio's blog post, "Pre-SES London interviews: Piers Stobbs, comScore."

6. My SEM Toolbox. This session is being held on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 2:15 p.m. Several search marketers share a variety of tools and services they find useful in performing SEO and SEM. Moderated by Mike Grehan, speakers include: Thomas Bindl, Founder and CEO, Refined Labs GmbH; Maxime Grandchamp, President, Trellian Europe; and Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc.

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7. News Search SEO. This session is being held on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 10:30 a.m. Moderated by Anne Kennedy, Manager, Managing Partner, Beyond Ink, speakers include: Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing; Tim Gibbon, Director, Elemental Communications; and me. For a preview of what one of the speakers plans to say, read Lee's article, “SES London: News & Blog SEO, Reputation Management.”

As the title of Lee's article indicates, there are a lot more than seven reasons to attend SES London. I should disclose that Search Engine Strategies London is a client. So, don't take my word for it.

Read Lisa Barone's blog post over at BurceClay.com, “Gearing up for SES London!” She lists 16 sessions that “we think will give you the most bang for your SEO buck,” including all seven of the sessions listed above.

Or watch Mike Grehan's video clip on YouTube, which covers his take on the highlights of the upcoming Search Engine Strategies London conference.

So, you should give serious consideration to slipping over to Islington for a few days.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 10:54 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Google PageRank: Simplified

Google's PageRank may be the single most divisive element in the search optimization game. In today's Outsourced column, "Google PageRank: Simplified," William Flaiz outlines the controversy surrounding Toolbar PageRank and its impact on SEO and link building strategies.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: The Great Nofollow Link Debate of '08

What started as a way to stop comment spam three years ago has turned into one of the most controversial topics in search. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "The Great Nofollow Link Debate of '08," Chris Boggs discusses the evolution of the "nofollow" attribute and its impact on SEO and link building.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Universal Pictures: Optimizing Video for Search

We hear a lot about universal search and how it will keep SEO professionals on their toes with constantly evolving ranking algorithms. So how can local online advertisers take advantage of universal search? In today's Vertical Challenge column, "Universal Pictures: Optimizing Video for Search," local search expert Michael Boland explains that creating optimized online video is a great opportunity for local marketers that are on top of their SEO game.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 14, 2008

Google to Test Video Ads on SERPs

Google has begun testing video ads on its search results pages, according to a report in the New York Times. Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, told the Times that just as video ads are not effective on pages of text-based search results, text ads are not effective on search results with more multimedia elements, like Google's universal search results.

“With universal search, something is getting shaken up a bit on the bottom part of the page,” Mayer said. “The ads on the top part of the page should match.”

Initially, video ads will not be apparent to searchers until they take action. Text ads with accompanying videos will be marked with a plus sign. Clicking on that plus sign will expand the video ad, just as clicking on the plus sign in some local results expands to include a map.

Observant search marketers will not be surprised, as Mayer alluded to this in May when Google launched universal search. At that time, Mayer responded to a question about the potential effect on ads with, "This opens the door for introducing richer media into the search results pages."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 11:06 PM | Permalink

Microsoft Shuffles Execs, Berkowitz to Exit

Microsoft today announced the executive shake-up that has been rumored to be coming. Microsoft packed a number of promotions and departures into the press release. Most notable among them is the departure of Steve Berkowitz, who left Ask.com to join Microsoft nearly two years ago. Berkowitz will step down from his role as senior vice president of the Online Services Group at the end of August.

Satya Nadella has been named senior VP of the Search, Portals and Advertising Group, heading up Microsoft's engineering efforts across Live Search, Microsoft adCenter, and Subscriptions, Points and Billing platforms. Windows VP Bill Veghte moves up to senior VP of the Online Services and Windows Business Group, which will include Windows Live, MSN and Search.

Nadella, Veghte, and former aQuantive exec Brian McAndrews, now senior VP of Microsoft's Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group, will play key roles in Microsoft's plans. No new role was named for McAndrews, leaving many to speculate that he is being held in reserve to lead an acquired Yahoo, if that should come to pass.

For in-depth looks at all the changes, see Mary Jo Foley's All About Microsoft blog or Joe Wilcox's Microsoft Watch. Om Malik has copies of Microsoft memos discussing the moves.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 10:42 PM | Permalink

Tag your Photobucket , Picasa and Flickr photos: SES London 2008

If you're going to Search Engine Strategies London next week, bring your camera or cameraphone. And, if you upload your pictures to Photobucket, Fox Interactive Media's site for uploading, sharing, linking and finding photos, videos, and graphics; Picasa, Google's photo organizer; or Flickr, Yahoo's online photo management and sharing application; then please tag your photos: SES London 2008.

We'll be posting our own pics from the event online -- and we'll be tagging them with the phrase: “SES London 2008” – and if you tag along with us, hopefully we'll all get found in that big photo album called Google Image Search.

If the photo sharing website you use happens to be Flickr, then we invite you to join us and post to the SES London 2008 group.

And while you're there, why not send a buddy request to your favorite Search Engine Marketing conference? We have photos from last month's SES Paris and we look forward to adding to the collection.

By the way, I want to encourage you to "take you best shot." At the end of Search Engine Strategies London, I will be selecting the Best Photo of SES London 2008, the Best Photos of SES London, and Best Photography of SES London 2008. (Don't ask me to explain my criteria. I'll know it when I see it.)

The prize for each one of these top search terms -- I mean, these prestigious awards? One static text link to your site.

Hey, that's all I got. Unless, of course, you get some really funny pictures of people who happen to have a few incriminating photos of me -- geotagged at one of the pubs near Islington. Not that I want to encourage that kind of behavior.

No, no. I'd much rather encourage you to photograph Kevin Ryan, Mike Grehan, Fredrick
Marckini, the Orion Panels, the conference sessions, the exhibitors, the crowds. You know. The photos that you can show your business colleagues.

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Something like the photo to the left, which was taken back in 2004 at Search Engine Strategies New York. I think I was speaking during the Balancing Organic & Paid Listings session on Thursday, March 4. Not that anyone really cares about the past anymore -- except maybe history majors.

But, the fact that you've read to the end of this blog post and are still hanging out at the bottom of this page with nothing but this silly text to keep you amused is proof of your deep and abiding interest in what we're planning in the future.

So, what are you waiting for? Bring your camera or cameraphone to Search Engine Strategies London next week and tag your photos: SES London 2008.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 8:47 PM | Permalink

YouTube New Features - A Marketer's Perspective

It's been an interesting week for YouTube this week--especially for those of us working in SMO or SMM (social media marketing), who spend our days marketing clients through YouTube videos. On Tuesday, YouTube abruptly stopped counting and updating views for all videos. The "blackout" lasted about 40 hours, and during that time no videos moved in or out of Most Viewed lists, other than those that expired (i.e. they had been uploaded more than 48 hours ago and so could no longer be in the Most Viewed Today list).

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YouTube has admitted that they were having server problems, and that does seem to ring true. View counts have generally been updated at a slower pace recently, and many users have complained about issues watching newly uploaded videos. Some users think the view count freeze was a response to the plethora of Anonymous-vs-Scientology videos that have flooded the front page of YouTube recently. Whether that's true or not is up for debate. The Tom Cruise video remains on the site, and the Anonymous warning remains high on the Most Viewed for the Month list. The freeze count did occur on the same day as videos from global Scientology protests from the day before were uploaded, so it's hard to tell whether YouTube subscribes to the "Don't Be Evil" motto of its parent.

While the servers were acting up, the brains behind YouTube were at YouTube's Videocracy event in New York, where they debuted some cool new features for the video sharing site, including:
* Video recommendations based on your viewing habits
* Active Sharing
* Better Video Editing Tools
* Multiple Platform Distribution
* Advanced Analytics for view of your video

For marketers, the last point seems most important. Currently, you can only see the same data about your video that everyone else sees: how many views, comments and ratings the video received; the honors it acquired; and the top 5 sources of embedded views. These new analytics will give video publishers the ability to see where the viewers are geographically, and will hopefully give a breakdown of embedded views vs YouTube views, bounce rates, average time spent on the video, view/subscription and/or view/channel visit rates and other demographics—as well a complete list of embeds driving views.

This is the data we've been waiting for, that will finally let YouTube marketers know what methods work—and the real, intrinsic value of each view. Do some videos lead to more subscriptions? Do some videos appeal to a certain demographic? Are people watching the entire video—and which people are not leaving immediately?

Video recommendations and multiple platform distribution are important too. Finetuning your YouTube video collection could potentially mean someone watching more of your videos on TV, and a much larger potential audience. All these changes taken together should mean more views for savvy YouTube marketers—provided they fix those servers!

Posted by on 6:43 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: February 14, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 5:49 PM | Permalink

Adult Films Vivid Asks Google, Yahoo to Protect Kids

Vivid CEO Steven Hirsch, speaking at Yale University, will call on Google and Yahoo to take measures to keep explicit material from children, according to a company press release.

Regarding his upcoming address to graduate business students during Sex Week at Yale, Hirsch stated: "Responsible companies in the adult industry such as ours have done a great deal to deter minors from accessing adult material."

"None of the search engines and portals, but particularly Yahoo and Google, has taken any significant steps in this direction. Vivid will work with any company that is ready to make it much more difficult for children to be exposed, even inadvertently, to material intended only for adults. This is not about First Amendment rights, it is about protecting children," according to Mr. Hirsch.

An interesting move given the failure of the .xxx extension over the last few years. But a way to effectively keep children away through some advanced filtering is something that needs to be developed with the growing reach of the web. How this develops will be worth tracking.

Posted by Frank Watson on 4:44 PM | Permalink

AOL to Distribute Citysearch Content, Ads

Amidst all the secret talks of mergers and deals between the top search players, AOL and IAC have agreed to a distribution deal. AOL will publish local content and pay-per-click ads from Citysearch across the AOL network. Content will include editorial reviews, user reviews, merchant videos, and photos, to be distributed on sites like AOL CityGuide, AOL Local Search and MapQuest.

Citysearch gains targeted inventory and reach for their advertisers, and AOL gets Citysearch content and a share in the ad revenue.

“AOL has the largest local online network and this partnership gives us the ability to enhance our local experience, expand our reach by incorporating Citysearch's rich local content in our numerous local sites and improve monetization of our local properties through Citysearch's local advertising network,” John Kannapell, SVP of AOL Search, said in a statement. “The combination of the enhanced content and reach into new markets will also increase the premium local advertising inventory available to advertisers through Platform-A.”

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 2:20 PM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Search Engine Marketing Career Development

Why would anyone want to become an SEM professional? Well, it's a hot, growing, in-demand field, and everyone wants a piece of it: corporate clients, interactive agencies, investors, search engines, and traditional agencies. In today's SEM.EDU column, "Search Engine Marketing Career Development," Ron Jones explains that what each party wants and how they're going to get it differs, but those who are trained and prepared can step in, close the talent gap, and benefit everyone involved.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: SEOs, Don't Just Do Something, Sit There!

Conventional business wisdom for the 21st century seems to be that to prosper you must change. In today's Link Love column, "SEOs, Don't Just Do Something, Sit There!," Sage Lewis urges search marketers to adapt. The Internet has changed everything for everyone. If you don't believe and act on that, you won't survive, plain and simple.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 13, 2008

Yahoo Mails Letter to Shareholders: Full Text

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Yahoo mailed a letter to shareholders outlining the reasons the Board believes Microsoft's proposal significantly undervalues Yahoo and isn't in the best interests of Yahoo stockholders.

In the missive Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang emphasizes its strong brand, financial strength, strategic investments, technology, and relationships with marketers, reminding shareholders the company holds a leadership position.

The upside for Yahoo without Microsoft? Not surprisingly, Yang sees "a huge market opportunity" in the $45 billion online advertising market projected to grow to $75 billion in 2010.

A copy of the letter from CEO Jerry Yang follows:

Dear Stockholders,

On February 1, 2008, Microsoft made an unsolicited proposal to acquire your company. As much has been reported in the press recently, I wanted to reach out to you personally to let you know why your Board of Directors, after a careful review by Yahoo!'s management along with our financial and legal advisors, believes that Microsoft's proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo! and is not in the best interests of our stockholders.

Most importantly, I want you to know that your Board is continuously evaluating all of Yahoo!'s strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment, and we remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all our stockholders.

We have a unique combination of strengths

-- Yahoo! is one of the most recognizable and admired brands in the world. We have over 500 million users (nearly 1 out of every 2 internet users worldwide). In the U.S., we are # 1 in many of the most used online services including personalized home pages, mail, news, music, shopping and travel. Because we have leadership positions in so many indispensable online services, users spend more time on Yahoo! sites than anywhere else online.

-- Yahoo! is an attractive partner for marketers. Yahoo! is #1 in online display advertising, which represents 90% of the advertising inventory on the web, and we are also a leader in search marketing and a pioneer in the growing fields of mobile advertising and online video advertising. Through Yahoo!, advertisers can now connect with consumers on our owned sites as well as those of our growing network of partners including eBay, Comcast, AT&T, a consortium of over 600 newspapers, Forbes.com, Cars.com, WebMD and more.

-- Yahoo! has the financial flexibility to execute our plans, thanks to our healthy cash balance, which exceeded $2 billion as of December 31, 2007, and our substantial operating cash flow, which we expect to grow double digits in 2009.

-- Yahoo! has made important investments in our core computing infrastructure enabling us to dramatically increase the speed of our search engine updates even while handling vast and growing quantities of data.

-- In addition, we have the added value of our substantial, unconsolidated investments in Japan and China. We have substantial positions in Yahoo! Japan, the leader in its market, and Alibaba, which is strongly positioned in China, a market with enormous growth potential.

These assets--our brand and its audience, our relationships with marketers, our financial strength, our technology, and our strategic investments--are the core of our value and our leadership position in the industry.

We have a huge market opportunity - and are uniquely positioned to capitalize on it

The global online advertising market is projected to grow from $45 billion in 2007 to $75 billion in 2010. And we are moving quickly to take advantage of what we see as a unique window of time in the growth - and evolution - of this market to build market share and to create value for stockholders.

We are executing our strategy - and making headway

We have taken significant but disciplined steps to refocus our business on our objectives to become the starting point for the most consumers and the must buy for the most advertisers and enhance Yahoo!'s long-term performance.

Starting Point Objective: Our goal is to grow visits to key Yahoo! starting points and properties, where users enter the Internet, by 15% per year over the next several years. We are the most visited site in the U.S., and we continue to grow - we experienced double-digit growth in U.S. users in 2007 on our Yahoo.com home page.

In addition to traditional starting points on the PC - including our home pages, mail, My Yahoo! and search, we are particularly excited about our growth prospects in mobile, the biggest emerging starting point in the world. Globally, there are twice as many users of mobile devices as users of personal computers, and mobile advertising is projected to grow substantially in the coming years. We have an important competitive edge as the number one mobile destination in the U.S., and we are building a superior mobile experience for Yahoo! users globally so we can further capitalize on this opportunity.

Must Buy Objective: We are working to make online advertising easier and more effective for marketers, opening up new ways for them to connect with consumers. We've successfully completed the global roll-out of our search marketing system, Panama, which improved the search experience for our users, boosted returns for our advertisers, and increased revenue for Yahoo!. Last year, we bought Right Media, an exchange that enables buyers and sellers of online advertising to come together. Another 2007 acquisition, Blue Lithium, brings us best-in-class performance marketing capabilities, complementing Yahoo!'s existing offerings for advertisers. We also integrated our search advertising and display advertising sales forces, creating a one-stop shop for all of advertisers' online marketing needs. All of these - Panama, Right Media, Blue Lithium, and our combined sales efforts - complement and enhance Yahoo!'s existing capabilities and will make it easier for advertisers and online publishers to buy and sell advertising online.

We are also creating a unique and valuable network of premium websites to serve our advertisers. We are making it easier for our advertisers to provide interesting and relevant offers to our users by combining advertising space on Yahoo!'s owned sites with that from a growing group of premium partners including eBay, Comcast, AT&T, a consortium of over 600 newspapers and many others.

As we reach more users both on our own websites and on the sites of our premium partners, and better monetize the ad space on Yahoo!'s owned and operated sites, we are striving to increase the percentage of total online advertising demand we touch from an estimated 15% in 2007 to 20% over the next several years.

These key strategies will be enhanced by our adoption of new, more open technology platforms that will encourage the development of new applications and the involvement of third-party developers - and help enrich the user experience.

We have accomplished a great deal in a very short time - and we are focused on building this momentum

Today, Yahoo! is a faster-moving, better-organized, more nimble company than it was just a few months ago. We have redeployed our resources to drive Yahoo!'s key strategic priorities - taking important steps to streamline our organization and close down or scale back businesses that don't support these critical growth initiatives. The fact is that we are well on our way to transforming the experiences of Yahoo!'s users, advertisers, publishers and developers - an important shift that is at the heart of our plan to create stockholder value.

I want you to know that the Yahoo! Board of Directors and management team remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all our Yahoo! stockholders. This is a great company and we are moving quickly to make it even better.

Jerry Yang

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 9:21 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: February 13, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 5:55 PM | Permalink

Largest Legal Vertical Search Engine Launches: Public Library of Law

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The world's largest legal vertical search engine launched today in a partnership with legal research provider Fastcase, Inc. Public Library of Law (pLoL) may be more of a directory than a search engine, even though Fastcase CEO Ed Walters says it makes"first-time legal research as easy as using Google."

That's what Yahoo and Microsoft said and look where it got them.

The PLol.org site indexes cases from the U.S. Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals and all 50 states (back to 1997); federal statutory law and codes from all 50 states; and regulations, court rules, and constitutions.

More than 2 million pages of cases previously available only by subscription make PLoL the largest free legal search engine online.

Last November, a Fastcase deal with PublicResource.org made 1.8 million pages of federal cases available in the public domain. Fastcase now boasts what it calls "free links to paid content." Now there's an original idea -- make blue links free!

While domains are at a premium these days, the combination of "LOL," "dot org," and "p" as in public cries out for brand rehab.

Google and Yahoo tried to help Fastcase sell legal docs to the general public via search back in September 2006. Fastcase powered "premium legal search" in Google and Yahoo by making their extensive law library – previously only accessible on a subscription basis – available for $4.99 per case.

We'd ask Fastcase the Dr. Phil question ("So how's that workin' out for ya?") but the answer arrived today.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 2:31 PM | Permalink

Doodle 4 Google: Artsy-Craftsy March Madness

"Doodle 4 Google," a brutal, nationwide UGC competition Google launched today, pits kindergarteners against high school seniors in a Darwinian graphic arts contest to design a Google logo inspired by the question, "What If...?"

Attention professional artists and graphic designers: your kids have a homework assignment for you!

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The winning student's (or mom's/dad's) doodle will be shown on Google's homepage (May 22, 2008); U.S. champion "doodler" wins $10,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for his/her elementary school, middle school, or high school. (Can winner switch prizes?)

(Winner's strategy: attend Cooper Union art school in NYC. Tuition is listed at $31,500 per year. But don't tell your parents: Every student gets a full tuition scholarship and is not responsible for tuition-related costs! Pocket the Google cash).

The "Doodle 4 Google" competition, open to U.S. citizens only:

K-12 students (Junior high bullies trounce kindergarteners!) eligible, plus lesson plans to help guide students (if your public school art class wasn't deleted by budget cuts!)

Google has suggested questions, too. (Our helpful questions? In parentheses.)

"What if...I could see into the future?" (Buy or sell Google shares?)

"What if....I could build any kind of invention I wanted?" (Facebook killer or Google killer?)

A panel of independent judges, Google employees and you, the public, will help select the final four. (Googley March Madness!)

Judged on artistic merit, creativity, representation of the theme ... and, in the grand Google tradition, the mystery quality score metric: "other criteria."

Google (mystery judges?) choose the prize winner and spill the beans at Google HQ on May 21, 2008. Teachers: register your class online by going to www.google.com/doodle4google. before March 28.

All entries must be postmarked (???) by April 12, 2008. Postmarked? (Doodle before doing your taxes! And don't mix up the envelopes.)

Click here for more info, details, videos and past doodles.

Image files of past Google doodles are available at:

www.google.com/doodle4google/press.html and broadcast quality video is available at www.thenewsmarket.com/google.

In a statement, the Google said, "The customization of the Google logo started in 1999, and these "doodles" are now designed almost exclusively by Google Webmaster Dennis Hwang, whose work is seen by millions every time he exhibits on the Google homepage. Dennis has creatively depicted worldwide events, anniversaries and holidays with doodles that incorporate the Google logo for the world of users to celebrate."

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 1:28 PM | Permalink

YouTube Channel launched for SES London 2008

Andrew Lipsman, an analyst at ComScore Media Metrix, recently told the Los Angeles Times that the writers strike drove a record number of restive viewers to the Internet in December. It was the single heaviest month for online video viewing since ComScore started tracking such results back in January 2007. People watched more than 10 billion video streams on their computers, including CrunchGear.com's hands-on with TI's prototype Android phone, which had drawn 30,911 views on YouTube as of this morning.

In fact, YouTube has been the biggest beneficiary of this trend, as the number of videos streamed on the site surged 12% from November to December. That's well above the steady growth rate in online video consumption, Lipsman told the LA Times. The average time visitors spent watching videos online increased seven minutes from 104 to 111 minutes a month.

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So, it seems like the perfect time for Search Engine Strategies to launch its own YouTube Channel – the SESConferenceExpo's Channel – just before SES London gets underway next week.

The Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference & Expo Channel currently has three video clips – but more will be added during next week's event, which is being held at the Business Design Centre in London, UK, from February 19-22, 2008. That's in Islington, mate!

The top video clip, which was added yesterday, features and interview with Rebecca Lieb, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the ClickZ Network, about AOL's prospects in light of Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo. The interview originally appeared on CNBC's Media Money program on February 4, 2008. The video clip was provided by Ann Shannon and the team at PAN Communications.

In fact, the recent possibilities presented with a Microsoft/Yahoo combination will be discussed at Search Engine Strategies London during The Keynote Roundtable: The Changing Search World. Attendees will have front row seats to these industry-shaping events as they unfold.

Following an introduction from Nick Carr, author of The Big Switch, Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google, a group of search experts and analysts will discuss the impact of these changes in an interactive format. Kevin Ryan, Vice President, Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch, will be the moderator. The speakers include: Mike Grehan, SES London Co-Chair and Founder and CEO, Searchvisible Ltd.; Steven Kaufman, SVP Media Director, Digitas; Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder, Future Now Inc.; and Erica Schmidt, Global Director of Search, Isobar.

Also on the SES YouTube Channel is a video clip with Market Motive's CEO Michael Stebbins and CTO John Marshall, which was added a week ago. They discuss the company's on-demand video training, Q&A and direct conference calls with six of the top online marketing consultants – several of whom are speaking at SES London. John and Michael also explain their partnership with SES London and the special offer that they're making to conference attendees: a free month's subscription to MarketMotive.com.

For those of you who admire the quality of the videography, it was shot and edited by John Zukowski of Azimuth Productions / Video San Francisco.

Finally, the third YouTube video for SES London is my interview with Nick Carr, who will also be a keynote Speaker at SES New York. I chat with Nick about his new book, The Big Switch, which examines the future of computing and its implications for business and society, and about his introduction to The Keynote Roundtable at Search Engine Strategies London.

The video production company that created and produced this video clip is Diginovations, winners of the Platinum VISTA Award for Best Corporate Video from the National Professional Videographers Association for three of the last four years.

Added a week ago, this video clip of my interview with Nick already had more than 780 views as of this morning. Okay, so that not even close to comedian Judson Laipply's “Evolution of Dance,” which has drawn 74 million views on YouTube. But, while I should disclose that SES London is a client, I have to confess that I only got around to promoting this video clip today.

How did it rack up so many views, then? Well, Jasdev Dhaliwal's The Web Pitch gave it a plug even before I could get around to publicizing the video clip myself. That's what I love about social media.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 8:33 AM | Permalink

UK search marketing survey goes live

Online publisher E-consultancy in conjunction with search agency Neutralize (*\*) are conducting follow up research to last year's widely read 2007 UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, which contained a comprehensive analysis of the UK Search environment.

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This year's research will cover online marketing budgets and the effectiveness of search marketing, as well as looking at the use of social media. Those taking part in this year's survey will receive a free copy of the ensuing 2008 UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report.

Lotte Mahon, marketing manager at Neutralize (*\*), said in a press release issued this morning, “We are really looking forward to working with E-consultancy on the 2008 report. Last year's results offered a unique insight into UK Search Engine Marketing and the report received a wealth of positive feedback. We are aiming for an increase in respondents this year so I would urge everyone involved in the industry to give us their valuable opinions!”

The online survey, which is open to both advertisers and agencies, will be live until Thursday, March 6, 2008. Those wishing to complete the survey should go to http://tinyurl.com/3al59r.

More than 700 digital marketers responded to last year's survey, including just under 400 client-side search marketers and more than 250 agencies.

Highlights from last year's report included:
• Just under half of respondents (48%) said that their companies carried out paid search exclusively in-house. Some 57% of companies were doing SEO exclusively in-house.
• On average, company respondents said that they spent 32% of their total marketing budget on online marketing. On average, they spent a third of their online marketing budget on Search.
• Overall, respondents said that SEO was more important than PPC in terms of impact on brand.
• Google was viewed as the best search engine across a range of criteria. However, half of respondents believed that Google had an unhealthy dominance of the UK search marketplace.
• According to company respondents, lack of internal resource was the biggest problem preventing success for both Paid Search and SEO (natural search).

Go to http://www.e-consultancy.com/publications/search-engine-marketing-report-2007/ for more details about last year's report.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 3:01 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Layoffs Top 1,000 Employees in U.S.

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Yahoo layoffs may top 1,000 employees before the U.S. mass layoff ends.

When 50 or more new claims for unemployment benefits are received from one company in a month, government statisticians designate it a mass layoff.

If the layoff lasts more than 31 days, it's called an extended mass layoff. This one? Massive.

Techmeme has excellent coverage of individuals who've made their job loss public or blogged about their experience. No stigma. No badge of shame.

Signs of the subprime times we live in.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 12:35 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Landing Page Optimization Defined for SEM

Search marketers need to be concerned about landing page optimization because it can multiply the impact of your search marketing campaigns. In today's By the Numbers column, "Landing Page Optimization Defined for SEM," Eric Enge explains that understanding what you're trying to do with your site, and how visitors will interact with it, are the first key steps down the road to optimizing conversions.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: The Search Monopoly Transforms

Google, Yahoo, and MSN have been going at it like cats and dogs in the press. Much of the hype surrounding the three tech powerhouses coming together in the United States centers around a monopoly discussion. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "The Search Monopoly Transforms," Kevin Ryan looks at the changing search landscape.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 12, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 12, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

  • You Must Be 21 to View This Site: Yahoo Searchlight Award
    The third annual Yahoo Searchlight Award winner: "Partay" the whitest boys in the room hip-hop video promoting the responsible consumption of Smirnoff Raw Tea by search marketing firm Outrider.
  • Yahoo OneSearch T-Mobile vs Google vs Nokia
    The players change partners as the mobile phone is fast becoming the gateway to the Internet, Wireless Web and local search.
  • Find Your Dream Job with the New SEW Job Boards
    If you're reading Search Engine Watch, it's likely that your skills are in demand, or soon will be, if you're just starting out. To help you make the most of your search marketing skills, we've launched the Search Engine Watch Job Board.
  • SEW Experts: High Performance SEO Requires Fast Load Times
    Many large companies assume that site speed isn't very important to the overall user experience, but they'd be wrong.
  • SEW Experts: Microsoft Responds to Yahoo: a Micro, Who Cares?
    Who wins or loses the Microhoo battle won't change the mission of most search marketers: helping clients or employers acquire leads and customers, and generating online sales.
  • SEW Experts: SEO Outsourcing: Don't! Until You Read This
    One basic rule in life: it's difficult to buy things you don't understand. SEO can be difficult to understand, especially for marketing folks who'd rather put the search budget into PPC campaigns.
  • One basic rule in life: it's difficult to buy things you don't understand. SEO can be difficult to understand, especially for marketing folks who'd rather put the search budget into PPC campaigns
    CNN will soon launch iReport.com for citizen journalists. News sharing is a natural next step, because people already send far more videos and images than CNN could ever show online or on air.
  • Microsoft Won't Take "No" for an Answer
    Microsoft made it clear that it would continue with its plans to acquire Yahoo, one way or another.

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:30 PM | Permalink

You Must Be 21 to View This Site: Yahoo Searchlight Award

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Warning: You must be 21 years of age to view this site.

You must be of legal purchase age to enter the corrupt world of this online video / search campaign -- winner of the Yahoo Searchlight Awards.

The third annual Yahoo Searchlight Award winner: "Partay" the whitest boys in the room hip-hop video promoting the responsible consumption of Smirnoff Raw Tea by search marketing firm Outrider.

Target demographic for search ads: Who cares? Par-tay! You don't have to type in your age to click on a "Crizazy" text ad for Russian hooch.

Don't agree with the winner? Don't blame the judges. All, including Kevin Ryan, were limited to "one man, one vote" while the big audience voted electronically.

That'll teach interactive agencies not to send a whole crew to an awards ceremony.

Funniest line: Ron Belanger called Kevin Ryan, "The Howard Stern of Search."

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2nd Funniest line: What world-famous comedian and emcee Craig Ferguson called Kevin Ryan.

To find the answer, go to the Search Engine Strategies blog.

For more drunken rap videos in the East vs West Rap WarGames, go to TeaPartay.com. (No link love for preppie rappers.)

Outrider copywriter say, IF YA WANNA ROLL WIT DA TEA PARTAY WE NEED TO KNOW YOUR AGE PLAYA. Submit, yo.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 6:15 PM | Permalink

Yahoo OneSearch T-Mobile vs Google vs Nokia

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While the Google vs. Nokia global battle escalates (GPS-enabled Nokia phones vs. Google Android-driven handsets), the mobile phone is fast becoming the gateway to the Internet, Wireless Web and local search.

You can imagine the frantic calls lately between Silicon Valley and Redmond:

Steve: "Jerry, have your people call my people."
Jerry: "Frack off, Steve."

Yahoo announced a strategic partnership today with T-Mobile in Europe. Yahoo! oneSearch will become the exclusive mobile search service for T-Mobile's 11 European markets by the end of next month. Yahoo! oneSearch is designed for mobile phones to deliver relevant results and instant answers without navigating through a sea of blue links.

A number of Yahoo! oneSearch partnerships have been announced in the last year. Since introducing Yahoo! oneSearch in early 2007, Yahoo! has signed partnership agreements with more than 29 mobile operators covering more than 600 million mobile subscribers worldwide.

In a statement, Marco Boerries, execute vice president, Connected Life, Yahoo, said, "When we created Yahoo! oneSearch, we had a belief that mobile search was not the same as PC search. A fundamentally different approach was required, one that included different usage models and results filtering. Most importantly, we believed there was no guarantee that success in PC search would automatically translate into similar success in mobile search, creating a real opportunity for those who innovate."

Recent strategic Yahoo! oneSearch partnerships include AT&T (United States), a global framework agreement with America Movil (16 countries across Latin America), a partnership with Rogers Wireless (Canada), partnerships with 16 operators (Asia Pacific Region), and an agreement with Telefonica (portals in 15 countries in Europe and Latin America). Yahoo! will be the exclusive or preferred mobile search service on the carrier portal.

Yahoo! oneSearch has added Flight Tracker, movie reviews (critics and UGC), and movie trailers (select carriers/handsets), along with Yahoo! Answers and Wikipedia. If you're lucky enough to read this at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Yahoo will discuss its strategy for the local mobile search ecosystem.

Or, if you're in New York, join the Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Strategies, and ClickZ teams at the Yahoo Search Spotlight Awards.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 9:02 AM | Permalink

Find Your Dream Job with the New SEW Job Boards

If you're reading Search Engine Watch, it's likely that your skills are in demand, or soon will be, if you're just starting out. To help you make the most of your search marketing skills, we've launched the Search Engine Watch Job Board. Job seekers can post an anonymous resume, view jobs, and create job alerts. Employers and recruiters can pay by the post or get a discount for buying multiple-posting packs. They can also browse resumes and only pay for the ones they want to contact.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: High Performance SEO Requires Fast Load Times

Many large companies assume that site speed isn't very important to the overall user experience, but they'd be wrong. In today's Big Biz column, "High Performance SEO Requires Fast Load Times," Aaron Shear explains that slow load times, compounded by other network issues, can both create a horrible user experience and impact organic search rankings.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Microsoft Responds to Yahoo: a Micro, Who Cares?

Who wins or loses the Microhoo battle won't change the mission of most search marketers: helping clients or employers acquire leads and customers, and generating online sales. In today's Search Engine WarGames column, "Microsoft Responds to Yahoo: a Micro, Who Cares?," Kevin Heisler recounts last night's industry meet-up in New York.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: SEO Outsourcing: Don't! Until You Read This

One basic rule in life: it's difficult to buy things you don't understand. SEO can be difficult to understand, especially for marketing folks who'd rather put the search budget into PPC campaigns, which are easier to understand and buy.In today's au Natural column, "SEO Outsourcing: Don't! Until You Read This," Mark Jackson discusses the basics everyone should be asking during the RFP (request for proposal) stage, and offers a free SEO RFP template.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 11, 2008

CNN Wants News Mojo From the People

CNN%20i-Report.JPGCNN wants news mojo from the people -- and will soon launch iReport.com for citizen journalists.

News sharing is a natural next step, because people already send far more videos and images than CNN could ever show online or on air. According to MediaWeek, CNN uses only 10 percent of all contributions through its current iReport functionality.

Today when you upload video to the CNN site, your content is thoroughly vetted. With this News “You Tube” service, both terrific and terrible videos will get shared there.

Susan Grant, EVP of CNN News Services, welcomes all the noise. CNN will allow all content to be shared, but remove objectionable items when they feel it's necessary.

Unfortunately, CNN won't get the most mojo! They decided to launch a new iReport destination, and even spent $750k to secure two domain names. There could be many reasons for doing this, but traffic didn't enter into this decision.

From a search marketing perspective, it's baffling that CNN isn't able to leverage their brand, authority, link love and traffic within the mother domain. My sympathies are extended to CNN's online marketers and techies, who are figuring out all possible ways to optimize this new destination. It's a lot more work.

To me, it would be far better if CNN tried to create a nice, big searchable world of professional and user-generated news content. If CNN really wants mojo, then they should open up directly to people -- at least on a branded CNN sub-domain. Take a calculated risk here.

Posted by on 10:40 PM | Permalink

Microsoft Won't Take "No" for an Answer

Yahoo's board of directors may have spurned its advances, but that's not going to stop Microsoft in its effort to acquire Yahoo. In a statement released this afternoon, Microsoft made it clear that it would continue with its plans, one way or another:

It is unfortunate that Yahoo! has not embraced our full and fair proposal to combine our companies. Based on conversations with stakeholders of both companies, we are confident that moving forward promptly to consummate a transaction is in the best interests of all parties.

We are offering shareholders superior value and the opportunity to participate in the upside of the combined company. The combination also offers an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market.

A Microsoft-Yahoo! combination will create a more effective company that would provide greater value and service to our customers. Furthermore, the combination will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising.

The Yahoo! response does not change our belief in the strategic and financial merits of our proposal. As we have said previously, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.

Judging by that statement, it seems that Microsoft plans to push its original $31-per-share offer directly to shareholders in an effort to force the Yahoo board's hand.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 9:57 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: February 11, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 5:42 PM | Permalink

Israeli Town Suing Google

Seems Google is being sued by a northern Israeli town because Google Maps claims it was built on an old Arab village, according to the International Herald Tribune.

This one will be interesting to watch, though one would think a simple correction would suffice.

The information was put into Google Maps by a Palestinian doctor, Thameen Darby, "raised in the northern West Bank town of Jenin, said his mother was a refugee from to the village Balad al-Sheikh near Kiryat Yam. He said his contributions to Google Earth are part of the "Nakhba -- Palestinian Catastrophe" information hub aimed to help displaced Palestinians understand their heritage or find the villages of their parents or grandparents," the International Herald Tribune reported.

Posted by Frank Watson on 4:04 PM | Permalink

Kevin Heisler Speaking Tonight in NYC

If you need something to do after work in NYC tonight Kevin Heisler is speaking at the Aspen Forum in a presentation called SEO Super Powers.

Kevin you should have let us know earlier so we could have gotten a crew together. Hope you let us know how it went.

The gathering is part of MeetUp.com - which is becoming very popular.

Posted by Frank Watson on 3:52 PM | Permalink

What's it Really Like to Work at Google?

Many of us have have heard tales about Google’s storied culture, lifestyle, and talented employees. Yes, we’ve also heard about the food! Take a moment and dig into the details with Avinash Kaushik. He shares what it’s truly like to work at Google, hang out with the beautiful people, dream in color, create, and manufacture atomic powered ideas from intellectual metal.

He's just published an emotionally introspective post, 10 Insights From 11 Months Of Working At Google, in which he freely shares specifics as concern day to day life among Googlers.

Who Is Avinash Anyway?
In the world of search marketing there are precious few true analytics luminaries. Avinash Kaushik is a consensus master in taking analytics to the “actionable” level.   He also happens to work at the Googleplex making his creative wit extremely influential. His personal blog, Occam’s razor, is nearly universally respected by SEM professionals, revered by some.

Google’s Analytics Evangelist
Many readers know that Google Analytics is an powerful (and free) analytics package offered by Google to it's users. Used effectively in tandem with AdWords PPC, rudimentary (albeit powerful) conversion tracking can be set up.  Avinash is currently contracted as Google's in-house Analytics Evangelist, rolling up his pragmatic/esoteric sleeves.

Here are the categories by which the analytics master segments the blessed Google life. Avinash says "ten insights from / cool things about / reasons for / delightful surprises from almost a year of working at Google."

#10 The amazingly fantastic food and impressive digs.
# 9: “Micro Efficiencies”
# 8: A company that truly cares.
# 7: Brain expansion opportunities.
# 6: The sheer amount of brilliant Google employees.
# 5: Empowerment (The big small company).
# 4: The scale of your impact.
# 3: Doing Good: Green & .org
# 2: It’s a happening place. The energy, the vibe, the passion.
# 1: The brand."

No doubt the matrix outlined above has been given due thought by Avinash. The post is worth a read for the pictures alone. Thanks for the terrific insight  Avinash.

Posted by Marty Weintraub on 2:06 PM | Permalink

Another AOL Exec Leaves

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AOL says aloha to strategic ad exec Dave Morgan, founder of AOL-acquired Tacoda.

From a leadership standpoint, huge loss. Morgan was EVP Global Advertising Strategy. His departure essentially leaves AOL without a global advertising strategy while Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes splits and sells AOL.

Doubtful any entrepreneurial execs would stay through the sale. Buyers: Yahoo? Google? MicroWho? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Impact on Yahoo-AOL talks? Negligible. Paid Content's Rafat Ali broke the story and has the exclusive on why Morgan stayed at AOL for only 90 days - think startups & Platform A, not AvenueA or M&A.

AOL paid around $275 million (actual purchase price undisclosed) to buy the behavioral targeting network, Tacoda. AOL most likely didn't have the development team to build behavioral targeting technology in-house.

That left AOL's search engine renaissance missing the search re-targeting piece, the hottest area in paid search and conversion marketing. If search engine consolidation is all about search, then Tacoda and Advertising.com are valuable prizes for Yahoo -- or Google, which owns a 5 percent stake in AOL.

Tacoda had several slogans during its evolution (before being swallowed up by AOL). The startup was "The Audience Management Company" and "The Audience Company." My favorite: "Where the people are" … and Dave Morgan is not.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 10:54 AM | Permalink

The adventure of going to SES London for the first time

I expect that about half of the attendees at the Search Engine Strategies 2008 Conference & Expo in London will be going to the event for the first time.

“And what analysis led you to that deduction, Holmes?”

It was elementary, my dear Watson, elementary.

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The event being held at the Business Design Centre in Islington Feb. 19-21, 2008, will be the fourth SES London that I've attended. At the previous three conferences, I've asked attendees to raise their hands if it was their first Search Engine Strategies. About half the people in the room raised their hands in 2005, 2006 and 2007. You don't need to be a super-sleuth to deduce that this will be case again in 2008.

“Well, what about the other half of the attendees?”

Obviously, they have returned from previous shows. This explains why attendance at SES London has grown so dramatically since 2005.

“So, are newbies at a disadvantage at the show?”

Not really. The search landscape changes so radically from year to year that even the experts come back to discover what the don't know yet, as well as to uncover what they thought they knew that is now antiquated. So, newbies aren't at a serious disadvantage – but they don't know it.

“Surely you can spot the newbies when you catch them poring over the conference handbook trying to decide what session to attend next.”

This year may be different, my good friend. Only 28 of the 46 sessions, panels, and keynotes at this year's Search Engine Strategies were listed in last year's conference handbook. With almost 40% of the topics brand new, I suspect that we might catch some of the experts pouring over this year's conference handbook – if there is a conference handbook. The one at SES Chicago was replaced by a new magazine. So, that dog won't bark this time around.

“But at least the experts know about the conference at a glance on the Search Engine Strategies website. Won't they determine in advance which of three or four concurrent sessions they should attend over the three-day conference?”

That's an astute observation, Watson. One that I'm sure Inspector Lestrade will take credit for, if we don't intervene. So, let's propose a hypothetical track for the first time attendee. Of course, newbies can deviate from it. But, the Great Game will be giving a preliminary plan to help a newbie navigate his or her way through a dozen dilemmas that face anyone going to SES London for the first time.

“Excellent!”

Let's begin with Day 1: Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. I propose that a newbie should attend “Introduction to Search Marketing” at 9:30 a.m. and then “Search Engine Friendly Design” at 11:00 a.m.

The rest of the day is child's play. Attend “Google University: Basics” at noon; the “Orion Panel: All Star Analytics Team” at 1:30 p.m.; the “Google University: Masterclass” at 2:30 p.m.; Fredrick Marckini's opening keynote at 3:30 p.m.; the “Orion Panel: Universal, Blended and Vertical Search” at 4:45 p.m.; and the Networking Cocktail Reception in the Expo Hall at 5:45 p.m.

“What about Day 2? The choices are less obvious on Wednesday, Feb. 20.”

On the contrary, the choices are quite obvious. Even to the youngest of the Baker Street Irregulars knows a newbie should attend the keynote roundtable at 9:00 a.m.; “News Search SEO” at 10:30 a.m.; “Search Term Research & Targeting” at 11:45 a.m.; the “Google University: Google Analytics and Website Optimiser” session at 12:45 p.m.; and “Compare & Contrast: Ad Program Strategies” at 2:00 p.m.

Then, our first time attendee should visit the 20 exhibitors on the trade show floor at 3:00 p.m. After that, our newbie should attend “Balancing Organic & Paid Listings” at 4:p.m.; and “Linking Strategies” at 5:15 p.m.

“And what do you propose for Thursday?”

I must admit, Watson, the choices on Feb. 21 baffle me. The agenda looks like the handiwork of Professor Moriarty. But, let's hope that by Day 3 our fictional newbie will have gained enough confidence to start making difficult choices without our advice.

“But Holmes, we can't abandon our poor newbie without of clue about what to do next! Where's you sense of honor?”

I was just pulling your leg, Watson. So, on Day 3, let's have our newbie begin by attending “Meet the Crawlers” at 9:30 a.m. Then, let's suggest that he or she sit in on the “Site Clinic” at 11:00 a.m. Following lunch, I'd recommend attending “Beyond Linkbait: Getting Authoritative Online Mentions.” Then, it's off to “My SEM Toolbox” at 2:15 p.m. Finally, let's tell our newbie to attend “Brand & Reputation Management” at 3:30 p.m.

“What about the search training classes on Friday, Feb. 22?”

Oh, those could be useful, too. I'd counsel our fictional first time attendee to sign up for the “Optimizing for Universal Search” workshop at 8:30 a.m.; and the “Making Pay Per Click Pay – Best Practices in Pay Per Click Advertising” workshop at 1:30 p.m. There are additional registration costs, if there are any seats left, of course.

“Shouldn't you disclose that SES London is one of your clients?”

Of course I will, Watson. But, I would have thought that anyone who has read “It's ‘Horses for Courses' at SES London” would have known that.

And, anyone who has ever read Search Engine Watch or The Strand Magazine already knows that I have shown myself to be a master of disguise from my earliest cases, adopting personas from all walks of life.

Finally, deductive reasoning, Google and Wikipedia should have led to this obvious conclusion. How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 9:19 AM | Permalink

Yahoo Formally Rejects Microsoft Bid

As expected, the Yahoo board of directors has rejected Microsoft's unsolicited bid to acquire the company. In a statement, the board said that the proposal is not in the best interests of Yahoo or its stockholders:

After careful evaluation, the Board believes that Microsoft's proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo! including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments. The Board of Directors is continually evaluating all of its strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment and we remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all stockholders.

The board did not mention whether any of the "strategic options" it's exploring include Google or AOL, both of which are rumored to have been in talks with Yahoo to discuss some form of partnership or merger. In a Google-partnership scenario, Yahoo might outsource some or all of its search and search advertising operations to Google. AOL doesn't have its own search index, but licenses Google's, so an AOL tie-up would likely see Yahoo keep its search and search ad operations.

AOL has been investing heavily in advertising technology, adding Tacoda (behavioral targeting), AdTech (ad serving, big in Europe), Lightningcast (video ads), Quigo (contextual ads) and Third Screen Media (mobile ads) to its newly formed Platform A business, built around the base of its Advertising.com ad network.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 9:13 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Google AdWords Targeting: Expect More, Pay Less

Google AdWords placement-targeted campaigns on the content network can be a useful tool, if you can find the sites that support it. In today's Content Advertising column, "Google AdWords Targeting: Expect More, Pay Less," David Szetela discusses AdSense publishers' options for showing or blocking placement-targeted ads.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 10, 2008

AOL Yahoo Talk Merger - Microsoft Rebuked

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Yahoo merges with AOL, saves Time Warner and re-Bewkes Microsoft. That's a best case scenario for Yahoo from investment bank advisers at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. The i-banks are advising Yahoo on mergers with media and technology firms that might snatch Yang & Co. from the jaws of Microsoft. On Sunday, Siobhan Kennedy and Suzy Jagger of The Times Online (UK) broke the story AOL may emerge as Yahoo's exit strategy from the Microsoft $45 billion (give or take a billion) bid.

An AOL merger leads the pack of deals Yahoo and its i-bank M&A advisers are pursuing. Not long ago Yahoo failed to close a deal for AOL. Now the pressure from Yahoo shareholders won't let up until a Microsoft bid (sweetened or unsweetened) is accepted - or an AOL-sized deal is done. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes would be the big winner.

Google has long been discussed as Yahoo's outsourced search partner (again). The surprise? The House of Mouse has emerged as a possible home for Yahooligans. (The revenge of Terry Semel?)

If you can't bring Hollywood to Yahoo, then move the Yahoo to Hollywood. Any Yahoo tie-up would likely put Disney CEO Bob Iger in the driver's seat, not a bad thing for Yahoo's beleaguered shareholders.

Would an AOL merger somehow increase the value of Yahoo's stock by more than 60 percent? (Microsoft premium: 62 percent) Not likely. Yahoo shareholders have long been asking - to no avail - for a plan to boost YHOO by 25 percent from its 52 week low. So far the Microsoft bid has been the only (un)plan that did.

I mentioned the AOL scenario last Friday morning on a conference call with Oppenheimer senior analyst Sandeep Aggarwal and Oppenheimer's Media & Internet and Enterprise Software teams.

Kevin Lee of Didit joined us on the call, along with Jaideep Singh, CEO of vertical search engine Spock.com and Seth Barnes, senior manager for Edmunds.com, a leading consumer automotive site.

To listen to a replay, the dial-in number is (888) 266-2081 or (703) 925-2533. Replay dates are now thru 2/22/2008 23:59 EST.

Whether the Yahoo AOL portal-saurus merger would work is moot.

Now it's One Deal, One Day.

All this week: Yahoo! on Woot!.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 11:43 PM | Permalink

February 9, 2008

Yahoo Board Escapes MS Bear Hug: Yahoo Jitsu!

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The Yahoo board of directors will formally reject Microsoft's $31 bid, according to a report today in the WSJ. The Microsoft letter (i-banker parlance, a bear hug) sent to the Yahoo board.

The Jiu Jitsu move that Yahoo used to slip out of Microsoft's arms? The board stated the 62 percent preimum "massively undervalues" Yahoo and doesn't cover the risk that regulators here and abroad might body slam the deal.

Rumors are rife that Yahoo may tag out in search, tapping its former tag team partner, Google, to crush Microsoft. Google, combined with Yahoo's share of searches, would become the de facto search engine on the Internet, achieving Eric Schmidt's stated goal:

In martial arts and grappling, the bear hug is a dominant position, allowing great control of an opponent. The more brutal world of corporate M&A offers many escape routes.

The Yahoo board concluded Microsoft was trying to"steal" the company in its current weakened position. So the MMA match between the two Web 1.0 titans promises to go several more rounds. Yahoo's has popped posion pills, designed to prevent a hostile takeover. A poison pill is the corporate M&A equivalent of steroids, making Yahoo a tougher opponent to take down.

Of course, the rejection of Microsoft's bid is no surprise to Search Engine Watch readers, who saw the Yahoo News report undervaluing Microsoft's offer.

In any case, we're in for a bloodbath: Yahoo "begs" (Google, save us!), Microsoft borrows (to buy Yahoo) and Google "steals" search from their #2 competitor? Or it may just be an inverse bear hug by the Yahoo board, designed to squeeze more money out of Microsoft.

For industry experts on the Microhoo deal, check out Kevin Newcomb's roundup of industry experts who manage the largest global paid search campaigns and organic search strategies here, here, and here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 1:48 PM | Permalink

February 8, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 8, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 5:29 PM | Permalink

Google Map Business Categories, Unraveling the Black Box

google-maps-10-box.jpg Nearly all things "search" blend known algorithmic ranking attributes with mysterious black box elements. Much like the Federal reserve, even a stray comment from the kingmakers sends legions of search marketing minions scurrying for cover.

Best-practices surrounding Google Map business category optimization, are amongst the most annoying partially unknowns. The local SEO answer to "how the heck do we optimize for that" has always been "gee, we just don't really know for sure."

Landing your business in the appropriate Google Maps business category has always been something of a mystery for SEM professionals and small business owner alike.. Most marketing professionals have asked the question in annoyance: "Why can't I be in the same category as my competitor?"

Respected local search guru Mike Blumenthal in his blog, "Understanding Google Maps & Yahoo Local Search," has been researching the map category matter for a couple of years. In previous articles, which deserve attention in themselves, research indicates that "Google is pulling categories from SuperPages.The categories are not available in Local Business Center and small business owners are frustrated to see only their competitors shown in hotly contested niches.

Now, in what could be a gem of functional street wisdom, Blumenthal has published research which seems to offer a solution to help garner placement in coveted Google Maps business categories.

The recommended strategy is to remove all category information from your Google LBC listing and optimize the business title and description to include SuperPage categories. It can take 6-8 weeks for Google to plow through and update your record. Findings strongly support the theory that, that by following this method, your business listing will display for the desired category in applicable searches.

Posted by Marty Weintraub on 3:15 PM | Permalink

Yahoo News Reports Microsoft Bid Change

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This just in: Yahoo! News (AP on Yahoo News) scooped the world on the most amazing number ever reported for MicroHoo. Since all wait with linkbaited breath for the latest Microsoft-Yahoo bid, here 'tis:

$45 MILLION dollars!

Microsoft agreed to pay how much for Yahoo? Would the Yahoo board of directors accept this low-ball offer from Microsoft?

O who will save Yahoo from Microsoft? We need a white knight. Our suggestion, Sir Spamalot orSir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Lancelot Maybe several bidders led by Leader of The Knights who say NI! And now for something completely different, a Black Knight.

Who caught this typo last week? Eagle-eyed Incisive Media creative manager, Drew Eastmead, creative genius behind SES Magazine - official publication of Search Engine Strategies shows noticed someone didn't get the copy right.

As Yahoo News warns us all:

"The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press."

"Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press."
"Copyright © 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved."

And now we know why they want express written consent.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 1:40 PM | Permalink

Decision Time for Yahoo?

According to Michael Arrington at TechCrunch, today's the day Yahoo's board will make a decision on how to proceed with Microsoft's takeover bid:

"There are only two options left. Accept the offer in principal, and try to increase the price with no negotiating leverage at all, or do a deal with Google to outsource search advertising and, likely, search itself.

The board, we've heard, is basically being told by outside advisors to take the Microsoft deal. But we've also heard that a contingent of senior executives at Yahoo, who are willing to do literally anything to thwart a Microsoft takeover, are pushing for the Google deal and will present their case at the meeting."

One concern of Yahoos may be losing the company's identity and being assimilated by Microsoft. In an effort to assuage those fears, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave empty reassurances in an interview with Business Week. "Yahoo, the brand, will live," Ballmer said. He didn't elaborate on that, of course, so it could be anything from Microsoft's premier online brand to a token start page (think Netscape).

Yahoo's Panama platform will not likely be as lucky, if Tarek Najm, adCenter's general manager, has anything to say about it. He told Business Week there was nothing he liked about Panama that he would want in adCenter: "We're the leaders in technology," Najm says. "Ours is better."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 8:49 AM | Permalink

Y! Live is Dead! Long Live Yahoo! Live

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Live from Yahoo! It's Y! Live Night! Or not. Yahoo! Live, the experimental live video service, debuted and crashed and crashed, resulting in a public apology and mea culpa from the 6 engineers who launched the service. The web service is boldly (and entirely coincidentally) named Y! Live in the grand tradition of MSN Live, Live Windows, and Windows Live triumphant product releases.

"Yes, Yahoo! Live is alive! Yahoo! Live is an experiment in personal live video broadcasting, brought to you by our Advanced Products team," wrote Eric Fixler, the aptly-named Y! Live engineer on the Yahoo Developer Network's launch of Yahoo! Live Web Services.

We have only one question: Y?

"Maintenance. Yahoo! Live is an experimental release. We've experienced heavy traffic and are taking a breather to tune things up a bit." according to the message posted on the Yahoo site that can't be seen.

No word on whether Y! Live will be back up in time to live stream the Yahoo Board of Directors decision on Microsoft's hostile bid.

Here's why we should forgive Yahoo's decision not to dedicate more resources to making the launch a success during the most important week in the company's storied history:

"One thing to keep in mind is that although this product comes from Yahoo! (a big company), the team working on Y! Live is only six people deep. We're a really tiny incubation group which is tasked with building innovative new products and get them out there ASAP. Our mantra is to iterate and build with the community, as opposed to unveiling The Next Big Thing on Day One. We hope you collaborate with us as we shape Y! Live into a game-changing product."

6? 6. 6! people. Who needs a Do No Evil motto when you have the Y! Live 6?

Good news: Yahoo! Live ships with API goodness.

Yahoo! your ship didn't come in. It set sail without you.

"First night - killer good times, now making some tweaks." Blog on, Yahoo!

Note to Yahoo Board, (aka Generation "Gap"): the term "killer" is the Gen Y way of saying "peachy keen" and has nothing at all to do with dead web services.

No doubt Yahoo execs will get back to writing a new peanut butter manifesto in a Jiffy.

Write your own peanut butter manifesto here.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 8:04 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: How To Market Your Search Engine Agency

You'd think that being in the marketing business would mean you were an expert at marketing your own business. In reality, it can be a struggle to keep a regular pipeline of sales leads. In today's Business of Search column, "How To Market Your Search Engine Agency - Part 1," Fionn Downhill shows you how to reach your target market and get those leads, which are so important when developing and growing your business.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Tracking and Analytics 101

The lack of uniform analytics definitions creates problems for marketers. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Tracking and Analytics 101," Frank Watson offers some basic definitions to get started on a conversation about using Web analytics for your search campaigns.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: The 411 on Local Search Data for Business

When incorrect listing information for your company finds its way into the local listing database of some data provider, it can start spreading like wildfire from local search site to local search site. In today's Vertical Challenge column, "The 411 on Local Search Data for Business," local search expert Gregg Stewart tells you how to keep your business' data accurate, and prevent your local search sales leads from going out the window.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 7, 2008

SEOs of the World, Unite!

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January was a bad month for SEO reputation. Will February be SEO Groundhog Day?

Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, along comes "SEO Expert" the world's most evil cartoon character.

We don't know whether we should sue, or just let him do battle with Cartoon Barry. Danny calls these attacks "SEOs are scumbags" incidents. He says, "I find myself with little energy to push back against them with yet another defense of the industry."

So SEOs of the World, Unite!

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 7:40 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: February 7, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:36 PM | Permalink

Courts Need Consensus on Trademark Law and Search

Adding more confusion to the case law surrounding trademark issues and search advertising, a Sixth Circuit federal court in Kentucky found that keyword advertising is a "trademark use in commerce" under the Lanham Act. Actually, what they decided was that there was not enough case law to prove it wasn't, so a motion to dismiss the case based on that argument could not be granted.

While the decision was not an overwhelming one, and should not affect future cases, it showcases the confusion in the courts surrounding keyword advertising, and overall search engine marketing issues. In most Circuit Courts – other than the Second Circuit courts in New York, Vermont and Connecticut – the findings have been that keyword advertising is a trademark use in commerce, as Eric Goldman, an Internet law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, outlines on his Technology & Marketing Law Blog.

"This case reinforces the pattern that Second Circuit-controlled courts aren't finding trademark use in commerce from keyword triggering and all other courts are," he writes.

If buying an ad triggered by a trademarked keyword is eventually found to be a trademark use in commerce, that would essentially prevent advertisers from doing so legally. Goldman has written quite extensively about online trademark law, and he agrees with the Second Circuit courts.

The Lanham Act defines "use in commerce" as using a trademark on physical packaging or displays, or "in the sale and advertising of services," an ambiguous definition when it comes to the Internet and search engine marketing, says Goldman. He expects the matter to remain unresolved until Congress passes a new law or the Supreme Court makes a ruling.

Google's current trademark policy allows advertisers in the U.S. and Canada to trigger an ad from another party's trademarked keyword, but not to use the trademarked term in the ad text. In all other countries, advertisers are not allowed to do either.

Yahoo's trademark policy "requires advertisers to agree that their search terms, their listing titles and descriptions, and the content of their Web sites do not violate the trademark rights of others."

Microsoft's trademark policy is similar to Yahoo's (and Google's non-North American policy). It "requires all advertisers to agree that they will not bid on keywords, or use in the text of their advertisements, any word whose use would infringe the trademark of any third party or would otherwise be unlawful or in violation of the rights of any third party."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 5:50 PM | Permalink

What Do Users Get on Google News Local Search? Zip.

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Google News now slices and dices local news by zip code.

Before passing judgment on the new Google News feature -- launched on the Google News blog under "All News Is Local" - Google asks users to provide feedback. As usual, Google calls the launch an experiment.

The results? As you can see from a news search for "90210" the SERP (search engine results page) the Google News search algorithm ranks the zip code high. The deceased "90210" TV show ranks first. The keyword 90210 is in the title tag. Plus,

The Google News experiment may present a challenge for search engine optimization professionals who specialize in SEO PR. It's more likely, though, that Marketwire's new Social Media 2.0 press release product will have more of an impact on the way corporations - including newspapers - disseminate news and information.

At this early stage, geotargeting news by typing in a city name Typing in "Beverly Hills" in Google News doesn't deliver better results, favor local news sources, or aggregate local news.

This Google experiment? Google Local News search may not be canceled like the 90210 TV series but it's not ready for primetime.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 9:16 AM | Permalink

Aches & Pains Map Shows Where It Hurts: Yahoo-Microsoft and Google

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The list of search engines is shrinking. Yahoo-Microsoft? The hottest topic.

Search engine market share? The fulcrum of the hostile MS-Yahoo bid -- and one of the most popular searches in Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask.

On Super Tuesday, we found a way to watch Presidential primaries on a search engine: a mashup of Google Earth and twitter / twittervision, with a Google Gadget and iGoogle thrown in for good measure. Still, keyword Meta Tag, meta tags, and meta keywords remain our stock in trade here at Search Engine Watch.

So when Gary Price, Ask.com director of Online Information Resources and editor, ResourceShelf and DocuTicker, pinged us with a Weather Channel-MSN Virtual Earth mashup, we couldn't resist providing a fresh angle on the Microsoft-Yahoo hostile bid.

The Aches and Pains Map on weather.com shows Google feeling no pain from the MicroHoo hoo-hah.

Yahoo investors and employees -- in the yellow area - don't appear to be suffering in Silicon Valley.

In contrast, Microsoft - rebuffed by Yahoo - seems to suffering from high levels of aches and pains. The Microsoft Virtual Earth map of aches and pains (a Google Earth competitor) shows Redmond virtually in the red zone.

The Aches and Pains Index map graphically depicts areas of higher or lower levels of weather-related pain. Locations in the orange regions can expect above normal levels of aches and pains. Areas shaded in yellow will have normal levels, and gray regions will be below normal.

So if you don't like the weather, wait until tomorrow. It'll change, just like Google's share of searches - and there's still nothing you can do about it.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 1:01 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Coffee, Tea, or Link Love?

Developing links for a business-to-business (B2B) site can be a challenge. In today's Link Love column, "Coffee, Tea, or Link Love?," Justilien Gaspard outlines some best practices for a link-building campaign for a site in the restaurant and coffee equipment industry.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Why Search is Still Prehistoric - Part 2

Many search marketers were disappointed with the Yahoo Panama release, finding it to be more of a catch-up to Google than a leap forward. In today's Brand Equity column, "Why Search is Still Prehistoric - Part 2," Eric Qualman explains that the cause of that disappointment may result from Yahoo trying to please advertisers, instead of searchers, with Panama.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 6, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 6, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 8:53 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: February 6, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 8:53 PM | Permalink

Social Media Could Thrive In a Recession Says Forrester Research

Marketing and PR people hate to hear talk of a recession or a depression. Our budgets are always the first to get cut, A report from Forrester out today says this time will be different -online and social media marketing could escape that fate.

Strategies For Interactive Marketing In A Recession says companies will continue to invest online

Online display ads won't be hit too hard -brand advertisers seeking cheaper media could turn from TV and print to online video and flash ads.
Money will flow toward search - Google and other search-based firms could actually see prices increase as marketing dollars cut from mass brand advertising begin to flow into performance-based search
Email marketing will increase -existing customers are far more likely to listen to your messages in a recession than new prospects
Social Applications Could Thrive - social programs leverage the voice of the customer to get messages carried further than ad impressions, they're chepa and they motivate consumers in the middle of the funnel.

The report is free and open for public access. It does have a fairly long registration process. The link to register is on the top right of the page.

Posted by on 8:49 PM | Permalink

Super Bowl Advertisers Fumble on SEO

The advertisers who spent millions on TV airtime during Super Bowl 42 should have spent a little more of their budget on SEO, it seems. While many showed a marked improvement in SEO strategy over last year, there is still much room for improvement. In today's SearchDay, "Rating the Super Bowl Advertisers' SEO Record," Chris Boggs examines the search engine placement of many of this year's TV advertisers, and finds most to come up lacking. Yesterday, in "Super Bowl XLII Ads – Where's the URL?," Chris found that many of the ads didn't even show the company's URL well. Weigh in with your thoughts on this year's ads in the SEW Forums.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 4:59 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Desperately Seeking Suitor

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With limited options, Yahoo board members face increased pressure to accept Microsoft's hostile bid. Yahoo has resisted Microsoft's advances in the past, convincing shareholders a turnaround was just around the corner.

So how much money did Yahoo leave on the table by declining the earlier offer? Microsoft won't publicly reveal the bid. Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang would be loath to share the offer from the company the Valley loves to loathe.

Here's the rumored Microsoft bid made last year: $40 plus per share. That's the number Oppenheimer analyst Sandeep Aggarwal cited in a note to clients, suggesting a potential 26-40 percent upside for investors from the current offer of $31 per share - if Yahoo can negotiate a better deal for its shareholders or find a more suitable suitor.

So who's willing - besides Google - to play white knight to Yahoo's digital damsel in distress?

The knights hardly comprise a round table. Only five companies have been widely reported as possible suitors: AT&T, Comcast, News Corp, Time Warner, and Verizon Communications. None has stepped up to enter the fray. Rupert Murcoch of News Corp publicly stated he didn't plan to prepare a competitive bid.

The Wall St. Journal (subscription) reported this morning that Yahoo's hoping against hope that a rival bidder or a business tie-up with Google would save the day. Google desperately wants to derail the deal, even though their share of searches continue to erode Yahoo's market share.

Mike Arrington of TechCrunch expects shareholders to approve the deal soon.

A Google-Yahoo partnership, though, isn't an ideal solution for Yahoo either. It's not as if Google could sign a noncompete agreement with Yahoo in lines of business Yahoo has strength in: local mobile, e-mail, display advertising, or e-mail.

How much revenue Google would be willing to forego by partnering with Yahoo in search also remains in question. In its quest to index the world's information, Google has become a victim of its own success.

A grizzly bear hug (not even a teddy bear hug) from Ballmer may have squeezed the life from Silcon Valley's once and future king.

Now it seems Google's mouth-to-mouth resuscitation of Yahoo's search business will be the only hope for Yahoo's survival.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 8:07 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: How to Engage Customers in Search Marketing

Relationships between businesses and customers are changing. Search marketing can no longer operate in a vacuum, but is just a part of the bigger marketing picture. In today's By the Numbers column, "How to Engage Customers in Search Marketing," Eric Enge shows you how to turn these new types of customer relationships into a weapon for your business.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: 2008: Google, Yahoo and MSN Join Together

This just in: Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have agreed to combine forces to create MicroGooHoo, a universally accessible platform to provide clearly unbiased information access points for all humanity. Or maybe not. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "2008: Google, Yahoo and MSN Join Together," Kevin Ryan delves into the details of the coming battle between Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft over search and platform restrictive productivity enhancements.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 5, 2008

Google is the Bomb! Obama, McC, Mitt, Hill, Huck, Paul on Super Tuesday

Google is the bomb on Super Tuesday for election results. Check out the new Google News Elections coverage section and Google Maps. No X-Ray vision superheroes but "primaries.XML?" Google's got it. No man of steel with X-Ray vision, but Google's got "rikanu" in Boston/Cambridge, MA who's "gone voting."

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You won't find Obama in 'Bama or Clinton on Capitol Hill but you can watch them on the new Google mashup on "Twittervision." (YouTube is so last year.)

Don't worry old media, Googlers are still tweeting about CNN plasma touch screens and who's got the best big box election coverage.

On Google, though, you can watch your Google Gadget fill in the returns for McC, Mitt, Obama, Hill, Paul, and the rest of the Super Tuesday superheroes.

If all the twittervision tweets on Obama watch parties correlate with exit polls, lots of states will rock with Barack. Looks like he's the Ba-Rocket.

For the Repubs, looks like Mac is back. Mitt? This is it. Paul? That's all, folks.

For complete elections coverage, stay tuned to your favorite Internet channel.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 7:23 PM | Permalink

Search Headlines & Links: February 5, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:00 PM | Permalink

Yahoo! Acquires FoxyTunes

While all eyes are still focused on Microsoft's proposed purchase of Yahoo!, Yahoo! has already made its first (real) acquisition of 2008 by picking up Israeli-based FoxyTunes, a Firefox plugin that allows you to control a variety of music players from your browser. This was a great purchase for Yahoo!; as I said yesterday, the new search engine battle is going to be for nearly everything but search itself—and music certainly falls into that category.

Yahoo! has a checkered history with music, despite music.yahoo.com drawing in a whopping 25 million uniques a month. Lovers of MusicMatch still can't forgive Yahoo! for what they did when they acquired the formerly-great player. Yahoo! seems to have since learned its lesson—as evidenced by their hands-off policy with Flickr—and I expect FoxyTunes to remain a great product and even improve under Yahoo! (especially if they add support for FineTune and Deezer). On a whole, especially with this acquisition, Yahoo! dominates the online music space, which makes them an even more attractive target for Microsoft.

On a side note, congratulations to the team behind FoxyTunes, many of whom I've met around Israel.

Posted by on 4:29 PM | Permalink

Boost Organic Results. Link Build with Social Media

In this evolutionary algorithmic age every search marketer charged with boosting rankings on the organic SERPs knows, with fearful certainty, that building inbound links is essential. Utilizing social media communities to do so is a front-and-center tactic for many.

Sure, we're all aware of mainstream players like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, Reddit, Propeller, etc...

However, there are hundreds of social communities other than the biggies. These niche' player-communities can be terrific venues to engage readers of similar ilk, make friends, drive focused micro-busts of traffic, and build links. Some communities are junk. This post offers niche' social site examples and provides links to lists which index and profile dozens of useful ones.

Dofollow and Nofollow
A quick word about Do/No follow. Most blogs (and many communities) these days attempt to discourage spam by removing "link-juice" passed on links dropped in discussion threads. That's called "Nofollow." (Wikipedia is a classic example of Nofollow.) Nofollow links deliver traffic but there's no SEO benefit. If you view the source code of this page, you'll see that some of the social site links are Nofollow and therefore do not pass energy.

When evaluating the potential benefit of social community participation, it's best practice to understand the objective and potential gain. Whenever a site, with decent Pagerank, "forgets" to turn off Dofollow, it's an opportunity of sorts to build links of varying strength and value. The most important caveat is that gratuitous link dropping, without offering true value to the community, is spam and will likely be treated as such.

Every search marketing professional knows that garnering good quality, relevant, and "natural" inbound links to your site or blog is critical to drive your SEO ranking efforts. Honest participation in niche' social communities, relevant to your product & services, is the tactic that many savvy SEMs reach for to build their site's inbound link-profile. In addition to the community site links themselves, "hot" posts can result in feed subscriptions, increased readership, and links from other relevant and valuable sites.

Fark is a social news site in which moderators approve user link-submissions and post them to the homepage. The links are Nofollow but can drive noticeable traffic.

Slashdot is a community where techno-heads hang out and geek-jam. However, users submit stories about entertainment, politics, and other fun stuff. If editors approve a submission and it's promoted the homepage, measurable traffic can result. Also, links in the body of each post are Dofollow and pass juice.

Metafilter is a moderated community, both by site administers and users, in which participants share interesting web content. Links are Dofollow.

Mixx is widely regarded as an up-and-comer in the social news world. A potentially mainstream Digg replacement site, many SEM folks had early-adopter Mixx profiles for fun and future marketing bang. Oh yes, they forget to turn off Dofollow so the links pass juice.

Hugg is a smaller community engaged in dialog surrounding environmental issues. There's social exchanges about technology, politics, and science as well. Links are Dofollow.

Sk*rt is a Dofollow PR 5 fashion, food, and technology community, primarily comprised of females.

Stirr'dup is a smaller NoFollow social news site which categorizes news as technology, entertainment, news and politics.

Linkinn is a PR5 site specializing in offbeat video and pictures. Links are DoFollow and pass juice.

Lists of Useful Social Media Sites:
48 Social News Websites: A List of General and Niche Social Media Communities
Tropical SEO: Top 38 Niche Social Media Sites (That Actually Send Traffic)

Respected blogger Sugarrae has posted a serious interview with industry leading link-building experts and is a must-read. Interviews include:
Eric Ward, the Link Moses behind URL Wire
Rand Fishkin from SEOMoz
Roger Montti, the founder and owner of martinibuster.com
Todd Malicoat of Stuntdubl and Clientside
Justilien Gaspard, Link Columnist for SearchEngineWatch.com, his link building blog and course author SEMPO Institute
Aaron Wall of SEO Book and Clientside SEM
Debra Mastaler of Alliance Link and the The Link Spiel
Michael Gray of the Graywolf SEO Blog
Andy Hagans, the lazy SEO of the Tropical SEO Blog
Jim Boykin of We Build Pages and Internet Marketing Ninjas
Rae Hoffman, CEO of Sugarrae and MFE Interactive

Posted by Marty Weintraub on 11:27 AM | Permalink

Microsoft-Yahoo: No Mention of Publisher Deals

With all the news about Microhoo, no one's mentioned how current content deals with publishers might change -- for better or worse. Yet these licensed resources drive substantial portal traffic and ad dollars today.

As an example, let's take a quick look at news licensed by all three players:

* Yahoo licenses many well-known news sources.
* Microsoft offers MSNBC-branded news content.
* Google doesn't license; it scours thousands of sources.

At the SIIA (Software & Information Industry Association) conference last week, major publishers seemed more interested in driving traffic to their destinations than in licensing their online content to the portals. Even the most hide-bound publishers have delivered some content openly, and many have made their archives available online as well. In addition, they understand that engineering prowess will matter as much as editorial strength.

With these shifting priorities, do the large publishers win, lose or draw from Microhoo? It's a draw, assuming steady portal traffic and no change in news providers. Fat chance. I'm betting that most licensing deals aren't assignable -- which means anything goes with a merger.

Microhoo might play smarter, however, if they coordinate services to increase revenue for publisher sites along with their portals. They have an array of services that appeal to print and broadcast suppliers, who haven't made all their content completely crawlable yet.

Otherwise the publishers will be drawn, by default, to Google to meet their traffic and ad revenue goals. As Google's David Eun told publishers at the SIIA confab, Google will continue to provide services which help publishers become “more ubiquitous online."

Posted by on 10:15 AM | Permalink

Breaking News: New Leadership at Efficient Frontier

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Search engine marketing firm Efficient Frontier today appointed Ellen Siminoff chairman of the board and named president James Beriker as the new CEO and director.

In her four years as CEO, Siminoff grew Efficient Frontier from a team of eight to a leading search marketing technology and professional services company with 170 employees managing $450 million in annual search spend for 250 advertisers worldwide. As chairman, Siminoff will continue to guide and participate in the growth initiatives and the company's strategic direction.

Efficient Frontier was the first search marketing firm to apply portfolio management theory (Wall St. equity trading algorithms) to the optimization of paid search listings. Efficient Frontier's algorithms use historical data to model all possible bid combinations across a portfolio of keywords to allocate budget optiimally. The best possible return on investment? The so-called “efficient frontier.”

In a statement, Siminoff said Efficient Frontier has reshaped the SEM industry by applying advanced technology keyword optimization. Efficient Frontier pioneered the management of millions of keywords in Google's invisible bid landscape, bringing predictive modeling to opaque search marketplaces.

The next generation of Efficient Frontier's platform will enable clients to apply algorithms to emerging media auction marketplaces, including display and social search engines, as well as optimize advertising spend across multiple channels.

As CEO, Beriker will be responsible for the overall management of the business. His charge? Drive growth, product innovation and global expansion.

Prior to Efficient Frontier, Beriker held vice president, senior vice president and GM positions at online marketing services firm ValueClick and the ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, Commission Junction and PriceRunner brands.

Beriker was also the founder and CEO of Search123, a paid search engine that launched in October 2000 and was acquired by ValueClick in May 2003. Prior to Search123, Beriker practiced corporate law, representing early and mid-stage technology companies and entrepreneurs.

I had lunch with Jim a couple weeks ago when he was in New York. He outlined his vision to make Efficient Frontier the dominant worldwide optimization platform for all digital advertising. When he says EF is well on its way to achieving this goal, he's giving notice that the digital advertising platform race won't be Google-DoubleClick vs. Microsoft/Aquantive -- with or without Yahoo, the company where Siminoff made her reputation as a dealmaker.

Part of the founding executive team of Yahoo!, Ellen Siminoff led business development, corporate development, and the small business and entertainment business units. Ellen has served on the board of directors for online ticket broker, StubHub, and is currently on the boards of US AutoParts, BuildDirect, 4Info, and Journal Communications. Ellen graduated Stanford's Graduate School of Business with an MBA and has a bachelor's degree in Economics from Princeton University.

Geoff Yang, Efficient Frontier director and founding partner of Redpoint Ventures noted Siminoff's skills as a dealmaker and innovator. He praised her leadership in building the largest independent SEM provider in the world.

"Efficient Frontier's success is a testament to Ellen's unquestionable dedication and leadership talents, and cements her standing in the Silicon Valley as a company builder and thought leader,” said Yang in a statement.

Look for more discussion in Techmeme.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 1:25 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Don't Waste Money on a So-Called SEO Specialist?

A publication sent to American Express small business cardholders suggests that SEO is a waste of money. In today's au Natural column, "Don't Waste Money on a So-Called SEO Specialist," Mark Jackson once again comes to SEO's defense.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: 4 Ways Google AdWords Can Increase Small Business Profits

Sometimes AdWords accounts are set up with the best of intentions, only to languish or be turned off because they're not meeting expectations. In today's Little Biz column, "4 Ways Google AdWords Can Increase Small Business Profits," Carrie Hill outlines four key areas most new-to-PPC marketers overlook that cost them money.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 4, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 4, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 6:30 PM | Permalink

Social Media 2.0 - Witness for the Defence

Social Media press releases have been the subject of many blog posts over the last year. IN November Greg Jarboe and Brian Solis held a mock trial for this format.

What can't be denied is the fact that the web has changed the way we access information and people have discovered the power of voice. News is no longer a one-way, static inflow of information. We want to have our say. We want to comment and contribute. We want to shape and influence the news.

Should a press release be a part of this social web, you might ask. Google thinks we have the right to comment on news stories, albeit only if we are a participant in that story.

And now that press releases find their way into news search engines and blogs they've evolved from a corporate announcement intended only for reporters to information that reaches the public directly. So it makes sense that companies would want this information to be found on social sites and to encourage people to comment on this news, save it and share it.

I spent a few hours going through a demo of the new Marketwire product Social Media 2.0 for press releases today. I did like some of what I saw. And I, too, will trst, test anf test agsin before I make a judgement..

What I liked
1. In-release performance statistics on search engine cataloging.
2. They're getting your content out to places other than the Marketwire site - they upload the video to YouTube, images to Photobucket. That's a plus for non-techie PR folk..
3. The ability to comment. However, you can only have this feature if you also use their hosted newsroom. I'd advise my clients to have a newsroom on their own website. And to create an RSS Feed of their news content on their own domain name. It's better branding and better for SEO.

Things I am not sure of:
1. Adding the content of press releases in a Twitter feed. All press releases in one feed into Twitter? That's not why I go to Twitter. But Twitter does get good Google visbility, We'll see what kind of response this gets from Twitter users.
2. The value of a podcast in iTunes of headlines from many press releases from diverse companies.

So the jury is still out. I am part of a research project for the Society for New Communication Research (SNCR) on the use of press releases in new media. We will be testing this new service along with other wire services and alternative methods of getting your release out into the social media sphere today.

I am also going to test it myself for a few clients who already use Marketwire.

Stay tuned.

Posted by on 6:25 PM | Permalink

Just the First Shot

Unless you've been living in a cave this past week—or at least not reading this blog—you've heard about Microsoft's offer to buy up Yahoo! for $31 a share, for a total of $44.6 billion. John Markoff, of the New York Times, called the moved the “firing the final shot of yesterday's war”—the war in question being one we all know well: the battle for search advertising.

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Nothing could be further from the truth. Buying Yahoo is firing the first futuristic shot in tomorrow's war; Yahoo! is just the beginning for Microsoft. And the war is not for search advertising space alone; even a combined 34.6% for Microsoft/Yahoo! (assuming no one drops off during the merger) doesn't compete with Google's 61% (including its major partners). This deal is about much more.

For one, it is about mobile, one of the last frontiers in which Google's dominance is still tenuous. Google has spent time and made waves developing the Android mobile operating system, but its mobile offerings are relics compared with the new Yahoo! Go 3.0 and Microsoft's recently-acquired TellMe service. It's about emerging ad space, like Facebook—of which Microsoft owns a piece and has a 10-year exclusive advertising deal, beating out a Google bid—and advertising exchanges like Right Media, which was acquired by Yahoo!

Google may have video covered online, as it owns most video streams via its acquisition of YouTube and most video searches via its new integrated search bar and rumors of true frame-by-frame video search being developed. Photos, however, are still fair game, with Yahoo! holding on to more than 2 billion photos via its acquisition of Flickr. Blogging is worth fighting for as well. Blogger.com has been given over to spammers, but Windows Live Spaces and Yahoo! 360 both do well, with 45 million users between the two of them.

Microsoft wants Yahoo! for search, but it recognizes the need to lead in every other emerging online market where advertising dollars can be spent. And that means more acquisitions. And lots more shots fired.

Posted by on 4:57 PM | Permalink

Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge Isn't Ivory Tower

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The New York Times, CNET, InformationWeek, and 52 other Google News sources missed the significance of Microsoft's new Research Lab in Cambridge, Mass., headed by Jennifer Chayes and her husband, Christian Borgs. The Times implied that Chayes and Borgs work in an ivory tower where basic research doesn't have a business imperative.

Nothing could be further from the truth in the online world.

Jennifer Tour Chayes, PhD in mathematical physics, led the highly esteemed Theory Group specializing in theoretical computer science. She's the co-author of almost 100 scientific papers and co-inventor of more than 20 patents. The New York Times only mentions her work in developing simple models of liquids and solids and the development of some exceedingly fast networking algorithms. Hunh?

Their groundbreaking work in search engine algorithms and social search may be the foundation of a successful Microsoft-Yahoo merger.

Chayes is one of the world's experts in the modeling and analysis of random, dynamically growing graphs (social graph, social search, Facebook, MySpace) – which are used to model the Internet, the World Wide Web and social networks.

One of the papers the couple co-authored, "Bid optimization in online advertisement auctions", details the ways paid search campaigns can be optimized by advertisers and search engines. "Multi-unit auctions with budget-constrained bidders", written by Borgs, Chayes, Nicole Immorlica (MIT), Mohammad Mahdian, and Amin Saberi (published in June 2005), discusses ways to optimize revenue for search engines given the fixed budgets of search marketers.

Their recent work provides a tutorial on search engine optimization and PageRank, before delving deep into algorithms few search marketers (myself included) understand.

Search engine optimization lives and dies by PageRank. Here's what you need to know about their research into PageRank.

Borgs and Chayes go beyond where a Web page ranks and explore the pages or sets of pages that contribute most to its rank. That's the foundation of link building. With the exception of link farms, link building has largely been a manual effort, somewhat arcane, but vital to SEO. PageRank contributions have been used for link spam detection and in the classification of web pages.

Chayes and Borg note that a set of pages contributing significantly to the PageRank of a page is often called a "contribution set" or "supporting set" of the page. Their work goes a long way toward solving the mysteries of Google PageRank -- and fighting the spam that threatens to degrade the relevancy of all search engine results pages.

Link spam can be detected in many ways besides the SpamRank-type algorithms: applying machine learning to link-based features, the analysis of page content, TrustRank, and Anti-TrustRank, and statistical analysis of various page features. Chayes, Borgs and their research associates use the local algorithm developed here to design several locally computable page features for link spam detection, and evaluate these features experimentally.

Chayes' contributions to Microsoft technologies include the development of methods to analyze network structure and behavior, auction algorithm design (i.e. paid search auctions), and online business model design and analysis.

She's famous for her work on phase transitions in problems in discrete mathematics and theoretical computer science. The result? The rise of some of the fastest known algorithms for fundamental problems in combinatorial optimization, the intersection of artificial intelligence, mathematics and software engineering. That would be search engine algorithms, paid search auctions and search engine revenue optimization.

Algorithms fuel search engines, spam filters, online advertising engines, social networks, machine translation and most of the online world. Social sciences - economics, psychology and sociology - analyze how and why people value things and study how people interact with each other. That's why, for example, Hal Varian, plays a key role in Google's success as the company's chief economist.

That's why Google's Marissa Mayer says social search is the future of Google.

That's the core of Search Engine WarGames.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 3:32 PM | Permalink

Microsoft Won't Beg or Steal; Will Borrow to Buy Yahoo

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Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell told Wall St. analysts the company would likely borrow to pay for the cash portion of its Yahoo bid. That's a first in the company's history. The half-cash, half-stock offer is $31 per share.

Microsoft has a huge war chest, approximately $21 billion at year end.

It's not as if Microsoft couldn't fund the cash portion without borrowing any money. The cash-rich company definitely won't have to beg for the loan.

So what's the exact amount Microsoft will borrow? It's anybody's guess.

The need for capital, though, won't subside if or when the bid is accepted. As Kevin Johnson, Microsoft President, Platform and Services, noted in the initial conference call, "There are a few key dynamics in the online advertising industry that I think are worth noting. First, this is a business that has scale economics in a few key areas; scale economics in search and ad serving and scale economics and the capital needed to support these areas, CapEx for data centers, servers and infrastructure."

Who ever said Web 2.0 has low barriers to entry? Not the search engine CEOs who claim competition is just one click away.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 1:31 PM | Permalink

Does Social Media 2.0 deserve a second life?

Okay, okay, so I've already weighed in on the question, “Is the Social Media Press Release a Meatball Sundae?” Last November, I provided four pieces of empirical evidence that demonstrated that social media press releases are the unfortunate result of mixing two good ideas.

Now, I've been asked to take a look at today's announcement by Marketwire of Social Media 2.0, or what the newswire calls, “the industry's most authentic and comprehensive social media newswire product.”

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The Marketwire Tower in Second Life

According to Marketwire, “Social Media 2.0 advances today's press release format, offers public relations professionals a multitude of content options, and distributes news in a variety of mediums to distribution channels beyond traditional media distribution networks.”

Now, you might think I've pre-judged Social Media 2.0. But, I haven't.

As I wrote way back in May 2003, “Failure is an option.” SEO-PR's initial efforts to create optimized press releases didn't produce instant success. But, as I wrote almost five years ago, “It was our approach to PR measurement, which tracked precisely what worked and what didn't work, (that) enabled all of us to discover the formula for long-term success.”

So, my initial take on Social Media 2.0 will be to test it, test it, and test it again. Believe it or not, I agree with Bob Geller, an SVP at Fusion Public Relations, who wrote in Flack's Revenge, “At the end of the day, the %#@!!&& things either work or they don't.”

Amen, brother.

So, here are some of the “exclusive features” of Social Media 2.0 that have caught my attention:
• Distribution to more than 1,200 in-network geographically targeted websites.
• Distribution to YouTube, iTunes, Second Life, Pheedo, Photobucket and Twitter.
• In-release performance statistics on search engine cataloging.
• Trackbacks for easy monitoring of online performance.
• Search engine, Technorati and Digg results.

In other words, there's a nice mix of new distribution options and PR measurement tools. This will enable me to tell if “Social Media 2.0 offers increased social network visibility to a prospective audience of more than 200 million Internet users.” If it does, that would be very cool.

On the other hand, I'm still skeptical that “Social Media 2.0 transforms a press release into an authentic social media tool by enabling two-way conversation via an in-release comment box that feeds directly into a client-monitored online newsroom.”

Blogs do this exceptionally well. But most press releases – even many of ones that use the social media format – are written like essays, not interviews; broadcasts, not conversations; lectures, not discussions. So, while adding social media elements to blogs generally works, adding them to press releases typically haven't up to now.

This, of course, can change.

As Kevin Dill, social and multimedia product manager, Marketwire, says in today's announcement, “The social media release is an invitation for dialogue based on social media elements. Marketwire's Social Media 2.0 expands upon that idea, taking that dialogue to the next level by allowing conversation to be initiated at the press release level.”

And, as Todd Defren, principal, SHIFT Communications, adds, “The democratization of news is the singular principle behind the Social Media News Release. By allowing anyone to access, re-purpose and engage directly with a newsmaker's content, the SMNR empowers conversations between a company and its diverse user communities.”

So, if early versions of the social media press release were the unfortunate result of mixing two good ideas, let's give Social Media 2.0 the benefit of the doubt. It deserves a “second life.”

How will we discover if Social Media 2.0 provides us with increased Internet visibility and greater search engine performance for our news? As I wrote back in May 2003, the only way to find out is to “Measure, measure, measure and measure some more.”

Or, as Bob Geller put it so eloquently last November: “At the end of the day, the %#@!!&& things either work or they don't.”

Posted by Greg Jarboe on 12:33 PM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Search Marketing Trends That Matter

Search optimization and advertising is gaining its rightful place among marketers' tools. In today's Search Ads column, "Microsoft-Yahoo: Search Marketing Trends That Matter," Matt Spiegel shares eight trends that will change your company's search engine strategies.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: How to Target Sites in AdSense

Last year, Google took another pioneering step and rolled out an AdWords feature that let advertisers place ads on specific sites. In today's Content Advertising column, "Contextual Advertising: How to Target Sites in AdSense," David Szetela shares tips for creating placement-targeted campaigns (originally called site-targeted campaigns).

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 3, 2008

Microsoft Fires Back at Google: Who's Playing Monopoly?

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Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith fired back at Google in a published press release late today, in essence promising to Do No Evil after acquiring Yahoo.

Microsoft stated, "Google is the dominant search engine and advertising company on the Web." John Battelle, in response to the Esq. vs Esq. war of words (started by Google dropping an antitrust bomb) dropped his own f-bomb, sounding almost Shakespearean in a "first kill all the lawyers" kind of way: "Someone tell the chief counsels to shut the f. up."

Microsoft said in effect - Google, monopolize this: "Google has amassed about 75 percent of paid search revenues worldwide." Google's share of searches - the key success metric for search engines - continues to grow. Microsoft pointed out Google has more than 65 percent U.S search query share; 85 percent plus in Europe.

In surprisingly humble terms, Microsoft stated its goal in acquiring Yahoo is merely to create a "compelling number two competitor" in search and online advertising.

After the jump: full text of the MSFT statement, including how Yahoo shareholders can get their very own proxy statement/prospectus (snail)mailed to them.

(Anyone still think e-mail is a deal driver?)

Statement from Brad Smith, General Counsel, Microsoft

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 3, 2008 – The combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising. The alternative scenarios only lead to less competition on the Internet.

Today, Google is the dominant search engine and advertising company on the Web. Google has amassed about 75 percent of paid search revenues worldwide and its share continues to grow. According to published reports, Google currently has more than 65 percent search query share in the U.S. and more than 85 percent in Europe. Microsoft and Yahoo! on the other hand have roughly 30 percent combined in the U.S. and approximately 10 percent combined in Europe.

Microsoft is committed to openness, innovation, and the protection of privacy on the Internet. We believe that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! will advance these goals.

This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval. In connection with the proposed transaction, Microsoft Corp. plans to file with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-4 containing a proxy statement/prospectus and other documents regarding the proposed transaction. The definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to shareholders of Yahoo! Inc. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF YAHOO! INC. ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.

Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the registration statement and the proxy statement/prospectus (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC by Microsoft Corp. through the Web site maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. Free copies of the registration statement and the proxy statement/prospectus (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC can also be obtained by directing a request to Investor Relations Department, Microsoft Corp., One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Wash. 98052-6399.

Microsoft Corp. and its directors and executive officers and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed transaction. Information regarding Microsoft Corp.'s directors and executive officers is available in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2007, which was filed with the SEC on Aug. 8, 2007, and its proxy statement for its 2007 annual meeting of shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on Sept. 29, 2007. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC when they become available.

Statements in this release that are “forward-looking statements” are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as Microsoft Corp.'s ability to achieve the synergies and value creation contemplated by the proposed transaction, Microsoft Corp.'s ability to promptly and effectively integrate the businesses of Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corp., the timing to consummate the proposed transaction and any necessary actions to obtain required regulatory approvals, and the diversion of management time on transaction-related issues. For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with Microsoft Corp.'s business, please refer to the “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” sections of Microsoft Corp.'s SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting Microsoft Corp.'s Investor Relations department at (800) 285-7772 or at Microsoft Corp.'s Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/msft.

All information in this communication is as of Feb. 3, 2008. Microsoft Corp. undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the company's expectations.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 11:17 PM | Permalink

Microsoft-Yahoo A-Bombed by Google

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Google blasted the Microsoft bid for Yahoo on the official Google Blog this afternoon. SVP Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, characterized Microsoft's proposed acquisition as a "hostile bid" that threatened the underlying principles of the Internet: "openness and innovation."

Google then went nuclear, dropping the "A-bomb" -- invoking anti-trust concerns and citing as evidence Microsoft's "unfair practices" and "legacy of serious legal and regulatorty offenses" in the Netscape browser wars.

Google also stated, "Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts."

Google went on to note, "And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet."

Google's conclusion? A question all regulators and policymakers need to ask themselves:

"Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services?"

Last we heard, Google was pleased with the "App" strategy that would accelerate the transition of search from the desktop to mobile devices.

Former Netscape exec and Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on the Jan 31 Q407 earnings call, "The App strategy, which we announced earlier in the year, now fully visible -- more innovation, data portability, all the apps now either in place or coming and mobile, which we are very excited with Android, the My Location service as part of Maps and many other new features that are both out and coming. So we are optimistic about 2008. We have growing revenue streams across a broad range of verticals and markets."

So was the Google celebration of "cloud computing" an illusion?

Or is Google just dropping a smartbomb on the Microsoft-Yahoo combo?

Welcome, to the new "slash and burn" take no prisoners politics of Google lobbying.

Full text of Google's response after the jump.

Yahoo! and the future of the Internet

2/03/2008 11:45:00 AM
Posted by David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer

The openness of the Internet is what made Google -- and Yahoo! -- possible. A good idea that users find useful spreads quickly. Businesses can be created around the idea. Users benefit from constant innovation. It's what makes the Internet such an exciting place.

So Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.

Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions -- and consumers deserve satisfying answers.

This hostile bid was announced on Friday, so there is plenty of time for these questions to be thoroughly addressed. We take Internet openness, choice and innovation seriously. They are the core of our culture. We believe that the interests of Internet users come first -- and should come first -- as the merits of this proposed acquisition are examined and alternatives explored.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 6:05 PM | Permalink

Google Weighs In On Microhoo: It May Be Evil

David Drummond, Google SVP corporate development and chief legal officer, issued the company's official response to Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Yahoo this afternoon. Essentially, Google's position is combining its two main competitors could be bad for the Internet...even border on evil.

Drummond says in the official Google statement:

"It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.

"Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

"Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions -- and consumers deserve satisfying answers.

"This hostile bid was announced on Friday so there is plenty of time for these questions to be thoroughly addressed. We take Internet openness, choice and innovation seriously. They are the core of our culture. We believe that the interests of Internet users come first -- and should come first -- as the merits of this proposed acquisition are examined and alternatives explored."

Posted by Rebecca Lieb on 5:18 PM | Permalink

Microsoft-Yahoo: All About Search, Not E-mail Assets

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Tim O'Reilly views Microsoft-Yahoo as a Web 2.0 play with the combined company dominating free (Web 1.0) online e-mail services. In a great post generating lots of buzz, he cites Hitwise data showing Yahoo Mail / Yahoo! Address Book at 58 percent of market share (#1) and Windows Live Mail (#2) at 25.5 percent share (not including AOL).

Tim argues the combined personal and private data from e-mail applications would clear the way for developers to create more powerful Web 2.0 apps and an Open ID system. True. Data assets built on networks can be monetized.

Web 2.0, though, has largely been sustained by next-gen "made-for-adsense" online ad-supported business models, developer sweat equity, and the promise of a Google/Yahoo/Microsoft acquisition exit strategy.

O'Reilly thinks Microsoft would be making a "fatal mistake" to take the battle to Google on its own ground. "That's the very mistake that companies like Netscape made in competing with Microsoft," he notes. I disagree that lessons from the early browser search engine wargames apply in the age of cloud computing.

The primary problem with a pre-Bubble 1.0 Netscape world view: in online advertising, Yahoo properties successfully compete with Google. Hitwise and comScore data show a combined Microhoo entity far more popular than Google's network of sites.

Google's still trying to find ways to compete with the Yahoo/MSN vertical search engines (Finance, News, Sports, Travel, Auto). Fortune 500 brands love them for search-informed display / video ad campaigns. Only YouTube "branded channels" are starting to make significant inroads for Google in strategic digital marketing campaigns.

In O'Reilly Radar blog comments, the often profane but always brilliant Dave McClure of 500 Hats fame notes Google could then jump in to take AOL off the hands of the company formerly known as AOL Time Warner.

McClure also notes the other problem with the e-mail-centric view of the deal: social search engines like Facebook and LinkedIn already have built-in (crude) e-mail systems. Their online e-mail share isn't counted in the Hitwise data, as O'Reilly notes.

What O'Reilly and McClure omit: Facebook and LinkedIn already have better user data with extensive demographic profiles of their members who've given full opt-in permission and share their IDs openly. That's the fatal flaw in the e-mail as strategic asset argument.

The Microsoft-Yahoo deal is driven by search, not e-mail assets or their Web 2.0 potential. Ceding the search market to Google creates a GoogleNet that would supplant the Internet as an open marketplace.

If e-mail had such huge strategic value, Microsoft would have bid on Facebook at perhaps one-third the price: the much-scoffed at and oft-times scorned $15 billion valuation based on Microsoft's current stake in Facebook.


A more accurate way to evaluate the e-mail strategic assets: the success of contextual (content) advertising in Yahoo! Mail and Windows Live / Hotmail. Yahoo and MSN don't break out those numbers. My hunch: they're immaterial to paid search revenue even in the small MSN adCenter / Yahoo Search Marketing numbers that pale in comparison to Google. If antitrust concerns forced a spinoff of e-mail properties, the revenue from email contextual advertising wouldn't even be a rounding error in Google AdSense and the Google Content Advertising Network.

The social graph is radically changing search, driving personalization and more relevant results. E-mail plays a small part in the search equation.

Neither Yahoo nor Microsoft has been successful in building a social network around their online e-mail properties or Yahoo/MSN Groups. It's doubtful they'd succeed by mashing disparate and heterogeneous groups together.

Stay tuned to Techmeme for continuing coverage of the most historic M&A deal in what McClure calls the Internet Revolution, Act II.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 10:34 AM | Permalink

February 1, 2008

Search Headlines & Links: February 1, 2008

Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the Web:

From the SEW Blog:

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 5:51 PM | Permalink

Super Bowl Advertisers Mostly Unprepared, Search-wise

It seems that every year it's the same story. Advertisers pony up big bucks to create and air an ad during the Super Bowl, then fail to prepare for what most people are going to do when they get back home after the game or to work on Monday: search for the ads they saw.

This year seems to be shaping up in much the same way, unfortunately. We'll look at the full results on Monday, but in preparation for the big game, Reprise Media's Peter Hershberg takes a look at the search presence of some past and potential advertisers in today's SearchDay, "Super Bowl Advertiser Search Trends."

To keep up with the ads during the game, you can follow "Scorecard" on Twitter. That's an account that Reprise Media set up for just such a purpose.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 5:31 PM | Permalink

The Other Side of the MS/Yahoo Deal

It's pretty obvious that this is all about the ad dollars. But they only get those dollars because we all go online to find news and information.

Eyetrack studies have shown us that many more people look at and click on organic search results than ads or sponsored links. So what would this merger mean in term of a search experience, organic results and news content?

comScore Media Metrix latest figures show Google now controls nearly 60% of the U.S. search market, and has been widening its lead, despite concerted efforts by both second-place Yahoo and third-place Microsoft. By combining, Microsoft and Yahoo would have close to 30% of the U.S. search market.

Speaking at the announcement early this morning Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect at MS, said "Social platform will become a new entry point," and called Yahoo pioneers in this field. "We can further accelerate the transformation to a more social web."

Sounds promising. Perhaps Yahoo's innovative thinking and social media smarts combined with Microsoft's deep pockets might give us a better search experience in the long run.
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In terms of news search Yahoo is top of the list with over 30 million readers and Google is only at at #7 with just under 10 million. (Could this have been one factor in Google's decision to feature news on their web SERP's?)

How this merger will affect our organic search experience and the online news audience remains to be seen. Since they want the ad dollars they will have to draw the users and to do that they need to up their game and improve the organic search function.

Posted by on 2:23 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Board, Sans Semel, to Consider Microsoft Bid

Yahoo's board of directors has issued a statement saying it will evaluate Microsoft's unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo for $44.6 billion. Not surprisingly, the board will be doing so without the input of former CEO and chairman Terry Semel, who stepped down as chairman last night. He was replaced as CEO by founder Jerry Yang back in June, and has been busy staffing up his old Windsor Media venture, though it remains to be seen what form that former investment firm will take. Roy Bostock, who has sat on Yahoo's board since May 2003, was elected to serve as non-executive chairman.

Semel's departure may bode well for a potential Microsoft deal, since he's been vocal in his disdain for such a merger. It also won't hurt that Yahoo's been shedding executives for the past year, so at least some of the potential redundancies are already dealt with.

On a conference call this morning to discuss the acquisition, Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, suggested that Microsoft's offer would be the only one Yahoo could get, given anti-trust concerns that would prevent Google from making an offer. he played on the underdog theme, saying, "The fact is the industry will be better served by having a more credible alternative" in search and advertising.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 10:11 AM | Permalink

MSN and Yahoo Merged: How Would It All Mash Up?

Hold on tight SEM artists. Search marketing is mainstream bacon & eggs in America this morning. Even the “tease” story on the Today show was Microsoft's “huge takeover bid to purchase struggling” Yahoo!

Microsoft's profits have been soaring due to increased demand for computer software. Yahoo is in the dumper, having just laid off 1,000 people. Is this acquisition finally real?

In 2006, the SearchEngineWatch blog was aBuzz with “Microsoft buying Yahoo” posts and hashing out possibilities in search marketing forum chit-chat threads. The Wall Street Journal prognosticated about the possibility of “a major departure for Microsoft." They wrote, "Microsoft has considered the idea of acquiring a stake in Yahoo, and that the two companies have discussed possible options over the course of the past year.”

Some SEMs who love major search engine drama games saw this one coming down the pike years ago, and are still salivating. For others, the very idea would be hell. Personally it makes me just giddy.

The potential implications for both organic and paid search marketing could be del.ici.us for the Microsoft desktop. For PPC the much maligned Panama and AdCenter paid advertising platforms, along with all their graphically beautiful albeit dysfunctionalretarded inadequacies, could be fixed.

Think about the intriguing social media marketing adventures which would be possible. Maybe Yahoo Answers will integrate in Windows Mobile OS. Office 2009 might just include Word documents sporting a new “Insert/Flickr Image" function. How does this affect the market landscape for Google's much heralded GPhone initiative. An aligned Yahoo/MS mobile platform-play would no doubt be a fascinating addendum to the Linux vs. Windows shoot out.

How will Yahoo email mashup with Outlook? What would pumping Yahoo Pipes into the MS machine mean to the feed aggregation paradigm? How would Microsoft create marketing mechanisms marketing to the decade old Yahoo Personals social graph?

The list goes on. MSN AdCenter was the first mainstream engine to dabble in demographic targeting, but the interface is weak. One would hope a combined Yahoo/MS team would know what to do with reams of data Yahoo has gathered about us all.

Aside from the potential effect on Yahoo/MS investors and the American economy (which will be reported on ad nauseum), the implications for the search marketing industry could be massive and exciting. Stay tuned. It might finally be true. Hold on tight search marketers and we'll see how it all mashes up.

Posted by Marty Weintraub on 10:02 AM | Permalink

Paid Search Advertising Drives Microsoft Bid for Yahoo

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The Microsoft conference call yielded little new information about the details of the Yahoo bid. Steve Ballmer stressed that scale and efficiency in online advertising platforms would drive the success of the deal. Microsoft execs said R&D innovations would drive breakthroughs in vertical search, mobile search, social search, and natural language search.

Nice thought; won't work in the marketplace.

More "relevant" search results and social media innovations won't solve the problem of Google's dominance in paid search advertising. Microsoft-Yahoo still need to beat Google brand equity and searcher loyalty. Search is a habit. For some, search is an online addiction.

Switching costs may be low --and search engine alternatives are "one click away" - but Microhoo will still need to win over the Google ravers and junkies.

When Microsoft or another suitor finally buys Yahoo , no one need feign surprise. The Redmond giant finally went public with a formal buyout offer because the Yahoo board (sans Semel) won't fight back. The last bid was rumored to be $50 billion. Today's offer comes in at $44.6 billion because Yahoo stock price dropped below $20 per share.

Look for other bidders to force Microsoft to pay a higher premium. While display advertising is a key driver for creating two super-portals on one efficient ad serving and ad management platform, Microsoft-Yahoo would never win government approval unless Google had achieved what some call near-monopoly leadership in paid search.

Yahoo Panama -- Yahoo's paid search auction algorithm and search ad platform would move to Redmond even if the Yahoo engineers remain in Silicon Valley. MSN adCenter is innovative, but Yahoo Panama improved topline revenue -- although not as much as Wall St. and Jerry Yang would have liked.


Some reports had attributed Microsoft's urgency to close a Yahoo deal to Google's successful bid for DoubleClick. Formal negotiations between the two companies are clearly driven by Google's dominance of paid search and share of searches. Today's conference call confirmed that Google's dominance in paid search advertising -- pegged at 75 percent of worldwide paid search share by Kevin Johnson,

The revenue engine that drives search engines is auctioned paid search (PPC) advertising. As Pay-Per-Click advertising has evolved, traditional banner ad networks suffer from consumer banner blindness. That's led to the rise of behavioral targeting, or more accurately, "search re-targeting" -- another key driver of today's deal.

Neither Yahoo Search Marketing nor MSN adCenter has made significant inroads in creating a search management or web analytics platform to rival those of Google. Microsoft's acquisition of DrivePM, for example, through the Aquantive acquisition was immaterial to MSN search and online advertising revenues.

Microsoft and Yahoo have held informal talks for years -- with neither company making inroads against Google. As recently as May, Yahoo has turned down an unconfirmed offer worth $50 billion to Yahoo shareholders. On the call, Steve Ballmer said the companies have been in talks for $18 months, and confirmed that Jerry Yang had nixed his initial offer, citing timing as the reason.

Given Yahoo's share price, it's unlikely Yahoo shareholders will give Yahoo execs more time to turn around the company's fortunes. Terry Semel's resignation from the Yahoo board last night removes the last vestiges of his controversial reign as Yahoo's chief.

So the pundits and reporters who attribute Microsoft's bid to ego -- "stung" by the success of Google's DoubleClick bid -- don't understand the fundamentals of paid search. Steve Ballmer does -- and he knows he can't beat Google without adding Yahoo's critical mass. It's not about winning or losing a bid for a rival's ad serving platform.

Yahoo and MSN couldn't solve the paid search puzzle. Now, it's costing both companies billions.

Posted by Kevin Heisler on 7:44 AM | Permalink

Microsoft Wants to Buy Yahoo: Convergence, Continued

There have been rumors of late about some sort of Microsoft/Yahoo hookup -- and here it is. Microsoft just tendered a $31/share bid for Yahoo. All of Yahoo.

It's about the advertising. From the press release: "The online advertising market is growing at a very fast pace, from over $40 billion in 2007 to nearly $80 billion by 2010. The resulting benefits of scale along with the associated capital costs for advertising platform providers make this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today this market is increasingly dominated by one player. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a competitive choice while better fulfilling the needs of customers and partners."

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO said in a statement: "We have great respect for Yahoo!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market."

After the jump, Ballmer's letter to Yahoo board members. We'll be following developments closely, promise.

Dear Members of the Board:

I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of Microsoft to make a proposal for a business combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!. Under our proposal, Microsoft would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 based on Microsoft's closing share price on January 31, 2008, payable in the form of $31 in cash or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock. Microsoft would provide each Yahoo! shareholder with the ability to choose whether to receive the consideration in cash or Microsoft common stock, subject to pro-ration so that in the aggregate one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be exchanged for shares of Microsoft common stock and one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be converted into the right to receive cash. Our proposal is not subject to any financing condition.

Our proposal represents a 62% premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock of $19.18 on January 31, 2008. The implied premium for the operating assets of the company clearly is considerably greater when adjusted for the minority, non-controlled assets and cash. By whatever financial measure you use - EBITDA, free cash flow, operating cash flow, net income, or analyst target prices - this proposal represents a compelling value realization event for your shareholders.

We believe that Microsoft common stock represents a very attractive investment opportunity for Yahoo!'s shareholders. Microsoft has generated revenue growth of 15%, earnings growth of 26%, and a return on equity of 35% on average for the last three years. Microsoft's share price has generated shareholder returns of 8% during the last one year period and 28% during the last three year period, significantly outperforming the S&P 500. It is our view that Microsoft has significant potential upside given the continued solid growth in our core businesses, the recent launch of Windows Vista, and other strategic initiatives.

Microsoft's consistent belief has been that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! clearly represents the best way to deliver maximum value to our respective shareholders, as well as create a more efficient and competitive company that would provide greater value and service to our customers. In late 2006 and early 2007, we jointly explored a broad range of ways in which our two companies might work together. These discussions were based on a vision that the online businesses of Microsoft and Yahoo! should be aligned in some way to create a more effective competitor in the online marketplace. We discussed a number of alternatives ranging from commercial partnerships to a merger proposal, which you rejected. While a commercial partnership may have made sense at one time, Microsoft believes that the only alternative now is the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! that we are proposing.

In February 2007, I received a letter from your Chairman indicating the view of the Yahoo! Board that "now is not the right time from the perspective of our shareholders to enter into discussions regarding an acquisition transaction." According to that letter, the principal reason for this view was the Yahoo! Board's confidence in the "potential upside" if management successfully executed on a reformulated strategy based on certain operational initiatives, such as Project Panama, and a significant organizational realignment. A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved.

While online advertising growth continues, there are significant benefits of scale in advertising platform economics, in capital costs for search index build-out, and in research and development, making this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers. Synergies of this combination fall into four areas:

-- Scale economics: This combination enables synergies related to scale
economics of the advertising platform where today there is only one
competitor at scale. This includes synergies across both search and
non-search related advertising that will strengthen the value
proposition to both advertisers and publishers. Additionally, the
combination allows us to consolidate capital spending.
-- Expanded R&D capacity: The combined talent of our engineering
resources can be focused on R&D priorities such as a single search
index and single advertising platform. Together we can unleash new
levels of innovation, delivering enhanced user experiences,
breakthroughs in search, and new advertising platform capabilities.
Many of these breakthroughs are a function of an engineering scale that
today neither of our companies has on its own.
-- Operational efficiencies: Eliminating redundant infrastructure and
duplicative operating costs will improve the financial performance of
the combined entity.
-- Emerging user experiences: Our combined ability to focus engineering
resources that drive innovation in emerging scenarios such as video,
mobile services, online commerce, social media, and social platforms is
greatly enhanced.

We would value the opportunity to further discuss with you how to optimize the integration of our respective businesses to create a leading global technology company with exceptional display and search advertising capabilities. You should also be aware that we intend to offer significant retention packages to your engineers, key leaders and employees across all disciplines.

We have dedicated considerable time and resources to an analysis of a potential transaction and are confident that the combination will receive all necessary regulatory approvals. We look forward to discussing this with you, and both our internal legal team and outside counsel are available to meet with your counsel at their earliest convenience.

Our proposal is subject to the negotiation of a definitive merger agreement and our having the opportunity to conduct certain limited and confirmatory due diligence. In addition, because a portion of the aggregate merger consideration would consist of Microsoft common stock, we would provide Yahoo! the opportunity to conduct appropriate limited due diligence with respect to Microsoft. We are prepared to deliver a draft merger agreement to you and begin discussions immediately.

In light of the significance of this proposal to your shareholders and ours, as well as the potential for selective disclosures, our intention is to publicly release the text of this letter tomorrow morning.

Due to the importance of these discussions and the value represented by our proposal, we expect the Yahoo! Board to engage in a full review of our proposal. My leadership team and I would be happy to make ourselves available to meet with you and your Board at your earliest convenience. Depending on the nature of your response, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.

We believe this proposal represents a unique opportunity to create significant value for Yahoo!'s shareholders and employees, and the combined company will be better positioned to provide an enhanced value proposition to users and advertisers. We hope that you and your Board share our enthusiasm, and we look forward to a prompt and favorable reply.

Sincerely yours,

/s/ Steven A. Ballmer
Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corporation

Posted by Rebecca Lieb on 7:08 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Why All Links Are Paid Links in the Travel Trade

Google, Yahoo, and MSN aren't going to quickly discount some long-standing links, reciprocal or not. In today's Vertical Challenge column, "Why All Links Are Paid Links in the Travel Trade," travel search expert Elisabeth Osmeloski explains that the paid links debate isn't so black and white. The question of what truly constitutes a paid link, and what qualifies as advertising, will continue to be a huge point of contention.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Rewriting URLs: SEO for CMS, E-Commerce, and Dynamic Sites

There's as much confusion and controversy surrounding URL rewriting as Darwin's theory of evolution. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Rewriting URLs: SEO for CMS, E-Commerce, and Dynamic Sites," Chris Boggs says that just as Darwin's "survival of the fittest" means species most suited for their environment will adapt and survive, URLs need to adapt too.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

SEW Experts: Optimizing the Planet: SEO on a Global Scale

When building an SEO team to provide global services, it's necessary to recruit skilled, multilingual SEO experts -- no easy task. In today's Outsourced column, "Optimizing the Planet: SEO on a Global Scale," William Flaiz shows that the benefits of investment in infrastructure are reaped across both the domestic and international playing fields.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb on 12:00 AM | Permalink

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